An Interview with Author Stella Riley and Narrator Alex Wyndham and a GIVEAWAY! [closed]

You know how sometimes you come across a book, piece of music, film or somesuch, and it makes such an impression on you that it sticks in your mind and stays with you for years? Well, that’s what happened to me in 1986 when I picked up a book called A Splendid Defiance by British author, Stella Riley. Set during the English Civil War, it’s a superbly written against-the-odds love story, and I enjoyed it so much I immediately glommed everything of hers I could find. Ms Riley produced a handful of books in the 1980s and 90s, and then stopped writing for a while (as she mentions in our interview) but luckily, with the advent of digital publishing, has republished her backlist and has since written a number of new novels. Now she’s bringing her books to audio, I couldn’t be a happier bunny – and the icing on the cake is that she has engaged the hugely talented Alex Wyndham to narrate her first forays into the audiobook world.

The first title to be released in audio is The Parfit Knight, book one in her Rockliffe Series of three (so far!) romances set in Georgian England, and we have THREE copies (which will be in the form of Audible downloads) to give away to our readers. And at the end of my chat with Stella and Alex, you can listen to some specially selected excerpts from the audiobook.

Giveaway Is Closed!

Entry is simple. We are giving away three (3) Audible downloads of the audiobook The Parfit Knight by Stella Riley, narrated by Alex Wyndham. Just complete the easy entry form below the interview by midnight US Central Time Monday, January 25th. No comments are necessary to enter although we’d love to hear your thoughts in our discussion area. You may only enter once – anyone entering more than once will be disqualified. We’ll contact the three winners on Tuesday, January 26th, so watch your email as we must have acknowledgement of your win within 48 hours. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll select another winner.

 

Caz: Welcome to AudioGals, Stella

Stella: Thank you, Caz. It’s great to be here.

Caz: And welcome back, Alex

Alex: Thanks very much.

Caz: Alex, I’m going to start out by saying that you’ve made a real impression on us here at AG over the last year – in fact you turned out to be our favourite “favourite” thing (!) of 2015 because so many of us had enjoyed your work so much. So, for what it’s worth, congratulations!

Alex: Well – thank you so much for your support. I really feeling like I’m just learning with regards to narration so it’s great encouragement.

Caz: We do like to encourage talent when we hear it :) And Stella… well, I think she already knows I’m her biggest fan.

Stella: Thanks for that.

Caz: I’ve said in the introduction that I first picked up some books of yours a long time ago and that they made a real impression on me. I was pretty gutted when you stopped writing, so was jumping for joy when you started republishing digitally, and am doing the same thing now you’re bringing some to audio. What prompted that decision?

Stella: It’s a decision that has been brewing for about a year on and off. The suggestion kept cropping up from readers but it took me quite a while to take it seriously. And then one day I realised not only that it was time for something new but that I wanted a bit of excitement. And audio seemed to fit the bill.

Caz: And has it been exciting?

Stella: Exciting and a bit scary. At the moment, it’s all moving faster than I can think!

Alex: I’d be interested to know how long your break [from writing] was?

Stella: Longer than I care to admit. Twenty-odd years, actually.

Alex: Holey moley!

Stella: Yep

Alex: Stepped out for a few minutes – and didn’t come back for a bit?

Stella: You could say that. I filled in the time with a few other things though – but nothing as much fun as writing is now in the New Age

Caz: So what is your day like as a writer these days?

Stella: Well, each day starts with reading what I wrote the day before – this stops me staring at a blank page and putting off actually working. I work from 10 till 4, then usually put in another couple of hours in the evening.

Caz: So it’s another day at the office, then?

Stella: Has to be. That’s the thing about being self-employed. It’s just too easy to wander off and do other things.

Alex: Seconded

Stella: Ah. I thought you might know that feeling :)

Caz: Alex, I know you’ve spoken about this before, but for anyone who doesn’t know, would you mind telling us how you got into audiobook narration?

Stella: Yes – I’d like to hear about that, too.

