 It’s what you don’t see or hear that makes things scarier. If you leave a little blank in parts of your horror, the readers’ have to fill that in with their own imagination. Sometimes, they’ll come up with something worse than you could. It’s that gut-punch of “they found/experienced something awful, but what there’s something worse…what was it???” Hello Russell, I hope all is well with you; as well as being an author, you are also a professional narrator; which came first? And what prompted you to move into your second artistic endeavour? I actually started writing first! I’ve been writing since I was in elementary school and wrote stories in a notebook by hand (and even provided my own poorly done illustrations). I tried self-publishing in the early 2010’s but didn’t realize what success in that area actually entailed, so I dropped off the writing radar for a while. I continued to write short stories and submit to magazines with two of my stories being accepted to a small publication called Sanitarium Magazine. I eventually found my true calling as a voice over talent and was fortunate enough to go full-time in that area, but I got my start narrating audio books. This led me to network with authors and such and I found a publisher that was willing to take a look at my self-published books for potential publishing through their company. Now, I’m here. Publishing my first trilogy (after one stand-alone novel) while living my dream as a VO talent! What was the first book you narrated, and how do you feel about your performance compared to how you developed as a narrator? Just like any artistic endeavor, you have to learn, grow, and improve. I read somewhere that your first youtube video, your first song, your first drawing, your first story isn’t going to be perfect. Just start doing what your passionate about and get better. The difference between my first book I narrated and my most recent is vastly different, but that means I improved. My first book was a 12-hour-long sci-fi romance called The Braxin King. It was the first bit of voice over I ever did and you can definitely tell. If you look back on some of your earlier work and feel a little cringy—whether its voice over, writing, sculpting, painting, or whatever it may be—that’s a good thing. It means you’ve improved. In voice over, this includes not only your skill but also your equipment and editing skills. All three have improved in my case and the feedback on my narration is quite positive…which always feels good. What's the biggest mistake that people make when narrating a book? Everyone’s voice over journey is a little different. It’s what makes this industry so great but also so frustrating. Some people come out of high school or college with acting classes and such and others find it later in life, like me. Some get tons of coaching before even starting on anything while others jump feet first and start narrating. I’m somewhere in the middle on that one. Some would say never try to narrate anything before getting coaching while others have just bought their first mic and started reading. With that in mind, I think the biggest mistake one can make when narrating a book is simply this: not doing it at all. If you’re an author and want to narrate your own book, you should definitely look into what it takes. It’s not as simple as sitting at your computer, turning on your computer mic, and reading. There’s the technical aspects to your audio file that make it viable for publication platforms, the time required not just to read but also edit the narration. So, if you want to narrate your own you should look into the details, but if you still want to do it on your own, you should still try! Not doing it at all is just one more regret you don’t want. If you have to hire a narrator, then so be it. We’re here. But don’t be afraid if you want to give it a go yourself—just make the proper preparations. Who would be your dream author to narrate for? So many…Stephen King, Laird Barron, J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, Andrzej Sapkowski, R.A. Salvatore, Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Ligotti, Patrick Rothfuss… I am fascinated by the dynamics of the process of narrating a book; how do you prepare for it? I try to keep my process simple for both myself and the author. I make sure I get a list of pronunciations from authors since I’ve dealt mostly in fantasy and sci-fi. I also ask for brief character and species descriptions so I can decide on vocal differences. Most of the time you don’t have a “Saturday Morning Cartoon” vibe to characters so I give subtle changes to tell characters apart. I subscribe to the school of thought that I’m telling a story directly into listeners ears, not performing a stage play. The feedback on my voice is that listeners love the gravelly, gentlemanly sound that I have and so I go for books of that nature to play on my strengths. And how do you tackle the process of narrating different characters? I always ask for brief descriptions and pronunciations. Just a few key traits is enough. I’m one person voicing sometimes dozens of characters, so subtle differences is often the key. Do you have any tips for those looking into becoming a narrator? Do some research! There’s more to it than just reading the book out loud. Everyone finds their own sound, of course, but there’s still a flow to audio book narration. Also, unless you’re going into a studio for a big publishing company you’ll be doing the editing yourself. Nowadays, most recording is done remotely so going into a studio is unlikely so you’ll need a space in your home to work. You’d be surprised how many VO talents work out of their closets or at least got their start working in their closets. The acoustics are surprisingly great! Also, make sure you’re ready for the commitment. Recording for a promo, commercial, or the like is fairly quick work. Audio books are a marathon, not a sprint. You’re looking at a 5-10 hour audio book and that’s just the finished product. For every finished hour, there’s at least 2-3 hours of work that goes into it; including