Albigensia Press

I realized I didn’t know Spanish, which is a problem, when I’m suddenly having to read a ton of it. What is effortless to do while writing a story suddenly becomes a lot more difficult performing it. I’ve been recording an audiobook and as I’m speaking out the words I wrote, I realize that I created some obstacles I didn’t know that were there.

Neil Gaiman once wrote a script for a BBC series call Neverwhere; it’s one of my favorite TV shows. There was a mini-documentary on the making of the show, where he’s talking about filming a scene where in the script he wrote, it has the actor falling into the mud in a dark tunnel. He said it was one thing to write the scene, it’s another to be standing out in the cold, watching a person have to fall in the mud over and over again, and realize it’s your fault they’re doing this.

Then the lead actress, the very beautiful Laura Frasier, comes up to him on a take and says with joy in her eyes, “I can’t believe we’re getting paid to do this!” Then he didn’t feel so bad.

In a similar fashion, when I’m simply typing what my characters are doing, I’m not concerned that one of my main characters is a New Mexican Latino and likes to code-switch between Spanish and English. I think it adds flavor to the story… which it does, but when I’m recording the audiobook of my story, now I am the voice of that character. Oh, and he’s talking with three other people, all of which have to have a voice distinctive enough that the listener can tell them apart. Ay!

The voice issue is a concern; for the four main characters, that’s easy to keep in mind how they sound. Now I add secondary characters. Are we going to ever see/hear from these people again? Do I need to remember how this character is going to sound three chapters from now? I write little reminders on my yellow post-it note, but does “gruff older guy #1” really that distinct from “gruff older guy #2?”

Then there’s the scene I didn’t expect; my Latino character is having to whisper while talking to another gal who doesn’t over his earpiece. Whoops. So I’m having to record a stage whisper, at the same time, shifting to normal voice for the girl. I will tell you; I have a greater respect for voice actors now.

However, I have finished through Chapter 6 (out of 18), and have recorded about an hour an a half, so I’m feeling pretty good about my progress. In other writing news:

• I did get both of my novels, No Such Wizard and No Such Squib up on Kindle.
• Even though I’m using Amazon’s own template, I still can’t seem to figure out why their paperback system won’t accept it. “Where is the text bleed, Bezos?!”
• As I mentioned, I am recording the audiobook, and I’m a third of the way through.
• Which means, stuck with other obstacles, I finally crumbled, outlined, and started writing the third book, which I’m already on Chapter 5. I’m not ready to start putting it on AO3 yet, but I will once I get several chapters into it.

So I won’t say I’m back in the zone, but I’m feeling a lot better about my writing… making it feel more like a hobby, something I get to do rather than something I feel like I have to do. If you want to read the book I’m recording rather than waiting to hear it on Audible, if you’re a dedicated Kindle user like I am, it’s only $0.99. Check it out. If you’re a cheapskate like me, I still want you to read it, but you can check it out on An Archive of Our Own (AO3) with simpler formatting, but the words are all the same. Enjoy!

Tags: audiobook, books, recording, Spanish