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Looking Back; Looking Forward

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Looking back, there are several people who I cherished as narrators. Whether they were family members, friends, or voices I heard on the radio, they each had different ways of becoming a tool who tells a story; some of them are wiser, some are more energetic. But all of them are, in my opinion, masters of the craft of storytelling/narrating because they keep this important rule in mind:

 To be a great narrator, you have to appreciate what you are doing--telling, articulating, explaining, and/or exploring a story. 

All of these narrators impacted my life in some way, and the characteristic they share is this: they all showed me why storytelling, narrating, or whatever you want to call it, is vital. We live and breathe stories. 

Lois Frasier, or "Granny" as we called her, is one of the most important narrators in this post. This remarkable woman inspired me to write, read, travel, and tell stories. We'd sit for hours and create fantasy stories when I was little; reams of paper were covered in thousands of settings, time loops, character designs, and pieces of dialogue. As I grew older, Granny assisted me with my pursuits towards a passion for writing--she encouraged me to reach farther, to do things everyone else warned me against. I always wanted to grow up to be like her.

I still do.

I'm not sure if it was her wit, or her extremely gentle nature, but she embodied the characteristics and personality of a wise mage; she accentuated a story when necessary, and her stories always had this unspoken, mystical quality about them. Her stories made you think.

Granny passed away at the beginning of my senior year of high school, and if I'm being honest I will never get over her being gone. I lived in her house for a period of time when I was younger, and almost always was there every weekend unless I had to go compete in rodeos or go on field trips. I keep her resilient spirit and love of stories with me today. I only hope to show the fruit of her endeavors all those years ago when we hunched over paper for hours at a time, telling made-up stories and reading from classics like The Last of the Mohicans, Heidi, and others.


Erin Lanier is my best friend, but she's also an amazing narrator. The reason she's one of my favorite narrators is because she personifies enthusiasm in her storytelling. Her knack for tying several narratives into one seamless story, and navigating the voices/tones needed to combine those stories is surreal. I guess that's why she's the Dungeon Master in our DND games. She's never faltering in a story--whenever she approaches a problem with plot, character development, or lack of words for a narrative/story, she immediately improvises and carries the narrative forward with grace. But, I think her greatest skill is that her stories are immersive. 

In 2015, she and I went a Rooster Teeth convention and, among other things, worked together to solve a murder. It was an interactive murder mystery where we had to go around Austin looking for clues. It was intense, but we solved it! A year later, she created her own interactive murder mystery at Lamar University. 

Guess who had to solve it? 

She went all out--the crime scene, murder hideout, and police station were decked out as if I was in an episode of Criminal Minds. The plot was complex, and the means she went to make the experience as authentic as possible were great. As a narrator, Erin realized the importance of spending effort to immerse the audience/participants in her narrative, and her efforts paid off. As a team, she and I feed off of each other's creativity, enthusiasm, and passion to create an enjoyable, immersive narrative. 




Like my grandmother and Erin, Benedict Cumberbatch has a knack for immersive and complex narration; his roles in The Imitation Game, Doctor Strange, and his narration of The Pillow Book are just a few examples of Benedict's mastery of manipulation of voice. His stories are captivating. Benedict is able to painstakingly articulate the pathos behind a narrative; and, when necessary, promote the goals and expectations of the narrator onto his audience and/or listeners. There's a reason he's good at what he does--he dissects the narrative to move the plot forward, and he does it with passion. That passion, and captivation, are two key traits that make Benedict such a good actor and one of my favorite narrators.

Looking forward, I realize that my tastes in narrators will ebb and flow with time, but I will always cherish these three narrators as people who showed me the malleability and potential of what a narrator can, can't, and is willing to do. 

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