Alex: Well it was Christmastime a couple of years ago, and I’d had a year of working a fair bit on telly and not really feeling entirely satisfied. You are very much cast to play a specific role in a show – directed by other people and speaking a very small number of words. So I got involved with a company called Bee Audio – who are fantastic – and had a go at narration. Doing that, you are very much your own boss (with some very useful guidance from the author – thank you Stella!).

Stella: You’re welcome, Alex. I have a very healthy respect for what you do – so much more difficult I think than acting one specific role.

Caz: *nods*. So getting to perform all the characters and having a greater input into the overall result makes audiobook narration an attractive prospect?

Alex: Absolutely – you’re playing twenty + characters, you’re trying to paint a picture of a whole world and you have a complete responsibility for taking the listener with you. It’s a huge challenge and I’m very keen to get better and better. There’s so much to learn.

Caz: Well, judging by the reactions of my fellow ‘Gals and listeners, I think it’s safe to say that you’re rising admirably to that challenge!

Alex: That’s very kind…

Caz: I confess to being a complete audiobook geek in that I’m entirely fascinated by the process – not just actually sitting in a booth in front of a microphone, but the preparation that goes into producing that final product.

Stella: Yes, same here. How do you keep all the characters separate in your head?

Alex: Well, that’s the key – you don’t!

Stella: How do you mean?

Alex: You have to get really good at using your instincts. And then trusting that your subconscious has stored all the information for you. If you tried to do it all consciously it would be impossibly laboured. I guess a good example is watching a sports person play a complex sport and they make all these crazy shots/moves – and it’s all muscle memory and trusting that.

Stella: That sounds like a feat of concentration to me.

Alex: I mean – don’t get me wrong you have to do good prep work and get the characters and their voices in your bones… But after that you have to just trust and speak!

Caz: Your saying that makes me realise that if you DID have a little mental list of “that’s him, and that’s her” it could get really confusing and perhaps a bit too “clinical” – if that’s the right word?

Alex: Yep. I think so… And I think you might lose the big picture of the story as it were. But I’m sure there are many ways to do it.

Caz: Do you read a book before narrating, or skim and use notes? I ask because I obviously listen to a lot of audiobooks and with some performers you can just tell they have done a lot of work and know the storyline and the characters very, very well. With others, you can tell they have no clue what’s coming next.

Alex: Ha! Which is me??

Caz: *rolls eyes* THE FORMER!

Alex: Ok :) I definitely read thoroughly – although I always wish I could spend more time. And as I read I read bits aloud – specifically characters and gradually find a consistent voice for them, one that gets into the muscle memory so I can be as instinctive as possible.

Caz: Other than reading the book, what does preparation normally involve?

Alex: One of the pleasures of prep is to do a bit of reading around a particular period. Get a sense of the times. So you make sure that your values chime with those of the characters.

Caz: That sounds like a really pleasurable activity, even though it IS work! Does the genre of the book dictate how you prepare?

Alex: Hmm… Well I guess non-fiction is less prep. But within fiction genres? I guess it helps if you let yourself occupy an emotional place that chimes with the book. Epic fantasy requires a lot of energy whereas Romance requires more emotional availability and sensitivity.

Caz: I’m glad you said that :) The genre as a whole does get a bad press and I could waffle on for ages about how unfair that is… as a male narrator (and I’m always moaning about how there aren’t enough good male narrators of romance audios) do you think men tend to shy away from the genre because of the preconceptions? Or just aren’t asked to narrate romance?

Alex: Gosh. I think probably both… And as you said it’s so easy to be put off by the clichés of the genre and miss the gems. But I also think it’s horses for courses and if you’re a person who enjoys being immersed in a heightened emotional world and dwelling in human relationships, then you’ll gravitate to it. Although perhaps men just haven’t quite liberated themselves from their patriarchal baggage yet!

Caz: Heh – and probably very true.

Alex: But the quality Stella’s writing makes it a heck of a lot easier.

Stella: Thank you, Alex. Good to know!

