Her Fearful Symmetry
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Do you have a question for Audrey Niffenegger?
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Jessica
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Sep 08, 2009 01:33AM
Goodreads is interviewing Audrey Niffenegger for our October newsletter. If you have a question about The Time Traveler's Wife, her new book, Her Fearful Symmetry, or life in general, post it here! We will select a few reader questions for Audrey.
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did you ever think that your book will become a movie?what inspiried you to write the time travelers wife?
what did you think of the movie?
How did you discover Highgate Cemetery? You describe it so beautifully in Her Fearful Symmetry that I wondered what your first visit was like.
In The Time Traveler's Wife, does Henry visit the Meadow because at the point where he first starts visiting, he's already married to Clare? He seems to visit places that he's already been, to relive parts of his life. When he time travels to times outside the bounds of his natural life, it seems limited to being with his immediate family, whether his parents or Alba.
Audrey, I moderate The Next Best Book Club here on Goodreads, and we chose your book, The Time Traveler's Wife, for our group read last month. It has given us many hours of great discussion and debate.
What do you think of all the success and feedback you have received from it? How does Her Fearful Symmetry compare to it as a sophmore novel?
(PS- if you are available, I would love the chance to have you in the group for an author Q&A - please check us out!)
Our Belmont Library read The Time Traveler's Wife some time ago. I remember that going back and forth in time was confusing for some when they first started reading the book. Why and how did you come up the concept-plot for the book and having it occur in this timed setting.By the way, our Belmont Library, in Belmont, CA has had some significant authors appear and we'd gladly welcome your visit.
Do you feel that books should be rated like movies for people who are sensetive to explicit language, sexual situations and violence? Would that deter some people from reading books they would other wise pick up to read? I just finished your book 2 days ago and I really liked it, but if it had been rated R, I would not of picked it up. I do wish that it had been written as pg-13 though...
Loved the book! Such a rich and layered story. My question is--who made the "list" of dates when Henry visited Clare? I thought maybe an older Henry had compiled it from his own notes and a younger Henry saw it somehow.
What advice to you have for aspiring authors. I heard you speak in Chicago after "The Time Traveler's Wife" was published and you mentioned that you obtained your agent and publisher on the same day. Did you revise your manuscript while you were querying agents?
One of the things that makes this book absolutely my favorite novel is the decisions that were made in the editing. What were the challenges in editing your "non-linear" novel? How did that process go?
The Time Traveler's Wife was a very unique and intriguing book, but how on earth did you keep it all straight when you were writing it - all the dates, timelines, etc.
I was lucky enough to read an early copy of Her Fearful Symmetry and was just enthralled by it. I am still thinking about the characters long after I finished it. Is there any possiblity that there might be a sequel to this one? Although, I was satisfied with the conclusion, I would love to know what happens to the sisters.
I love Time Traveler's Wife, it's one of my favorite books.This being said, here's a question I've always been meaning to ask Audrey :
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER !!!!
As a child Claire actually gets to see Henry when he was caught by her father and brother, only minutes before his being shot. And he looked completely normal, he had his legs (not only Claire doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but if I remember correctly he is even mentioned to be standing at one point). And yet we know that this couldn't have actually happened as Henry was legless by the time he died.
So, what did actually happen? Did I get everything wrong or was it a(n admitedly major) slip on the author's part?
END SPOILER
I'm very much looking forward to the answer,
Kay
You did such a wonderful job with a subject and format that could have been muddled, confusing, and an ultimate nightmare to try to keep straight. Did you try telling the story in different ways before you landed on the final timeline reveal? Was the story written linearly, or did the story reveal itself to you in much the same way that it was revealed to the reader?I am so excited to hear that you are coming out with another book! I have been waiting for this news since I read The Time Traveler's Wife back in 2005. Can't wait!
My bookclub read Time Traveler's Wife and these were some of the comments:What was the purpose of Henry losing his feet?
Do you think your book could have been as effective w/o all the foul language?
What was the basis for this type of story line?
Very hard to follow the timeline and him going back with himself.
Most did not rate this book as high as some we have read, but we are looking forward to seeing if the movie sheds more light with a visual.
What do you believe are the pros & cons of including profanity, intimacy and pop culture references in a novel?
In the Time Travelers Wife, doesn't the entire book take place within the short (actual) period between Henry being shot and Henry dying? Therefore the whole content of the book is one, long time travel?? This one has been taxing us for some time...!
Was all the sexual content of the book really necessary? If it was, there's a huge difference between details and just being down right graphic.
How do you find writing novels differs from your more graphic (i.e., pictorial) books, like the "The Three Incestuous Sisters"? Do you plan to produce more books along those lines? Also, will you be contributing to any more artist's book compilations (like "The Book as Art") or other academic essay type sources?
One of the things that struck me about The Time Traveler's Wife is that your characters are so complete and believable, even the very minor characters. It's hard to believe they don't exist outside the confines of the book. What process do you use when writing them? Do you map out your characters beforehand or do you let them reveal themselves to you as you write? Do you base them on people you know? Did the characters turn out as you first envisioned them?
Thank you for writing The Time Traveler's Wife - it completely captivated me. I'm excited about the new book as Highgate Cemetery is one of my favorite places and can't wait to see what you've done with it.
As I am always late to the party, I just discovered The Time Traveler's Wife and loved it. I found that even bit players like Richard, Annette and Ben were clearly three dimensional characters. My question for you is, did you write this novel in the order in which we read it or did you completely write Henry and Clare's stories and then wove them together or perhaps used another method? I really don't know how you can top TTW so I am enthusiastically awaiting Her Fearful Symmetry.
I am not quite sure where to begin-eight of us read this book and eigh of us hated it. Having said that we are still talking about this story four books later. After reading the opening paragraph and feeling the longing Clare had for Henery my eyes teared up and I couldn't wait to read more, but what came after was so disappointing I was crying for another reason. Billed as an epic romance that breaks the boundries of time; it felt more like an adolecent romp through time. I guess my question is why did Claire and Henery fuck instead of make love and why did Claire complain of her cunt hurting instead of feeling th joy of new life espeacially after losing so many babies? Trival maybe, but i just didn't get it.
how long does it take you to write a book
I would like to ask Audrey if you think having a sense of spirituality as a writer is important? I think your writing is very spiritual (not religious) and I wondered if that was important to you? (I mean spiritual in the broadest sense not narrowly religious)Thank you
Lisa
do you like the movie version of the time travelers wife? do you think it relates to your book at all?
You hear that, for exaple, Stephenie Meyer got the idea for the twilight- saga after she dreamed about it.How did you get the idea for the time traveler's wife?
Thanks for all the great questions, everyone! Stay tuned for the interview in our October newsletter.Meanwhile, Audrey is chatting with readers in a special group started by The Next Best Book Club:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/2...
Thanks for participating, everyone! And thanks to Jen and Elise, whose questions are in the final Audrey interview. You can read it here:http://www.goodreads.com/interviews/s...
will you be makeing a sequel to Her Fearful Symmetry
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