Readings are an important tool for emerging writers–they help get your name and work out in the open, and give potential readers a taste of your writing. However, when you’re reading from your novel or another long work, it can be difficult to choose a selection to share. We here in the Tarweed team would like to share some tips for finding the right passages to share.
- The passage should stand reasonably on its own. If you’re not starting at the beginning of your novel, it’s inevitable that you will need to give some context, such as who the characters are or the nature of the main conflict, before you start reading. However, your audience isn’t there to listen to a plot summary–what they’re really interested in is your writing. We recommend using the “book jacket rule”: if your explanation of the context is longer than the synopsis on your book jacket, you should probably pick another one.
- The priority of your passage is not exposition but memorability. A reading is better spent showing off the beauty of your writing and the emotional depth of your characters than rehashing information already available on your novel’s book-jacket synopsis. You want to choose a passage that will stick with audience members after they leave the reading, that are humorous or vivid or impactful enough to move them to read the rest of your novel. Some suggestions for such passages are scenes that are universal enough to be understood and felt without too much explanation, or scenes that symbolize rather than explain the conflict of your novel. For example, a child wanting the approval of their father is universal enough to be understood and felt by almost everyone, and does not require too much explanation. Ultimately, you want to choose a passage that is strong enough to stick with the audience without having to rely on the rest of the novel.
- Going off of that, you don’t have to start at the beginning of your novel. It’s certainly a valid method to avoid the problem of having to explain context, and you can start from chapter one if you want. However, you shouldn’t start at the beginning just to start at the beginning. Choosing a strong passage is your ultimate priority, so if there are stronger passages in the middle of your novel, then you should not hesitate to read those instead. It is okay to have to explain a little context before you start reading, just so long as you keep it short.
- The passage should be a good representation of the rest of your novel. This is especially true if you’re reading to promote your novel–you wouldn’t want a reader to buy your book expecting one thing, only to get something entirely different. Your characters shouldn’t be too different in your passage than how they are for most of the book. A scene at the end of the story where an angry character learns to forgive is touching when one is reading the entire novel. However, isolating that scene only weakens it. First of all, the audience does not know that this character is usually angry, so them being forgiving loses all impact. Secondly, the audience might expect the character to be forgiving in all the novel, and will be unpleasantly surprised when they read the whole novel and find out otherwise. Ultimately, don’t use passages that paint a distorted picture of your novel.
- If you choose a funny passage, the humor shouldn’t need the context of the novel to be funny. Some jokes are funny because they are a subversion of expectations built in the rest of the story or are running jokes–for example, a man buying a candy bar from the vending machine and getting a bag of appleseeds. This situation would be part of a longer running joke about this man getting appleseeds everywhere–they show up in his coffee, in his shoes, in his car. Once taken within this context, the man getting appleseeds from a vending machine would be fairly funny. However, on its own, the scene is only weird, and once you explain the joke, it’s no longer funny. In short, don’t pick a passage where you have to explain the joke.
- Be brief. Don’t go on and on; you want to give your audience a taste of your writing, and to leave them wanting more.
- Don’t spoil your own novel! If your decoy protagonist dies in the middle of the book, do not read that scene. Not only will it not be as impactful as it would for a reader starting from the beginning of your novel, it would only ruin that scene for anyone who goes to your reading before reading your book. Selections can be just as impactful and memorable to read without containing spoilers.
These are just some tips and suggestions to help you choose a good selection for a reading. If you have a passage you love and want to share, then you should not hesitate to read it. Ultimately, a reading’s true purpose is to bring together many people with the shared passion of writing, and to show off writing you are proud of. Happy reading!
