You picked your piece and really thought about why you wanted it. You’ve made a list of all the parts you want to keep. Perhaps you already know that you have too much to keep all of it. Now….what should you eliminate when you are cutting it?
Category: How to Prepare
Cutting a Piece Part 2/3 – What to Keep
Every work of literature is made up of five literary elements. You may have had an English teacher that made you study these ad nauseam! (I may have been that English teacher!) But these five mechanisms make any story work. They affect the reader or audience in specific ways. They are manipulated by the author to specific purpose. Understanding what they are and how they work helps you make a good cut for your interp.
Cutting a Piece Part 1/3 – Where to Start
Cutting your interp piece can be a DAUNTING task. There simply are not that many scripts out there designed for 10 minute presentations, so chances are, you are holding a book that you need to squeeze down into just 10 minutes. Where do you begin?
Platform Speeches- Picking Your Topic
Spending some quality time researching and thinking about what you want to speak about is a pretty great idea. It's an important decision on your "Platform Journey". I actually keep an on-going list of ideas (and I'm not even a competitor). You should too! With phones that take notes and access to computers, jotting down a few ideas that you can explore when your ready to dive in, is pretty easy. This list doesn't start when the speech season starts... It's on-going.
There are so many fascinating subjects, people, events, etc. I honestly don't know if I was competing, if I would ever be able to choose?
Thinking about Biblical Presentation
In 2015, the NCFCA introduced a new Speech category- Biblical Presentation. Having coached several qualifying National BP's, including the first place National Champion. I analyzed the Biblical Presentation category and saw this as an exciting opportunity for competitors to learn a new interpretation skill. Here is how we tackled the learning curve of this new speech...
Rules, Rules, Rules
You are working on a hot topic. You have a killer idea for a speech this year. You want to try something outside-the-box in one of your interps. This is the kind of thinking I LOVE! I get excited when I have conversations along these lines with my students. But I always advise them to check the rules BEFORE they get too deep in the development.
Picking YOUR Perfect Interp Piece
Kristi and I both agree that we don’t know what those 5-7 random judges will want to hear or see in the final round in the middle of June (at The National Championship). Some competitors stew and anguish over picking their piece or topic. Some cut and recut, some choose new pieces all together… Mid-season!
Here is some advice when picking your perfect Interp piece… Continue reading “Picking YOUR Perfect Interp Piece”
Coming Soon- Online Apol!
Lasting Impact! is excited to announce “Online Apol”… Coming in October!
Have you been wanting to start Apologetics, but aren’t sure how to get started?
Did you want weekly accountability in your Apologetics Journey?
Do you want to be better prepared for Apologetics this season?
More Info… Coming Soon!
Heather’s Top Places to Find an Interp Piece
By: Heather Neumann
This is probably one of the most asked questions for my kids and me. The fact of the matter is, I have "a vault" of stashed possible Interp pieces for future years and for kids I coach. I know Kristi has one too! Once we find a book that could be a possible speech, they go in to "the vault"... Ok so really, it's just a book shelf, but it sounds so much more exciting as a vault! So, where did find them? It's like looking for treasure...
You Can’t Own an Idea
By: Heather Neumann
Anyone with an idea or concept is capable of giving a powerful speech! But what if that theme has been done before? What if Cinderella was done last year? The Sneeches has been done thousands of times! No one can claim ownership of an idea. However you can claim ownership of your OWN Speech. And just like you are unique - the Speech you create will become uniquely yours! You don't even have to come up with a rocket science invention.
The Importance of Originality
By: Kristi Eskelund
Not going to lie….it’s HARD to do an original work these days. If you are working on an interpretation of a piece of literature, it’s hard to find a story that hasn’t been done or made into a movie or posted on YouTube. I know! Making your interpretation original will take significantly more work than copying one you’ve seen done, but the rewards will also be far more satisfying.
Compared to Last Year’s Speech
By: Kristi Eskelund
What if you can't find anything you like as much as last year's speech? My family has certainly been in this place! When you find that perfect piece, the one that is just “you” to a tee, or when you’ve had real success with a particular speech, it is legitimately TOUGH to move on and try to find another! Here are a couple of suggestions I’ve used in my family. (My kids will testify this is what I made them do….)
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