10 Questions for Veronica Heley 1. Tricia: I saw on your website that you give talks, and one was in Cambridge . . . is that like England or Massachusetts?
Veronica: I do draw the line at crossing the Channel for anything but a holiday! I live in London, England, and most of the talks and workshops that I give are within reach of the capitol, but I am very happy to go further afield when someone puts me up for the night. If I go any great distance I try to give two talks, perhaps one at a public library and one to a church group. Sometimes I give workshops on writing fiction; teaching people some techniques on the use of dialogue can improve their work out of all recognition. I used to give talks in schools years ago when I was writing for that market, but nowadays my audiences seem to be a fair bit older. One tip I’ve found useful when arranging to speak at a public library, is for the librarian to have some of my books on display beforehand, with fliers saying that I’m coming to speak. This works really well. Usually I can bring a box of books to sell in addition – though I’m incapable of signing and taking money at the same time, so have to ask someone to help me out on that.
I love to meet my readers and let them tell me what they like about my books, and why they read them. One woman even emailed me last week to say that the Ellie Quicke books make her feel so much better that she even took a copy of one to read when she had to visit the Accident and Emergency department at her local hospital! That gave me a warm glow, I can tell you!
2. Tricia: Your mysteries sound wonderful. Why crime?
Veronica: It’s the battle of good against evil which attracts me. Mankind – not only Christians – have a built-in desire to see justice done and bad men defeated, but real life is a messy affair at best. I like to write stories about Christians doing their best in difficult circumstances in a secular society. Sometimes the lines between right and wrong can get very muddled in everyday life. Sometimes we make the wrong choices for the right reasons, perhaps doing wrong so that right will triumph.
The Ellie Quicke Mysteries are based on events that have really happened, although in some cases I’ve had to tone down fact to make the fiction believable. The real life happenings in Murder by Suicide were actually worse than I’ve shown! I’m fascinated by people; why they act as they do, think as they do…even marry who they do. Of course, I also write crime because I have two publishers who like it.
The Ellie Quicke Mysteries were first devised by HarperCollins Religious department, to take a Christian viewpoint out into the mainstream. Now they are with Severn House, who are library publishers, and reach a readership who may not go to church, but like the values of my heroine. That’s a mission in itself. My other publisher at the moment is Zondervan, of whom
more below.
3. Tricia: From reading your website, I see your prayer group is an important part of your life. In our busy world, why do you feel it’s important for believers to join together in prayer?
Veronica: The short answer is – for support. And do I need support, especially when giving my talks in secular places! We support one another, praying constantly. Our prayer list at church is a long one, and ties up with pastoral care and outreach. Sometimes we get a bit depressed when the list grows ever longer, and our prayers don’t seem to be reducing the number. Then we stop asking, and start praising. Believe me, it works! Praise always works. And…lo and behold! The list shrinks.
Of course we each of us have our own private list – I find that for some reason I can’t manage to pray for more than six people a night. I don’t know why. Usually the list accommodates itself to my limitations. There are also lists put out by various other Christian organisations that I belong to. It can be hard to pray for someone you don’t know anything about…but that’s just me. Other people can do it much better.
4. Tricia: Your friends think your character Ellie Quicke is a bit like you. In what respects?
Veronica: Yes and no. Let me say straight away that my husband is thankfully still alive, and is NOTHING like Ellie’s deceased Frank. And our daughter is nothing like Diana – for which I am truly grateful. Ellie is ‘fluffier’ than I am. Like me, she doesn’t drive and also like me she loves gardening, cooking, talking to friends and shopping. I can manage a computer better than her, but she can manage her mobile phone better then me. I can move into thinking like her in order to write about her, and I suppose I also have my trains (or trails) of thought as she does. I don’t have her moneyed background, though. Physically, I suppose we are alike, as we are both shortish, have hair that’s turned grey early, and like to dress in blue and white, or coral
colours. Never in black.
