Jennifer Kitses's new novel is Small Hours. From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:Q: How did you come up with the idea for Small Hours, and for your characters Helen and Tom?Visit Jennifer Kitses's website.
A: For me it was all pretty tied together—I had the situation, I had Tom’s storyline I wanted to deal with. I wanted to capture the feeling of how much can happen in a single day.
I have twin daughters—they were in preschool, I was freelancing and trying to take care of them. Going back and forth between Tom and Helen—that was the kind of life I was living. My husband and I were having intense days that weaved together. [It’s the idea of] having separate days in separate worlds.
Q: So you knew from the beginning that you would go back and forth between them?
A: I had the two storylines, and I wanted to go back and forth.
Q: How did the idea that the action would take place in one day affect the writing process?
A: There were constraints because of that. I was checking train times to my imaginary town. Devon isn’t real but I didn’t want to create a train that wasn’t there. Even the sunrise time [which plays a role in the story].
The other part is that I allowed myself the ability to...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue