Oral versus Aural

I’m running into an interesting question as I work on Crocodile Princess- since this is intended to be an audiobook should I be writing it to be read aloud or read like a book?

What I mean by this is that I’ve found I’ve been writing it with the intention to be read aloud, but oral storytelling rthyms and strutures are different than traditional print ones. In conventional works of fiction for the most part you write in proper stardard english grammar, but real people don’t speak that way- they speak in sentence fragments and with unconventional rthyms.

I’ll give you an example:

“She climbed the stairs, turning slowly as she reached the first landing to peer up into the darkness. Was there something there waiting for her? She could almost feel whatever was there above her watching her. It’s eyes peering down at her like a spider waiting for it’s prey to take another step into it’s web.”

Versus.

“Stairs passed under her feet. She stopped at the first landing. Peering up at the darkness. She felt it. Hovering. Eyes boring into her. It wanted her. Waiting like a spider. It wanted her to step forward. It wanted her in it’s trap. One more step- she imagined it thinking. One more step. Then you’ll be mine.”

The first is meant to be read, the second is meant to be real aloud. The second almost bears more resemblance to a poem in structure and loose grammar, but especially when read aloud will sound more pleasing to the human ear.

Right now I’m working towards a bit of a compromise between the two, although when in doubt I’m going for something that sounds better read aloud. It will make my grammar look a little weird, but hopefully it will make the audiobook version sound that much better.

Rob

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