Julia Whelan climbed into the double-walled, foam-insulated booth in her home office near Palm Springs, Calif. In preparation, she had stopped drinking alcohol the night before, had avoided dairy since waking at 6 a. m. and had run through the humming and vocalizing of her warm-up exercises. Her glass jar filled with water, her Vaseline lip therapy at hand, she was ready to work.
Whelan, 38, the comforting, confident female voice behind more than 400 audio-books, is so sought-after that six months' notice is required. Once she has taken on a project, she reads through the book once or twice, deciding on themes to highlight when she gets into the recording booth by using different tones and accents, and emphasizing certain words. "Narrating a book really is a performance, "she said, "and it can be harder to do than acting, because I can't use my eyes or facial expression to communicate something to the audience. "
Her narrating voice, slightly different from her regular speech, is crisp and low-pitched. There is no singsong, no up speak, "I have an absolute affection on her voice, with a detached but not uninterested tone that makes her a very persuasive storyteller. When I listen to Julia read my stories, it sounds like she is calling you over to tell you a great story. "said Olivia Nuzzi, NewYork magazine's Washington correspondent.
Flynn, an American writer and film maker, decided against rereading the book Gone Girl, opting instead to listen to the narration when preparing to write the screenplay for the film adaptation. "Julia gave me the benefit of listening to Amy and seeing the world through her eyes, "Flynn said. Just before the pandemic, Whelan began her writing Thank You for Listening. She learned about her writing when she experienced it as a narrator. "There is something about it that changes when you're performing it, "Whelan said, "I read the book out loud during every stage of its revisions but it's different when you sit down and have the microphone in front of you. When I finally am inhabiting all the characters, the story comes to life. "
