The Man That Time
Forgot
‘What’s this book
about?’
So I get this idea…
What if you could only stay in one place for one day at a
time before awaking in a different time and place entirely?
It would drive you nuts, right? There would be days where
you would be desperate to stay awake longer. Like if you woke in a 60’s
swinging club (in both senses of the word) or on an island in paradise. But,
then there would be those days where you would be desperate to go to sleep as
instantly as you woke up. Like if you awoke in the middle of a Gladiator arena.
More importantly, what if you could never remember how you
gained this ability?
So I tried to get this idea to work… but it wouldn’t. It
became difficult to make a narrative about a person who couldn’t take anything
with him from one day to another. I was, rather ironically losing sleep in the creative
process. Until one day, I get entire first chapter out of the blue from Mr
Mitchell. It makes me literally LOL. I’m happy that it works and, more
importantly, happy that someone knows the potential of it. So we form a
partnership. Let’s do this!
And so it began… 3 years and numerous debates ranging from
the point of humankind’s place in the history of Earth to the greatest ever
desert. Now finally, here we are. Sometimes we wish that we could have thought
of the entire plot, subplot, stock characters and semiotic subtext of it all on
one train ride but, guess what? We didn’t. We developed this idea until we were
satisfied that we had a great story with a great message. But there was one
problem…
Time Travel.
Good lord, it would have been easier to cash in on the tween
market or simply write a novel about a girl in her mid 20’s obsessed with
clothes and romanticising between a boss and someone in her ‘Friendzone’.(That’s
even a good title, right there). But we didn’t want to. We wanted to create something
that we would enjoy reading. Something that interested us. Let’s make it about
a guy in his early thirties (seemingly!) who doesn’t understand what his life
is all about. That’s what it all boils down to. It’s just coated in time travel
wrapping paper.
Yeah, we could have picked something easier. Probably would
have had it on the shelf by Christmas 2010 too.
I think one of the reasons I was passionate about the
subject of the novel being about time travel is that I personally hated the way
that the device of time travel is
often used to get out of plot holes.
‘How did that bomb get
there?’ ‘Someone put it there from the future?’
‘Why’s there a polar
bear?’ “Time travel’
‘How do you know those
numbers will win the lottery?’ ‘Time travel’.
See? It’s easy isn’t it? But the nature of time travel was
secondary. Our main aim was to make the book an entertaining read. The voice of
the author was as important to us as Andrew’s journey. Yes, you were on
Andrew’s journey with him as a reader but we felt the message about ‘not taking
life for granted’ was so much more important than what you would do with this
ability. It was only when we finished the first draft, after perhaps two years,
that we realised we actually had a pretty decent plot too! A plot that
incorporated Time Travel in a way that made sense and wasn’t filled with a
bunch of cheap get-out-of-jail free cards.
When we sent it to the proof readers the reviews were not
coming back as expected. We thought they may, hopefully, find it funny. Instead,
the humour was the second thing they picked up on. It seems that it was
genuinely thought-provoking. Apparently.
Crumbs, we hadn’t really intended that.
This book isn’t about Time Travel. This is about doing the
best with what you have. This is about questioning your role in the bigger
picture. What do you bring to the table? Mainly, this book is about kicking
back and enjoying the ride. Nobody gets out alive after all, do we?
Mechem
(And for the record, Battenberg
isn’t the world’s best desert.)
The 'Thanks'
Now, obviously there’s only a little place at the start of
every novel to thank the people involved. So, from us here’s a more detailed
list.
To ‘the Lauras’, who put up with constant phone calls,
debates and shenanigans between the pair of us.
To Holly, who managed to somehow give the book a thorough
proofing whilst being a new parent!
Especially a book written by us!
To Ray, who loved the idea and gave us the fantastic cover
we now have! We still can’t quite believe it. When an artist doesn’t argue with
a request for an ‘Armoured Rhinoceros’ to appear on the cover you know you’re
dealing with real talent. Check him out here:
youtube.com/RayDillon
www.raydillon.com
www.raydillon.com
To Richard, who lent us his name and, for the record, is nothing like a murderous chimera.
To Gavin, Nigel and the Oxenfords for taking the time to read it and seemingly enjoying it.
To Steve, who supported it from the day I told him about the idea (and whose office held the key).
To 10MedQ1, who bugged me for the title for 2 years.
To Matt and Stan, for pushing us!
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