An Interview with Alice McVeigh: Author of Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation

Alice McVeigh – author of the prizewinning Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel and the new Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation – was born in South Korea, of American diplomatic parents, and lived in Asia until she was 13.

Alice achieved a B.Mus with distinction in performance at Jacobs Indiana University School of Music, and spent three years studying cello privately with William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pre’s “cello daddy.” Since then she has freelanced with orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique all over the UK, the EU, America and Asia.

Alice McVeigh has been published by Orion/Hachette in contemporary fiction, by UK’s Unbound Publishing in speculative fiction (under a pen name), and by Warleigh Hall Press in Austenesque fiction.

Her only non-fiction work (All Risks Musical, Pocket Press, cartoons by Noel Ford) was published in 2001, and her first play (“Beating Time”) in 2003 by New Theatre Productions.

When not writing or editing, Alice is most likely to be smiting tennis balls at the Bromley Tennis Centre – very often out.

Tell us about your book.

It’s the second in my Jane Austenesque series. Its premise? That little Harriet Smith wasn’t the dim blonde she pretended to be, but was manipulating Emma, instead.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

Because the offers from publishers I received simply weren’t good enough, as the UK’s Society of Authors advised. I was published by Orion, years ago – and the mega-publishers ARE worth it – but medium-sized publishers aren’t. So I decided, with this series, to self-publish instead.

What tools or companies did you use, and what experience did you have?

It’s really not THAT hard… but – I must admit! – I couldn’t have done it without my professor husband.

Would you self-publish again?

I intend to. This is the second standalone of a series of six.

As a writer, what is your schedule? How do you get the job done?

Well, Covid made it easier!!!! I’m a professional cellist – perhaps I should say instead that I WAS a pro cellist – in London. Every inch of my performing work came to a grinding halt in the spring of 2020… That was when the books started tumbling out of me.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Writer’s WHAT?!?

Tell us about the genre you wrote in, and why you chose to write this sort of book.

I wish I was better-disciplined, but…I dabble. My first two books (published by Orion) were contemporary fiction, my third (published by UK’s Unbound) was speculative fiction. I think I’ve finally settled on historical fiction (the last two books, Susan and Harriet). But it’s best to pick a genre and graft at it, as a general rule.

Unfortunately, I am very easily bored.

Why did you write about this particular subject?

I fell in love with Jane Austen’s books in my twenties. It’s been decades since I knew them from memory. So…what I’ve tried to do is to write books that Jane Austen herself would enjoy. (This is not as arrogant as it sounds – she enjoyed Fanny Burney’s, and SHE certainly wasn’t fantastic!)

No, but seriously, and in the most respectful possible sense, Jane Austen is my inspiration. No one, beyond Shakespeare, is in her league, is where I am with it.

(OK, maybe P.G. Wodehouse!)