and a good story...and a great cover...
and telling us about...
The Voice.
Hello all
Ivy Bateman here! And even though, technically, I'm here to
help promote my 2012 Christmas release, Baby,
You're Cold Inside, I'm not going to actually be doing much of that.
Instead I'd like to talk to you about the power of the voice.
The year I was born, Disney put out the animated version of
Robin Hood. When I was 9, it was re-released back into theatres and when I was
11 or 12 they played in on TV and we taped it.
Now, why am I giving you a chronological history of this, as
far as I'm concerned, the best Disney animated film? I'll tell you why, it's
the first time I developed a crush on someone because of their voice.
The lead role of the foxy Robin Hood was voiced by British
actor Brian Bedford. At the time I was unaware of who he was or how old he was
or what he looked like and since I was quite young, that was probably a good
thing. I discovered later in life thanks to IMDB, that when he did the voice of
Robin Hood he old enough to have been my grandfather. However, all that aside,
the point is that his voice was wonderful. I'm a Canadian girl and I feel that
my accent is lacking in the interesting department. However, Robin's voice was
theatrical, lyrical and smooth; sexy, honourable and fit perfectly with his
dashing, wild and roguish character.
Again things I didn't think about when I was younger. All I
knew is that I liked watching Robin Hood a lot and it had a great deal to do
with the voice work of Brian Bedford. I imagined him speaking to me in his sing
song voice and experiencing yearnings I didn't understand until I was much
older.
I'm not sure I really have a strong point, but I've recently
become obsessed with David Tennant and I know a lot of it has to do with his
Scottish accent. My husband just rolls his eyes, but the other day I got to
thinking about where my love of the perfect voice comes from and I traced it
back to Robin Hood.
However, I must mention as a side note, if someone has a
voice I don't like, it can ruin a piece of music or visual entertainment for
me. Their voice may be perfectly appealing to someone else, but to me it could
be like claws raking my soul.
When I write, like many writers, I hear the voices of my
characters in my head and if I can't hear the voice quite right or I don't like
it, I can't write them. They just come out flat and lifeless, like someone
speaking in monotone. I try to create characters that jump right off the page,
characters that you can hear clearly. Once I have their voice fixed in my mind,
creating their character flows so much easier.
Some of my characters sound Canadian as I often set my
characters in my native land. But it’s not unheard of for me to hop across the pond
and find vocal inspiration not unlike that of Disney's most famous fox.
Thanks very much to Raven for having me on today! If you
like to become knee deep in my ramblings, please find me at the following
links.
Or drop me a line at:
ivybmisbehavin@gmail.com
As well, on the site You Gotta Read, my book trailer for Baby, You're Cold Inside will be part of
March's book trailer contest. So be sure to follow my book trailer link and
then starting on March 21st cast your vote for my trailer. If you like it…no
pressure of course!
Bye for now,
Ivy Bateman
Very interesting piece, Ivy. I didn't realise until I started writing just how important a character's voice is. I had a (minor) discussion with my editor about whether one of my characters would say "do try some" or just "try some". The do stayed!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Faberge! Sometimes it can be a little annoying having all these characters talking in my head, but it works! And I love how sometimes you just know there is no way your character would say something a particular way. When you have the voice down, there's no question how they words should be put on the page. Well...sometimes...but you know what I mean!
DeleteHi Ivy.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree with Faberge too. I did not realise a character's voice could be so strong in my head!