The Time Traveller’s Wife author Audrey Niffenegger was in Sheffield last week as part of the Off the Shelf reading and writing festival. An evening in conversation, which included a Q&A session, was held in the Pennine Theatre at Hallam University last Wednesday.
Audrey Niffenegger is an American artist and writer born in South Haven, Michigan who has lived most of her life in or near Chicago. She has written two best-selling novels, The Time Traveller’s Wife, which has also been made into a film, and Her Fearful Symmetry, which was published last year.
She has also published several novels-in-pictures or graphic novels. In 2008 she made a serialized graphic novel for The Guardian, The Night Bookmobile, which was published in book form in September of this year.
She taught book arts for many years as a professor in Columbia College’s MFA program in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts. She is now on the faculty of the Columbia College Fiction Writing Department. She continues to teach but now just teaches one module a year.
When Audrey was at high school she thought she would be a book illustrator, but then realised that she would be forever taking orders from others. She said: “I wanted to do whatever the heck I wanted”. This artistic independence is very much reflected throughout her work, which is highly original and certainly pushes boundaries.
In fact, although there are romantic elements to her novels, Audrey sees herself as more of a science fiction writer. She said: “Romance as a genre has been very experimental over the last few years”.
Audrey Niffenegger’s first novel, The Time Traveller’s Wife was published in 2003, having come up with the idea in 1997. Audrey’s starting point was the title, and was originally going to make it a graphic novel before she realised that time travel would be difficult to portray in still images.
The novel is essentially the portrait of a marriage, but with a crucial twist. Henry has a genetic disorder which causes him to time travel randomly and unpredictably, meaning that his wife Claire has to cope with his frequent absences and often dangerous experiences.
In line with the random chronology of the narrative, Audrey wrote the two last scenes first. She then wrote a few seemingly unrelated scenes before she sat down and wrote an outline. While writing the novel Audrey kept two timelines in her computer, one for Claire and one for Henry. Although she sees the narrative itself as relatively simple, she compared the reading of the novel to reading an e-book on shuffle!
Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger’s second novel was published in 2009. Set in London, it is essentially a ghost story, but also deals with other issues such as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and relationships, particularly twin relationships. The story is centred on American twins Valentina and Julia, who move to London to inherit their aunt’s flat in Highgate after she passes away.
Audrey wrote the novel from multiple points of view; she chose a close third person narrative so that she could “zip in and out of everyone’s heads”. It took her some time to get the voice right; one obstacle was that she realised she had to write in British English.
I was surprised to find out that she didn’t know the whole story when she started; in fact her starting point was a guy with OCD who never left his apartment, who of course becomes the twins’ neighbour Martin. The idea of twins came later, and it was two years before the story had a ghost!
In the novel the twins live next to Highgate Cemetery, and Audrey particularly enjoyed this aspect of her research. She finds the cemetery fascinating, and in fact still gives tours there whenever she’s in London.
I understand why she calls herself the “Queen of Research”. Audrey herself has not experienced many of the things included in her novels. For example, Audrey has never been married or had a baby, nor has she ever been a ghost or even seen a ghost! She admits that she doesn’t even believe in ghosts herself, and often “borrows” ghost stories from other people.
Alongside other projects which include writing a screenplay, Audrey is now working on her third novel, The Chinchilla Girl in Exile. It is about a nine-year-old girl who has hypertrichosis i.e. she is covered in hair, who having been taught at home for years decides that she wants to go to school. The novel looks at how children treat other children, and what it’s like to be different.
Finally someone from the audience what we all wanted to know, what advice can she give to aspiring writers? Most importantly, finish what you’re writing before you show it to anyone. Although you may be desperate for feedback and a publishing contract, you should relish the freedom you have before you have your work published. Another useful piece of wisdom; if you’re faced with writers’ block, rephrase the question. Try approaching it from a different angle rather than tackling it head-on.
The evening with Audrey Niffenegger made me even more aware of the complexity of the writing process and all of the labour and research that goes in to writing a good story. She is a true inspiration, and I can’t wait to read her next book.
For more information about Audrey Niffenegger and her work, please visit her website.
