Part 2 of I missed pod-aware :(

[lunchy_munchy]

Back to  Part 1.

Same warnings apply! Some of this stuff veers off course wildly, gets kind of weirdly heavy and personal and may actually offend you because I don't filter out my thoughts and therefore probably sound incredibly ignorant.

The rest of Lunchee's podaware ramblings!

Download the whole session (53 MB, ~1:00:00) or individually:

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Comments

[lunchy_munchy]

I've only listened to a handful of audiobooks, and only two of those had female narrators. Funnily enough, they were a part of an ensemble cast and were definitely the better readers (the menfolk overacted terribly!!) I'd love to listen to more, but books narrated with female main characters aren't generally books I want to read, being rom coms and the like. It's a big part of why podfics are so appealing - women are reading stories about women and men having adventures and fighting and all sorts of fun things. I wonder what it is about the professional female readers you've listened to that is so off putting? If you figure it out, please share!

I am so happy that you're commenting more and more now ♥ I need to up my game in this territory as well! Frequent commenters really do build a rapport with each other too - everyone likes seeing a friendly username :) Unfortunately in podfic not getting feedback is sort of the norm, but regardless of that we're still powering on! (Still, please like uuuussssss).

Don't worry about your lack of practice! I can safely say to you that before podfic I have never done any storytelling, public speaking, etc. MY earlier podfics are really terrible, but with heaps of practice and support from the podfic community I think I've improved somewhat, and my enthusiasm for reading my favourite stories aloud hasn't wavered. Come join us! Like I said, the more people podfic, the more prevalent the word 'podfic' will be, and hopefully one day fandom at large won'y need to have the concept of a 'podfic' explained to them :) And we might get a few more listeners besides!

Also, an artist friend of mine uses podfic when she's drawing too! Isn't it amazing how many people think this is a good idea? Anyway, sorry for the distraction! Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments, and I hope your essay goes well!

[kdheart]

I don't really have any issues when it comes to ensemble casts, but those are rather rare. I think what bothered me most was when they read as if they were reading for children and the book was clearly mature in nature or when they were trying too hard on the male voices. I'm not saying there aren't terrible male narrators out there (gods, there's plenty of those), but I've been lucky enough to stay away from them. Apparently, I've only been unlucky with the girls. Also, most of the stuff I listened to was read by guys, regardless if the main character was female or not. I firmly recomend the Sherlock Holmes audiobooks (which you can get for free, by the way), the narrator is brilliant and I especially love the voice he does for Watson, anything read by Simon Prebble and any of the Discworld audiobooks.

I miss those times when I just read to my sister, though I don't think my throat would forgive me if I tried it again (hours of reading like an idiot without stopping to drink some water and then finding I had a sore throat and wondering how that happened). I've learned my lesson - smaller bits and lots of tea.

The essay isn't going anywhere, unfortunately. My brain goes blank whenever I start working on it. I don't even need distractions any more, at one point I simply found myself staring at the screen saver and wondering when that came on. I'm in the 'throw everything at it' phase now.

Well, I've got one more week of exams and essays. A friend of mine gave me permission to record one of her Sherlock/Dr Who fics and I'll probably have fun playing with that (either that, or it will turn out to be a suicide mission - for a fic so short, there's a hell of a lot of characters!)

[lunchy_munchy]

I believe in you! You can defeat that damned essay!

I can see why ensemble casts are rare, and really I think they only got away with it in the ones I listened to because the books switch points of view. If you're interested at all, they were 'shiver' and 'linger' by Maggie Stiefvater. It wasn't particularly enthralling, and the plot was an annoying kind of 'nothing exists except our love for each other!' and good lord, the guy who read in 'shiver' was atrocious (and perhaps I wasn't the only one who thought so because he was replaced in the second audiobook).

It's interesting that guys also narrated books from a female leads point of view. What kind of books were they? Have you encountered any the other way around? There's got to amazing female pro readers out there, they can't just exist in podfic land! I wonder if Bernadette Peters ever read an audiobook?

I am DEFINITELY going to check out those Sherlock Holmes audiobooks. Right after I get through The Count of Monte Cristo. Thank you for all the recs, I can't wait to devour them! To date, the best audiobook I've listened to is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, narrated by Alan Corduner. That man can read like no one's business! (It is unfortunately not free, but you might be able to find a copy floating around the net somewhere...)

Those problems you mentioned about the female narrators frighten me. I hope I don't commit the same mistakes!!

smaller bits and lots of tea.

I can't tell you how solid a plan this is. A+! I'm very excited by this crossover you speak of! There can never be enough WhoLock. Or Who crossovers in general. And don't worry about the mass of characters! Dialogue tags are your friends :) And since you're friends with the person who wrote it, you can ask them if it's alright if you stick some more in there if it helps to clear up who is talking! Good luck!

