. . . as we used to say in the Olden Days.
Anyway. I've talked about how useful I think listening to audio books can be for writers. Listening--at least for me--helps me understand things like pacing, creating suspense, setting a scene. I recommend.
The only requirement I have is that my reader has a British accent of some kind--especially if the book is set in Britain. Or actually anywhere abroad. I'll never forget my disappointment when I started listening to Pillars of the Earth--A NOVEL ABOUT CATHEDRAL BUILDING IN ENGLAND, FOR THE LOVE OF PETE--and the narrator sounded like that guy who used to narrate those nature films on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with his flat midwestern accent.
NOT ACCEPTABLE, PEOPLE.
A flat midwestern accent might be okay as background noise for footage of cheetahs preying on gazelles. But that's about it.
Again anyway. Right now I'm listening to some Scottish Noir--a novel called The Complaints by Ian Rankin--and thankfully the narrator is Scottish. He reminds me of the cab driver we had last summer in Glasgow who told us that most Americans think, "my accent is dead sexy."
And you know what? It totally, totally was.
5 comments:
I recorded my children's voices, long ago, capturing the first time they could read a book by themselves. Captured them on an 8-track tape. Yeah, brilliant, dad.
Maybe a second career for my husband? If you want to do your books on tape, I happen to know a guy! ;)
I quite liked The Complaints. But I have never given audio books on 8 track tape so much as a try. I would rather listen to the same part of the same Fleet Foxes song over and over again and sing along with in the car. That's just how I am.
I love THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH and when I read it (in my head) I totally had a British Accent.
I'm totally going to start listening to books on tape again. With scottish accents.
The Harry Potter books were the best to listen to.
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