Improving Your Readings

Improving Your Readings

From authors who are asked to read their own work at signings, to audiobook narrators, to podcasters, there are a lot of us out there who want — or need — to get better at readings.

At the titular panel, at Balticon 53, Tee Morris, Jean L Cooper, and Mike Luona shared their best tips.

6 Steps Toward Creating Character Voices Keep the character’s background in mind Use a key phrase to get into the character’s voice, to help with consistency Use your ‘normal voice’, (or something close to it), for the narrator and/or main character For opposite gendered characters, you can pitch up or down a touch, but don’t fake it For some female characters, a breathier tone works, even if you don’t change the pitch Listen to how other actors present their different characters For a fantasy accent — try combining 2 real world accents badly Avoid stereotypes! For accents, if you can’t skip it — try acting classes or online videos but do these with a light touch 5 Tips For All Readings Practice cold-reading Pick up a book at random and just reading a few pages! Hit the narration just as hard as the dialogue Paint a mental picture with your voice Know when to pause When a phrase becomes a stumbling block, slow wayyy down. If in practice — go over it very slowly, mouth it carefully, repeat it a few times, get that muscle memory in thereIf live — pause, mouth it to yourself, then try again Don’t be afraid to be dramatic – the audience builds off the energy you bring to the table.