Penning women’s fiction my dream job. I want everyone to meet the characters who’ve been hassling me for years, and I hope they will make you giggle. Besides writing, I adore walking, cooking and I love to laugh and chat.
Author Anni Rose invited me to chat about A Gift for Maisie Bloom. We discussed what inspired the A Gift for Maisie Bloom, how I plan my books and the settings .
Anni: Where did this idea come from for A Gift for Maisie Bloom?
Jessie: When chatting with my niece, the idea for an aunt with a secret popped into my head. I love writing romances and enjoy escaping to cosy TV mysteries, and one day Maisie’s Aunt Ada hijacked me to tell me her secrets. Once I met Maisie, her niece, she made me smile with her perspective on life. A Gift for Maisie Bloom had to be set in Yorkshire because it was an opportunity to go home for a research trip. I did intend to visit Paris, but the pandemic put an end to that. But it was a dream to build my own idyllic village populated with quirky and colourful characters who gatecrashed the story.
Anni: Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Jessie: Both! I plot my books meticulously, but the characters never seem to behave themselves. Once the characters come to life, they surprise me with their antics, and we often argue about what they are supposed to be doing. I have been known to talk out loud to the character when writing in a coffee shop – thankfully, in this digital age, everyone appears to be talking to themselves.
Anni: I’ve Googled Heatherbridge and didn’t find it, but it does sound like a lovely place to live. Imagine you’re an estate agent for a minute, what would be three selling points of the village?
Jessie: Heatherbridge is an idyllic Yorkshire Dales village nestled in the valley of Heatherdale, and the nearest train station is in Skipton. The village benefits from a great selection of independent shops and an active community. It is an ideal place for people who enjoy the outdoors and tranquillity, but there is never a dull moment …
Anni: What made you decide to set part of the story in Paris? Is this somewhere you know well?
Jessie: I used to live in Folkestone, and this is very near to Ashford where you can catch a train to Paris. It became a regular adventure. A friend told me that each time you visit Paris you fall in love with the place, and this was true for me. I found Monmâtre enigmatic, probably because it attracted some famous creatives in the past.
I love, love, loved the hustle and bustle of the artists’ square, delighting in the characters and imagined stories. Monmâtre is also known as a village of Paris and has its own vineyard. I wanted Maisie to experience the joie de vivre of Paris as I did when I was a newly qualified teacher, embarking on a blossoming romance.
Because I wrote the Paris section during lockdown, I visited via GoogleMaps and photos online. I spent hours watching tourist films, snooping around the streets and peering up at the apartments, thinking – what if…
Visit the full article if you’d also like to discover my writing routine, books on my reading pile, how to make gin and tonic drizzle cake and details of the next story.
