Hi everyone!
You wouldn’t believe some of the looks I get when I say we make “Audio Dramas” at a convention. Having just done one, it particularly stuck in my mind, so I thought I’d do a little disambiguation today, for your benefit.
(And also mine – it doesn’t do me much good writing to the internet if you have no idea what I’m talking about!)
So, how do I refer to things? Well, it’s my method of distinction and I know mileage varies, but this is what I think:
An audiobook is a story, usually one that was not specifically written for audio. It’s read by a narrator and may either have multiple characters voiced by the narrator or different actors. But it’s likely to include “he said” at some point in the book, as well as significant narration in the way a novel might be written.
An audio drama is written specifically for audio, and may have narration to set the scene (I don’t like to include it, stylistically, but some people do and that’s also fine!). It usually features multiple actors in different roles.
An audio podcast is often very similar to an audio drama, but it’s usually separated into episodes which are an idea length for a podcast (usually ~15-20 minutes), and is written accordingly. As a result, it can be a slightly more restrictive format.
Then you have adaptations, where someone has taken a movie or novel and adapted it to become an audio drama (I’ve done this, too! I’ve adapted some of our comics for audio).
So I hope that clarifies how I refer to things and helps make sense of what I’m talking about!
– Ed
Artwork from the Audio Drama “Stranded“! Check it out for free at https://patreon.com/erascapes
