It genuinely did not occur to me that there was any way to turn a graphic novel into an audiobook. How would that even work? Most of the story is told in illustrations! Well, I had the absolute good fortune to learn through the process of creating the audiobook of RENEGADE GIRLS. It turns out the incredible folks at Little, Brown were able to bring the entire graphic novel to life by essentially creating an old-fashioned radio drama. All in a production about the length of a feature film, actors, narrators, and sound artists bring the story to life through an immersive audio experience. Think: a really long, really beautifully produced podcast, with each character specifically cast and sound effects to paint the setting and backgrounds.
I got to even be a part of the casting process, listening to audition tapes from so many different talented (and almost all queer!) actors and narrators. It was crazy to imagine what Nell and Alice and Lucia’s voices would sound like out loud, when I’d only previously imagined them in my head.
The audiobook itself is available wherever you get audiobooks, and right now is available on Spotify premium for no additional charge!
To find out more about how Renegade Girls, as a graphic novel, was turned into an audiobook, I asked the incredible actor playing Nell Nelson to answer a few questions. Meet the incredible Mia Hutchinson-Shaw!
What was your first reaction to the story of Renegade Girls when you were approached for the audiobook? What attracted you to the project?
I thought it was incredibly cool! I think Graphic Novel adaptations are a really cool trend happening in Audio. It has been fun to see how each project expands the boundaries of what we think is possible for a visual world getting translated into audio. I thought the premise of Renegade Girls was really fresh and exciting and I was pumped to see an author like Nora, with her background in journalism, bringing that into YA Queer lit. I grew up on Historical Fiction and now work on many queer stories in audio and Renegade Girls felt like a nod to my 12 year old interests and my current interests all in one.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you auditioned for both Nell and Alice right? And maybe even Lucia too? Was there a certain character you wanted to play most of all? How did you find out that you got the job?
I did audition for all three roles. It was about half a page of text from each character – maybe totaling in 5 minutes of audio. I read through everything, pulled as much inspiration and as many clues as possible and then went into the booth and played around with each character’s section. It felt pretty obvious that Nells words just fit in my body and mouth really seamlessly, but I’d don’t always put a lot of stock in that, it’s always about what resonates with the Author, and sometimes its a surprise where they hear your vrs where you hear yourself! I remember feeling like I immediately could tap into Nells excitement for New York and that moment of seeing the Harbor for the first time. It was one of those fun moments as an actor where you just can tap into your own awe and wonder somatically and you don’t have to work too hard to conjure it up. Just felt really natural and easy and fun.
What was the actual recording process like for the graphic novel audiobook? How much of the technical stuff do you do yourself?
I don’t do any of the techincal stuff. It’s always fun to work on an audio adaptation because it is very actor focused. I just get to study one character and her place in the story and then jump in the booth and play a lot. For this project, Melanie Schmidt, our producer, and I connected via ZOOM. I was home in my home studio with my recording gear set up and rolling and then we just line by line worked through the script. What is challenging about that is I have to make sure I know exactly what is happening in each moment with Nell’s circumstances, her body and breath, and using my imagination in a really detailed way to hear/imagine what my scene partner would be saying to tell the story clearly and with as much emotional realism as possible. Then we wrapped up and I sent it off the Hachette post production team to work their magic.
This audio adaptation is unique because it’s almost like a radio drama where each character is casted and then music, sounds, etc are added. What’s the difference for you in recording something like that versus reading a full traditionally-narrated audiobook?
It’s very different and yet not different at all. I still prep the entire book and learn everything I can about the characters, setting, context, who the readers will be. Then I look at all that information like an actor. How does that research and information translate into performance, crafting a scene and the emotional realism of it, the characters body and breath. The big difference is if I am doing an entire book all that actor work happens for all the characters and the narrative. For something like Renegade Girls I just focus on Nell. Then thats where Julie Robine’s amazing illustration comes in. As I plot the performance before recording (and even during recording) I am referencing her drawings to make sure that vocally I am matching what is happening visually on the page. For example is Nell is enraged, or swooning, or flirting in the illustration, I am making sure that is happening in my own body and translating to my voice. It’s some of the most physical acting I have ever done! It is really fun. The other major difference is if I was doing a whole traditional audiobook I would get to have two sided scenes, where as with an audio adaptation that is recorded one part at a time, I have to use my imagination to hear the other side of the scenes. Its a really fun way of working that require a lot of preparation and then a lot of play in the moment of recording.
Thanks, Mia! And take a listen to the incredible Renegade Girls audiobook now!
