Last week, while listening to the newly completed audiobook of The Moon the Sun Forgot, a strange thing happened: I began enjoying my story.
It took some time to get used to Sarah Kisko's voice. After all, for 30 years, Max and Kassia have really only ever existed in my head. But suddenly, they were out there, existing in the real world. Their voices being performed by a professional who'd breathed life into them in a way I could never have imagined. My apprehension withered, and for the first time, there was distance between me and the work I created. I was enjoying my novel—actually enjoying it. Yes, I noticed a couple cringe-worthy sentences I wish I could erase and several that need editing. Still, once I let the narrator's performance take hold, I began to appreciate the story like never before. In fact, Sarah did such a fantastic job that, at certain points, I simply couldn't believe those were my words she was speaking. It was the kind of emotional experience I never knew I needed.
In one particular chapter, Sarah had to narrate and perform the roles of six different people—with one switching on and off a Spanish accent like a light switch. I was floored. I never imagined anyone having to do that, or else I would've been more restrained when assigning accents and using various languages and words. Latin? It's in there. A language other than English? It's in there. Complicated scientific naming conventions? It's in there. Had our narrator suffered a mental breakdown, I would've been horrified but not surprised. To her credit, Sarah performed like a superstar, and I wish everyone would take a moment to hear how amazing she is.
Jumping around here, it wasn't easy choosing a narrator. We received several auditions from Snowdog Audio. All were good, and many factors played into our final decision. I've never been in a situation where I had to pick one person over another, and if the budget had allowed, I would've loved having them all in a full-cast recording. In the end, though, we chose Sarah, and after hearing the completed audiobook, I couldn't be happier with her work.
I never gave thought to having an audiobook of my novel. But after what I heard last week, it's become one of the highlights of this strange, amazing, terrifying journey I've been on this past year.
コメント