TIME travel is at the heart of Robyn Kelly’s Summer Soap.
Now in its ninth year, the soap is a daily fictional serial run over 12 episodes in The Echo and online at EchoLive.ie, chosen from the students on the MA in creative writing programme at UCC.
Each episode appears in print and online every day for a fortnight, starting on Monday, July 1.
Robyn’s story, with its science fiction conceit, is a new departure for this Wicklow-reared writer.
Up to now, she would have described herself as more of “a drama mystery writer”.
For her undergraduate degree at University College Dublin, Robyn studied music and drama.
“I was interested in being an actress when I was younger,” she said. “But writing came more naturally to me.
“I did some acting at Dramsoc. And I wrote two short performance pieces for my final year assignment.”
Torn between music, drama and writing, Robyn decided to give the latter a go and totally immerse herself in it. She feels she owes it to herself.
Her Summer Soap is called The Space Between Us. The two main characters are Francis and Clara. Francis makes his regular commute from Cork to Dublin during breaks from college.
On one such trip, he runs into an ex-girlfriend, Clara. During an initially awkward interaction, he realises that he remembers things from the relationship a little differently from reality.
As Francis builds up the courage to address the messiness of their relationship, he accompanies Clara for a coffee. Later, over the course of the day rambling through Dublin, he notices that something is wrong with her. She explains that she can travel in time.
This revelation alters their perspectives on their relationship to one another and the course of their futures.
Clara shows Francis what exactly her power can do, how it all started, and why they are where they are today.
In the end, he has to decide whether to keep pushing back in time to untangle the mess of the early days of their relationship, or decide to move on.
Robyn, who has published poetry in magazines, felt like making a change and applied for the Masters course at UCC. Every summer, she stays with a group of friends in Wilton. But, for her foray into studying and writing creatively, she wanted solitude.
“I thought it would be nice to be on my own,” she said.
The idea for Robyn’s Summer Soap came to her on the train from Cork to Dublin.
“I came up with the character of Francis, what his journey was, and how it didn’t stop once he got off the train.
“It’s about what might be in that space for him, that space between the two cities.”
Francis is still very much interested in Clara.
“It’s quite obvious from the moment he sees her that she still makes him nervous. He’s constantly striving to try and impress her. I feel that’s in his body language. It’s not what the characters are saying through their words, but how they act.” Readers will see that Francis is an unreliable narrator.
“He very much glosses over events. There’s how he thinks things happened and how they really happened. Through the story, that becomes evident.”
Robyn describes Clara as being the type of person “who always wants to fix something. She is never one to leave things unresolved. It’s obvious she cares very much for Francis. But she is more concerned about getting into the difficult parts of their relationship and to discuss it.
“He wants to forget and to move forward. She wants to go back.”
When Clara discloses that she is able to time travel, she realises that she needs to physically show Francis how it works in order for him to commit himself to her.
Growing up, Robyn used to enjoy her mother making up stories at bedtime. “They were the most memorable and imaginative stories. I still remember them.”
Robyn says her parents work hard and appreciate that if there is something their children are passionate about, they have to put 100% of themselves into it.
Robyn, who has two brothers, is dedicated to writing. She is interested in exploring journalism and is drawn to becoming a writer for video games.
“There are hundreds and hundreds of jobs being created every year (for video games). It’s not just writing. There is work for visual artists as well,” she said.
Late at night is when Robyn tends to write. She reads novels by Sally Rooney and writer of young adult fiction, Clara Kumagai. She also likes the work of Lisa Harding. “She made an amazing impact on my writing. I was working with her when I came up with the idea for my first novel that I’m currently working on. It’s in the early stages. There’s a long process of research.
“I’m drawing a lot from where I grew up in Avoca. There are small rural communities. I want to take that idea and blend it with the idea of the Midwest in America and come up with a completely fictional place that feels real.”
Sounds like an interesting challenge for this talented and ambitious writer.
