WANT TO NARRATE YOUR NOVEL? THEN THE PLAY’S THE THING
–The Drama Dairy Blog by @SQUEAKYCHEESEVO
Acting in a high school play ranks among the most terrifying events in your life, maybe second to cordless bungee jumping. Especially 24 hours after the Dress Rehearsal, the arrival of two of the most terrifying words when juxtaposed: Opening Night.
So when you decide to narrate your novel or leave that role, and your baby, in the hands of another person who had nothing to do with creating your story, if you suddenly feel like a 15-year-old kid whose zit-adorned face other people could use to play Connect-the-Dots, that would come as no surprise, especially to those of us who make Audiobook Narration our professional pursuit.
But here’s the thing. As the Bard captured it for storytelling (and life) immemorial: the play IS, in fact, the thing.
This truth revealed itself to us the other night after recording the same chapter in a fantasy novel for the third time. It didn’t feel like we’d gotten it quite right the first two. But three time’s a charm. By this session, we practically knew the 12 pages of narrative and dialogue cold. We’d already read the entire 39-chapter novel, but that was several months earlier and, well, to be honest, the scene involving two brothers who are ‘bird people’ (they have wings but they have arms and legs, too) just wasn’t coming together. Said He after the first two studio sessions: “I dunno. It doesn’t sound like R’Venin – the quiet one, the one who knows what’s going on; the one who is the pacifist afraid to face his father, King K’Rawin. And I’m not feeling his war mongering brother much, either – K’Marot. And I don’t think the author intended the old Alchemist, Chit’Itzak, (who is jealous that R’Venin has returned from enemy incarceration with the cure to ‘White Claw,’ the disease destroying the beaked tribe), to sound like Wallace Shawn in ‘The Princess Bride’.” Said She: “Well, how well do you know the scene?”
And that’s what got us heavily engaged in our own quest, out of studio, in the safe haven of the family room, as we explored and became reacquainted with precisely who these characters were or, rather, are. Then it hit us and almost simultaneously: The high school play.
Narrators, contrary to common misconceptions do not read books. Say again? Narrators do not read. Narrators act. We study your characters. We study your story. We ask questions. We try out interpretations. We see if they fit. And we generally abide by the prime directive for audio drama: ‘Acting choices. Then choose voices.’ In other words, we don’t get up to the mic and try to ‘sound like so and so’ (the villain; the hero; the foil; Richard Burton in Streetcar). No. We figure out who the character is and when we do, somehow the voice just comes. Magic!
As anyone who has acted on stage knows, the Director wants the cast to get ‘off book’ as soon as possible. Why? Because when you’re off book, at least in theatre and in pictures, you’re liberated. You’re freer to explore every dimension of your character because you already know the words. You can now focus on the emotion and intent behind the words of your character and behind the other characters with whom you inter-act. Knowing your lines allows you to be present in the scene. Guess what? This same liberation is true for the professional Audiobook Narrator as well. Naturally, we don’t memorize each line. We rely on having the manuscript in front of us when we record. But we’d argue that we nonetheless must be as familiar with the lines of dialogue and narrative as an actor on the stage or the screen. Because when we know the material (or, if you decide to narrate your own novel, when you know your material, you and), we are free to…perform.
Life is full of epiphanies, and often we are made aware of truths we’ve already discovered along the journey. This flash of recognition reminded us that it’s the connection to the written word which brings the characters to life.
Consider the parallels between theatre and narration the next time you decide to work with a narrator or narrate your own story. If you’re still intimidated by the degree of work that actually goes into taking your words from page to stage to ear, well, you can always try something a little less terrifying, like cordless bungee jumping!
From the booth to you,
Ralph & Kendra
@SQUEAKYCHEESEVO
Kendra Murray, the voiceover actor who is never without an audience. Even if she comprises all of the voices in the room! In fact, you’d swear she was a lot of people. One after the other.
An award-winning producer with a get-it-done (with a smile) attitude, Ralph Scott produces audiobooks, audio theatre, scripted entertainment commercial spots, or pretty much anything within the live or recorded audio arena.
A radio play with one ventriloquist.