Kristina Fuller Yuen spent her childhood in Buffalo, NY, playing violin, and of course, playing in the snow. As a teen, her family moved a few times, and she eventually ended up graduating from high school in Salt Lake City, UT. The daughter of a music professor and an artist, she really had no choice but to major in theater, which combined most of her interests. She studied acting and directing at Southern Utah University under the tutelage of Fred Adams, founder of the acclaimed Utah Shakespearean Festival. After graduation, Kristina worked as a scenic carpenter and scenic artist, and of course also spent as much time acting on stage as possible. She later married scenic designer Burton K. Yuen. Eventually, she left stage work (both on and off stage) and spent time raising kids. It was during this time that she became interested in voice work and later began pursuing opportunities to use her acting skills in the voiceover booth. She and her family have now lived in the greater Seattle area for 23 years. She misses the snow, and has grown Gor-Tex skin to handle the rain. With help from her studio chihuahua Harry, Kristina produces audiobooks from her home studio, in addition to performing voice work for a variety of types of media productions whenever opportunities arise.
What sparked your interest in audiobook narration in the first place?
I’ve always loved reading aloud, but honestly, it really goes back to when my kids were little and I’d read them story after story with character voices. I kept thinking “I wish there was a way I could get paid to do this!”
How did you get started doing narration, and what were your first experiences like?
I got started doing audiobook narration by jumping right into ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange), which is Audible’s site where authors can look for narrators, and narrators can audition for books they are interested in. When I first started, I didn’t have a really great set up and I was having a lot of software problems because I needed to upgrade, so I tested the waters by first auditioning for Dark and Light, which is a 6 minute book of poetry by KW McCabe. She hired me and I was absolutely thrilled! She then hired me to narrate The Dragon’s Call (Dragon Throne series book 1; she’s still working on book 2.). It’s a full length novel, and did I ever have a learning curve! I found that reading the book was fun, but the audio editing involved in producing a novel is a lot of work and very time consuming, and I wasn’t very good at it yet. Then I suddenly got hired for two more I’d auditioned for and I ended up producing three books at once. It was crazy, and I’ll never do that again. Too much on the plate.
You have quite a range of voice experience. Your website states, “She has enjoyed narrating everything from fairy tales and other stories for kids to corporate training materials for major companies such as Microsoft, Owens Corning, and more. Kristina has also voiced many radio and TV spots, website videos, video game characters, history courses, audiobooks, and a couple of documentary films.” Wow! If you had your choice, what are your favorite realms to narrate?
I love what I do, so it’s hard to pick what I enjoy the most; I like different types of voice work for different reasons. Narrating educational content and corporate content gives me an opportunity to learn a variety of things while I’m working. Also, as an actress, I love video games and jump at the chance to do whatever comes my way (frankly, that’s not very frequent, unfortunately). But since you ask, working on media projects for kids really is my absolute favorite, and something I don’t get to do often enough in my opinion. I love the freedom allowed when telling a story to kids or becoming a character in a project meant for children. As I immerse myself in the project there are little glittering, golden moments where I become a child again and animals talk and fairies are real. I’ve never really grown up.
You list script writing and editing among your services. What have you written?
I’ve only written a couple of short scripts for corporate clients. It’s something I’d like to do more of, but haven’t really had the time to go after. I’d also like to explore writing content for other genres, but again… time. I do put that out there on my website though, for a couple of reasons. First, over the years I’ve seen a lot of scripts, particularly business to business advertising, that need help. Sometimes things need to be tightened up so that the script reads well in audio format, so I’ll make a few gentle suggestions and won’t charge them a fee, but occasionally I actually do get paid to do that. It’s not often because most clients are pretty set on what they want to say and how they want to say it, regardless, but I have done it. The second reason is what I said earlier; I’d like to do more of it, and if it’s not listed on my website as something I do, no one will know I’m capable of doing it.
You also perform voice direction. Some audio narrators seem to have directors, while most don’t. Can you explain to us what a director does, and why one is needed by some?
