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Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast
334. The Interpretive Art of Narrating Audiobooks: An Interview with Lorelei King
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Today I’m chatting with award-winning audiobook narrator, actress, and author Lorelei King. You might have heard her voice narrating The Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones, the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, or books by Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell. I’ve received a number of email messages from you about audiobooks - how they are made, what narrating is like, and how one gets a start in audiobook narration. All your questions shall be answered!
We start off talking about a place we have in common, deeply buried memories of sound, and about regional accents in large and small places.
Then Lorelei shares how she got her start, how she develops character voices, and how she creates distinctions between characters. She also talks about:
How she cares for her voice.
The impossibility of avoiding laughter at the word “gumpy.”
What to do when she can’t stop laughing.
What she does to keep track of multiple character voices.
The importance of sincerity when narrating sex scenes.
And who she thinks of or speaks to sometimes while she’s narrating.
We also discuss her new audiobook, Storyteller: How to Be an Audiobook Narrator, co-written with her business partner and engineer, Ali Muirden. I’ve been listening to their book and can happily recommend it if you’re remotely curious about audio narration. And, of course, we talk about what she’s reading, and listening to.
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