Caz: Stella, I said in the introduction to our chat that I’d become familiar with your work through a book set during the English Civil War and I know you are working on a series of books set in the same time period. What prompted the decision to go into audio with your other series – the Georgian romances – rather than the Civil War books?

Stella: Once I’d made the decision to try audio at all, I also realised that I didn’t want to do it with just one book. The Rockliffe Series offered the chance to do all three titles – and of course the books are shorter. Can you imagine plunging into audio with something like The Black Madonna at 200,000 words plus? The mind boggles!

Caz: There are three books so far in the series – The Parfit Knight, The Mésalliance and The Player. I am sure there were hints in the last book that there might be a fourth…?

Stella: That not impossible. I left a thread dangling for Nicholas and Madeleine – though I’m rather more interested in Aristide. I think he has a dark side and I’d quite like to explore that. Adrian [hero of The Player] was supposed to have a dark side but that didn’t work out too well. He turned into a toasted marshmallow; crispy on the outside and mushy in the middle but definitely hot. At least, I think so.

Caz: No argument from me there! I do so like a marshmallow hero… ;) Oh, and I’m going to put you on the spot and ask if there is any possibility of an audio version of A Splendid Defiance, which is one of my all-time favourite historical romances?

Stella: Yes – I really want to do Defiance as an audio. It’s probably my favourite as well.

Caz: Excellent! And back to Parfit Knight – Alex, thinking about what you’ve said about preparation by reading aloud and finding voices… A narrator’s interpretation of hero or heroine can make or break an audiobook, especially a romance…

Stella: That is soo true!

Caz: … so how do you go about finding the right voice for the hero?

Alex: It’s a tricky one – especially since a hero voice can be pretty generic. I think with a hero it hinges on a kind of an authority and completeness of character. Or at least someone with enough potential to become that person. And the voice has to reflect that, I guess.

Caz: I suppose in a way the hero can be difficult to ‘find’ – they do say that the baddies get the best lines …

Alex: Yup – making someone likeable is an art, I think. But one that’s felt. You know the way you can just warm to someone?

Caz: Yes, absolutely

Alex: Well there are probably very good evolutionary reasons for that. Indicators of strength and reliability – and I reckon that a lot of that can come across in a voice!

Caz: That’s very true

Stella: You certainly manage to get all those things across, Alex.

Alex: Thanks! Well as I’ve said before, there is nothing harder than trying to bring bad writing to some sort of life – and the completeness and intelligence of Stella’s characters lets them jump off the page for me. Intelligence is SO important.

Stella: :) Character and dialogue are the most important things to me. I particularly enjoy writing my male characters interacting with each other. And can I just say at this point that the way you read Rockliffe is outstanding, Alex. Exactly how I imagined him!

Alex: Oh good!

Caz: Stella, this is a question I’m sure will put Alex to the blush, but what was it about him that made you decide he was the perfect narrator for your books?

Stella: It’s one of those things that’s hard to quantify. If you’d asked me what I was looking for in a narrator, I doubt I could have explained. But you instantly know what you’ve been looking for when you find it – and that’s what happened with Alex. Obviously, I was looking for a ‘complete package’ as it were, since it was for 3 books not just one … and I’d heard some really quite good auditions. But none of them were exactly right – not until I heard Alex.

Caz: And once you’d heard him – that was it? Decision made?

Stella: I’m not going to try to outline all the reasons why you scored over everyone else, Alex – that would take too long! Suffice it to say that I love your narrative style and find your transitions particularly impressive. But I have to go back (sorry to harp on!) to Rockliffe. He’s central to the trilogy and you gave me a guy I could not only believe in but also recognise 100% as the character I wrote.

Alex: Well, thanks again very much. It’s funny – I feel like in some of my screen stuff I’ve played characters who’ve had some of Rock in them. A certain mannered playfulness. Not sure why it comes to me as it does.

Caz: Alex, was there anything you found particularly challenging in The Parfit Knight? Or a favourite scene, perhaps?

