My MFA did not prepare me to do readings--I had to learn when my first book came out and I toured. Luckily 1) I had acting experience 2) I had taught for a long while by then and 3) my spouse came along and gave me director's notes.
I believe that presenting your work to the public should be a required element of every MFA program. PResumably one of the goals of an MFA is to produce successful writers, and a "reading"will be expected of all successful writers. An MFA program should provide training, mentoring, advice in this skill - what passage is best suited for a reading, how to mark up you manuscript to indicate pauses, inflections, etc, (Mark Twain provides good advice on this), how to revise your manuscript to make a good reading, etc, advice to listen to a recording of yourself reading your manuscript. I view the failure of my MFA program to provide any advice and encouragement on how to give a reading a serious miss in my experience.
Mark Twain has become my mentor on public speaking and leveraging everything you write. He said, "No word is as effective as the properly timed pause."
Someone needs to explain to these kids the benefits of public speaking experience. My daughter is getting married and her bestie didn’t want to make a speech because of the public speaking fear.
What a great story and your writing always makes me chuckle. I love it! Thank you Richard. I'm happy to know you here on Substack.
Thanks Julie
you bet! Have a great week!
My MFA did not prepare me to do readings--I had to learn when my first book came out and I toured. Luckily 1) I had acting experience 2) I had taught for a long while by then and 3) my spouse came along and gave me director's notes.
Excellent Lev thank you. I love #3.
Enjoyed this fun, but I have actually enjoyed local writers’ readings as well.
We writers gotta get out of the house now and then ♥♥
I believe that presenting your work to the public should be a required element of every MFA program. PResumably one of the goals of an MFA is to produce successful writers, and a "reading"will be expected of all successful writers. An MFA program should provide training, mentoring, advice in this skill - what passage is best suited for a reading, how to mark up you manuscript to indicate pauses, inflections, etc, (Mark Twain provides good advice on this), how to revise your manuscript to make a good reading, etc, advice to listen to a recording of yourself reading your manuscript. I view the failure of my MFA program to provide any advice and encouragement on how to give a reading a serious miss in my experience.
Very interesting Liza. Thanks. And shame on that program. Writers should read all the time and everywhere.
Mark Twain has become my mentor on public speaking and leveraging everything you write. He said, "No word is as effective as the properly timed pause."
Someone needs to explain to these kids the benefits of public speaking experience. My daughter is getting married and her bestie didn’t want to make a speech because of the public speaking fear.
CK I think I covered that. Memorize, don't look at faces, and boom it out.