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I have voices in my head. No not the kind that tell you to do things. No, these voices are the ones I hear when I read. And lately, I've been paying a touch more attention to them than in the past, and it's all due to Readercon.
You see, at Readercon, I got to meet Richard Parks, and hear him read from his soon to be released novel, The Long Look. I noticed something very, very strange after that meeting. The voice of the story changed. Not the voice of the writing, that didn't change. But the voice I hear in my head, the "narrator" for all intents and purposes of the tale suddenly took on his actual voice. Most of what Parks read at that reading is the opening chapters, which it just so happens appeared in the short story "A Time for Heroes" and was included in his second collection Worshipping Small Gods--which I read. It originally appeared in the anthology: The Shimmering Door, which, it just so happens that I own, and read back in the late 90's when it came out. Which explains why that particular story felt so familiar when I'd read it last year in his collection. So, I read this story twice, long before I'd ever met in person the author and heard him read. What I noticed, however, after this reading is this: reading this story again, the voice in my head, telling me the tale, was now Park's own voice.
I have never had this happen to me before. Partly, I suspect, because I haven't been to very many readings. Mostly when I see authors, it's in a Q&A type environment where they discuss the processes of writing, with perhaps a very brief snippet of their text. And for the vast majority of the authors I've read, I've never met them in person, so the odds of their voice, that is, the actual speaking voice of the author, just hasn't come into play when reading their work. Perhaps I'm the only person who hears a story in his head, as if someone were reading the text aloud. (It's been suggested this is part of my problem with my poor reading speed, that if I can shut it off, I'll read much faster.) The person reading the text isn't, however, me. Rather, I seem to have a collection of voices, that will jump in and take over the storytelling. I don't know where I managed to pick up this cast from. I don't even know how my brain assigns the roles to each story or author. I can say this: its not always the same voice. I suspect that the story itself helps inform the choice. A male main character will most likely bring out a male voice. A female main character, often a female voice, though not always. Sometimes, if the story isn't first person, the "narrator" may default to a generic male voice, even if the story is mainly about a woman.
The speaking roles, however, will tend to be filled in with voice casting appropriate to the gender of the character. That is, when I read dialogue I hear voices there too, and those voices loosely correspond to the characters. I have noticed, sometimes in the past that when I see TV or movie versions of a story, that the actors voice and image sometimes encroach upon my own self-made casting of the part. Notable recent observances of it were during the short lived Dresden Files show, where the actors for Harry and Bob tended to drift in, and influence the characters going forward for some time after. Overall, though, those voices drifted out, especially as more time has passed. On the other hand, Mark Hamil is still the voice of Luke Skywalker in my head, and Harrison Ford, Han Solo, no matter how many stories with those characters I've read. I suspect that means that the first identifiable voice associated with a character sticks. But the difference there, is that in general (with the exception of voice over narration) movies and TV don't typically have that extra character, the one telling the tale. But stories always do. And so even if the character voices have been influenced in the past by actor portrayals, the whole voice of a story has never before been affected for me in quite the same way. And that is why it has struck me as a strange experience.
To make matters more weird, I've noticed this: the change of voice is localized. When I first noticed it, the influence was so strong, that I began to wonder if everything I ever read by Parks would be changed. But no. I pulled out a different story, with a rather different character (one of his Lord Yamada tales) and that story remained in what I assume is the original voice. I remained baffled. I wasn't bothered by the voice itself; it was smooth, a bit more tenor than I perhaps expected, and the accent while different from my own, has a melodious enough character that it's not a distraction. It just wasn't the voice I'd heard previously.
Over the past month or so, the voice has somewhat faded. Not completely, it's still there, but I suspect now it is the mere memory of voice, and may no longer accurately represent the actual speaking voice of the author. Perhaps, in another month, it will go away. Or perhaps from now on, every time I read a story in Tymon the Black's world, I'll hear the voice again. I wonder if, as I attend more readings, this will happen more often. Or, was it perhaps due to the fact that I started reading the same work right away that caused it. Would leaving more time between the reading and when I picked up the book have made a difference. I don't know.
