Elizabeth Evans Interview
Hello, book lovers! Welcome back to my Narrator spotlight (oh, but performers, they are) interviews! Today we are featuring Elizabeth Evans (well-known for her narration of Sarah J. Maas’ books)! Other interviews include Barrie Kreinik, Imogen Church, Karissa Vacker, Hillary Huber, Amy Landon, and Angela Dawe (not in any specific order). I’ve also posted a Top Ten Tuesday Narrator! Please check it out!
Elizabeth Evans, What Are You?
Yes. Let’s all do it together, every post! Shall we?
I gave a list of general titles- narrator, actor, voice-over, etc… to find out exactly what narrators are (they aren’t cartographers or Sun Summoners, sorry, Darkling).
Human!
This is a fantastic answer… I should have thought of that answer as a choice!
The Narrator’s World/Pandemic…
If I’m recording, it’s a lot of water and tea and chapstick and sitting and stretching and apologizing to our cat, who’s upset that I was either a) gone at a studio all day or b) in our home booth all day, not giving her the attention she obviously deserves. Luckily narrating is only one of the things I do, so I find a good balance with other types of work.
Earlier in my career, I was recording too much, and especially during the pandemic, I found it borderline soul-crushing to be in a small dark room for 8 hours a day reading out loud by myself while trying to self-record. Even if you’re working with a remote engineer, there’s someone listening & it makes a tremendous difference. Plus, it’s someone to joke with. I like to joke a lot, especially if the book is dark, which seems to be a trend in the past few years. Lots of murder books.
You see why I love her- I mean, yes, Nina but LOTS OF MURDER BOOKS!
I have a booth in my apartment where I do all commercial, video game, narrative podcast (etc.) sessions. During the pandemic, I used it for audiobooks, but now I request to be in the studio every time. I would much rather be with people, and also, it’s literally a coat closet we converted, so it’s very tiny and, after 8 hours, very hot. During the lockdown, I narrated a bunch of books at 96 degrees. We put a thermometer in there at one point.
Bloopers
Once during the lockdown, I was doing a book for Penguin Random House, and something had gone wrong with my equipment (I’m not an engineer, so a lot of the technical elements are lost on me). Luckily I had sent a sample before starting because I was concerned about my lack of technical prowess, and I stopped about 30mins in to pee. I had 14 missed calls from PRH and a bunch of emails saying, “Stop! Stop recording! Stop! We need to adjust ____ & start over. what you are doing is unusable!” Luckily half an hour is no big deal. A full session would’ve been a cause for wine.
Preparation and Routines
Favorite Book and Character
I love Sarah J. Maas’s books, partially because of Sarah’s gorgeous worldbuilding & the unique swagger of her anchoring characters and partially because I started narrating Throne of Glass when I was an undergrad and grew up alongside Aelin. I’ve been working with Sarah for many years now. She’s hands down the most generous, collaborative gem of an author to work with, and she’s totally invested in audiobooks. We’ll chat several times about pronunciations before I start recording, and I’ll email her character samples (mostly me being like, could this druid have a jersey accent? fun texture or hard pass?’), she’ll give feedback, we’ll catch up about non-audiobook things. It’s been really cool to see how our lives have changed since I recorded that first book – finding partners, moving, starting a family (her, not me – yet! ah!), etc. It’s rare to have a connection with an author over that much time.
Favorite Genre
Nope. I just like a balance between them all. Give me vampire prom one day and a biochemist’s dissertation the next.
Favorite Narrator
The late, great, unmatchable Katy Kellgren.
What Do You Do To Get Through A Book You Loathe (Courtesy Of Imogen Church)
About Elizabeth Evans
From her website (linked below)
Thank you to Elizabeth Evans and MacMillan Audio for supporting these spotlights.
Elizabeth Evans is an actress, writer, voiceover actor, and narrator.
Acting: TV: FBI: Most Wanted (CBS) film: Where is Kyra? (Sundance, Killer Films), Another Day Gone By (Foolish Gentleman Films), Mommy Heist (France Télévisions), Days Like This (Foolish Gentleman Films), theatre: The Way of the World written & directed by Theresa Rebeck (Dorset Theatre), The Christians (Playwrights Horizons, chorus).
Writing: Competition. For inquiries, please contact Jennifer Konawal at Luber Roklin Entertainment.
Voiceover commercial: AT&T, Verizon, Walmart, Geico, Lay’s, Twizzlers (VO), Twizzlers (AVO) & others. Video game/podcast: The Callisto Protocol: Helix Station (Striking Distance), Starfinder (Amazon Alexa), QCODE’s “The Burned Photo” (Apple Podcast), 20+ Audible Originals.
Audiobooks: 250+ Titles for all Major Publishers, Narrator of the Throne of Glass & Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas, Recent Awards: 2020 Audie Award Nomination, 2020 Earphones Award, 2021 Project Voice (Starfinder), 2021 Audie Award Nomination
Great interview!! She’s hands down my favorite narrator. I always recommend people listen to the Throne of Glass series because she did such an amazing job with all of the characters.
Aw thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed this look into her narrating world! Thank you for coming around! She was wonderful to work with, as well.