Narration is the Act of Storytelling

Narration is the act of storytelling through the spoken word, using the human voice to narrate a body of text. Narrators read aloud texts such as books, missives, commercial messaging and scripts, narrating live at an event or recording voice over narration for use in other mediums such as television, radio, podcasts, audiobooks, and more. Voice overs are audio recordings that may be used in perpetuity, often stored and archived in digital form.

The human voice and narration

The art of narration, and also the ability to narrate, is comprised of a combination of several elements including the narrator's mental faculties which enable them to interpret a script and its context, the narrator's imagination to color the words, and prominent use of the narrator's voice to deliver a written message to their audience.

Each narrator possesses a unique voiceprint and no two voices are the same. Narrators also make definite choices when interpreting the text that is before them, resulting in content that is as individual as it is expressive.

History and development

Narration, sometimes called storytelling, was developed by ancient civilizations, claiming its earliest roots in prehistorical times through oral tradition, passing down stories and tales from person to person, or storyteller to storyteller over generations and across geographical boundaries through troubadours traveling to distant lands carrying news from one location to another.

Techniques

Narrating audiobooks is a marathon that requires the ultimate balancing act of artistic and technical endurance coupled with the ability to continuously suspend the audiences' disbelief.

Suspension of disbelief means that although the listener is quite aware that the narrator is only telling a story, no matter how fantastical, they decide to put that fact in the back of their mind to enjoy the show, suspending their disbelief in order to be entertained and embrace the narrator's world and a different reality as intended by the author.