Reading Out Loud: It's in the delivery

By Jayne Barnard

 We’ve all seen them, and many of us have been them: authors standing up front with their nose in the book, mumbling, inaudible beyond the second row. The audience isn’t fidgeting because they don’t like the writing; often it’s the delivery that’s killing you. Yet you can land the basics of good delivery in a few minutes of practice a day. You’ll give better readings and enjoy them more (or dread them less). 

The key is to relax the muscles. The mind follows the body’s relaxation. When your mind and body are relaxed, your vocal muscles are relaxed. Your voice’s richness of inflection and range of emotion are set free.

Here’s how you get there: first, relax your neck & shoulders. This is not a fitness test: don’t strain or force beyond your comfort level.

Neck scoops – turn head to one side; tilt nose toward shoulder and slowly trace a semi-circle down across your chest and up the other side.  Rest on a three count and go back. Repeat 3x each way. Don’t force your neck further than is comfortable.

Shoulder rolls – slow forward 3x, then slow backward 3x. Change it up by rotating them opposite to each other.

Torso twists – forearms up front and holding each other, turn side to side slowly from the hips, no forcing or straining to go further than is comfortable. Twice each way is fine.

Do any other stretching that seems good to you.

Jayne Barnard at one of her reading events

Next, relax the tiny muscles of the face.

• Put the pads of your fingers on your cheeks near your ears and jiggle gently as you move your fingers down toward your mouth.
• Drop lower jaw loosely open, waggle side to side.
• Stick out tongue, then down, up, and side to side.
  
  

Third, warm up your breathing and vocal muscles.
 On all of these, breathe in through the nose for a count of 3, and out for a count of 5. Do each twice.

• Out through the nose.
• Out through pursed lips.
• Out on a hum. Let your whole mouth vibrate.
• Out on a hiss through your teeth.
• Out through your buzzing lips
  
  

Now, opening mouth wide on exhale:

• Yawn out in your normal voice
• Yawn out on a rising note
• Yawn out on a falling note.
  
  

 Say the vowels a, e, i, o, u with exaggerated mouth movements. Repeat, starting each vowel sound with the first letter of your first name, then again with q, v, w, and x.
Run the tongue-twister of your choice three times. Exaggerate every syllable.

Now: Rehearse your reading out loud. Words your mind can say perfectly your mouth may not be familiar with; practice those. Let the emotion and drama resonate through your warmed-up, flexible voice. Mark places to breathe if you tend to forget.

At the event:
Just before you go up to read, scoop your neck once or twice, roll your shoulders. Waggle your jaw as if there’s a big wad of chewing gum in there. Then get to your position, make eye contact with one person, and remember to breathe.

General tips:

• Read from a printout, not your book. You can adjust font size and find your place easily by where your fingers grip the page.
• Look up often. Pick one face in each of the first 3 rows. Smile at them.
• Know how long you have, and select a single scene that fits. Most of us read aloud around 2 to 2.5 minutes per manuscript page.
• Station a friend at the back to signal you if you’re too quiet, and when your allotted time’s running down.
  
  

Practice your whole routine daily for a few days before the event, loosen up just before you stand up, and you’ll be ready to seduce the audience’s ears, minds, and hearts.

Happy reading!

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Jayne Barnard

Jayne Barnard has been writing fiction since third grade and acting since fifth grade. Trail of the Wolf won the NOWW short fiction contest in 2013. She’s also won the SWG Award, Bloody Pete, and Unhanged Arthur. Her first book is a YA Steampunk mystery, Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond. Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge comes out in April 2017 from Tyche Books.