You might recall that I once tried to launch an audiobook through Google Play, using their charmingly robotic automatic voiceover. If you missed out on that audiobook experiment, consider yourself lucky. But if you’d like to reacquaint yourself with the rise and fall of that venture, you can check out An Adventure in Audiobooks.

I thought that was the end of my audiobook experiment but the idea wouldn’t leave me alone. After all, audiobooks are hugely popular and it is the only format my books aren’t available in. Audible quickly showed itself as the place to be and towards the end of last year I set up the project to see where it would take me. Throughout the process of finding a narrator I had the opportunity to listen to some very talented narrators, but Laura Jennings rose to the top of my list. Hearing her audition, I just knew I had to move forward with this idea and a few months down the line, here we are.  

Drifting in a Dream is now available on Audible, Amazon and Apple Books. Yes, you can now enjoy the first book in the Power Wielders Series as an audiobook, read by the fantastic Laura Jennings.

I hope you’ll enjoy hearing Drifting in a Dream come to life as much as I have. It’s available now on Audible, Amazon and Apple Books!

To celebrate the launch of Drifting in a Dream, I asked Laura Jennings about her work on Drifting in a Dream and what life as a narrator is like behind the scenes.

1. What drew you to narrating Drifting in a Dream?

I love books that are set in the ‘real’ world but with a fantasy element and Drifting in a Dream ticked that box, beautifully! I also love being able to voice a range of characters, so that was a definite draw, too.

2. How did you prepare for narrating this audiobook?

I read the story through once to get a feel for the overall narrative and the direction it took Kaiya and the other characters. I liaised with the author about their preferences, read through the character descriptions and planned what their voices would sound like based on their personalities etc. Then I cracked on! 

3. Did you have a specific approach for voicing different characters?

It can be quite tricky to do very different voices for characters of the same age and gender (as with Kaiya, Ashley and Taylor) so, instead, I thought about their personalities and the energy of their individual voices and tried to portray that as much as I could. With other characters, I tried to embody the essence of who they were, occasionally adding a bit of an accent, like with Eva and her pals. Eva came across as a quite uptight, bitter, girl-about-town kind of character and she acted like she’d seen a few things in the world, which led me to give her a London accent as I felt it helped to portray those qualities.

4. Were there any particular scenes or lines that were challenging to narrate?

The scenes with Eito, Benji’s Grandad, were tricky but all the more fun for that!

5. What was your favourite part of narrating this book?

It became more and more fun as I went through and begun to get to know all of the characters better and felt like I was going on the journey with them. I really enjoyed the scenes towards the end with the Echo and the female Fragment as it’s fun to keep swapping characters whilst still trying to maintain fluency in the narration!

6. Which character’s voice or personality did you enjoy bringing to life the most?

That’s a tricky one as I enjoyed them all but, if I was forced into a corner, Ashley was really interesting to voice given her confidence, energy and sarcasm!

7. Did any part of the story resonate with you personally?

I think I’m a bit of a mash up of all of the characters!

8. If you could step into the world of Drifting in a Dream, which character would
you be? Would you wield a power?

Ooo, that’s a tricky one. I’m not sure what character I’d be but I would definitely have a power! I think being a water wielder would be amazing!

9. Do you have any pre-recording rituals or techniques to get into the right
mindset?

I always get myself a hot drink first. When I first sit down to record, I start with some vocal exercises to warm up a bit, then I read at least a page of the text out loud (without recording) to get myself into the zone. 

10. How did you get into audiobook narration?

I have a good friend, Imogen Church, who is an incredibly successful audiobook narrator and I was inspired by her.

12. What advice would you give to aspiring audiobook narrators?

I’d say that if you want to have a go, just go for it! ACX is a great platform so just sign up and see where it takes you.

13. Where can listeners find more of your work?

Audible is the best place to find other books I have narrated. 

14. What do you hope listeners take away from Drifting in a Dream?

I just hope that I have done the story and the characters justice so people take away what an excellent story it is and are hungry for more!

A huge thank you to Laura for her fantastic work on Drifting in a Dream. Hopefully, this won’t be the last Power Wielders Book you can listen to as an Audiobook. Now, sit back, relax and dive into a new adventure…

Laura Jennings

Audibe Narrator

Loved listening to Laura? Find more of her work on Audible!