When my son was a small boy, I enjoyed reading story books aloud to him, and I believe that he appreciated it. I also enjoyed listening to stories read aloud when I was a child. As a former educator, I often read aloud or had my students read aloud some of the stories we would later discuss in class. There is something about hearing the story read aloud that makes it come alive to a reader.

I recently adapted my novel, Sacred Fires, for audio book format. I used AI for narration on Google Play. It proved an interesting experience as I went through the text of my novel and had various voices for the different characters. It also reminded me of how when I am in the draft stage of a story, I feel as if the characters speak to me. Strange as that might sound to someone who doesn’t write fiction, it helps with creating a story.

When I taught writing, I had a student who mentioned that I told the class about characters speaking to the writer. At first she didn’t believe that until it happened to her as she wrote her own short story. What do the characters speak about? They might speak about the events, how they’re feeling, or give the dialogue.

Since I’ve been writing for quite awhile, and I have written and published a variety of books including young adult, paranormal romance, and historical romance, I’ve learned to tune into the characters as they speak.

So, it felt thrilling to use technology, AI,  to assign various voices to the various characters in Sacred Fires. Hearing them made the story come alive, and it was a lot of fun. I’m hoping that book will appeal to those who enjoy hearing stories read aloud, or those who find it easier to listen to an audio book.

https://play.google.com/store/books/category/audiobooks?hl=en_US&gl=US