[kdheart]

Best ensemble cast audiobook I've come across - the 'His Dark Materials' series, by Philip Pullman. It has a huge cast and, with very few exceptions on the part of the actors playing the children, it was as close to perfect as you can get.

I've tried listening to the Blood Books, but there's something about the reader that just turns me off. I've listened to a couple Anita Blake books, and the reader is OK for the most part... and then she tries to to a male voice and I burst out laughing (I should also mention that before those, I had never listened to anything with a more... graphic content, and it was really awkward to go through the sex scenes when the guy sounded like someone was squeezing- you get the point). And these were the good ones. I think it was some cheesy romance novel where the reader sounded like she was reading to a 5 year old.

The Holmes audios are read by John Telfer (there happens to be more than one free audios of Sherlock Holmes).

As for my all time favourite audiobooks, I'd have to go with 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell', 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', the Sally Lockhart series, 'Casanova' (read by Cumberbatch) and a few others that I can't think of right now.

I'll definitely give The Book Thief a shot - I was just waiting for someone to recommend it, actually :D

No, so far, all the podfic readers I've come across are brilliant. It took me a while (as in more than 10 minutes) to get used to tinypinkmouse, but she had already won me over with her writing.

The essay still isn't done. I gave in an took a nap. Going back to writing it now. Really. Honest. I'm not procrastinating or anything.

[lunchy_munchy]

You have given me sooo many audiobooks to check out! Thank you!

I remember reading the first few Anita Blakes and liking them...until Anita stopped being cool and started doing things like sleeping with every supernatural guy that looked at her sideways and developing powers upon powers upon powers. Also that author really needs to have a good, long think about how she could describe how 'old' supernatural beings 'feel'.

This being fandom and all, sex scenes are abundant! Some readers are super gifted at them, and some readers won't touch them. I personally don't have qualms about sex scenes themselves, but I somehow sympathise with the female readers you've mentioned because they are fucking hard. Literally, I am simulating sex sounds and am pretending I am having sexy times with a person who is also me. I must be a gigantic prude because while I have no problem reading it, reading it aloud is so... and you know, fandom sex scenes are comparatively much better realised than in M&B novels! Imagine the poor person reading the Stephen King love scenes aloud.

I cannot praise The Book Thief enough! I didn't know anything about it before picking it up, and after five minutes I LOVED IT. Allan Corduner is immensely talented in not only narrating, but also in his brilliant character voices. His pacing and his emphasis really make the story come alive, all of the words seem crucial, whereas I know had I been reading it by myself I might have skimmed over them. As the novel is set in Germany, he also affects an accent for most all the dialogue, and I'm not an expert, but the actual German sounds really great, too. He's just got this brilliant, spellbinding voice that I envy so much.

Anyway, thanks so much for being brilliant. Since you are someone who has listened to a lot of audiobooks, it's incredibly generous and kind and lovely that you think we're doing a good job. We love podficcing, and it is genuinely thrilling to know this, and feedback like this gives me motivation like you wouldn't believe. Which, by the way, I hope you found enough of yourself to get you through your essay ;)

[kdheart]

You're welcome.

I'm finally done with the exams and essay's and I've managed to get home for a weak just before the roads were closed off due to the crappy weather (which means 8 hours of listening to podfics without anything else to bother me). There was a blizzard last week that blew away some cables or something and the dorm and half the neighbourhood was cut off from the Internet, but I was lucky to get kidnapped by a friend who gave me some of her notes, fed me and allowed me to use her computer to send the last essay just a couple of days late (not to mention that the prof was really nice to let me send it in late).

I've finally gotten my hands on The Book Thief and a friend of mine remembered she's read it and started enthusing over it, so I can't wait to listen to it on my way back to Uni.

Oh, the sex scenes. Well, what I've ran into so far in podfic was really good - well written and well read. They're the reason I stopped reading aloud to my sister, though - I really have no idea how I could have explained it to my mother.

And I tried recording my friend's fic this morning. I need more practice. And some more tea. But I think I've read it enough times today to stop stuttering on stuff like "blue box" and "consultant detective" when I give it another go tomorrow.

[lunchy_munchy]

Congratulations on your essay submission and starting on your podfic! Hurray! Don't worry about the stuttering, I think all the readers you speak to will tell you the easiest words will trip them up. Lately for me, 'Sherlock' doesn't even sound like a real word anymore.

Your description of snow makes me envious. There is no such thing down under.

Explicit love scenes would be a bit embarrassing to have to explain to the parentals D: And you can't really fade to black either, if the scene furthers the plot or develops characterization! Tragedy!

I really, really think you will enjoy the Book Thief, and I am excited that you'll be able to listen to it! Yesssssssssss!