Going though a pandemic over the past two years has raised the profile of audiobooks as we as society have investigated different ways to find entertainment, escape into stories and seek ways to explore and imagine other lives.
The search for such sources of ideas and ‘soul food’ has been even more important as we have grappled with the issues and challenges this period in history has brought us.. and ironically, at a time when we have been deprived of chances to socialise, our desire to find times alone is strong… sharing our homes with others we live with who may be there more than usual means that claiming time alone with a book or audiobook can be harder to manage.
I’m sure I’m not alone in having found the need for reflection and re-evaluation and snatched solitude even greater because of the extraordinary events brought about by the pandemic. Alongside that ‘existential’ change, of course, has been a great practical change as we have had to find work spaces at home in ways that allow us to create working conditions and keep our sense of home going as well, perhaps living more ‘cheek by jowl’ than we might want to.
Many audiobook narrators, myself included, work from home studios, at least some of the time. That means creating studio conditions, perhaps in a spare room or outbuilding. During lockdown I and my family built and moved into a garden cabin whilst building work at home meant we would have had to move out. Rather than pay rent during that time, the thinking went, we could create that space to live in then benefit from the amenity of a workspace in the back garden afterwards..
The plan was implemented, the downside being living in the garden for five months during a pandemic we hadn’t been expecting, when the planned trips to pubs or cafes for meals didn’t materialise as we were all locked down. I hadn’t quite bargained for the extended camping trip that ensued, but all that is history now, thank goodness, and these days I narrate from that room in the garden. My previous ‘studio’ was a converted wardrobe lined with eggshell foam which stood in the spare room… now I have the luxury of a 2m x 2m room. It has made it all worthwhile.
I’ve been pursuing this line of work for about five years now and have about a dozen audiobooks under my belt so far. The investment of time, learning, researching and acquiring the right equipment then learning how to use it has been considerably more than I ever imagined it would be.
I trained as an actress and have worked, and still do, in lots of different forums. But that hasn’t made this a simple side step.. The work of narrating is a completely different and separate job from other forms of performance, and I can honestly say that learning how to do it is something that I am still working on and expect to carry on doing so for years to come. I have learned how different this work is from other forms of storytelling, and realise more and more how much there is to learn about doing this work, and how rewarding it can be. It is a steep hill to climb for sure.
It sounds like stating the obvious of course, but the audience can’t see you. Your voice has to create the pictures. A wonderful mentor and teacher of mine and excellent narrator, Helen Lloyd, recently said something to me that really resonated for me. She said ‘Give the listener time to ‘see’ the image you have painted with your words.’ Adopting the right pace, keeping the story moving yet giving enough space for those images to form in the ‘eye’ of the listener is quite a skill.
There is no doubt that the vocal training I was lucky enough to receive at drama school supports me every day, and the work of reading, analysing and preparing a text for reading is in many ways similar to the way an actor would prepare a script. Homework, including research into the time in which the work is set, the world of the book in terms of the age, the customs and the environment of the characters all help the narrator to ‘know’ the material well enough to convey it through the author’s words.
The cast of characters, all created by the author, are to be played by you, the narrator. Freed from the constraints of physical appearance it is enjoyable and liberating to perform them, but of course technique is required to make them ‘live’, without visual help and to make sure they are distinct and repeatable.
There has been a great rush of interest in becoming audiobook narrators amongst actors who don’t usually work in that way, of course. With theatres closed and performers in need of alternative sources of paid work such investigation is sensible. Recording spaces have been improvised, invested in and adapted in many homes and the industry seems to have exploded with interest and popularity.
I know some actors have, as a result, discovered a new way of working that really suits them. Others will have been only too glad to head back to the rehearsal room now that it has become possible again. I know that I relish the combination allowing for both and work hard to keep both plates spinning.
As with other branches of acting work, (to keep the plate image going for a moment,) this kind of work doesn’t come ready-served. Alongside the narration itself comes the work of building a business… raising a profile, building not only skills and experience but a presence.
This of course is nothing new, but the approach to working so much from home is something that has been brought into the spotlight so much more over the past two years as so many more people have had to embrace it. It's a branch of the work I don’t mind admitting that I find a challenge, but one that seems to be recognised and supported by a whole raft of people offering support for that kind of ‘upskilling’. So another phase of the learning begins.
Adjoa Andoh, a wonderful audiobook narrator and actress (and school friend) said in an interview with Graham Norton I watched her in recently, that amongst the challenges the Narrator needs to take on are to do full justice to a well written book and, at other times, elevate the less well written book with your performance. Both scenarios demand skill and preparation and both bring their own rewards.
As I continue to explore and learn about this job I am enormously appreciative of the number of people I have met so far, through networking, taking courses, joining online forums and generally absorbing as much wisdom as I can access, who are generous, knowledgeable and encouraging to newer narrators.
There seems to be room for us all, and plenty of work to go around as audiobooks continue to grow in popularity throughout the world. The pleasant irony is that although the job requires you to be alone quite a bit in your recording space, there is a great sense of community in the audiobook world which is an unexpected and wholly welcome discovery!
Ruth Redman
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