S.G. Wilson
asked
Elan Mastai:
One of the many things I loved about "All Our Wrong Todays" was the way you built a vision of an alternate Jetsons-style present through small details here and there, rather than painting a full-scale picture. Did you have other details in mind that didn't make the final cut? The main character alludes to things about this alternate present that aren't so great. Had you mulled over any specifics along those lines?
Elan Mastai
I mean... yes, so many things didn't make the cut because I didn't want to overwhelm the reader or weigh down the story. I thought about how I'd explain our world to someone who knew nothing about it—you can't explain everything, so you just point things out as you go and hope that, like a mosaic, they get a coherent picture from all the little tiles. As for the critical aspects of Tom's reality, the book is narrated specifically from Tom's point of view and intentionally includes his personal blindspots. His reality has a lot of cool stuff in it and was fun to write, but it's also explicitly a 1950s vision of the future. Corporations are good, authority is deferred to, gender roles are polarized, science is seen as objective truth, and people generally believe technology can solve any problem. In our version of reality, all of these notions have been interrogated over the past half-century.
More Answered Questions
Hannah M.
asked
Elan Mastai:
I was wondering if you have any story ideas such as characters, items, or places that you've thrown out or given up on that I can use for one of my stories? The story that I'm thinking of is about an island where all story bits end up if they are thrown out or given up on. I've asked other authors so I can get a variety and some truth to the story. It's fine if you don't want to share any. Thanks. ~Hannah
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