INTERVIEW WITH PROLIFIC UK AUTHOR VERONICA HELEY

Interviewer: E.E. Kennedy

1.      ) SS: So nice to meet you, Veronica. I cannot wait to dive into my first Heley mystery! Your slogan, "Believable ordinary women faced with extraordinary situations" is very intriguing. Tell us about your "ordinary women."

VH: My books are about ordinary women facing difficult circumstances. There are two series in which both protagonists are of a certain age and with complications in their family lives. Though both were new widows when their series began, they are very different from one another. Ellie Quicke is a housewife in the suburbs who doubts her own abilities and wishes she were taller and could lose weight. She has inherited money and has set up a trust fund to distribute it while trying to beat off her ambitious, money-grabbing daughter Diana. Bea Abbot, on the other hand, is a businesswoman who runs a domestic agency in much sought after Kensington, while quietly sidelining the advice of her hard-working Member of  Parliament son, who always thinks he knows best – but doesn’t. Both women tend to collect lame ducks, who may or may not turn out to be swans! Both try to live as Christians in a secular world.

2.      SS: What kind of "extraordinary situations" have you put your characters in? Can you give us a few examples?

VH: The Ellie Quicke series was created to take Christianity into the world of crime, without going into sex or swearing. After Ellie had been going strong for a while, my editor said that most series peter out five or six stories, so could I think up another heroine on which to base my stories? So that’s how Bea Abbot came into being. But, Ellie is still going strong – her 17^th book comes out this year, and I’m working on Bea’s 11^th.  These women live in the world and have dealt with some of the worst that can happen. The crimes for Ellie are slightly different; more family orientated, but including child abuse, drugs, deluded pastors, rape and greed. Because Bea lives in a more expensive neighbourhood, the crimes are often dealing with international companies, with fraud on a big scale, and wealthy family disputes. Both series have multi-cultural personnel but these are different in Ealing from those in Kensington because that is how it is in reality.

3.      SS: Most writers love to read. You said on your website that you enjoy reading "anything and everything." Have you a favorite genre? A favorite author?

VH: I go back to some authors again and again. Tolkien, for instance, and Terry Pratchett for humour and fantasy. I re-read Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky and all the best of the American crime writers such as Laurence Block. I love Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri and some, though not all of the Scandinavians. I’ve recently discovered Kerry Greenwood’s Australian series about Phryne Fisher – though I do deplore the amount of space she gives to sex! What next? Anything which leaves me feeling better when I’ve finished . . . and nothing too depressing.

4.      SS: You're located in the UK. What, if any, striking differences between US and UK fiction have you noticed?

VH: The biggest difference is that we don’t expect gun ownership to be part of  everyday life. And next, we look more than you do towards Europe for holidays and culture. 

5.      SS: You're very prolific! Sixty-eight books! How long have you been writing? When did you start?

VH: I’ve always made up stories in my head, even as a young child. I thought everyone did this, right up to my mid-twenties! But I had to go out and earn my living, and then get married and produce a child before I could take a deep breath and give myself some time to learn my craft and see if I could make it as a writer. And, fortunately, I got published within the two years I had set myself as a target. That was in 1971! 

6.      SS: We have an expression in the States; perhaps you know it, too: an author is an Outliner or a Pantser (that is, plotting by the "seat of the pants.") Which one might you be?

VH: I imagine the plot as a sort of rainbow or arc before I start. I have to work out what the characters are like, what the crime is, how it has been committed, and who dunnit before I start. But I don’t make a chart, chapter by chapter because once the characters come to life, they may decide to surprise me by what they want to do next. So I suppose I am a bit of both.

 

7.      SS: People always ask: are your characters based on people you know?

VH: I don’t base characters on people I know, but I might observe someone in a cafe or on a train and think . . . that’s interesting . . . why is that man wearing pink shoes? (It turned out he was Polish. But still . . . what would make a man buy pink shoes!) And then I might think up a reason for it, and that’s what starts the imagination working. On the other hand, I thought I’d imagined Ellie’s dreadful bully of a daughter, Diana, but my readers tell me she’s very much alive and living all over the world.

8.      SS: People also always ask: where do you get your ideas?

VH: Ideas come. Or not. It’s nothing to do with me. God gave me a brain which produces stories. The hard work comes when I have to put them down on the computer. Now that is hard work!

9.      SS: How does your Christian faith influence your stories?

VH: My faith is integral to the stories. I started writing crime in the genre of the 70s but didn’t find it that rewarding. Then I moved onto historicals where I could bring in some Christian thinking. That was rewarding. Then I spent fourteen years writing children’s Christian stories . . . and finally got round to crime again, but this time with a Christian background.

