Working with Lon Harris, the incomparable narrator of Return to Hardscrabble Road audiobook, reminded me about the ways writing with an audiobook in mind not only assists the voice actor but often helps readers too. Below I convey some lessons about how your writing style and choices can make the narrator’s job of performing your novel—and make the reader’s experience with it—easier or more arduous.
Lesson #1: Don’t use words in your manuscript like “arduous.” Some words are difficult to say aloud. Instead use a perfectly good synonym such as “demanding” to go easy on the narrator and reader alike and stop showing off.
Lesson #2: Be careful with fancy-pants sentence constructions, such as those using em dashes—which I’m exceedingly fond of, if you haven’t noticed—because it’s difficult to nail the proper emphasis and make the meaning clear when there are interrupters and run-on sentences (such as this one).
Lesson #3: Watch out for dialog interruptions—the other use for my beloved em dashes—because they’re quite difficult for one person to narrate. For example, read the following aloud:
Jane said, “Watch out, Mitzie, he has a—”
“Can it sweetheart,” Jake growled, cocking the revolver. “You should both know by now that—”
Mitzie cried, “How can you do this to us?”
With two or more actors, they can talk over each other all day and build tension and drama. With a single narrator, though, you’re asking that individual to interrupt themself, which requires some technical gimmickry but still sounds unnatural. Doing this once or twice in a manuscript is tolerable, but multiple interruptions are hard on the poor narrator and just as hard on the listener. Better to leave that style of dialog to multi-actor scripts and/or books you don’t want narrated.
Lesson #4: Dialog tags and assigned actions are useful to your voice actor as well as the reader. Even with just two people talking, dropping in an occasional “she said” or an action ascribed to someone just before or after they speak helps your reader stay focused on who’s saying what and also helps your narrator maintain the correct voice for each line of dialog. When the page is devoid of dialog tags, it’s possible to lose one’s place while two or more characters are firing comments at one another.
Lesson #5: Italics to emphasize keywords are also helpful to reader and narrator alike. When I began writing novels two decades ago, I insisted that I shouldn’t need to use italics to stress one word or phrase over another because readers should be able to understand how to read each sentence by the context. Then my printed books started to become audiobooks, and I discovered that not everyone intuits beats in dialog or narration the same way I do. Sometimes the wrong word or phrase in an emotional scene was stressed, and other times, no word was given added emphasis, which took away from the meaning or punch of the sentence, and I’d have to ask the narrator to re-record. So, I started using italics to make sure both reader and voice actor nailed the proper beats with feeling. There’s a sublime joy in hearing your written words said with the same vigor you heard in your head when you were writing them.
Lesson #6: A long stretch of narration where no significant action occurs, and no character feels something or says anything with emotion is like listening to a book report. No matter how good the voice actor is, if you haven’t given that person something to act out, some feeling to project, you will realize the reader also has nothing to excite them and boredom is bound to set in. They might put the book aside or scan ahead, looking for meaningful activity. The narrator is probably wishing they could do the same, but their lot is to read every single ponderous word. Your solution? Read your work aloud to critique partners, your pet, or a family member unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity. Listen for those moments when your words bore you, and you find yourself rushing to get back to a “good part.” Hint: they should all be good parts, at a minimum. Fortunately, my critique group pounced on anything ponderous before Return went to print, so Lon didn’t have to slog through paragraphs that would’ve cured insomnia.
Lesson #7: The best narrator in the world can’t make up for typos, misspellings, and other errors. In scenes of great action, high drama, and big emotions, as well as the quiet scenes of introspection or just getting from one place to another, the words still must be clear and correct, so be sure to edit your work thoroughly, use a critique group of talented fellow writers to catch sentences that sound awkward, and even employ a good line editor to help ensure that everything reads as you intended. Bless the poor voice actor who must contend with statements that are missing words, bearing the wrong ones, or lacking sense. Readers are evermore unforgiving about mistakes and clunky phrases, railing about the lack of editing in their reviews and issuing minimal stars in their contempt. Again, my critique group saved me from any embarrassing passages in Return. Listening to some bestselling authors’ audiobooks, it’s too bad they didn’t have access to the fine writers I do.
It’s a privilege to hear a talented professional bring your novel to life and make your story soar. Do your voice actor as well as your readers a favor by making sure those words and sentences are the right ones.
Next month, I’ll provide step-by-step guidance for putting your book up for auditions on ACX.com, Audible’s audiobook publishing service, selecting a narrator, working with that voice actor, approving the audiobook, and making it available for sale. Until then, happy listening!