Behind the Scenes of Wanderlust with RA

/ February 6, 2018

Oh, a new BTS video has just dropped. It was published on Audible’s YT channel and is a little intro into Wanderlust. RA describes his character in the book, Griffin, (first response: rather unusual name for a *British* man, but well), talks about the theme of “language” (communication?) in the book, and about the language of the book itself. There is also a short sequence of RA reading from the book in the recording booth (presumably a simulated scene), and finally RA’s take on how the author has described Paris in the book. See for yourself:

I don’t know about you, but I was almost waiting with bated breath for RA to comment in some way on the nature of the genre. Alas, no. He’d be too professional for that… I was most interested in the insights into his actual work process. I had noticed in previous pictures from other audio gigs that he reads his text from a tablet. I found that surprising because I know from own experience that you often make notes and annotations when recording – on emphasis, pronunciation, even just where to pause and catch your breath. Tricky bits are often unanticipated, and thus notes often happen only *after* you have read the piece aloud for the first time. Paper is really the easiest medium for that. Drawback in a studio context: The sound of paper shuffling. So an e-reader/iPad is a better alternative – yet how do you make notes on the screen. (It’s possible via picture mark-up on photos, of course, but does that work on a long text???) Anyway, looking over his shoulder in this little clip, you can catch a glimpse of his tablet screen – and there are little marks visible in the text.

Interesting.

Anyway, that’s obviously just me having my own particular interest in the technical aspect of recording. I’m sure there are a lot of other things to be discussed about his little interview.

Anyway, I think I might get my Wanderlust going this afternoon then, checking whether RA cuts it as 35-yo Griffin. Just kidding – I’m sure he cuts it nicely…

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39 thoughts on “Behind the Scenes of Wanderlust with RA”

  1. I’m still not sure if I feel excited to listen to RA reading… that kind of book or just continue to giggle immaturely for the same reason. Save to say I’ll definitely get this book. (Hurry up new audible credit!)

    I love the observation of his tablet screen. But I’m with you that paper and being able to make notes directly on the text would work better (or rather faster and without the delay of clicking throzgh x programms to edit it digitally.) Also looks ahem sexier when he has his glasses on and holds a pen in his hand… *innocent whistling*

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    • I am 48 minutes in. I can’t say that the earth has moved, yet. In fact, I have found it clichéd, so far, and language has been mild. But then again, I’m only on chapter 4.
      I’m wondering whether there are specific editing programmes that can be used for marking text on a tablet… And yes, I’d love to see the glasses in action and closer up. So far it has all been rather blurry.

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      • Every now and again I buy a “hump book” as my friend dubbed them because I’m in the mood for something er… light and hot. So far I found all of those books very generic and – as you said – cliché. Which also usually leads to disappointment on my part because that is not the kind of “hot” I was after. And yet, and yet…
        I guess that will make Wanderlust my hump book for this year. 😉

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  2. the text Richard reads is about bodies washing up in the river and then the video switches to Richard saying in the interview that he finds the book romantic. probably not intentional but that little piece of editing made me laugh out loud 😀

    I did enjoy hearing Richard speak about how he saw the story, how it centers on language and that it’s easy flowing, how it feels modern with the inclusion of text messages and whatnot. I’d buy a car from him 😉

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    • LOL, that juxtaposition hadn’t occurred to me yet, but yes, bingo.
      The teaser interview is a great seller, I think. Whether intentional or not, but he really doesn’t let on that the book is meant to be romance. It almost felt as if he was intellectualising the book, putting so much emphasis on language and more or less ignoring the love story that I understand to be at the heart of the novel…

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    • You are putting it very nicely, I think. Obviously I do not know what he *really* thinks, but yes, from what we know about him he is always fairly benign and complimentary. Good on him. That’s not only generous, it is also professional. He’s taken on this project, and he is standing over it. I do look forward to him saying more about the gig, his motivation in doing it, and what he thinks about the genre.

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  5. Hm. Es sollte eigentlich problemlos möglich sein, ein Dokument am Rechner mit einem entsprechenden Stift oder per Touchscreen zu bekritzeln (Stichwort: Handschrift, nicht Mouse oder Touchpad). Wenn kein Text-Dokument, dann eben ein Bild.

    Viel problematischer fürs Ablesen erscheint mir, dass der Text in einzeiligem Satz (oder wenig mehr) dargestellt wird.
    Bei mehreren Stunden am Stück wird das anstrengend.

