Ann Morgan is the author of the new novel Beside Myself. She also has written The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe, and her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Guardian and The Independent. She is based in London.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Beside Myself?
A: About six or seven years ago, the idea of twins swapping
places in childhood and then one of them refusing to swap back popped into my
head.
I found myself fascinated by it. What would it do to a
person to grow up with the wrong life? Why might someone refuse to swap back?
What kind of parents wouldn't notice if their daughters had switched
identities? These questions kept circling round my head and I imagined all
sorts of scenarios that might allow me to explore them.
t took a long time before I felt ready to write the story (I
was quite caught up with my A Year of Reading the World project and the book
that came out of that for several years), but when I finally sat down to write
the novel in March 2013, the story flowed quite easily.
I was fascinated to know what would happen next and what the
answers to my questions might be, so I kept writing. (You can read more about
the background to the novel in the post I wrote on my blog last year.
Q: Although the book is written from the perspective of one
character, you write some sections of the novel in first person, some in second
person, and some in third person. How did you choose which sections should be
written in which person?
A: The voices represent the state of mind of the central
character (who is variously known as Helen, Ellie and Smudge). Without giving
too much away, various traumatic events in the novel bend, twist and shatter
the already fragile sense of self she has after the swap.
The voice shifts are linked to these events and reflect how
connected she feels to her existence, as do the other voices in her head that
plague Smudge as an adult.
Q: Identity is a key theme in the book. Can you say more
about why you decided to look at identical twins?
A: Twins present great opportunities for imagining what
might have been. Because they are two people with virtually identical DNA
(science has lately shown up that twins generally have a small number of
mutations in their genes that are unique to the individual) and often very
similar life experiences, but who nevertheless have distinct personalities,
they make it possible to explore what goes into making us who we are in great
detail.
Writing a story about twins allowed me to play with the many
choices and experiences we all face that could alter our identity.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started
writing, or did you make many changes as you went along?
A: I knew roughly where I wanted to get to, but I had no
idea about the twists and turns that would take me there. I often describe it
as being like taking a long road trip to a place you've never been before.
You might know you're driving to Newcastle, for example, but
you don't necessarily know what the scenery will look like on the way, whether
you'll hit traffic, which service stations you'll stop at and if you're going
to have to take a diversion.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My ayearofreadingtheworld.com blog continues to keep me
busy, and there is another novel under way. It will be a while before I reach
Newcastle though.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Not that I can think of. Thanks for your interest!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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