Chissick Chat, part twenty-one, with Anne Harvey
Following the summer break, I'm back at my desk and chatting with the lovely Anne Harvey ...
Hello, Anne, fellow Brit and author of two sagas set in Lancashire. Welcome to my blog. Please can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself and your books?
Hi Elaine and thanks for inviting me to participate in your blog. I love doing these guest blogs because you really have to think about what makes you tick.
So, by way of introduction, I’m a self-published writer of two family-saga type novels, A Suitable Young Man and Bittersweet Flight, both set in 1950s Lancashire, where I was born. Both have sold well, including overseas, and have garnered mostly four and five star reviews. I’ve even managed to get them placed in certain libraries, where they’re proving very popular. I also write articles for family and social history magazines.
What, or who, inspires you?
As to what or who inspires me, well, to answer that question, I have to go back many, many years. For most of my childhood, I was an only child – my brother came along when I was in my teens – and, as my parents were in domestic service, I didn’t have much opportunity to mix with other children. So I made up imaginary stories with my dolls and cuddly toys. As I grew older and became interested in boys, I’d imagine lovely romantic scenes with whatever boy I fancied at the time being the hero! By the time I was working, I was writing the stories down in exercise books though I certainly never thought about publication. As I reached adulthood, my heroes tended to all look like the British film star, Dirk Bogarde! Before your time, Elaine! (I can provide a jpeg if you think it would be of any interest)
Do you enjoy reading the same genre as the one you write in?
I do enjoy reading the same genre as I write in though I do like to be challenged occasionally. I’ve just read a romantic suspense novel and that certainly challenged me! As I’m passionate about the past (link for my blog, btw, if you want to include that it’s www.annelharvey.blogspot.co.uk) I adore historical novels, of whatever era. The one I’m reading at the moment is set in Elizabethan times and about the conspiracies surrounding Mary Queen of Scots. Fascinating.
Has any of your research taken you to an unusual place?
As I’ve got mobility problems at the moment, I do a lot of my research online or from books. The research for the two novels I’ve written so far has been for background material. As I’m in my late 70s, I can still remember what life was like in the 1950s! The one I’m writing at the moment involves more research into things like life for the wife on an RAF base and attitudes to epilepsy in the late 1950s.
What are you working on at the moment?
Which brings me neatly to what I’m working on at the moment. It’s the third in a trilogy based in and around my home town of Horwich in Lancashire and will hopefully draw together most of the characters involved in the first two novels. It has a working title of ‘In The Thick Of It’ and is set a couple of years after the first two books. By the way, I’ve already got readers waiting for book three.
What are your future writing plans?
My future writing plans are a bit vague at the moment but I’d like to go further back in time to the 18th century when Horwich was just a small village. It was only when a bleaching company moved to the area that life started to change. I’ve already done considerable background research into the family concerned but I think it will be the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far.
Is there anything you don’t like about writing/being an author?
You ask if there’s anything I don’t like about writing/being an author. That’s an easy one – doing the promotion work necessary when one is self-published. It always feels like I’m showing off. And no-one likes a show-off, do they?
Quick Fire Questions …
Tea or coffee? Tea
Sweet snack or savoury snack? definitely sweet snacks
Real book or ebook? prefer real books but alternate with my Kindle
Cinema or DVD? DVD (I find the cinema too much in-your-face these days)
Cat or dog? cats for preference though I do love dogs
Weepie or action movie? neither, I prefer a good drama (currently watching Outlander on DVD).
And to Finish, What is your favourite …
Food? My husband’s chicken curry
Drink? Pinot Grigio
Movie? no favourite movie
Book? Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Colour? no favourite colour but preferably not black
Saying/Proverb? ‘If the unexpected didn’t so often happen, what an uninteresting life it would be,’ can’t remember who said it, but it’s a good maxim for a writer
Song? ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings’
Pudding/dessert? probably anything (I’ve already admitted to having a sweet tooth!)
Thanks for having me, Elaine. I’ve really enjoyed being your guest. Perhaps you’ll be a guest at one of my Wine and Chocolate blogs soon? Thanks for being part of my blog, and yes, I'd love to be part of your Wine and Chocolate blog! Thank you xx