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    • Dazu musst du aber sämtliche Textseiten als Bild vorliegen haben… Aber wer weiß, dafür gibt es ja vielleicht Sklaven. Oder wie schon vermutet, spezielle Software.

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  6. I glimpsed that shot and thought, “What are those marks in the text?” I was going to stop it and go back, then thought, “Nah, some fan will screen grab it.”
    Thank you, Guylty, for delivering the fan forensics today!
    Is it possible he marked a hard copy, then scanned it, and we’re seeing his scan on the screen?
    I enjoyed the interview for how he was prepared with several perfectly serious topics, about which he could make perfectly serious observations. (As Perry puts it brilliantly: spin control.) Totally ignoring the white elephant in the room — stooooopid (I assume) story.
    But the biggest payoff for me…cuddly jumper. (He never disappoints.)

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  8. Oh there are plenty apps for annotations and the like. I’ve seen them for musical scores and somebody was taking and making handwritten notes on a tablet with stylus next to me just the other day.
    Not to be prosaic here but seems to me he just literally read through the given text. More extended work he had printed out in spaced lines for reading… if you will more like scripts which with double spacing allow good timing per page and space for notes obvsly. This is a much quicker piece of reading unsurprisingly.
    I enjoy his i interviews maybe just because i get a kick out of his understated intelligent professionalism. Nerdy maybe but it’s something that appeals to me, the way he carries himself and expresses himself in professional circumstances. I wish i could always be so faultlessly professional about my job regardless of circumstances.
    The thing that surprised me is what he said about the page long instructions about the characters. Hm…. i guess writers have different approaches. My take would be more that one should trust their own material and the craft of the people it has been entrusted too. It’s much harder to script chemistry than to let it emerge naturally. My preference would be the latter and in audio it is much more intangible than in video. Letting the narrator create your character can be more effective. If the writing is good they become the character rather than trying to sound like a given description. But you’d need to let them live outside the writer’s imagination and see what they become. Anyway just the one thing that drew my attention. Still best thing =the cardi! In this appalling weather I’d just want to snuggle up.

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    • Yeah, there must be apps for that. And because operating a tablet is silent, it’s probably preferable to rustling paper…
      Back to the reader vs narrator discussion – not sure if I remember this correctly, but I had the impression that he read quite fast, without the usual, careful emphasis and characterisation? (Or I could just be extra-critical. The upshot is, that I haven’t been immediately absorbed by the story or the characters. I found the prolog and much that Joy says boring. It seemed to take a long time to set the premise up. Griffin didn’t feel authentic to me – I kept thinking “that’s not how a man talks; that’s how a *woman thinks* a man talks”. I’m wondering whether my prejudices are getting the better of me…)
      As for the detailed character instructions – hehe, maybe that’s RA’s get-out clause… Without knowing what exactly the author stipulated, it’s hard to say whether the instructions were an impediment or helpful extra information. I would assume that any characterisation is always in safe hands with RA. The man does his homework and is very detailed and sensitive in his characterisations. Maybe the author didn’t know that…
      And big yes to what you are saying about his professionalism. That totally stood out to me, too, especially from a marketing/promotion POV. He can always be relied on to put the best spin on things – and to communicate it believably. Well, he’s an actor…

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      • but he does it intelligently and never pushy on the marketing, just on the right side of encouragement, maybe it’s his Britishness 😉 And yeah he read fast by the looks of it, not listened yet. Tbh on paper the description of this ‘Griffin’ starting with his name doesn’t stick together or is realistic at all, it’s some fantasy character which is just not real enough. And you’d have to make him speak like a Brit too, which by the sounds of people’s feedback so far isn’t the case. Either way, not one he or us really need to mull over too long, listen to if we fancy and move on 🙂 I think we’re over-analysing this beyond its purpose and merit ;-))))

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        • I mean, it’s all just entertainment. That’s not to say it’s unimportant, but in the wider scheme of things, he has had much more interesting projects going imo.
          And yes, the name really grates with me, too, although it is apparently a Welsh name. Maybe that’s why the character’s always described as ‘British’ (as opposed to ‘English’)…

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          • Indeed it is of Latin origin i think , certainly more commonly used in Welsh and Irish (apparently it was a very common Irish name which also explains why it is also a quite common name in it US it seems, ancestry makes sense). Which only makes the character even less believable unfortunately. It’s not completely unused these days, but more likely Welsh. For example you might know lovely Ioan Gruffudd 🙂 who is pretty much the only Griffin i know of myself…

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