the narrating and editing. And that’s for experienced narrators. I’m at about a 1.5-2:1 hour ratio, but beginners are looking at everywhere from 3 to 5 hours per finished hour. You can also find multiple platforms to get started. ACX is a popular one. You can record a few samples of you narrating books in your wheelhouse and upload them as samples and start auditioning! The other course of action, if you can afford it, is to get some coaching and cut a demo. Like I said, the journey is different for everyone! I would recommend research, first, personally. How about we put the cat amongst the pigeons for a minute? There is still this neverending discourse on social media about audiobooks not being "real reading" what are your thoughts on this? One of the things I did before becoming a VO was teaching high school English. I also have my MAT (Master’s of Arts in Teaching), so reading is something I’m pretty passionate about. In today’s world, any time you can get someone involved in a story, a narrative, characters, and the like, the vector to which they get involved shouldn’t be an obstacle. Yes, reading a book in a physical format is important, but if listening to audio books is what it takes to get someone into a story then let them enjoy it! It may lead them to reading physical copies. As an author, I just want people to enjoy my stories, settings, and characters so if they choose an audio book to do so, then I’m perfectly fine with that. Let's talk about your writing now; how would you describe your writing style concerning genre placement? I write mostly in fantasy and horror, particularly dark fantasy (so…fantasy horror). I think my writing style so far has leant itself to a “mystery” bent because of my preferred genre and authors, which is cosmic horror and authors like H.P. Lovecraft and Laird Barron and fantasy from Tolkien and Sapkowski. My stories tend to have a mysterious component that results in the characters not being too happy with what they find. I like to leave things out there for the reader to wonder about and even be afraid of what the end game is going to be: kinda good or very, very bad? It could very much go either way. I also follow the trend of Lovecraft’s idea: “don’t explain anything.” Horror tends to sometimes “overshow,” and that’s perfectly fine given what the creator is trying to do, but I prefer the kind of horror that drives readers nuts (including myself) with the “What really happened?” It’s what you don’t see or hear that makes things scarier. If you leave a little blank in parts of your horror, the readers’ have to fill that in with their own imagination. Sometimes, they’ll come up with something worse than you could. It’s that gut-punch of “they found/experienced something awful, but what there’s something worse…what was it???” Audiobooks are widely popular, but I have to put my hand on my heart, and as much as I would love to get into them, I can focus enough, and they seem to wash over me; what am I doing wrong? I have a hard time with audio books, too! But because I’m a narrator I nitpick when I hear narration so it’s my own doing. I honestly can’t offer any helpful advice here, unfortunately—except maybe save your audio book listening for times when it’s the only option you have. Like traveling in your car, waiting on an appointment, etc. I know that’s what a lot of people do. Why do you think audiobooks are continually gaining in popularity? For some of the reasons listed above, for one. Lots of commuting back and forth to work (which can literally take hours), waiting around on appointments, kid’s practices, and such. Also, it’s cheaper and more viable. Back in the day you had to listen to an audio book on multiple CD’s or a literal box of cassettes. Now you can download an audio book to your phone and have the whole thing right there; actually, you can have a whole library on your phone and listen at your leisure. Do your experiences as a narrator give you an insight into how to get the rhythm of a novel and the character's identities correct? Yes! It make me cautious about several things in my writing because I often read my work as I’m writing to see how it sound out loud. Your latest novel, Ashes of Aldyr, is described as a Lovecraft meets Tolkien, that's a heady mix of genre influences; what drew you to placing the novel within this type of genre fiction? My initial thoughts for The Obscured Throne Trilogy, of which Ashes of Aldyr is the first book, was, “What if a Tolkien-esque world was invaded by Lovecraftian abominations?” I also wanted to write a post-apocalyptic-style dark fantasy. This made for a good mix in my mind, as the apocalyptic event would be what brought these unspeakable things into the fantasy setting. Although the name changed, I at first called the event “The Fall” because I was literally looking at having a High Fantasy setting brought down to Low Fantasy in the post-apocalypse as the characters dealt with the world they now lived in—a literal “fall” from High Fantasy to Low Fantasy. So, that’s basically what you have in the books: different stories of different characters living a broken world where things that can’t be described are lurking in the forests, oceans, and the remains of the broken and uninhabitable cities of the old world. Why do you think that Tolkien and Lovecraft still have an enduring appeal? Especially with regards to Lovecraft and his views on race etc.? That consistently comes up in conversation with my friends and me in conversation around Lovecraft. Lovecraft is probably responsible for many of the horror elements we’re most familiar with since he influenced writers like Stephen King, Wes Craven, and many others. The characters, creatures, and settings of Lovecraft are all incredibly creative and intriguing. His troubled mind definitely leaves a dark stain on his legacy. He was agoraphobic, insulated, sickly, and had many other explanations for his views on race, but certainly nothing to excuse it. S.T. Joshi can probably explain all of it a lot better than I can, but there are definitely those who can’t read Lovecraft’s work