 

10.  SS: Please tell us about your latest release.

VH: My latest release is FALSE WALL, which is a Bea Abbot story. When the high brick wall between her and her neighbours collapses, a human skeleton is unearthed in the next door garden belonging to her fiancé. Before they can find out who owned the house previously, Bea and Leon fall victim to an elaborately-laid trap. With her home, livelihood and domestic agency under threat, it seems Bea is the subject of a meticulously-planned vendetta. But why? And why is Leon becoming so distant?

FALSE WALL is published by Severn House, available through Amazon. Booklist have said; ‘An intriguing plot, a tough-minded heroine, and a satisfying ending make this an entertaining read.’

If you would like to find out more about my books, visit me on www.veronicaheley.com  Or you can sign up for my free monthly newsletter, giving news and views, by pressing the button on my home page.

 

NOTE: SUSPENSE SISTERS readers: Comment below, being sure to leave your email address, and you’ll be in a drawing to receive a digital copy of Veronica Heley's newest book, False Wall!

 

 

 

 

ASK THE SUSPENSE SISTERS!

This week, Marilyn asks: “Do you have a favorite place to go to create the characters for a new book?”

For submitting her question, Marilyn’s won signed copies of RX Murder and Silent Night, Deadly Night, by Dr. Richard Mabry!   

If you have a question for us, leave it below. You might be our next winner! You could win a book by one of today’s top suspense/mystery writers – or a gift certificate to Amazon! (Questions submitted without contact information won’t be considered.)

Good question. Since my books take place in southern towns far from home, I must spend time observing/interviewing those in the vocations of my characters. Recently I've observed hotel bellmen, cocktail waitresses, bed-n-breakfast owners, a small town police chief, and a sax player in a blues club. It makes for some interesting vacations.....

Mary Ellis

Each of my characters is generally an amalgam of the people I’ve encountered over the years—doctors, nurses, patients, technicians,

ministers, church-goers, bankers, clerks…the list goes on and on. So, no, there’s no favorite place for me. Ideas…and characters…are everywhere.

Richard L. Mabry, MD

 

I don't "go" to any particular place, though I have seen quirks at restaurants and other public places that I ended up using for different characters.

Marji Laine

When I started out, I’d go to malls, restaurants, parks, etc., and watch people. Write down things they did – different ways they reacted to stimulus. I don’t do that now, but to be honest, I think it’s still a great idea. We can get into a rut with our characters unless we’re willing to expand our horizons. I do notice different character traits on TV shows, movies, or in other novels that I’ve implemented in my own writing.

Nancy Mehl

SAY WHAT? The Delights and Difficulties of Dialogue

 

By E. E. Kennedy

Many writers dread writing dialogue, but it can be fun and useful in telling your story. There are a few basic concepts when putting dialogue in your fiction that makes it more readable to editor and reader alike.

1)      Remember, dialogue isn’t just transcribed communication. If you were to put in everything that went into an actual conversation, you’d have a wealth of ums, ers, repetitions and irrelevant comments that would really slow down your story. Record a discussion sometime. You’ll see that it’s full of random stuff that doesn’t belong in your story.  In our weekly writers’ group, I encourage people to “streamline” their dialogue, using only that which moves the plot forward. Of course, there are exceptions; for example, when you want to illustrate a character’s shy or hesitant personality, you might use a few ums or ers.

2)      When writing accents and dialects, try to avoid straight phonetics. I can name two examples where a well-known writer did this and made their work virtually unreadable. 

a)      The Uncle Remus Stories by Joel Chandler Harris. If you were to try to sit and silently read these stories, it would be exhausting. However, I did learn that if you read them aloud, they take on a rhythm and poetry of their own and are delightful. My children loved them.

b)      Dorothy L. Sayers’ mystery, The Five Red Herrings, features a heavy Scots dialect that is really difficult to follow. Perhaps reading it aloud would help, but I lost patience about halfway through the story.  

“But I have a Frenchman in my story,” you protest. “How can I give him a unique voice?” Businessman Etienne LeBow in my Miss Prentice mysteries has a French accent, but I only use his quirky pronunciations sparingly, dropping initial h’s, for instance, and peppering his conversation with the occasional French word or phrase, being careful to make sure the reader can decipher it, usually from the context. Here’s an example of Etienne having a conversation with his business partner:

                             “Amelia, à l’arrière, c’est superb, mais . . . ”

                            he trailed off as he gestured towards the front door.

                            “Yes, Etienne, the back garden is gorgeous; you did a fabulous job

                            on it. But—”

                “We ’ave ’ad two summer weddings booked there already.”

3)      Speaking of repetition, avoid having your characters sharing the same information over and over. It’s irritating when we have already digested a pivotal scene, only to hear it recounted again unnecessarily. Many writers use resort to something like this:

                      I told Manfred all about what had happened at the horse barn.

