Maeve Haran Q&A

wallers5

Your book sounds great fun and will appeal to women who love their girlfriends. I have moved a lot and find it hard keeping up with 'the gang'. Do you think an outsider can get back into the swing of things?

I’m sure you can. I always say I am at the ‘reunion’ phase of life, which is great fun. I have got friendly with old school friends after a long gap, and also the friends from my early childhood whom I had lost touch with completely. Friendship is like a fire – you just have to blow on it and it comes back to life.

Rosannie

The brief extract of your book is a tempting taster, I would Ike to find out what keeps these friends together (apart from the monthly drinks!). I have friends from my schooldays and we share some common interests and activities but also lead varied lives.
Did you draw your characters and their lives from personal experiences?
I would also like to know which, if any, of the characters is most like you?

That’s a tricky one. I think there’s a bit of me in a lot of them. But perhaps Claudia? Interestingly a lot of people start off not liking Laura that much and end up liking her the best!

Annie29

I can't wait to read the rest of this book . I like the introduction of the different generations and look forward to seeing how the different characters develop.
Did you write it for female readers?
Also did you write it based on your own or friends and families situations

I tend to write for women. I have a woman reader in my head though a few male friends read them and report back. One said he wanted to understand the ‘magical phase that is sixty!!’

Compermo

Hello Maeve,
I really enjoy your books. Does it get harder as time goes by to think up new story lines, or are you a natural story-teller, whose mind is always bubbling with new ideas for the next book?

Starting a new book always makes me worry that nothing will come and then suddenly I get an idea and can’t get it out of my head. That’s how I know it’s ‘the one.’ I also try and imagine myself on a gloomy February afternoon – will I still enjoy it? You have to spend a long time with a book and its characters!

wallers5

You could be describing my group of friends. So clever of you to get straight to the point. How do you get your 'plot'? do you have a good imagination or is it taken straight from life?

I just sort out the characters and then ask myself what could happen to them. Sometimes the invention of a minor character – like the Asian shopkeepers in The Time of their Lives whom the Daily Mail described as being of ‘Shakespearean brilliance’ (wow!) pop out of nowhere and yet you just love them. I actually have a good old record card for each character and add to them any thought I have about them, things they might say, something that could make their character clearer. Suddenly you find you have a flesh and blood person! It’s really exciting.

Isis1981uk

Do you have a similar group of friends? What do you talk about together?

We talk a lot about our children and the things that are going on in our lives, our partners, people we were at college with – pretty much what anyone talks about!

liteuplee

Have you ever seen any bad behaviour in friends that you would love to use, but not been able to because they wouldn't be happy? If so, any clues to what the behaviour was?

Really bad behaviour – affairs, betrayals – are best made up rather than pinched from real life for the exact reasons you mention if you want your friends to go on speaking to you. Though I did use a real incident in my first book Having It All, where a real couple were discovered up to no good at work and she put a wastepaper basket over his head to hide his identity!!

SwishySwoshy

I've always wondered how authors come up with the names for their characters. Are the characters based on people you know?

I am ashamed to admit have a book called Babies Names for Boys & Girls where I get the Christian names – at first my husband used to get very nervous thinking I was pregnant again. Often I take the surnames off the books on my shelves. I have no idea why but some names sound realistic and others just don’t!