Vikas Adam is one of the most dynamic and skilled audiobook narrators working today, with a voice that brings dragons, detectives, and deeply human characters to life. His talent behind the mic has set him apart in the field and has earned him a place as one of AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voices. As actor, director, and teacher, Vikas brings a deep well of theatrical experience and empathy to every performance. He effortlessly voices a host of accents and easily shifts between genders, whether he’s narrating a sprawling fantasy series, a poignant family story, or a complex historical narrative. In this bonus episode, host Jo Reed and Vikas Adam discuss his approach to narration, his theatrical roots, and how he builds such distinctive and believable characters.
Partial transcript:
Jo Reed: What was it about narrating audiobooks that felt right for you?
Vikas Adam: Being able to encompass all facets of the story, of all the characters, it was amazing for me. I'm a director as well, I'm a producer and a director for theater, and it felt like a one-person show. I love being able to play all these multiple roles.
JR: And how was it for you acting with your voice rather than having your physicality to use to create a character and everything has to be filtered through that voice?
VA: Yeah, so funny enough, the only restraint I had was because I was seated. I still found a way to be very physical, and I still am very physical when I work. I've just learned how to minimize it and use certain parts of my body and how to be a little quieter
JR: And how to buy appropriate clothing
VA: And how to buy appropriate clothing. Corduroy and workout wear, quick- drying fabric, is definitely on the no-no list.
JR: How do you prepare for narrating a book, for fiction, most particularly? Let's start there.
VA: Reading through the book, that's a good start, but I'm really looking for writing style. I'm looking to see what that writing style looks like. I get a little esoteric when it comes to this stuff, but I'm looking at the POVs, whether it's first person, third person, what kind of third person, what kind second person, in certain cases, what is the voice of the writing? What is the author trying to convey? What's the setting, what's the world? It's stuff that I, funny enough, I just came from teaching an acting class, and it's the very things I tell my students to be on the lookout for when they're looking at scripts. It's like, what is the world? What are the rules of this world? What are your parameters? And that tells me how I can start approaching. Is there humor in the text? There's a wonderful series, two books that I've done now, the Valerius Mysteries, and they take place in ancient Rome. And it's such a wonderful way to learn about ancient Rome, because the author has packed in so much information, but it's so fascinating and interesting, but the writing is in no way what you would imagine ancient Rome to sound like. It's very, very contemporary in its writing and in the voice of our main character. And so that gave me a little insight. He's a party boy, and he talks as such. And so even on that first page, it gave me insight into what liberties I could take and how far I could go.
JR: I want to talk about your Audie Award winner, NICE DRAGONS FINISH LAST. I am not a fantasy reader or listener, but in preparing for this interview, I said, all right, I'm going to listen. I was so captivated and so thrilled that it's part of a series and I have more of these Heartstriker books to enjoy. It was amazing.
VA: It's such a fun book and a fun series
JR: And compelling, and the characters are vibrant, and you are creating voices for dragons and people and other magical creatures. So let's talk about how you arrived at these characterizations. What was your process here?
VA: So when I work, over the years as an actor, I have just studied and leaned into and created all these various ways of approaching creating characters. And so with this one, with each of them, I just started with archetypes and I built from there. Julius was our sweet, sweet, sweet, nice, lovely, lovely. human dragon. And you know what I started doing with him? I actually was like, he is the most ideal version of myself that I wish I could be. I tried to approach it that way. But Bethesda, his mom. She is the mom. I looked at this complete queen ruler archetype and just went from there. Bob, who's the seer, he's like a fan favorite. It's like, if they ever did a series, like a TV series, I would be trying to fight tooth and nail to be like, y'all, you got to let me, I got to be Bob. And I'm usually pretty content being behind the mic, but this would be one where I'd be like, get me in front of the camera. I want to be Bob. He lives in his own reality while he has one foot firmly planted in the one that the book takes place. And it was just so much fun trying to find what set him apart, but while keeping him grounded at the same time, not just playing crazy to play crazy.
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Listen to their full conversation on our Behind the Mic podcast.
Photo by Sergio Garcia
