Harriet Steel’s Inspector de Silva historical crime series

takes us back to the exotic sights, sounds and smells of 1930s Ceylon under the

British Raj, in classic Golden Age mystery style.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Harriet talks about how an encounter with Chocolat author Joanne Harris changed her life, and her passion for the remarkable Lola Montez, who in her time was second only to Queen Victoria in fame and notoriety.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

The chance encounter that led to her first novelThe holiday that led to a mystery seriesHer passion for the remarkable Lola MontezBalancing historical accuracy and entertainment The writers she admires mostWhat she'd do differently second time around

Where to find Harriet Steel:

Website: http://harrietsteelblogspot.co.uk/

Facebook: @harrietsteelauthor

 Twitter: @harrietsteel1

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5423444.Harriet_Steel

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny:But now, here's Harriet. Hello there Harriet and welcome to the show, its great to have you with us.

Harriet: Well, thank you so much for inviting me, Jenny. It's a great pleasure to be here.

Harriet Steel - author of British Raj mysteries

Jenny: I've loved

the Nuala books and I just wanted to ask you, was there a Once Upon a Time

moment when you decided you really had to write fiction or somehow your life

wouldn't be quite complete? And if so, was there any sort of special catalyst

for it?

Harriet: Yes, I think there was a catalyst. But I'll start from the beginning. I grew up on a farm in Wiltshire, which was then a very quiet part of England, and there weren't many other children around to play with. So I had quite a solitary childhood, as my sisters both went away to school when I was still quite young,  if I wasn't outside playing on the farm or in the garden, I would be usually found inside with my nose in a book. And I think because I loved reading, I eventually came to the feeling that I would like to try my hand at writing.

Beginnings as a short story writer

I think as a lot of people do when they start off, they write short stories because they seem a manageable length. Although short stories are actually a great deal harder than most people think to write successfully.

But, you know, I was very pleased that I managed to get a few published in magazines, which was lovely, but I never really aspired to anything longer than a short story. And then when I was in my 40s I entered a national short story competition. The idea of it was that six well-known writers would write the first half of the story and the people entering the competition would write the second half. And you had to choose whose story you would like to pick. And I chose the story started by Joanne Harris, who I imagine most people have heard of.

An important mentor

She wrote the book Chocolat, which was a very popular novel about 20 years ago. You've probably heard of her. I was lucky enough to get to the finals, which was very exciting, and a lot of people said very nice things about my story.

I met Joanne Harris at the final judging and somebody said to her, what advice would you give to aspiring writers? And she said, just drop the word aspiring and get on and write.