Cover Interview: Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

it's the last of the cover interviews for the summer! la la la . . . because I'm way too lazy to contact other authors and this is the last cover interview. ENJOY. 

Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

October 9, 2012 by Hyperion

Goodreads

Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett’s unique ability to travel through time and space brings him into Anna’s life, and with him, a new world of adventure and possibility.

As their relationship deepens, they face the reality that time might knock Bennett back where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate—and what consequences they can bear in order to stay together.

Fresh, exciting, and deeply romantic, TIME BETWEEN US is a stunning and spellbinding debut from an extraordinary new talent in YA fiction.

 

When I saw your cover, it made me want to read the book right away. I love everything about it and it has to be one of my favorites of 2012. What is one cover that you absolutely freaking love (besides your own)?

Thank you. I’m glad to hear it’s one of your favorites! I love it too.

I think one of the most interesting covers I’ve seen this year is Kat Zhang’s WHAT’S LEFT OF ME.  I just love the clean font, and how the photo and the silhouette work together. It made me double-take when I first saw it. I like that there's more to it than first meets the eye.

 

That cover is absolutely gorgeous. If you had to pick, what is your favorite part about your cover? I really love the sun spots. So unique!

Wait until you see those sun spots on the final cover! The design team is doing something really special to make them even more striking!

I love so many things--Anna's posture and the expression on her face, the beautiful colors--but if I had to pick one thing, I think it's the circular pendant Anna is wearing. As I was writing the very first draft, I got really attached to the Möbius Strip symbol. Some physicists who study time travel have used it to describe how time could be twisted, each side representing a parallel universe. I found that fascinating, and that concept drove many of the references to circles in this book, like the school hallway and the track. And I always loved the idea of the story itself being a bit circular in nature. As you know from reading it, things often come back around. My editor didn't tell me she was putting a Möbius Strip pendant on the model during the photo shoot, so the surprise made it even more special.

I cannot wait to see the final sun spots. Did you have any say in your cover?

Yes, definitely. My editor and the designer pulled me into the process very early in the concept stage and asked me what I thought. I liked it so much, there wasn’t a lot of back and forth until they had a close-to-final cover. They did let me shop online for Anna's clothes, which was a blast. 

I know the design team worked tirelessly to find the perfect Anna and to make everything come together so beautifully, but from where I sat, everything sort of magically came to life.

That sounds wonderful. :) When you saw your cover, what did you do?

My family and I were having lunch in a restaurant in San Francisco. I took a quick look at my phone and saw a message that said something like, "THE COVER!", and my stomach fell. I leaned over to my husband and whispered, "The cover's here. I don't want to open it. What if I don't like it?” He laughed and told me look anyway. So I did. And then this huge smile spread across my face. I handed him my phone. “Wow,” he said. “That’s really beautiful.” My kids agreed. We all stared at it for a long time. I think we ordered dessert to celebrate.

YAY DESSERT. Describe your cover in three words. 

Beautiful. Thought-provoking. Timeless.

Describe Time Between Us in three words.

Heartbreaking. Thought-provoking. Inspiring.

I love teasing because it’s always fun to watch people squirm—can you say anything teasing about Time Between Us? 

Oooh. I love a good tease.

Here's one: I love planting little details in one part of the story-- something that seems insignificant the the time--and then bringing it back again later, after the reader has completely forgotten about it. One of my favorite examples of this in Time Between Us has to do with hats.
 

I am so glad I'm not the only one who loves a good tease, also, TIME BETWEEN US is now bumped up higher on the tbr pile because I have to understand what you mean by that. Thank you, Tamara, for allowing me to bother you this summer. ;)