Establishing the tone of an Audiobook

Establishing the Tone of an Audiobook

“The tone you establish for an audiobook sets the stage upon which the story unfolds. It establishes the book’s mood and emotional atmosphere.A film or theater director creates with lights, angles, color, set, sound effects, music, and cast. You Have the Power to Create With Just Your Voice and Your Imagination.” - Taro Meyer

When you narrate an audiobook, you must ask yourself: What Is the book? Is it...…a high-octane action adventure?…a gentle story of redemption?…a wistful remembrance of a time gone by…a serious exploration of a scientific discovery? Is it sarcastic? Comedic? Wry? Yearning?

Actors know you can’t play a tone; you can’t play an emotion, or a state of being. But by identifying the overall tone of the audiobook, you will make choices as you read that are active; you’ll do something: tease, brag, punch, pounce in your reading. You’ll caress images, or describe them with sarcasm, or tell the story for every ounce of humor you can express.“Naming a tone doesn’t constrict or limit you; it gives you a framework for your reading. You can express many different emotions as the story progresses, you’ll just express them within that framework. If you’ve decided the tone of an audiobook is a frothy romp, you won’t make your frothy heroine suddenly sound as if she’s in a Greek tragedy when she gets angry. She’ll be frothily angry, or frothily irate, or frothily indignant. You don’t have to limit yourself. There are lots of ways to froth!” - Taro Meyer

Sometimes the tone will be obvious. Sometimes, it requires you to “personally connect to the story” to discover what emerges for you.
For a deeper dive into this and other topics, please check out my book Audiobook Acting.