The "Spicier" Side of Narrating

Steamy romance makes up a very popular and lucrative genre in the literary world and I’m curious about how a narrator handles the subject matter. A narrator must verbally act out those intimate scenes, saying words that many people only ever utter in the safety of a darkened room with someone they love and know intimately. A major comment I’ve seen in reviews is that male narrators should NEVER use a falsetto voice to portray a female character. There are other ways to get the listener to willingly suspend disbelief and buy into the performance. For instance, a male narrator might add a touch more breath to his voice, or speak more hesitantly or softly, based on the persona of the female character he’s voicing. Women narrators who bottom-out their voice in a strained baritone delivery when narrating a male character also risk ruining the listener’s buy-in, not to mention their narrating voice. Many female narrators have found that adding a touch of gravel (aka “vocal fry”) to their voice goes a long way in bringing a male character to life. These are just a couple of technical aspects of narrating dual point of view romances.Now, let’s delve into what goes through some female narrators’ minds when voicing this very sensitive genre.

Read the entire article in the October 2016 issue of InD'Tale magazine.

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