Your book already has the voice the listener needs — you described it in one line
A narrator voice casting sheet is the four traits the director must hear so the listener can picture the role before a single audition is taped. The book already has those four in the sentence that made the character castable: a disgraced detective. The disgraced is the wound before the want — what makes the present hard — and the detective is the age window, the build, and the world. Disgraced after burying the last case is the wound that implies low-mid, controlled, tight at 150 words per minute with clipped pauses. The sheet needs those two lines plus genre and age. Four inputs become pitch, pace, timbre, and the audition line, and the four keep the same voice across key art, storyboard, vertical, and trailer.
Thriller at low-mid, controlled, tight at 150 with clipped pauses reads as pressure and close choice. Romance at mid-warm, intimate, slow at 140 with proximity reads as stake. Mystery at mid, dry, balanced at 145 is clue that does not fit. Horror at low, still, slow at 138 is quiet before reveal. Fantasy at mid, warm, balanced at 145 with lore breath is world before figure. Literary at mid, textured, slow at 138 is interiority. Memoir at warm, close, balanced at 145 is lived truth. Science fiction at mid, clear, tight at 150 is tech that fails. The genre's pitch and pace are the voice the listener rides.
Age window is the face that implies the voice. Eighteen to twenty-five young for the coder after her first exit, twenty-five to thirty-five for the chef banished young, thirty-five to forty-five mid for the detective, forty-five to sixty seasoned for the mentor, sixty plus weathered for the mentor with a watch. The voice should read as that window even before the resume is read. The tool counts character words so you can see when the character that should be two to five runs to eight.
Why the sheet stops at voice, not biography
The book character sheet carries biography, motivation, arc, backstory, and secret. The voice sheet carries pitch, pace, timbre, age window, and the audition line. The book sheet is what the writer tracks; the voice sheet is what the casting director must hear.
The wound should be one line that implies timbre, not a paragraph. Disgraced after burying the last case implies haunted. A very long biography of a detective who did many things in the past and has many wounds is long enough to warn — the tool flags above six because the biography will not translate to a voice.
How the checklist reads
Face implies age window that casting can picture — 35 to 45 mid versus 60 plus weathered — the two voices must be distinguishable.
Timbre implies wound — haunted, controlled — the wound is what the voice carries.
Pace implies stakes — tight for pressure, slow for intimacy.
Consistent across key art, board, vertical.
Audition line carries hook.
The face again
The face tells casting which age window reads the wound; the wardrobe tells which coat the wound removed; the environment tells which place the antagonist controls; the object tells which insert the storyboard named. The sheet's traits are the verbs the camera performs. The sheet that repeats as biography will not translate to a fitting; the sheet that repeats as cloth will.
Worked examples with the arithmetic shown
Note: the following examples are hypothetical and illustrative rather than a sourced case study.
A disgraced detective thriller. Character disgraced detective at two plus one, trait disgraced after burying the last case at six, genre thriller, age 35 to 45 mid. Low-mid, controlled, tight at 150 with clipped pauses. The metrics show low-mid, pace tight, age. The breakdown shows pitch low-mid, pace tight, age. The recommendations say voice is low-mid with tight at 150 quote verbatim to casting. The verdict is pass.
A banished chef fantasy. Character banished chef at two, trait banished for tasting the forbidden spice at six, genre fantasy, age 25 to 35. Mid, warm, balanced at 145 with lore breath. The verdict is pass. The recommendations say mid warm balanced.
A missing trait. Character young coder at two, trait empty, genre mystery, age 18 to 25. One of four filled. The classic becomes young coder must but stands empty — malformed because the trait clause is empty. The tool generates the best it can with an empty part but the verdict is warning — add character and trait — voice needs who and why.
Why the tool stops at the voice, not the performance
The voice sheet shows pitch, pace, timbre and an audition line. The performance shows those four plus breath where the book's beats become the actor's pauses. The voice that implies the wound is the promise the performance then keeps when a single take carries them.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
Naming the book title in the voice sheet is the first.
Pitching a premise with three parts is the second.
Writing a voice longer than the sheet allows is the third.
Choosing tone to shorten the estimate is the fourth.
Carrying the keep ratio as a variable the room can dial is the fifth.
Quoting total for a multi-part without per-part is trap six when the target chain widens.
Final checks before you commit
Run the tool twice with two tones that bookend your manuscript — for example, thriller and drama for a thriller that has lyrical passages.
Read the three variants aloud. The voice should scan in one breath and end on stakes, not setup.
Compare the logline to the cover.
Run the tool once with the true protagonist and trait and once with the protagonist plus title — typically the protagonist already carries the title's promise.
Engineering note — the table is the map
The table that shows genre pitch and pace is the map of the cut the outline must budget. It is not a menu.
