Margot
asked
Matt Ruff:
Hi Matt! Longtime reader here- when I got to Cornell in fall of 1990, a friend handed me Fool on the Hill and said a friend of a friend had written it. I’ve followed your literary career ever since and LOVED Lovecraft Country. Do you see all your books as happening in the same slightly-more-magical version of reality, or are they totally different spaces?
Matt Ruff
I see each book as taking place in its own separate reality.
I get the appeal of having an author’s entire body of work share the same fictional universe, but unless you plan it out very carefully, I think you’re bound to run into continuity problems or conflicts in tone. I’d have a hard time reconciling the goofy sci-fi future of Sewer, Gas & Electric with the more sober storytelling in Set This House in Order, and the thought of Lovecraft Country’s Order of the Ancient Dawn butting heads with the Troop from Bad Monkeys makes my eyes cross. Usually I’m a fan of culture clashes, but in this case, it’d feel too much like a gimmick. Better to leave each novel in its own world.
I get the appeal of having an author’s entire body of work share the same fictional universe, but unless you plan it out very carefully, I think you’re bound to run into continuity problems or conflicts in tone. I’d have a hard time reconciling the goofy sci-fi future of Sewer, Gas & Electric with the more sober storytelling in Set This House in Order, and the thought of Lovecraft Country’s Order of the Ancient Dawn butting heads with the Troop from Bad Monkeys makes my eyes cross. Usually I’m a fan of culture clashes, but in this case, it’d feel too much like a gimmick. Better to leave each novel in its own world.
More Answered Questions
John
asked
Matt Ruff:
How different was writing "Lovecraft County" in comparison with "The Mirage", since I am aware that you had tried pitching "The Mirage" first as a TV series before writing it as a novel? I am especially impressed with your world building in "Lovecraft Country", though it lacks the inventiveness of say, what you dubbed as the internet in "The Mirage".
Alison Gresik
asked
Matt Ruff:
In light of the #ownvoices movement, I'd love to hear from you as a white author writing Lovecraft Country about the experience of Black characters. How did you get comfortable with telling this story? What limitations did you become aware of, during and after the process? What are you learning from having the story adapted by Black writers & producers? Anything you would do differently? Any intuitions that paid off?
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