Depending on my capacity to read, I sometimes get a lot of audiobooks done. This means, I hear a variety of people who read out those audiobooks. But how far is too far when you’re reading a book for others to listen to?
Do you treat an audiobook narration like an acting job with seventeen roles? Or do you treat it like a piece of legislation that should have been put in the back of the drawer forever? I’ve heard it both ways.
The narrators who give a monotone, impassioned reading are too dull. Let’s face it, if you’re reading a book about a kidnapping, a fantasy realm in the midst of turmoil, or a romance where passion abounds, and you are still reading it in one tone all the way through… something might be dead inside you.
On the flip side, there are the narrators who go SO HARD that it distracts from the story. These are the ones I have been hearing more and more recently. It seems as though they have something to prove. That their real dream is acting in front of a camera but this is just paying the bills. Or maybe that they think we want to hear them sigh, and then follow it up with literally saying “she sighed”. We don’t. The accents can be good, but if you’re doing it to the point of not understanding the words… it’s a bit much.
I might be a minority in this, but I actually prefer when a narrator gives a little bit of different inflections or tones for characters but mostly just reads the copy simply. I’m not saying monotone, but I’m certainly not in the camp of giving the acting performance of a lifetime. If the character is out of breath and breathing hard, I don’t need the narrator to do that. if the character is running, I don’t need the breath change.
This is not an award winning category. You aren’t being nominated for anything. We are really good. I promise.
There’s a good balance that we should have, but there’s more and more of these people who seem to be going just way harder than they have to. While it’s nice to be honouring to your craft, let’s all calm down a little shall we.
See You in The Adventures!
Christy Grace
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