Elle Marr: On Confronting Ourselves and Our Actions

Elle Marr is a #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of six thrillers. Her latest book The Alone Time has been called “twisted, with clever plotting”, with “a finale that will surprise even the most perceptive readers.” Originally from Sacramento, Elle graduated from UC San Diego before moving to France, where she earned a master’s degree from the Sorbonne University in Paris. She now lives and writes in Oregon with her family. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Elle Marr

In this interview, Elle discusses the personal, terrifying experience that inspired her new thriller, The Alone Time, her hope for readers, and more!

Name: Elle Marr
Literary agent: Jenny Bent currently; Jill Marr agented this book
Book title: The Alone Time
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer /Amazon Publishing
Release date: May 1, 2024
Genre/category: Thriller (Psychological)
Previous titles: The Missing Sister, Lies We Bury, Strangers We Know, The Family Bones
Elevator pitch: When their airplane crash lands in the Washington wilderness, killing their parents, sisters Fiona and Violet must figure out how to survive alone. Twenty-five years later, the world learns that the truth of what happened is more harrowing than the sisters previously revealed.

Bookshop | Amazon
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What prompted you to write this book?

I have had The Alone Time simmering in my head since my debut published in 2020. This story is loosely inspired by my own experience with a plane crash that occurred when I was 11. Although everyone survived that crash landing with no injuries, I took the terror of those moments descending through the clouds and tried to transfer it to the page.

Plumbing my memories had its own perils, but the fun really kicked in when I wondered: What might happen if the family of four in the tiny passenger plane didn’t land somewhere convenient and accessible to emergency vehicles? What if they were stranded—for months? The twists and turns neatly presented themselves from there, as if they were my memories and not the invention of my very questionable imagination.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I sold the idea to my publisher before I wrote it, so it expanded drastically from only a few paragraphs. All in all, it took 18 months to go from idea formation to publication. In the beginning, I knew the sisters were survivors of a plane crash that took their parents’ lives. I didn’t yet know the twists and turns that the story in the past would take while the sisters were stranded in the wild, and I didn’t know at all how the story would end; I thought I did (I always have a direction in mind) but the ending and the true antagonist were discovered while I was writing.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Yes, actually. Originally, the designer of the book’s cover presented a different concept that was more focused on the plane crash. I loved it, and treated it like it was The Cover for close to two months before my publisher came back with a different cover concept.

Apparently, there was a shift in thought internally, and the final cover featuring the woods became the frontrunner. Although I thought the first concept was excellent, my team feared it veered outside of the thriller genre and might mislead prospective readers. Knowing that reasoning and considering how striking the second concept was, I was fully on board to change—though surprised. I had never had a cover change that late in the process.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Oh, yes. As I mentioned earlier, the antagonist for this story caught me off guard. I had envisioned a different antagonist in the final pages of this book, but while I was in developmental edits with my editor, I realized there was a better option—one that would be a surprise to readers and which already fit perfectly with the existing storyline. Although I’ve altered the climax and resolution of a story from its original plan before, I had never changed such an important element after I’d turned in the initial manuscript to my editor. It was fun to discover my subconscious was working on a twist that even I didn’t see coming.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

The Alone Time is about confronting ourselves and our actions, no matter how many years have passed—and then accepting the consequences. I hope readers walk away from this book questioning the choices they would have made in the same impossible situations that Fiona and Violet endure. And if they do, I hope readers are honest with themselves. After all, the truth always comes out in the end.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Dream big and don’t limit yourself. You’d be surprised what you can accomplish when you combine drive and work ethic. Also, never worry that someone else’s success diminishes your own progress. We are all on our own trajectories, and the goalpost for our respective careers is always moving. A rising tide lifts all boats.

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