How can listening to an audiobook help improve your writing?
Truth be told it never occurred to me that it could be a useful tool. Until one day while working on the Sword of Tilk Trilogy I realized I could hear the narrator of the audiobook I was listening to at work read the book as I wrote it.
This gave me pause.
I visualize each scene and snippet of dialogue before and as I write it. It had never occurred to me to hear it as it might be read for an audiobook.
I found that I liked it.
Most audiobook compilations hire professional readers to create the audiobook. These readers have years of experience under their belts. Much like actors bring characters to life, these readers breathe life into a book simply by reading it.
"Hearing" someone else read what I wrote helped me to determine where the emphasis lay. It helped me find areas which needed strengthening as well as areas which might require a lighter touch.
It gave greater voice to my characters. Just as visualizing helps to describe them, listening to the reader in my head helped me hear the cadence and rhythm of their voices. This in turn helped me see and better describe their facial expressions and body movements.
It was also beneficial in writing action and descriptive passages. A good, professional audiobook reader is capable of intensifying those moments with as much emotion and drama as when reading dialogue.
Check out some of these audiobooks at your local library:
Check to see if some of your favorite books or authors are available on audiobook. Listen to them, pay attention to the cadence and rhythm of the reader’s voice. Then imagine that voice reading your book as you write it.
“Hearing” the book as it would be read may help you determine where and what to emphasize, may help you create dialogue and description that you might have otherwise overlooked.
It brings yet another dimension to writing and breathing life into your writing. That which heightens your writing experience will be passed on to the reader experience.
Pen has self-published 20 titles in print and ebook formats. Her latest endeavor, Nero’s Fiddle, can be found here: http://bit.ly/1rsEQFX Follow her on Twitter @penspen, visit her website at www.penspen.info or follow her blog www.mytuppence.weebly.com Contact her at mytuppenceblog at yahoo.com to inquire about proofreading, editing and formatting services.
Truth be told it never occurred to me that it could be a useful tool. Until one day while working on the Sword of Tilk Trilogy I realized I could hear the narrator of the audiobook I was listening to at work read the book as I wrote it.
This gave me pause.
I visualize each scene and snippet of dialogue before and as I write it. It had never occurred to me to hear it as it might be read for an audiobook.
I found that I liked it.
Most audiobook compilations hire professional readers to create the audiobook. These readers have years of experience under their belts. Much like actors bring characters to life, these readers breathe life into a book simply by reading it.
"Hearing" someone else read what I wrote helped me to determine where the emphasis lay. It helped me find areas which needed strengthening as well as areas which might require a lighter touch.
It gave greater voice to my characters. Just as visualizing helps to describe them, listening to the reader in my head helped me hear the cadence and rhythm of their voices. This in turn helped me see and better describe their facial expressions and body movements.
It was also beneficial in writing action and descriptive passages. A good, professional audiobook reader is capable of intensifying those moments with as much emotion and drama as when reading dialogue.
Check out some of these audiobooks at your local library:
- The Passage by Justin Cronin, read by actor Edward Hermann
- Any of the Dexter series, most read by author Jeff Lindsay himself
- Any of James Rollins’ Sigma Force novels
Check to see if some of your favorite books or authors are available on audiobook. Listen to them, pay attention to the cadence and rhythm of the reader’s voice. Then imagine that voice reading your book as you write it.
“Hearing” the book as it would be read may help you determine where and what to emphasize, may help you create dialogue and description that you might have otherwise overlooked.
It brings yet another dimension to writing and breathing life into your writing. That which heightens your writing experience will be passed on to the reader experience.
Pen has self-published 20 titles in print and ebook formats. Her latest endeavor, Nero’s Fiddle, can be found here: http://bit.ly/1rsEQFX Follow her on Twitter @penspen, visit her website at www.penspen.info or follow her blog www.mytuppence.weebly.com Contact her at mytuppenceblog at yahoo.com to inquire about proofreading, editing and formatting services.