Novel Readings and Book Events: Is Anyone Else Winging It?

I admit, I’m winging it. And I have been for some time now. I’m talking about events. Before the launch of The Backstreets of Purgatory, I had never even been to a book launch, not to mention spoken at one. Literary festivals weren’t on my radar when I was a research scientist, and I left the UK to live in France before I started writing seriously which meant I haven’t had many opportunities to attend book readings or festivals in the last few years. What I do know, I’ve made up or gleaned from other writers when we’ve done readings together.

Which leaves me with some gaps to fill and I’d appreciate your help. On Saturday 2 March, I’ll be doing a reading in Montrose Library. Montrose is the town that I grew up in. I’m excited and nervous to read in front of a home crowd. There will be people in the audience for whom this will be their first encounter with The Backstreets of Purgatory and there will be those who have heard me speak a few times. There will be folk who know nothing about the novel and those who have read it several times (at least, so my dad claims).

Montrose Review article about Helen Taylor and The Backstreets of Purgatory
Article from Montrose Review

Writers, here’s where I need some advice.

When you are doing an event and reading from a novel, how do you choose which passages to read?

There are several criteria that I keep in mind, but the more events I do, the harder it is for my selected passages to meet all of these. Here’s a rough list of what I think an extract should do:

  1. it should keep the audience’s attention (long enough to be interesting, short enough to stay interesting)
  2. it should stand up in its own right
  3. it should give a good taster of the book (characters, tone, themes; in the case of The Backstreets of Purgatory, Caravaggio’s art)
  4. it shouldn’t require too much explanation of characters or events leading up to it
  5. it shouldn’t give away crucial parts of the plot
  6. it shouldn’t be something that you have read loads of times before
  7. if reading more than one passage, there should be a good contrast between the two
  8. there shouldn’t be too much swearing/sex/violence especially if your parents, their pals and possibly your former school teachers are in the audience

Number 8 aside, it is 6 in particular that is giving me a headache. That and 5: the worry about giving too much away to the people who don’t know the book. How do you get the right balance between passages that work, that don’t give away too much and that you haven’t already read a zillion times before (very slight exaggeration)? I have several favourite passages that work well but some of my audience have already heard them and I don’t want them drifting off and snoring. (If the worst came to the worst, I could request to borrow Ozzy the Dog who spent one of my events rolling about on the floor in front of me, stealing the show and generally distracting my listeners. However, cute as he was, he didn’t help me sell many books).

Ozzy
Ozzy 

Okay, so if you were me, would you stick with what you know, where the timing works, the laughs come in the correct places, where you don’t stutter or stumble over tricky parts (is anyone else rubbish at reading aloud?) or would you try out an untested passage or two? And does it matter if you give away crucial parts of the plot?

What about your own experience? Do you read the same part each time you do an event, or do you choose something new? If you are in the audience and you’ve heard a writer talk before, does it matter to you if they read the same section of their book again, or does that make you turn off?

Any tips, advice, experience or loans of Ozzy or similar gratefully received.

 

Image credits:

Scurdie Ness Lighthouse, Montrose by Oliver Paaske on Unsplash

Ozzy taken at Fidra Fine Art

Article from Montrose Review 20 Feb 2019

 

 

 

 

 

The Backstreets of Manhattan

Screen Shot 2018-11-22 at 13.49.53

The Backstreets of Purgatory 

Monday 26th November

6pm to 8pm

 

 
Maison 10, 260 5th Avenue, 2nd Floor, NEW YORK, NY 1001

 

PURG_PRH

I’ll be reading and talking about The Backstreets of Purgatory and Caravaggio’s art.
If you happen to be in New York on Monday, I’d love to see you there.

 

Places are limited but can be reserved at info@maison10.com or by contacting me.

 

 

 

The Backstreets of Purgatory is launched into orbit

Standing room only at Waterstones on Byres Road

Ok, there is perhaps a slight exaggeration in the title of this piece but it pretty much describes how I’m feeling. It’s Monday and life should be back to normal but I’m still floating somewhere above Cloud 9.

On Thursday 19th July The Backstreets of Purgatory had its official launch party at Waterstones on Byres Road in Glasgow.

Book launch poster

What a fantastic night. Even with the chaos engendered by a wholly predictable technological failure. (Yes, I know, I shouldn’t have left it until midnight the night before to check that the computer and the projector were compatible, and yes, perhaps I should have checked earlier that there were in fact power leads for said projector.) The problems could have been overcome because I’d had the foresight to put the Caravaggio presentation on-line so that the audience could check their phones as I spoke. Only I was so emotional and in a flap that I forgot to mention it. The day was saved, however, by my glamorous assistant holding up A3 prints of the slides and waving them in the audience’s face.

 

To be honest, I’m not sure how many people were listening to me anyway because there was Irn Bru, cake and Tunnocks Teacakes to be had. I know the draw of Tunnocks Teacakes. And cake. I am in no way offended.

Cake
The best cake ever

It was standing room only by the time I got started. It was an absolute joy for me to have an audience full of family and friends, and to meet some of the people I’ve only ever met on-line or spoken to on the phone. I still can’t believe how far some people travelled to be there. I can’t tell you how touched I was. And I was thrilled that Carlo from the University Café came along. The interview I did with him was one of my first blog posts here.

After the presentation on Caravaggio, I intended to do a reading from chapter 13, Judith and Holofernes. In keeping with the nature of the proceeding thus far, I discovered that I’d left my copy of The Backstreets of Purgatory in my room. Fortunately, there was a stack of copies for sale. (I put back the one I borrowed when I’d finished. Hopefully without trace of my sweaty shaking hands. Sometimes I think it is harder to do a presentation to a room full of friends than a room full of strangers.)

Slide11
Judith and Holofernes by Caravaggio

A great Q&A followed the reading. Laura Rorato from the University of Hull (who, unlike me, is a real Caravaggio expert) had some exceptional questions although I didn’t answer a couple of them I didn’t want to give away the ending of the novel. We’re going to do a more in-depth interview when we have the chance.

Waterstones Book launch pic
A fantastic receptive audience

The overwhelming feeling for me, from Thursday night and from the whole experience of publishing with Unbound, is the warmth and generosity surrounding the book which comes from all the amazing people who supported it. It is brilliant to know that The Backstreets of Purgatory already has a substantial readership because of Unbound’s model.  I hope that now that it is on general release, it will find some new readers too.

 

Image credits

Photos by Alastair Cunningham and Alistair Braidwood

Judith and Holofernes by Caravaggio from Wikimedia

 

 

 

 

The Backstreets of Purgatory in the sunshine

The special limited editions of The Backstreets of Purgatory have already reached some readers and it has been such a thrill to hear from people who are enjoying the novel. I love seeing it out in the real world. Here’s a selection of the photos that I’ve been sent over the last day or two. Looking good in the sunshine.

 

A few limited editions are still available from Unbound. The official publication date for the hardback is July 12th 2018. It will be available on Amazon and elsewhere. I must admit, I can hardly wait to see it in an actual bookshop. Sounds facile to say it but honestly, it is a dream come true.

Date for your diaries (if you are nearby): Thursday, July 19th, 7.30 pm at Waterstones on Byres Road in Glasgow. BOOK LAUNCH!! RSVP in the comments or via the contact form. The more the merrier!!

(Look, lots of exclamation marks. That’s because I’m just a tiny bit excited).

Launch Invite Final small