Marina McCarron is the author of the new novel The Time Between Us. She has been a reporter, freelance writer, columnist, and manuscript evaluator, and she's based in the UK.
Q: What inspired you to write The Time Between Us, and how did you create your cast of characters?
A: In 2009 I travelled to Normandy with a friend and we visited Omaha Beach. I’ve travelled a lot with this friend and he is usually the one who reads the maps and leads the way. But when I arrived in Bayeux, in Normandy, I walked ahead of him. After a few hours I looked at him and said, “This sounds crazy, but I feel like I’ve been here before.” I hadn’t, but it felt familiar.
This got me thinking about all the people who had walked the streets I was walking. Of the lives being lived behind the shuttered windows. For a while I played with the idea of a story about reincarnation, but it turned into a story of delving into the past, trying to understand the lives of people who came before, and connecting the dots to how it affects the future.
My own grandfather had fought in World War II but none of us knew where, and it saddened me deeply not to know this when I visited Omaha Beach.
From there the story came to me, of a soldier who survives the war but spends his life trying to keep a promise to a fallen friend, and the granddaughter left wondering about all that happened to the person she loved, and thought she knew the best, in this life.
My characters generally come to me when I am least expecting it. I’ll be out walking and see someone and wonder why they look sad, and then my imagination just takes over.
When I was in Bayeux I met a tour guide who Rob is loosely based on. His name was originally Claude, but I kept seeing Robert Pattinson everywhere and one day he decided his name was Rob, and I agreed.
Some characters come to me, and some I have to create to move the story along. Lucy was a pure creation in the end, although at the start she was based on a childhood friend.
Q: The novel takes place during the World War II period and also in more recent times. Did you write the book in the order in which it appears, or did you focus more on one time period initially?
A: I wrote most of the sections involving Elise and the war and Hank’s story first. I wrote Lucy’s last and had to weave it all together. However, the prologue came to me in one fell swoop towards the end of the process.
I was working full time when I started this book, and I wrote some of it by hand when I was in hotel rooms on business travel. I would not recommend my process to other writers, but I got there in the end.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I knew geographically where I wanted it to end, but I played with the ending right up until the last minute. I knew I wanted Lucy to find the grave at the Normandy American Cemetery, but what she said when she found it, and whether she connected the dots or if I employed dramatic irony was something I wrestled with. I hope I did justice to all of their stories.
In the very first draft Hank had a smaller role and Lucy a bigger one. My first few beta readers all said they wanted to know more about Hank, so that changed the story as well.
I also thought of adding an epilogue, so people knew what happened to Lucy and Rob, but I wasn’t so sure what I wanted to happen to them, and felt the epilogue took away from the ending.
Even after the book was solely in the hands of my publisher, I sat and wondered about what I could have done differently. I think that happens when you write fiction.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?
A: I hope they like the writing and feel I have respected them as a reader.
Perhaps it sounds trite but I hope they remember the sacrifices and the dignity of the World War II generation and how everyone has a story that helped define them. There are people in this world who wake up each day with such heavy loads to carry, with such worries and grief, and you never know what has happened to them, or is happening to them.
I remember being in a store in Canada, having just sat with my mother at the hospital, knowing she wasn’t going to come out, jet lagged and emotional, and the woman in line behind me snapped at me because I was moving slowly. I remember thinking she had no idea what was happening in my life.
To this day I wish I had called her out on her behaviour. I’m sure it will end up a scene in a future book, as it had a profound impact on me at the time. Then I wonder, what was going on in her life that she snapped at a stranger? I tend to dwell on things, which is great for writing but not so great for day-to-day living.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My second book, The Shimmer on the Water, has just been released in Kindle format in the UK. Paperback is coming in November and I am excited for the US release in March of 2023. It is also a dual timeline novel but more psychological.
I am currently working on my third novel, and also thinking about a follow up to The Shimmer on the Water. There’s a crime that took place in Texas a long time ago, and I’d like to look at it, not for the crime but for the impact on the community.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I am delighted with all the readers who took the time to review my novel and for all the positive feedback and kind words I’ve received. It is such a nice feeling to know someone has read my work and thought enough about it to take the time to do this.
I love when someone sees something in the story in a way that is new to me. Every story takes on a life of its own once it goes out into the world. I love when it comes back to me in a new way.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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