Maeve Haran Q&A

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!

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!!

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!

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.

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!

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!!’

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!

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.

lizziep123

Hi Maeve, I can't wait to read the book! I just wondered, do you write from personal experience? Do you have long standing friendships of your own? Looking forward to discovering your characters!

I have known the group of friends I meet every month (who aren’t the characters in the book!!) for 45 years!

rosesarered

Hello Maeve, do you think that female friendship lasts longer than male friendship?It certainly seems to be different.My husband's friends all take the mickey out of each other, while my friends are all supportive and say nice things.I seem to value my friends more as we all get older, perhaps because we know each other so well.

I think you are absolutely right – women’s friendships are different and are incredibly sustaining. I bought a naughty card the other day which said HUSBANDS COME AND GO BUT FRIENDSHIPS LAST FOREVER! Women friends are always there for you and just talking to them can make you feel better when life gets tough.

gilbster

Congratulations Maeve on what sounds like a fantastic new book. I was wondering how on earth you keep coming up with such interesting stories. What inspires you?

Looking around inspires me. I am a funny writer in that I often get interested in a subject then dramatize it. I write very much about ‘real life’ and fortunately there are endless stories in that. I am fascinated by people.

Venus

There are more senior citizens living now then ever before. Did you consciously decide to write a novel about older women to capture that market?

The reason I wrote The Time of Their Lives is that I am 64 but 19 in my head! I felt a lot of women felt the same – different from their mothers’ generation and that womens’ appearance and also the rules we live by have changed so much it was worthy of a novel.

Gagagran

I loved the way you caught the conversational voice of old friends and wonder if this is based on the experience of a group of old friends of your own? These characters feel like real people and that is the skill of a good writer!

No they aren’t based on my real friends, though I do meet up every month with a group of real friends I met on the first day of college. And we certainly do natter at great length. Actually I was careful NOT to base them on real people in case they minded! I especially enjoy writing dialogue so I am delighted they sounded like real people. Having said that writers can be vampires and no doubt odd bits of people I know do surface!