Alex: Well – the interesting thing was the way the book felt to me like it was a succession of acutely observed scenes. This was a challenge in as much as you had to maintain the thread of the story and the relationships for a sustained period of time – but wonderful as you got to real get inside a moment. I think my favourite scene is when Phillip Vernon charges into to Amberley’s mother’s home and surprises the heroines – all guns blazing. And Rosalind has that absolutely killer line about him being perennially at a disadvantage. Brilliant, Stella!

Stella: Thanks. In terms of your narration (all of which is brilliant) I’d just like to pick on the Vauxhall Gardens scene when Rosalind [the heroine] tries to get away from Robert the Brat. The pace and expression you put into that really brought it to life. I may have written the thing but listening to you read it brought some real feeling into it.

Alex: Thank you!

Caz: This seems to be my day for asking silly questions, but was there any particular reason you chose to make Rosalind blind, Stella?

Stella: I like a challenge and I hadn’t seen that particular device (blindness) used elsewhere [the book was originally written in 1987 – ed.] so I thought it would be interesting to find out if I could make it work.

Alex: I think in the context of the story it – and what character it reveals in her – makes Rosalind incredibly attractive.

Stella: Actually, the way she accepts her limitations without self-pity is the main key. She’s a very likeable person.

Caz: And the way in which Amberley immediately – instinctively? – knows not to treat her differently says a lot about him, too

Alex: Isn’t that interesting? Both of their strength of character manifested…

Caz: Yep – and in very few scenes or words, too,

Stella: Hey guys – hardly know what to say. Personally though, my favourite character in the book is Rockliffe – hence the fact that, later on, he got his own book. [The Mésalliance]

Caz: I can’t wait for that one ;)

Stella: Have you started that yet, Alex?

Alex: I am deep in prep – and finding all those ladies voices!!

Stella: Sorry about that. When I came to do the production notes I realised just how many characters were in the book. Even I was surprised!

Caz: I’m sure it’s a real challenge to perform characters of the opposite sex, and again, I know this is something you’ve spoken about before… but what are the particular challenges for YOU in performing the female roles?

Alex: Hmm… Well, for me it’s about feeling like you could really own a female character. Feel like you have the authority, as it were, to speak with the voice of a different gender without cliché. I guess part of it has been just trusting that who you feel and think this person is – who happens to be a woman – is valid. And having the confidence to just say it. I suppose it makes me feel like we’re all a lot more similar. More similar than different.

Stella: I’ll be interested to hear what you make of Adeline [heroine of The Mésalliance]. She’s got a bit more ‘bite’ to her than Rosalind or Isabel.

Alex: Yes – she is the first female character I’ve read who has the same controlled composure, assertiveness and authority as a lot of the men have the luxury to have. She’s unapologetic.

Stella: Thank you. I wanted her to have an edge – and she does, at least to begin with. In certain circumstances, she even managed to retain it. But not so much with Rock.

Alex: Right – that’s good to know. There is a very evident coldness in her delivery which I’m enjoying – but one that has endless room (hopefully!) to grow.

Caz: This excellent matching of H/h is something that I’ve always admired about Stella’s books. Rock is such an imposing, almost omniscient character that he needs a heroine who can go toe to toe with him – because there are few things worse in a romance than finishing it feeling that one protagonist didn’t really deserve the other.

Stella: Yes. That’s a tricky one.

Caz: Going back to my intrinsic audiobook geekery… Alex, how much do you typically record in a day?

Alex: Probably one to two finished hours. I work similar hours to Stella actually, 10 – 4ish. And that’s taking a ton of time actually. If I were to record in an external studio I’d have to sextuple that!

Caz: Oh yes, you record in a home studio, don’t you?

Alex: Yup. I actually had to turn down some work recently because I just didn’t feel I was up to bashing through 80 pages a day. Impossible to keep any kind of quality.

Stella: 80 pages a day? Impossible, surely?

