Narration markup is a system of hand written notes you make directly on the printed copy you are going to narrate from.

Think of this process like making a big cross-country map. What markup does is to show you the route you are going to take, including where to turn and where the rest stops are.

Set aside your inner critic when you start to markup for narration. You will be reading your book very carefully, but you are not editing or proofreading. Any time spent on thinking about ways you could have written something better is wasted time. If this process inspires you to write something else, make notes of that, but not on your print copy. Put unrelated notes somewhere else. What you put on your print copy should only be there for use when you are behind the mic.

Markup should not be complicated. The system you will learn here uses a few lines and symbols and a bit of color You can develop your own marks. Use whatever works for you. There is no real right or wrong.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Use a sharp pencil and keep an eraser handy. Don't use a pen or highlighter. Don't try to do markup using a computer — you will only confuse yourself as to what is original text and what is markup. By using pencil, if you change your mind, you will be able to change the markup and still read it (even if the old marking is faintly visible).
• Don't overdo it. It is possible to markup every sentence, but don't. Just markup only as much as you need to. You are not writing an instruction manual on 'how to read your book'.
• Don't ask someone else what they think. No one can do the markup for you. This is strictly your job, and you can't delegate it.

Markup goes beyond considering just one sentence or one paragraph at a time. Good markup also indicates broader elements like:

• Foreshadowing
• Where to build up suspense, crescendo, denoument
• Where the narrator is flowing in and out of the mind of a character
• Character introduction

Here's an example, in this case dealing with foreshadowing:

Something happens in your book that you know foreshadows another event. That other event won't happen for several chapters. By making a note next to the first event, you will adjust your narration just enough to plant a tiny seed in the listener's mind. Later on when the foreshadowed event does happen, it will have a greater impact on the listener. He won't know why. Without the note, you stand a 50-50 chance that you will not make any kind of adjustment, so when you get to the foreshadowed event, your reading won't have the same impact on the listener.

How can you do all that with a simple note? This will work: F102. F for foreshadow, 102 for the page it is on. If you want to, on page 102, put F35, indicating the foreshadowing that took place on page 35.

This may seem like a lot of work. It is. But if your goal is to make a better audiobook, you have to do it.