Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26360867-20160127180735/@comment-4715955-20160127233623

I would ditch the music because it's overdone in readings, never appropriate to the tone, and sometimes makes it hard to understand what the reader says, which is sometimes the case in this video. But you sound like you actually, y'know, rehearsed before recording. You'd think more readers would do that, instead of stammering their way through a story they've never read before, and then not bothering to do any other takes. I wouldn't mind listening to more of these. You stammer once or twice, but for the most part you do better than a lot of the others I've suffered through (like most of the ones on my youtube playlist -- man, just go there if you wanna see what NOT to do), and sound like you put more importance on the performance than channel hits. Overall you do a decent job, but don't be afraid to redo a line or two and chop out a bad take in Audacity -- it's super easy.

You'll wanna make sure you're pronouncing everything right before recording, too. The word "impervious" is pronounced "im-purr-vee-uss". And if you're not sure how to pronounce a word the author used -- like a character name -- don't be afraid to email them and ask. I wish more readers had done that with me. One girl didn't even know how to say "squaw"!

Also get into the habit of asking permission to do readings, too, just to be safe. Being on the internet doesn't make anything public domain. All of my work is licensed to allow NON-commercial works, and I might not be the only one who does that; I'm usually okay with youtube readings as long as they link to the original text, but when you don't ask first you ignore that sort of legal issue at your own peril.