Alex: Well, Stella, that’s what most studio recordings expect. And people somehow manage. It’s also why a lot of actors don’t get involved – trying to do a whole book in a couple of days is miserable, frankly. This new model of home studio and editors and producers working from home – as exemplified by Bee – is liberating for all.

Caz: Obviously that system works well for you – what would you say are the other advantages? And disadvantages?

Alex: Gosh. Advantages – flexible time to build a multi front acting career… Pleasure of a working day spent in slippers! ;) and the disadvantages are largely to do with facing your own turbulent mind day in day out. I have to make sure I plan a lot of social stuff so I don’t go mad. And also make sure I don’t work after 6ish otherwise it all bleeds into one eternal anxious workday.

Caz: I can understand that. When you’re not working and get the time to read (or listen) for pleasure, what do you choose?

Alex: I’m Just reading Evelyn Waugh’s travel writing. He is outrageously bitchy!

Stella: I read voraciously – and all sorts of things. I like biographies – but those generally tend to be guys and gals of the 17th century. And I enjoy a good romance/adventure as much as anyone else. But for a book to really cut it with me, the writing has to be good – and it has to have a memorable hero.

Alex: Have you read The Blue Flower, Stella?

Stella: No. Tell me about it.

Alex: It’s by Penelope Fitzgerald – in some ways it’s like Hilary Mantel. I’ve just started reading it and it’s really wonderful. Historical novel set in 18th C Germany with a real touch of genius to it.

That sounds interesting. I’ll look out for it. I did read Wolf Hall but wasn’t actually knocked out by it. Something about the style didn’t gel for me.

Alex: Oh me too. There were moments which really zinged … and then acres of flat.

Stella: I’ll take your recommendation, then and give it a whirl.

Caz: Stella, what are the best and worst things about being a writer? And other than getting the Rockliffe books ready for audio, what else are you working on or planning for the future?

Stella: Like any writer (it being a solitary occupation where you spend a lot of time living inside your own head) I enjoy hearing from readers. And I love it when my characters step forth and take over – Mr Bailes in The Player being a prime example of that. I didn’t plan him. He just … turned up. As for what I’m doing now – it’s Roundheads & Cavaliers #4 – Eden Maxwell’s story. And it’s been pretty hard work – which is probably why I felt I deserved a bit of fun and hence the audios.

Caz: Hard work – in what way?

Stella: A lot of the difficulties are to do with the historical time-frame. We’ve reached 1653-55 … a period of failure in nearly every respect. The Barebones Parliament didn’t work; the Dutch War was an expensive disaster; Cromwell’s popularity took a dive and his first Parliament as Protector achieved absolutely nothing in its short life. As for the Cavaliers – they weren’t doing any better. Endless failed plots to assassinate Cromwell, a long but pointless rising in Scotland and the newly-formed Sealed Knot too cautious to act at all. In short, R&C #4 isn’t called Lords of Misrule for nothing! So it’s a struggle to use what history there is to its best effect and yet also give Eden his HEA

Caz: Alex, are you working on anything else at the moment that you’re allowed to talk about?

Alex: I’m about to do some work on a BBC film called Mindhorn, written by Julian Barratt and Simon Farnable, which is full of amazing people like Steve Coogan and Kenneth Brannagh. It’s my first foray into comedy. And I’ve just finished a really amazing audiobook novella about a young man’s experience of cancer, called The Boy in the Mirror. And also – of course – The Mésalliance!

Caz: I am SO looking forward to that.

Stella: Indeed! I just want to say a very public thank you to Alex for taking my books on. I do feel very lucky to have you narrating them.

Alex: Well, thank YOU, Stella, for getting me on board. Good writing makes my narrating days pass in a delightful blur!

Caz: I’m sure listeners are going to love The Parfit Knight and be clamouring for more! Best of luck with it – and the following books – and thanks for taking the time to talk with me.

Alex: Thanks so much for having me to chat Caz. Happy 2016.

Stella: Thank you, Caz. It’s been a pleasure talking to both.

Caz

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The Giveaway is now closed!

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