Audrey Niffenegger's Raven Girl

One of the most versatile and innovative writers working today, Audrey Niffenegger enjoys challenging her readers with inventive books. Working as both a writer and artist, she has created several books that cross the graphic line, including her latest, the fairytale-like Raven Girl. As the Royal Ballet in London prepares to unveil a ballet based upon the book, we talked to Niffenegger about her bold approach to storytelling.

Raven Girl
 
You’re a very versatile and diverse writer and creator. After The Time Traveler’s Wife, were you concerned about being pigeon-holed as a particular type of writer? Do you worry about being labeled in certain ways based on the types of books you’ve done since then?
 
Anyone who's looked at more than a small portion of my body of work would have a difficult time pigeon-holing me. I don't worry about labels; there is not much I can do about them anyway, except to make the work I want to make.
 
Is it difficult --- in the modern age of publishing --- to be a creator who doesn’t conveniently fit into a particular mold or description?
 
I am very fortunate to have several publishers, so I can work with the one best suited to each project. My editors have been accommodating; they don't bother about categories, just quality.
 
Have you ever considered doing a full-on graphic novel?
 
Yes, I hope to make one some day. It would be a long project, though; it took me many months to complete The Night Bookmobile and that is quite short.
 
How is the ballet version of Raven Girl coming along? What have you seen of it so far, and what can you tell us about what to expect?
 
I've only seen a small portion of the choreography, and [choreographer] Wayne McGregor would like to surprise the ballet audience, so I will be quiet about the ballet except to say that it was thrilling to see my characters brought to life by Wayne and the dancers. The sets and costumes, by Vicki Mortimer, were especially pleasing because she has reinterpreted my descriptions and images into a darker, larger, and more dynamic onstage world. It's all very dark indeed, lots of black on black.
 
The story of Raven Girl is a little dark, a twisted fairy tale. But it’s also very sweet. I notice this theme a lot in your work…is this a style that you feel most comfortable working in?
 
I like to work with unsettling themes, but I don't want to make an unbearable world, so I try to achieve balance and even a kind of fairness in the fates of the characters.
 
Who were your artistic influences? Who helped shape your particular style of line drawings and use of sparse coloring?
 
I have been influenced by Aubrey Beardsley, James Ensor, Max Klinger, Charlotte Salomon, Kathe Kollwitz, Horst Janssen, Lynda Barry, Egon Schiele, Max Ernst, Kiki Smith, Lucian Freud, Remedios Varo and many more.
 
What are you working on next?
 
I'm working on two novels at once. Neither are anywhere near finished, but now that Raven Girl is out in the world I can turn back to novel writing for a while.
 

-- John Hogan