6. Tricia: In your opinion, what goes into a good mystery?
Veronica: Tension. Set up a problem on the first page, and solve it on the last. And, almost as important if not more so, create a character your readers can identify with, so that they want to see him or her succeed. I read crime all the time, and the writers I return to time and again have a strong sense of right and wrong, an attractive main character, and a tale that twists and turns. Some stories are like a hunt or quest…most police procedurals are like that. The Ellie books work on the basis of solving the crime in the community through help from people in the community. But in these books you also see the villain or villains at work AT THE SAME TIME as Ellie is trying to track them down. This creates extra tension.
7. Tricia: I started reading about your Eden Hall books, and I had to place one on order. I can’t wait to get it! Is Eden’s tale a Cinderella story of sorts?
Veronica: These differ from the Ellie Quicke Mysteries in two respects. The Christian publisher, Zondervan, was aiming at the Christian market, so I could let my young heroine deal with her problems by reference to the bible. This opened up a whole new area in which I could deal with matters that have long troubled me…for instance, How can God really love me, poor thing that I
am? I could deal with problems of forgiveness, and stewardship among others. I could show Minty, my Cinderella heroine, thinking through these things, arguing with God, going to the bible for reassurance and information. Although Ellie is a woman who goes to church, she doesn’t get right down to the basics as Minty does. Ellie prays and is given the help she needs, but Minty grows in faith as she meets and conquers each new, and personal, challenge.
The Eden Hall books are different also in that they are not crime books in the usual sense, but Romance/Suspense. There is crime, yes. A considerable amount of it. But they are not mysteries as such. And before someone asks, the attractive hero in the Eden Hall series is
NOTHING like my husband, either!
8. Tricia: If you could live anywhere in the world for six months, where would you
choose? Why?
Veronica: At the moment, with work piling up on all sides, the thought of getting away
from work for six months sounds wonderful. To be in a quiet and beautiful place all my myself without a computer or email…bliss!
No, it wouldn’t do me for more than six days! Well, possibly seven. I need family and friends. I need the stimulation of writing. I’d be bored without anything to do, any stories to tell. Are beautiful surroundings enough? No. Definitely not. But if I had to choose a home from home, I’d say Bruges in Belgium for its beauty, its civilised way of life, it’s food. Oh, and there’s a shop there which I visit twice a year where they have unusual and attractive clothes in my size and
they give me a discount. Not to mention the cafes, the hot chocolate, and the fact that almost everyone speaks good English. There are many places I’d still like to visit or revisit, such as New Zealand and Pompeii and the area near Salzburg in Austria. But not to live for six months! Who thought up that horrible idea?
9. Tricia: I feel like I came upon a special treasure when I discovered the “Thought for the Month” on your website. Can you tell us a little about those thoughts/prayers?
Veronica: This is one of the things we started in our prayer group, aiming for people who didn’t read the bible regularly, didn’t study bible reading notes, and who are scared by the idea of going to a prayer group – although they’re happy to give us names of people to pray for, and they might attend a house-group.
We don’t even use the word ‘prayer’. Did you notice that?
Four of us write for it, each from a different point of view, and I put it together and draw something which I hope will be appropriate on the front cover – and no, I don’t put the drawing on the web-site – I’m only an amateur. We have guests who provide contributions, and I must admit that I listen to the service partly for some prayer that might be suitable, and if I hear one, I ask permission to use it. We try not to use jargon of any sort, or to get too theological.
At first this sheet used to be distributed only in our own church, but now it goes into the magazine which is supplied to another church as well…oh, and we have a small mailing list, too.
Because it’s hair-raising getting all the prayers in by the copy-date each month, I put last year’s Thoughts into my website this year. Each time I come to write my bit, I wonder what on earth I can say. Then I pray a bit. And somehow God gives me the right words.
10. Tricia: Finally, can you share one of those prayers here, for the readers of the blog?
Veronica: A Prayer from Thought for the Month.
Summer and winter, springtime and harvest…
Lord of the harvest, teach us how to sow the seed that will yield a good harvest for you. Teach us also the endurance to wait patiently for the time of your great Harvest, when we will meet you in Glory.
Check out more from Veronica Heley here:
www.veronicaheley.com
The Eden Hall series: Zondervan
The Ellie Quicke Mysteries: HarperCollins/Severn House
Stories of Everyday Saints: Bible Reading Fellowship