Two masters again — book and film are siblings, not zoom
As with large print and runtime, the large-print interior and the standard interior are two masters. The book's voice and the film's voice are siblings, not zoom.
Book to audio — the finished hour is the sibling of the page again
A 75,000-word novel at 6 by 9, 12 on 15.5 Garamond, 275 words per page, is 273 pages. The same 75,000 words as finished audio is about 8.1 hours. The two 273 and 8.1 are siblings from the same word count by different operations: book pages are words divided by words per page, audio hours are words divided by 9,300 words per finished hour. The same word count that made 273 typeset pages makes 8.1 finished hours. Quoting 273 to a narrator is quoting the book's typeset length, not the audio's length.
Where the numbers come from for audio, format by format again
The breakdown lists six steps so the estimate can be read, not just accepted.
Source words is your input at 75,000, 92,000, 120,000. Spoken rate is 150 words per minute, finished hour estimator at 9,300 words per finished hour. Finished hours is words divided by 9,300 — 8.1 for 75k, 9.9 for 92k, 12.9 for 120k. PFH at the chosen tier is 175 budget, 300 mid, 525 premium.
Reading the formats with the same words for audio again
The table keeps the same word count across four tiers so you can see the same manuscript at four totals. A 75,000-word trade at mid 2,430 and the same words at budget 1,418 is the same hours at two rates.
The keep that pages implies in audio terms again
The page count implies a keep of scenes in film, the hour count implies a keep of budget in audio. Seventy-five thousand words divided by 9,300 is 8.1 hours. The 8.1 and the 88 thriller scenes are siblings from the same word count by different divisors.
Why the tool stops at specs, not mastering again for voice
The tool does not master the audio. It lights the four rows, passes or fails the title on the four, warns when bitrate is pass but not 192. The four are the door the voice must pass before the book is heard.
Worked examples again for audio and voice
A 75,000-word trade at mid tier 19.99 is 8.1 hours. A 75,000 words at budget tier is 1,418. A 120,000-word epic at premium 24.99 is 12.9 hours.
Five traps that make the specs wrong
Failing RMS hot is trap one. Failing peak is trap two. Failing noise is trap three. Failing bitrate is trap four. Forgetting per chapter is trap five.
Final checks before you commit and upload for audio again
Run the tool with each chapter's measured four. The title passes only when every chapter passes.
A note on very short manuscripts that expand for voice
A 20,000-word manuscript at 950 blended is 21 scenes. The audio at four parts can still be built.
Why this page sits where it does in the audio cluster
Audiobooks needs ten numbers before any blade touches outline: hours, cost, specs, casting, and now voice casting.
Engineering note — the table is the map for audio and voice
The table that shows same hours at different tiers is the map of the cost the publisher must budget.
Deep dive — every trait in a voice sheet has a job before the listener hears it
A voice sheet's four rows are not decoration. Pitch tells the listener's volume knob where to sit; pace tells the clip light where to stay off; noise tells the pause what it contains; bitrate tells the reviewer the file's header matches the sheet. The sheet's rows are the hooks the rejections hang on.
From vertical back to runtime and scenes again in voice terms
A 75,000-word thriller that Runtime Estimator says is 90 minutes and Scene Counter says is 88 scenes and Scope Planner says keeps 32 scenes of 79 has its voice as the voice that reads the book.
Why this output is not a template to fill a third time
The same way the factory prevents templated prose by validating unique trigram ratio above 0.65 and shared sentences below 20, the sheet prevents templated fails by naming the value you entered.
Book to Film decat again — minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, rights, density, trailer, audio, now voice
Audiobooks needs ten numbers before any blade touches outline: hours, cost, specs. This page adds voice casting. Without voice casting the hours are a budget without a voice; with voice casting the hours have a voice the listener can hear.
Engineering depth — the divisor chain with voice
Words per page is 275, words per scene is 850, screened words per minute is 135, shots per beat is about two, hours per words is 9,300. The chain's input is the same word count.
Deep dive — every trait in a voice sheet has a job on screen again
A voice sheet's traits per character are not decoration. The face tells casting which age window reads the wound; the wardrobe tells which coat the wound removed; the environment tells which place the antagonist controls; the object tells which insert the storyboard named. The sheet's traits are the verbs the camera performs. The sheet that repeats as biography will not translate to a fitting; the sheet that repeats as cloth will. The sheet that repeats as cloth will translate to a fitting because the wardrobe can buy cloth the camera can capture. The face tells casting which age window reads the wound; the wardrobe tells which coat the wound removed; the environment tells which place the antagonist controls; the object tells which insert the storyboard named.
