Author Interview: M.C. V. Egan

Please welcome to A Three Way Tie, the author of The Bridge of Deaths, M.C.V. Egan! For more information, check out her website here.

Or follow her on Twitter here!

When and why did you begin writing?

I began writing very long letters at the age of 12. I wrote before that and enjoyed it, sometimes I wrote stories or kept a diary, but my passion for writing stemmed from a desire to communicate. My family was relocated to Washington D.C. because of my father’s work. I had a $5.00 dollar a week allowance (which I earned by helping take care of a two year old boy after school) most of which was spent on postage stamps and stationary.

I had left the city and country of my childhood behind, but not my friends. My letters were long and full of details about how different my life was. I wrote such long letters that I had to find the lightest weight paper. The older I got the longer my letters got, I must have written in an interesting fashion as the only time I got a complaint was when I sent a quick card with no letter enclosed.

I miss the art of letter writing, and e-mails are no substitute for the feel of a paper, the look of a handwriting and the interesting stamps from pen-pals, I still sit down and write a letter here and there, less and less as stamps now cost so much, and the information super highway has made us so accustomed to get a reaction to our writing almost immediately. When I do write a letter, I usually get a very nice e-mail thanking me for the wonderful surprise, ‘gift’ in the mail.


What was the hardest part of writing your book? What is the easiest?

The Bridge of Deaths is based on a true story about a plane crash in 1939. Real people died that day and amongst them was my Mom’s father. The two most difficult parts in writing the book were getting access to the right files in Denmark and England and bringing up such a painful event from my mother’s life, she was only thirteen when he died. The easiest (and most fun) part of writing The Bridge of Deaths was creating the fictional characters that tell the story. Fiction gives the writer so much freedom!


What music do you listen to while you write?

I usually write without music. If I do have music on it cannot have lyrics; as that would distract my train of thought. So on the few occasions I do listen to music, it is calm classical music, or what some would call ‘elevator’ music.


What inspires you?
I find inspiration in everything, absolutely everything all the time. From my dreams when I remember them to the smell of my morning coffee. When I walk my dog in the morning the way the wind moves the branches of a tree, or the stillness of another day. The writing and creations of others also inspire me. Conversations, movies, television or radio shows. Life, daily living and everything that I am exposed to inspires me.


Do you have any hidden talents?

I am quite good at learning languages, and I have been very fortunate to live in several countries. I am fluent in Spanish, English, French and Swedish. I enjoy talking reading and writing in those four languages, but I am also pretty good at memorizing phrases and key words in other languages and can sound as if I know far more than I actually do. I am also a pretty good cook.


What are your current projects?

I am working on a book that I hope to finish in a few weeks. I am working for the first time with a co-author, her name is Jolie DeMarco. This book is far more paranormal than historical and it is so much fun to work with Jolie. Our writing styles are very different so the book has two very distinct voices and we feel it is very unique.


What book are you reading now?
More than reading I am ‘studying’ books related to what I am writing about. So I have a huge stack of books I am working with and they are all related to espionage for our book 4covert2overt by M.C.V. Egan and Jolie DeMarco.


Quick: Vampires or Shape-shifter? Why?
Shape-shifter! It leaves a huge realm of possibilities and my shape-shifter would know no boundaries and could become anything or anyone. It could even become a Vampire!


Do you have any advice for other writers?

Know your subject and your characters well, very well. Make it a point to know as much as possible about what you are writing; if you create fictional characters give them (even if you do not use it in your writing) a very detailed life. This way you will know how to make them react, converse and act. If anything you are working on can be researched, do it, it will pay off and it will show in your work.


Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I have been so honored and humbled by the feedback from reader and from reviews that I have received. I have learned so much about the different ways in which The Bridge of Deaths has impacted different readers. I am so glad that people have found it an enjoyable as well as informative book.

Join Bill and Maggie in 2010 London as through their love and curiosity they unravel the secrets from known and little known events in the 1930s. Journey to Denmark on August 15th 1939, at the brink of World War II where a British Airways LTD airplane crashed and sunk. Five deaths were reported: two Standard Oil of New Jersey employees, a German Corporate Lawyer, an English member of Parliament, and a crew member for the airline. The reader walks away with his/her ultimate conclusions.