How I prepare for an Audiobook session
Narrating an audiobook is a story-telling marathon, one that requires dedication, patience, and herculean levels of concentration.
My last book, recorded from home but directed via Cleanfeed took place over 3 days, for 6 hours a day. Super intense, and not for the faint hearted!
I work standing up to keep my energy fresh, and use natural movements to keep my performance real and grounded. But by the end of a day... i'm jelly on toast.
The most important part though? The preparation. This is part that happens before you go in the booth, before you press record.
Here's how I keep my characters on point:
- As soon as I receive the manuscript I put it into iAnnotate read the book from beginning to end, highlighting all my characters in a different colour as I go.
- I write down anything that is given to me in the text about each character (hates dogs, big eyebrows, mean sense of humour, fancies Julia's sister, went to Bristol Uni)
This information becomes my blueprint for developing their voice later on.
- I make a table detailing each character, the colour their lines are highlighted in, and their traits - personality, accent, age, and any other info I have about them - and on what page they are introduced to the story.
- I then spend time workshopping a voice for each character that fulfils all their criteria.
- This next bit is one of the monst important bits I think - I then record a few minutes of each character into my phone, so I can sit and listen to them next to one another to make sure that they feel real, and none are too similar.
This is especially important for characters who have a lot of dialogue with one another, to ensure they remain distinct.
I recently had a book that contained multiple sisters, close in age, who obviously all had a similar background and accent profile. That was a challenge!
- I then spend time speaking as each character to really get it into my molecules, ensuring that once we hit record, they are all ready to roll.
- I will also research and odd or unusual words, words I don't know, foreign words, names, place names and annotate the script in the margin with a voice note, so I don't have to mess around finding this information during the session.
You also need to be really on it in terms of proper hydration - starting the night before, and drinking consistently throughout the day, and I'll make sure I have protein heavy meals to keep me full up and the stomach grumbles at bay.
Directed sessions are amazing because you have someone else there to keep you sane and on track.
Time is very precious when you're working like this so you also have to keep a keen eye on the word count. Having someone else to do this for me really takes the pressure off.
But what you definitely don't want to do, is start having so much fun that you repeatedly get the giggles down the line with the director.... but that's a story for another day......
#audiobooks #narration #characteracting #voiceacting