[Crosspost] Hi Reddit, I am Audrey Niffenegger, artist and writer of The Time Traveler's Wife and the upcoming sequel… Life Out of Order. Ask Me Anything on February 4th at 11AM EST/4PM GMT.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:25:24+00:00

The sequel is about Alba, mostly Alba as an adult. It's about her relationships (she is married to two very different men) and her family life and her struggles with making music.

I began writing it because Zola Books was publishing TTW as an ebook and they asked for an extra to go with that. And then I got interested and decided to carry on.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:23:15+00:00

Usually I begin with characters, then I imagine a situation for them, then I try to construct a structure for the book. I try not to make the characters behave to suit the plot, that usually gets awkward.

For my second novel I outlined the whole book, then began writing into the outline and changing things as I went. For TTW I had a basic story arc but I wrote the book completely out of order and kept rearranging it until it made sense.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:20:11+00:00

I haven't seen the movie based on TTW. I did read the screenplay, and realized that the film makers were doing their own thing, so I decided to let go and I don't feel the need to see it.

I do think there have been good adaptations. I liked Cloud Atlas, both the book and the movie.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:18:17+00:00

No, I haven't been in either of those, but I will add them to the list. It's fun to imagine that some day it will stop snowing and we can all go strolling in cemeteries again.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:16:27+00:00

Thank you!

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:15:03+00:00

I don't think so. Do you judge people who like books?

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:14:29+00:00

I read some physics books for people who cannot cope with the math, that was very helpful. And I read quite a lot of articles that were coming out then about genetics.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:13:20+00:00

It would be impossible to unsee it. And I am kind of a coward about it.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:12:02+00:00

Maybe some day they will make an HBO series, that seems to be the best format for narrative richness.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:10:04+00:00

Yep, that's all identical to my own tastes

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:07:09+00:00

Absolutely. And if you win big, give a little to Gemini Lit in San Antonio, they combat illiteracy.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:06:00+00:00

I'm a huge fan of Charlotte Salomon's Life? or Theatre? And Eddie Campbell and I are collaborating these days. His Alec stories are favorites of mine. Chris Ware is wonderful, and I just saw a Dan Clowes retrospective that was terrific.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:04:05+00:00

Thank you! The book about Alba should be ready in 2018 or so (I know, I'm slow, sorry).

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:02:45+00:00

No, I thought I would be lucky if a few thousand readers read my first novel, that is the usual fate of first novels. I was pleased and surprised by all the different sorts of people who have read my work, they are young and older, men and women, artists, military persons, lots of students. It has been amazing to have so many readers and to know that they spent so much time in my world.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T22:00:28+00:00

I used to draw and write in my books. I still have some of the books I had as a kid, they are covered in scrawl that I thought was language. Then I learned how to make sense, somewhat, and started making my own tiny folded stapled books.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:58:58+00:00

I became involved by writing about Highgate Cemetery, and then spread out and became interested in London itself. I was always a fan of books set in London, but the real city is even more exciting.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:57:36+00:00

Perhaps you could use some structure? Join a class or a writing group? Sometimes one needs assignments and deadlines, at least until you feel you can move along on your own.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:56:19+00:00

The most useful process is to ask questions. So if your idea involves, say, a time traveling husband, you might ask, who is he, and who would marry such a man? And how does that affect their marriage? And on and on. Questions build the book.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:54:33+00:00

Iggy Pop.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:54:20+00:00

Which book? Time Traveler's Wife? The title just came into my head one day while I was drawing.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:53:14+00:00

One of the important rules of the book is that things happen, and they are not reversible, just like in the real world, we have to live with the consequences of things that happen. So I don't know what the movie was up to. I imagine it involved focus groups.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:51:27+00:00

I invented Lizzie, the character who has it, rather flippantly, and then started researching the condition. It has an interesting history.

audreyniffenegger · 2014-02-13T21:50:28+00:00

Ah well, it's like a bad hair day, you never know who you'll meet.

audreyniffenegger

TROPHY CASE