A Chat With Pure and Simple’s narrator, Eric Dove
Did I say “singer/songwriter”? I meant singer/songwriter/actor/author/audiobook narrator. Eric is a man of versatile talents. I auditioned lots of narrators for Pure and Simple, but Eric nailed the voice of my Texan hero, the brawny and brainy Tom, so perfectly that there was no question he was the man for the job. Check out the audio sample. You can also listen to excerpts from the many other books Eric has narrated here, and there are more samples on his narrator and voice-over site.
I mentioned that Eric is an author, right? I’ve just started his debut suspense novel, Ghosts of Royston, and I can tell you it has one of the most intriguing openings I’ve read in a long time. As a musician, his repertoire encompasses popular and upbeat rock, classic rock, 80’s and country. More about that here.
Eric was kind enough to answer a few questions about things I thought my readers (and I) might be interested in.
Q: As a singer/songwriter, how did you get started in audiobook narration?
A: Well, I was commuting to Nashville every other week from Ohio, so audiobooks became my best method of not falling asleep and crashing my car. I started thinking maybe it was something I could do. As a singer and recording musician, and having done some strange acting jobs, I already had good voice training and engineering knowledge. Even so, it took me two years to get my first book.
Q: What appeals to you in a novel as a narrator?
A: An author who can write real, believable dialog and relatable characters. It makes my job so much easier and fun. I barely have to try to give a character a voice, it just pops out! Sometimes it’s even a goofy voice I can barely maintain for a whole book, but I have no choice because it just fits!
Q: You’re also a first time author…how did that come about?
A: I often feel I had no business writing a novel because all I’ve ever written was songs. But narrating so many awesome books (and some real dogs) taught me believable dialog and how to keep a story rolling. Reading aloud exposes so many writing flaws and really makes the great stuff stand out. Hopefully I’ve used that knowledge well myself! I’ve kinda been a student through every book I’ve narrated.