Bedtime stories for adults? We're listening. sleep
The Calm team didn’t set out to read people bedtime stories. “What tipped us off was so much meditation content being consumed at night,” said Advansun. “That’s part of what inspired the idea.” While it began as what could seem like “kind of a kooky experiment,” he said, “it struck a chord.”
Advansun explained that Sleep Stories “gave permission to grown-ups, to people of all ages, to return to [what] was one of the most comforting and soothing experiences they’d had as children — just cuddling up and being spun a tale by someone they love and trust.” These stories offer relief for people’s busy brains. “They give listeners something to hold their attention in a peaceful way.”
The stories are designed — both in narration and writing — to be peaceful and soothing, according to Advansun. “I think of the script as a blueprint for the narrator to be luxurious and beautiful in their performance,” he said. “Using flow, using poetry, using image, using rhythm all as ways to ... lull the listener to sleep.”
If the goal was to guide listeners into dreamland, the story creators couldn’t rely on traditional narrative structure. Rather, Advansun said, they realized they needed to invert it. “Instead of building up drama and tension, we unroll it.” In fact, in some of my favorite stories — most of which involve a train ride — very little of anything happens at all .
Of course even the most soothing story wouldn’t work if the voice weren’t right. “The voice is the starting place,” said Advansun. While there are some vocal traits like depth and resonance that make for a good narrator, he said, there are some intangibles, too, like trustworthiness and sincerity. “You’re lying there, it’s intimate, you want to feel like you’re in good hands.”
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