13229: True Or False: Non-Fiction Is Easier To Narrate Than Fiction?

Raw transcript:

just a quick reminder don’t make the
mistake of thinking that a non-fiction
book is going to be easier to do than a
fiction book different but not
necessarily easier we make some
assumptions about fiction versus
non-fiction that I’d like to remind you
aren’t the best most wise assumptions to
make and we’ll do that in this episode
of the VO Heroes podcast
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i will hear new audiobook narrators or
audiobook narrators that are a little
frightened of doing fiction make this
statement i just do non-fiction i only
do non-fiction because I don’t do
character voices i don’t do accents and
dialects uh I’m not interested in
fantasy or murder mysteries or I just
like the facts ma’am and I just want to
remind you that a non-fiction book
doesn’t necessarily have fewer
challenges than a fiction book does it
may have you know chemical names and
scientific terms and medical terminology
and geographic locations and ways of
pveying information to the listener that
may be very different from uh a fiction
book and I also think that people are
unnecessarily frightened sometimes
because they’ve never done it before
they’re the fear of failure uh they’re
frightened sometimes of the character
work involved sometimes in fiction books
sometimes you are designing very
fanciful characters but most of the time
it’s just a simple nudge towards what
that character wants what that character
is trying to achieve in the case of a
villain what that character is trying to
destroy or stop another character from
getting or in the case of a of a
sidekick how they’re trying to help
another character get something done if
we pay attention to what the motivations
are of the character the character work
becomes almost second nature i swear to
God even if you don’t feel like you are
a terrific character voice kind of
person I just want to give you an
invitation just give it a shot
and don’t worry about being super
world-class spectacular at it just tell
a great story that’s all you have to do
the listener’s
requirements are that they understand
the story and that you’re sharing that
story with them in an entertaining and
informative way their requirements are
not that you understand the difference
between a West Texas accent and an
Alabama accent and a panhandle of
Florida accent and a South Carolina
accent and a Virginia accent those are
all southern accents to a
degree with various shades but the
average listener is not going to be
sitting there going I got to make a note
about that in the review and if they do
so what your job is to entertain not to
meet somebody else’s standards and I
just don’t want you to shy away from the
opportunity to do a fiction book because
you don’t think you’re good enough to do
it if you’re doing audiobook narration
and you’ve done non-fiction books you’ve
had dialogue you’ve had exposition
you’ve had drama and plot points because
an inventor struggles to bring their
product to market or a political
position is a a moment of of uh of
guidance or of persuasion all of the
elements that you think are not in a
non-fiction book but are in a fiction
book are in a non-fiction book a plot
and a climax and a day numa and all of
those things in storytelling that make a
great story whether it’s based in
fiction or based in non-fiction doesn’t
really matter give yourself a shot i’m
just saying take a chance you might be
really surprised at how good you’ll be
what are your thoughts let me know on
vioheres.com hit the like button if you
like what you’re hearing you can hit the
subscribe button subscribe to the
channel hit the notification bell and
you’ll be told when the next episode
comes out i’d love for you to do that
share this
link with some other voice talent
audiobook narrator that might be a
little hesitant to doing uh fiction
books and it also works in
reverse you might not want to do
non-fiction books because you’ve been
telling yourself a story that’s for
another episode i’m David H lawrence the
17th i thank you so much for watching
and for listening and I will see you in
the next episode of the VO Heroes
podcast
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(from YouTube)