When he goes on reading tours, David Sedaris takes advantage of the audience by reading new material and seeing how it goes over. He has a marginalia system to keep track of how the readings go for later:
He makes a check mark in the margin when something gets a laugh…
When audience members start coughing (or audibly clearing their throats or shifting in their seats), Sedaris draws a little skull in the margin.
The readings are also practice for when he eventually records the audio books.
I know of at least one other author who does this: Dan Chaon.
Chaon kicked off his reading in a way unlike anything he, or many other authors, have ever done. Instead of reading material already published, Chaon decided to give those in attendance a treat of some of his works-in-progress.
Chaon read an excerpt from six of the different stories he’s working on and told the audience to offer suggestions or criticisms.
Filed under: show your work
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