Welcome to Part II of our interview with Bree Welch, voice talent behind the audio books of The Healer's Trilogy from Author Sharon Skinner.
To read Part I of this interview, click here.
What’s on your ‘to read’ pile, what do you read for enjoyment?
I just had a baby so you can imagine the amount of baby books on my shelf! But, I often do a lot of research for roles in plays I am working on so I will have a very specific time period or subject matter that I explore for a while and then move on to something new. A while ago, I played Maria Antoinette and did a lot of reading about her. I just bought the book The Radium Girls by Kate Moore about the female factory workers who were working with radium and subsequently suffered deadly side-effects. That part of American history has always fascinated me.
Audio Books have become a huge market over the last 5 years, what are your thoughts on that?
I drank the Audio Book kool-aid 10 years ago when I was living in LA. Podcasts were not as big as they are now and Audio Books were one of the best ways to ride out the traffic of LA. I turned to a lot of biographies and non-fiction in those days, it felt like I was learning and not just wasting away in traffic! I would have to buy the 10 disc collection or rent it from the library- now audiobooks are instantiations and everywhere. As a new mom, I never have time to sit down in silence and enjoy a book, but my daughter loves her stroller! So Audio Books are a part of my daily life. I think that’s true for people all over the world. Our devices are linked, our earbuds are charged and it is much easier to listen to a book than it is to tote a book around. (P.S. I love books and I always buy hardcovers- don’t hate on me for that last sentence.) People love stories- it’s human nature and they’re not going anywhere. I think Audio Books will continue to grow in popularity and continue to be incredible sources of entertainment, education, and enjoyment.
Who was your favorite character not named Kira to narrate in the Healer’s Legacy?
As much as I want to say Milvari, I’m going to say the gnomes. Only because they were written with such a different sound from the rest of the characters and it was fun to play with where their dialects live and how they sound.
There are a lot of characters without dialogue in the story (the animals, mainly), how do you give them “unique voices” within the context of the narrative?
I didn’t notice it until about half-way through, but there were so many moments I was naturally giving them a voice because Sharon wrote such wonderful description about their reactions and communications with Kira and other characters. Often, I found myself personifying the verbs with their personal voices and attitudes, for example Kelmir might be enjoying the sunshine and he is “stretching his legs”, I would voice his feelings in the moment by streeeeeeetching out the verb. Trad is often giving sass over his shoulder and it was fairly easy to communicate his feelings to the listener.
If there was a culturally popular book that you could narrate- what would you choose and why?
Maybe the Millennium series (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire etc.). Or The Handmaid’s Tale? The inner child in me wants to say Anne of Green Gables as well!
Thank you to Bree for taking the time to join us for this interview.
Bree can be contacted through her website, breewelch.com
The Healer’s Legacy in audio book is now available through Amazon, Audible and Apple Books.
