I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I want to get into narrating audiobooks. As I investigated more about narrating, one of the most frequent tips was—listen to audiobooks yourself to get an idea of the different approaches narrators can take.

This advice made all the sense to me, but still a part of me resisted—the same part of me that prefers to read a physical book over an e-book on my iPad.

I continued to hold out, reading aloud for myself, formulating my own strategies of how to voice different characters. And then of course, COVID happened.

My TBR pile of physical books dwindled, though I am never technically out of things to read, I couldn’t go get what I wanted to read anymore. My library is well-connected with digital reading resources, so I started exploring what was available.

I was thrilled to find Good Omens, but only once I downloaded it did I realize it was in audiobook form. I paused for a moment, but then decided to give it a go, because after all, I listen to a billion podcasts on many topics, so why not try it? And really, I should anyway.

Suffice to say that was a month ago, and I’ve gone through six books, with two in progress. It is fabulous, I’m totally hooked! Why did I wait so long?

I listen when I’m in the car, when I’m walking the dogs, when I’m eating breakfast, when I’m gardening. I’ve even had to stop listening to the books to catch up on the podcasts I keep up with regularly.

And I have found all of that advice to new narrators to be true—listen and find out what you like and what you don’t like, because a voice and a style MATTERS.

My nephew and I learned this first hand while tackling his 7th grade English COVID-school work. He chose a series of books to read for the story analysis section they were doing, in audio form. The first book’s narrator was a man with clear diction, great pace, enough difference in the characters to make it interesting, and clean production. Sadly, the second book featured a woman with a strong accent, who spoke fast, misspoke words often, and you could hear every page turn or movement she made. It was awful, bad enough that the story lost our interest. We even decided to complete the assignments with what we knew already, so that we didn’t have to hear it anymore. A real shame considering we wanted to know the outcome of the story, being one book in already.

I have found that listening to audiobooks prods me even more to narrate myself. I should have known though, once I started that I’d be hooked. I think it was part of the opposition, honestly, that resistant voice that says “Uh oh, this could be dangerous.” I gotta listen to that voice more often, be quicker with my inner rebel to accept the challenge. Oh yeah, and I did just buy an Kindle, too. Let the electronic consumption begin!~

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