because of those views. He appeared to be changing them towards the end of his life, but he died fairly young before he could try to redeem himself from his obviously racist viewpoints. Tolkien, of course, practically created modern fantasy as we know it. And then you have the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies from the early 2000’s, which still hold up today in terms of storytelling and effects. It brought fantasy into the fold as a mainstream genre that all people could enjoy. If not for LotR, we wouldn’t have Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, or anything else like that to enjoy on our screens! Not to mention, it spiked interest in fantasy altogether. People still get caught up with genre labels, and you describe Ashes of Alder as a "dark fantasy" from your perspective. What is the difference between dark fantasy, horror and fantasy? There are definitely some thematic differences between horror and fantasy, and I feel dark fantasy is more a subgenre of fantasy. Some say dark fantasy is also low fantasy, like Conan the Barbarian and Game of Thrones, where magic and dragons and mythical creatures aren’t at the forefront of the story. Dark fantasy also has darker themes, like the hero not coming out with a full win if they come out with at all or even alive. The world’s are grittier, maybe more “realistic” in terms of outcomes and repercussions for the characters. The world’s of dark fantasy are harsh, cruel, and the lives of many are bitter and hard-fought. Yes, the Lord of the Rings trilogy has moments like this, but compare it to something like Berserk or In the Name of the Wind and you can see the differences in the work. In a dark fantasy narrative like the video game Dragon Age, for example, elves aren’t an ancient and noble race; they’re second-class citizens if they live among humans and, in the forests, they struggle to maintain their culture and existence. Outright horror elements also exist much more heavily in dark fantasy. People read different books for different reasons; what do you look to connect with, say, a horror novel instead of a fantasy novel? My favorite aspect of horror is the unknown and the “gribbly” for lack of a better word. My favorite subgenre is cosmic horror, where humanity is inconsequential in the universe and there are things out there beyond our understanding, that escape the very bounds of our minds, and the characters that get even a glimpse of that knowledge are driven insane or drop dead on the spot from their consciousness caving in on itself. I love fantasy because of the escapism, the creativity, the majesty of its settings and my love for romantic medieval notions. Combining them into dark fantasy is like putting my chocolate and peanut butter together, if you will. I enjoy surrounding creepy villages, cults, towns with a dark secret, entities that are older than time and investigators/academics searching for some bit of knowledge and getting in too deep before they realize it. Mostly because this is so disconnected from real life that I can really just enjoy the story without any of life’s real dramas. There is a very similar world building in many fantasy novels; in terms of "familiar" fantasy worlds, does your book lie, and how did you ensure that your world felt fresh and not just a rehash of another world? In this trilogy, I wanted to take those tropes and turn them on their head. Who cares about goblins when there’s some giant thing just beneath the surface of the ocean outside the city that’s causing anyone who looks at it to walk languidly to their death off the cliff facing it? An underground dwarven kingdom? What happens when the world reshapes and mountains collapse from an apocalyptic event? Why has no one heard from dwarves since then? What terrors are they dealing with that have been awakened by reality itself turning against everyone? A lot of fantasy world-building often involves bustling cities, politics, and the interactions characters have with such places. Things change when the cities become the main targets of the otherworldly god-like beings and all become uninhabitable if not downright hostile to be in or around. Even more mysterious…what’s with this city that doesn’t seem to be affected at all? The nature of magic itself becomes altered as the history of the world of Alda (the setting of The Obscured Throne trilogy) becomes revealed over the course of the books. Despite the massive success of books, film, television, etc., fantasy and horror are frowned upon by those who don't consume them; how do we, as fans and creators, move past this? I think we just continue to do our work and write what we love! Horror and fantasy have certainly come a long way in my lifetime, where it’s more mainstream than ever and creative people are making new stories rather than relying on rehashing old favorites. Who would you say is the perfect audience for Ashes of Alder? Fans of dark fantasy, and horror and fantasy overall, will find something to like in Ashes of Aldyr and the upcoming second book, Ghosts of Alda. Cosmic horror fans will especially enjoy the nature of the horror in the book. Short story fans will like the structure of the novels as the narrative is told through multiple viewpoints with a few characters and story arcs comprising the core fate of the world. My favorite way of describing it is that it’s like a mosaic, with each story being a contained piece of that mosaic and building a bigger picture. Once the third book, Shadows of the Throne, is released, I’m hoping that the full mosaic will leave readers shuddering and thinking about the holistic terror of the trilogy long after they’ve finished the last page. Thank you for this brilliant interview Russell; for those interested in finding out more about your work, where should they head to? Thank you! Anyone who wants to know more can visit my website, www.russellarchey.com or my publisher’s site, www.5princebooks.com. They can also sign up for my newsletter on my site. Good reading everyone! Ashes of Aldyr |
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