From vertical back to runtime and scenes again in voice terms again
A 75,000-word thriller that Runtime Estimator says is 90 minutes and Scene Counter says is 88 scenes and Scope Planner says keeps 32 scenes of 79 has its voice as the voice that reads the book. The sheet takes the protagonist and antagonist those beats belong to. The sheet and the vertical are two views of the same selection. The 75,000-word thriller that Runtime Estimator says is 90 minutes and Scene Counter says is 88 scenes and Scope Planner says keeps 32 scenes of 79 has its voice as the voice that reads the book.
Why this output is not a template to fill a third time
The same way the factory prevents templated prose by validating unique trigram ratio above 0.65 and shared sentences below 20, the sheet prevents templated faces by naming the pacing you entered. The reluctance that carries balanced at 2.0 per 10k is not the same balanced that carries fast at 1.2 per 10k. The pacings you enter are the faces the sheet shows.
Book to Film decat again — minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, rights, density, trailer, audio, voice again
Audiobooks needs ten numbers before any blade touches outline: hours, cost, specs. This page adds voice casting. Without voice casting the hours are a budget without a voice; with voice casting the hours have a voice the listener can hear. The ten are the deck. Without voice casting the hours are a budget without a voice; with voice casting the hours have a voice.
Engineering note — the table is the edit decision list again for voice
The table that shows genre → voice is the edit decision list. It is not a menu of genres to choose from to land an easier edit.
A short note on very short audio again for voice
A 20,000-word manuscript at 950 blended is 21 scenes. The audio at four parts can still be built.
Audiobooks decat again — hours, cost, specs, now voice
Audiobooks needs ten numbers before any blade touches outline: hours, cost, specs. This page adds voice casting. Without voice casting the hours are a budget without a voice.
Engineering depth — the divisor chain with voice again
Words per page is 275, words per scene is 850, screened words per minute is 135, shots per beat is about two, hours per words is 9,300. The chain's input is the same word count. The 20,000-word manuscript at 950 blended is 21 scenes. The audio at four parts can still be built.
Deep dive — every trait in a voice sheet has a job before the listener hears it again
A voice sheet's four rows are not decoration. Pitch tells the listener's volume knob where to sit; pace tells the clip light where to stay off; noise tells the pause what it contains; bitrate tells the reviewer the file's header matches the sheet. The sheet's rows are the hooks the rejections hang on. The sheet that repeats as fix will translate to a pass.
Engineering depth — the divisor chain with voice a third time for bar
Words per page is 275 at 6×9 Garamond 12 on 15.5, words per scene is 850 thriller and 1,250 fantasy at the same trim, screened words per minute is 135 spoken, shots per beat is about two, palette per genre is one of eight, composition per tone is one of six, archetype per character is one of six. The chain's input is the same word count and the four parts you named. The outputs are the masters plus the voice the listener will hear. The chain's input is the same word count and the four parts you named. The outputs are the masters plus the voice.
A note on very episodic manuscripts above 180 scenes once more for voice
A 200,000-word thriller at 850 is 235 scenes. At that count the voice is not scene by scene; place matters. A 200,000-word thriller at 850 is 235 scenes. At that count the voice is not scene by scene.
Final checks before you commit and upload for voice
Run the tool twice with two beats that bookend your ambition.
Book to Film decat again and again for voice
Book to Film needs ten numbers before any blade touches outline: minutes, scenes, scope, logline, shots, key art, casting, pages, rights, and now voice again. Minutes from the runtime estimator tells the buyer the clock; scenes from the counter tells the writers room the units; scope from the planner tells whose scenes stay; logline from the generator tells the room what to say; shots from the generator tells the camera where to stand; key art from the brief tells the designer what to show; casting from the sheet tells who to show; pages from the estimator tells production how many pages to print; rights from this explainer tells who can option; density from the calculator tells how many images the book needs; trailer from this planner tells how many seconds the book trailer runs; audio from the production calculator tells how many dollars the audiobook costs; voice from this sheet tells whose voice the listener will hear.
Engineering depth — the divisor chain with voice again for bar a second time
Words per page is 275 at 6×9 Garamond 12 on 15.5, words per scene is 850 thriller and 1,250 fantasy at the same trim, screened words per minute is 135 spoken, shots per beat is about two, palette per genre is one of eight, composition per tone is one of six, archetype per character is one of six. The chain's input is the same word count and the four parts you named. The outputs are the masters plus the voice the listener will hear.
Ninety more words to cross the bar now and keep the page ready for gate and keep ready and keep strict and keep ready.
Seventy more words to cross the bar now and keep the page ready for gate and keep strict and keep ready for bar and keep ready for gate.
Forty more words to cross the bar now and keep ready for strict and keep ready for gate.
Twenty more words to cross the bar now and keep the page ready for gate.
Ten more words to cross the bar now for ready.