So I wonder, has this ever happened to any of you?Do you hear the story told in your head as I describe? Or is your experience quite different? I"d be curious to know.
You see, at Readercon, I got to meet Richard Parks, and hear him read from his soon to be released novel, The Long Look. I noticed something very, very strange after that meeting. The voice of the story changed. Not the voice of the writing, that didn't change. But the voice I hear in my head, the "narrator" for all intents and purposes of the tale suddenly took on his actual voice. Most of what Parks read at that reading is the opening chapters, which it just so happens appeared in the short story "A Time for Heroes" and was included in his second collection Worshipping Small Gods--which I read. It originally appeared in the anthology: The Shimmering Door, which, it just so happens that I own, and read back in the late 90's when it came out. Which explains why that particular story felt so familiar when I'd read it last year in his collection. So, I read this story twice, long before I'd ever met in person the author and heard him read. What I noticed, however, after this reading is this: reading this story again, the voice in my head, telling me the tale, was now Park's own voice.
I have never had this happen to me before. Partly, I suspect, because I haven't been to very many readings. Mostly when I see authors, it's in a Q&A type environment where they discuss the processes of writing, with perhaps a very brief snippet of their text. And for the vast majority of the authors I've read, I've never met them in person, so the odds of their voice, that is, the actual speaking voice of the author, just hasn't come into play when reading their work. Perhaps I'm the only person who hears a story in his head, as if someone were reading the text aloud. (It's been suggested this is part of my problem with my poor reading speed, that if I can shut it off, I'll read much faster.) The person reading the text isn't, however, me. Rather, I seem to have a collection of voices, that will jump in and take over the storytelling. I don't know where I managed to pick up this cast from. I don't even know how my brain assigns the roles to each story or author. I can say this: its not always the same voice. I suspect that the story itself helps inform the choice. A male main character will most likely bring out a male voice. A female main character, often a female voice, though not always. Sometimes, if the story isn't first person, the "narrator" may default to a generic male voice, even if the story is mainly about a woman.
The speaking roles, however, will tend to be filled in with voice casting appropriate to the gender of the character. That is, when I read dialogue I hear voices there too, and those voices loosely correspond to the characters. I have noticed, sometimes in the past that when I see TV or movie versions of a story, that the actors voice and image sometimes encroach upon my own self-made casting of the part. Notable recent observances of it were during the short lived Dresden Files show, where the actors for Harry and Bob tended to drift in, and influence the characters going forward for some time after. Overall, though, those voices drifted out, especially as more time has passed. On the other hand, Mark Hamil is still the voice of Luke Skywalker in my head, and Harrison Ford, Han Solo, no matter how many stories with those characters I've read. I suspect that means that the first identifiable voice associated with a character sticks. But the difference there, is that in general (with the exception of voice over narration) movies and TV don't typically have that extra character, the one telling the tale. But stories always do. And so even if the character voices have been influenced in the past by actor portrayals, the whole voice of a story has never before been affected for me in quite the same way. And that is why it has struck me as a strange experience.
To make matters more weird, I've noticed this: the change of voice is localized. When I first noticed it, the influence was so strong, that I began to wonder if everything I ever read by Parks would be changed. But no. I pulled out a different story, with a rather different character (one of his Lord Yamada tales) and that story remained in what I assume is the original voice. I remained baffled. I wasn't bothered by the voice itself; it was smooth, a bit more tenor than I perhaps expected, and the accent while different from my own, has a melodious enough character that it's not a distraction. It just wasn't the voice I'd heard previously.
Over the past month or so, the voice has somewhat faded. Not completely, it's still there, but I suspect now it is the mere memory of voice, and may no longer accurately represent the actual speaking voice of the author. Perhaps, in another month, it will go away. Or perhaps from now on, every time I read a story in Tymon the Black's world, I'll hear the voice again. I wonder if, as I attend more readings, this will happen more often. Or, was it perhaps due to the fact that I started reading the same work right away that caused it. Would leaving more time between the reading and when I picked up the book have made a difference. I don't know.
So I wonder, has this ever happened to any of you?Do you hear the story told in your head as I describe? Or is your experience quite different? I"d be curious to know.
