Posted by on Jun 14, 2007 in liars' league, readings and signings | 5 Comments

Liars’ League

On Tuesday I attended the reading of my story Still Life with Shirt and Sheep at Liars’ League. This picture shows Sharron Byrne reading my story and impressing the hell out of me.

There’s a certain pleasure to NOT having to read your own work aloud – not only do you get a fresh interpretation of your words, but you get to look at the audience and gauge reactions in a way that you never can when you’re giving the reading yourself. Well, maybe you can, I can’t – all I can see is the page. Also, you’re not worrying about when it will be your turn to get up and try and be entertaining, so you can relax more and absorb more of the nuances of what’s happening, so if you are a short story writer I really recommend trying to find something (or write something) that fits the League’s needs and themes – it’s a rewarding experience and a lot of fun. As an example, my rather mordant story contained two laughs, and Sharron managed to get the audience to laugh the first time, and then feel rather embarrassed because, after all, this was a story about suicide (exactly the response I’d been seeking, but I’m not sure I could have managed) and then she got them to laugh again and feel embarrassed about it! It taught me something about the pacing of writing for performance rather than writing for private reading, which will be a valuable tool for the future.

Liars’ League is a London-based writers’ and actors’ group that holds a short story reading night at 7pm on the second Tuesday of each month at Upstairs at The Lamb, 94 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London WC1N 3LZ. The next reading on the theme of “CIGARETTES & ALCOHOL” will be on June 26 at 7pm and at present they are accepting submissions for the July 10 event “Sex & Death”. If you’re interested, submit to liarsleague@yahoo.co.uk by Friday June 22. All the good gen is at http://www.myspace.com/liarsleague.

5 Comments

  1. Chris M
    14th June 2007

    Bullet bitten. Submitted something. Well, I had to didn’t I? Sex and death? Me barrio meng. Well, maybe not the sex.

    Reply
  2. Kay Sexton
    14th June 2007

    Mr Morrow, as I live and breathe! Didn’t know you did me the honour of visiting. Well, if the Liars don’t pick your story, they will be sorry Liars, that’s all I can say. What did you send ’em? Something scary or something evil or something evil and scary?

    Reply
  3. CTaylor
    14th June 2007

    Thanks so much for blogging about Liar’s League. One of my v short stories has been accepted for the Cigarettes and Alcohol night (I read about LL on your blog) and I was wondering what to expect. Very excited (and slightly fluttery of stomach) now! Head full of questions – Will the audience laugh? Are they supposed to? I’ll have to wait and see. Oh God.

    Reply
  4. Kay Sexton
    15th June 2007

    Ah – Brighton does house a pack of talents, doesn’t it? Congratulations on your acceptance! If you wrote it for laughs, then there will be laughs, believe me. Practical stuff – be prepared to have your bio-note read aloud, it’s hot up there and there aren’t enough seats so arrive early enough to get one, you can only get a drink in the interval so make sure you’ve got one of those in your hand too. Enjoy! And you can hug Tim for me, ‘cos I’m double-booked and can’t get there – tell him it’s a proxy hug from Kay!

    Reply
  5. Tim
    15th June 2007

    Great to see you there on Tuesday, Kay. Advance (and proxy) hugs accepted!

    Absolutely thrilled too, that a hunch that grew out of a boozy conversation in December is being proved a valuable and enjoyable exercise in June.

    The quality of entries just gets better and better so am looking forward to more submissions from WritingNeuroses readers over the next few months.

    Tim (Liar)

    Reply

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