Voice direction for audiobooks is often nothing more than someone listening and making sure you read it correctly as you go along. Occasionally that person may also suggest a new way of reading a line, paragraph, or section of dialogue. This saves time because you can re-record it right then and you don’t have to go back and correct it later if you read something wrong. I’m not sure I’m right about this, but I think big audiobook production companies use directors because it cuts down on editing time later. Don’t take my word for it, however; that’s just a guess. Really though, almost no one who self produces audiobooks hires a director because honestly, you can just do it yourself. If you are editing your own work (which I usually do), it’s easy to go back and re-record if you find an error (I make lots of them), or if you feel you could give a better performance on a section of dialogue. Direction for other genres such as video games or commercial work is very different, however. Hopefully you’ve got an actress behind the mic who has good instincts and can read the copy or the character pretty close to how you’d like it said. However, the performer rarely knows the entire vision for a project they’ve been hired to voice. It’s the director’s job to make that vision clear to the performer and help her get the nuances right.
Your voice is used in material all over the world, including Japan, Russia, Bulgaria, Canada, Israel, and Costa Rica. Do you speak in other languages or in English?
I don’t speak other languages but I have had the privilege of working with a lot of people from diverse places via the magic of the Internet. In my experience, lots of business content/training materials/presentations for large corporations are produced in English because it’s very expensive to produce the content in as many languages as people in the company may speak; and it’s very common for business people to have studied English to further their careers. In a different arena, many, many video games, apps, and entertainment content from small independent companies are produced for the US market from literally all over the world. Initially, I was truly floored at the locations people work from when producing content for US audiences. Now I realize that it’s a part of the global economy made possible by the internet.
I notice that among your audiobook books, you have recorded a book of poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson. Is poetry a challenge to record?
I like poetry. I’ve written some myself, although never sought to have it published. Poetry can be challenging because it’s often simultaneously more succinct in wording and yet more open to interpretation than a novel. I feel that to read a poem successfully you do have to have an understanding of the poem in order to be able to convey the intent of a poem to a listener. The Robert Louis Stevenson book was actually even more challenging than I thought it would be because some of the poems in that book are previously unpublished fragments of his work. It’s hard to interpret something that isn’t complete.
Do you think an audiobook narrator needs to enjoy the book she or he is performing? Could you make a book you truly hated seem likeable to an audience?
Wow, that’s a good question. I’d like to think I could but I don’t know. It definitely helps if you like what you’re reading. I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying all the books I’ve narrated. In order to give a good performance on stage or behind the mic, I have to find a way to connect emotionally to the work or character I’m performing, even the bad guys. But the essence of the performance does have to come from within, so if I really hated something, I probably wouldn’t do it.
What is the most valuable piece of advice that someone gave you when you started recording that you like to share with other new narrators now?
I can think of two that have really helped me in my voice career. The first one came early on in my VO career from someone directing me in a commercial. “I hired you because I like your voice. Just say the words as you would say them. Don’t try so hard.” The second one, which applies directly to audiobooks is this – and this is very, very loosely paraphrased from a class I had from my favorite coach Pat Fraley. It’s definitely not a quote – but here’s a bit of what I learned from him: “Strive to read the narration (not just the dialogue) according to whose point of view is being presented in that paragraph. It may or may not be written as a narrator merely reporting on what’s happening. A good writer will often provide narrative sections from changing points of view. The villain is going to see what’s happening very differently from the hero. And depending on where you are in the book, the writer may move the story forward from any character’s point of view. As a narrator, you can make the listening experience more interesting by sometimes letting each character’s attitude enter the non-dialogue narration at appropriate points throughout the book.”
What is your favorite part of recording audiobooks? My favorite part is the dialogue. I love creating the scenes where characters are interacting. It’s the part where I get to use my acting chops. I have a BA in theater but don’t get on stage much anymore for a variety of reasons. Recording audiobooks allows me to use my acting skills to create multiple roles within one work. I absolutely love it!
Harry, Kristina’s studio assistant
To learn more about Kristina, visit the following links:
http://www.kristinasvoice.com
Kristina’s Linked In page
Kristina’s Facebook page
Kristina’s imdb page
@kristinasvoice
