The Space Between Us
The Space Between Us is about two old friends who reconnect after a 20 year feud when one nurses the other after a major accident. It’s also a story about bad choices, regret, strength and redemption. Like my other work, there is sadness but I hope you’ll never be too far away from a smile.
The story centres around two friends, Eve and Lily, is this something that is important to you?
It’s incredibly important to me. I’m lucky enough to have many great friends and I’ve known brilliant people over the years. Naturally some of those friendships faded and we moved on in separate directions but I’ve learned a lot and most definitely laughed a lot.
Your own real life experiences helped inspire some of the characters and the storylines in this novel can you expand upon this for us?
The idea for The Space Between Us came to me when I found a box of old letters from a girl I knew growing up. We were very close at the time and those letters brought me right back to the dramas of my youth. When we left school our lives took us on different paths and we don’t see each other now but I will always have love for her and she will remain a big part of my life. Also I was hit by a car when I was 20 and there’ a lot of my own experience in Eve’s post accident recovery.
How difficult was it to write about emotional experiences that you have had?
I don’t find emotional experiences difficult to write because if I’m not between a 4 and a 7 on the emotional scale I’m crying. If it’s too sad or too exciting or happy my eyes are floating. I’m very used to being an emotional mess. My husband often passes my office door and hears me either laughing hysterically or crying like a baby and he passes by unmoved because it’s just another day…
How easy is it to write using humour around sad situations?
You can’t try to make a sad situation funny. It’s impossible to engineer it. It’s just the way I see the world.
You used to be employed as a stand up comedian and a claims adjuster, so when did writing some into the forefront?
I was a an actor and stand up for a very short time and it was actually after my accident that I decided to pursue writing so I gave up the stage and got a day job as a claims adjuster and wrote at night and weekends. It took me the guts of 10 years to get my first 3 book deal but every long night was worth it and honestly six years on if I hadn’t got that deal I’d still be working by day and writing by night because once I made up my mind that writing was my calling everything just clicked into place.
You also write TV comedy drama, how does this compare to writing novels?
It’s a completely different discipline. TV is all about showing as opposed to telling but I love working in both area’s and hope to continue doing so.
Many writers believe in extensive reading to better their writing, so who do you most like to read?
I read extensively as a teen and into my late twenties / early thirties. Since I’ve started writing it’s more difficult. If I’m working on a story I become totally absorbed in it so I read between projects. I don’t have any specific genre or writer that I gravitate toward most. My taste depends on my mood. My most recent read was ‘Skulduggery Pleasant.’ By Derek Landy and I loved it.
What is next in store for the fans of this book?
I’ve been working on some TV pitches and in other genres so I’m only starting to really think about my next female fiction book now so I’m afraid I can’t answer that yet. All I can say is the working title is ‘Wiping It Clean’ so that’s definitely going to be changed!
THE SPACE BETWEEN US by Anna McPartlin is out now priced £7.99