4)      A page that is only dialogue can be as tiresome as one without it. I try to balance my characters’ speeches with plenty of intermittent narration.

5)      Tags, that is, “said Henry” or “she shouted” are important, but they can become cumbersome when used too much. A good rule of thumb is to try to make sure that we know who is speaking at all times. A neat trick is what I call “stage business.” Instead of

“he said,” I might have the character do something to draw attention to his identity.

                “It’s late.” Susan fingered her watch nervously. “It’s time we left.”

6)      Sometimes, what you don’t say in a scene is as significant or as much fun as what you do say. One of my favorite scenes in Incomplete Sentence is between Amelia and her nephew-by-marriage, Vern Thomas. Vern is telling Amelia about spending long cold hours at a taxi stand, swapping jokes. The following illustrates his silly sense of humor:

                             Knock-knock,” he said suddenly.

                             “Vern.” I gave him the teacher stare.

                             “Go ahead, humor me.”

                             I sighed. “Who’s there?”

                             “Yodel lady.”

                             “No,” I said.

                             “Come, on.”

                             “No.”

                             He could see that I was adamant. “Okay. That was Fleur’s

                 joke. I thought it was pretty good.”

7)      I always separate the different characters’ speeches. I never combine two distinct voices in the same paragraph, if I can help it. Sometimes, if two people say the same thing simultaneously, I might, but that’s the only exception I can think of. This rule of thumb helps to clarify who is saying what much better.  

8)      By all means, use dialogue to convey elements of your story rather than simply “telling.”

It comes across much more naturally. In Incomplete Sentence, we learn of the Rasputin killer’s crime through a conversation between the B&B’s housekeeper and the manager, as they describe a TV program:

                             “They found her body in a big trunk in his apartment,”

                             Hester said with a disapproving shake of the head, “wrapped up in a

                 quilt, they said on that show.”

9)      As many writers will tell you, characters often insist on having their own say. In the climax of Irregardless of Murder, Amelia Prentice faces death at the hands of a selfish and ruthless villain, experiencing what any of us might in this situation: shock, disbelief, fear, bitterness, helpless rage. It is a very angry scene. In the first draft, I was strongly tempted to have her use profane language to express her feelings, but the scene just didn’t feel right that way. I went back over what I knew about my protagonist: she was a proper, ladylike teacher with a large capacity for compassion and a strong sense of justice, stemming from her belief in God. Would Amelia, at the moment of her death, be likely to use irreverent language just before she was to meet her Lord? Most assuredly not. How, then, would she handle the situation? Since the story was in first person, I had Amelia explain it herself:

                “No! You rotten--” Vile, hateful, blasphemous names for [the villain]

                bubbled up from my throat. I swallowed them. I was determined that those

               would not be my last words on earth.

Now it worked. I had been true to Amelia. I could almost see her nodding approval as she read over my shoulder.

                                                                                 ~~~~~

E.E. Kennedy is the author of The Miss Prentice Cozy Mystery series. Her website is www.missprenticecozymystery.com To enter a drawing for a free mystery book, just make a comment below, being sure to include your email address.

 

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THIS WEEK ON THE SUSPENSE SISTERS!

It’s another great week on the Suspense Sisters!

First of all, we want to welcome a new Suspense Sister! We’re pleased to announce that best-selling author, Mary Ellis, is joining us. Glad to have you, Mary!

From Marji:

This week Sandra Ardoin reviews CODE 13 by Don Brown.

The heart of this story involves JAG Lt. Commander Caroline McCormick who is sent to Washington, D. C. to work in the

coveted Pentagon location known as Code 13. While she's there she hopes to reconnect with P. J. MacDonald who is another JAG lawyer at Code 13 and a former love.

What she doesn't expect is to become embroiled in plots by two opposing sides to the passage or killing of a proposed joint project between the U. S. Navy and the Department of Homeland Security. As well, she doesn't know that the bill isn't the only thing being set up to be killed.

On Tuesday, Dana Mentink will share What’s Hot in Inspirational Suspense and Mystery!

On Wednesday we’ll hear from Suspense Sister E.E. Kennedy!   

 

 

 This week, Marilyn asks: “Do you have a favorite place to go to create the characters for a new book?”

Marilyn’s won signed copies of RX Murder and Silent Night, Deadly Night, by Dr. Richard Mabry.

 

If you have a question for us, leave it below. You might be our next winner! You could win a book by one of today’s top suspense/mystery writers – or a gift certificate to Amazon! (Questions submitted without contact information won’t be considered.)

Friday, E.E. Kennedy interviews Mary J. Alford. Don’t miss this interview!     

 

That’s what’s happening this week on the Suspense Sisters! Don’t miss a single day. Sign up through email so you’ll get updates in the exciting world of inspirational suspense and mystery!

The Suspense Sisters! We love books!