Moving my Writing to France: A Guest Post by Gillian Harvey
I’m on maternity leave! During this time, a few of my favorite authors offered to step up and write guest posts so that this blog would remain active while I adjust to my new role as a mother. I may also be a bit slower to respond. Thanks for understanding and for being so supportive of me, my family, and my blog. Want to donate a few dollars to keep this blog running or perhaps contribute to my diaper fund? You can do so on Venmo or Paypal.
How Writing Escapist Books Made me Fall in Love with France All Over Again: A Guest Post by Gillian Harvey
I’ve lived in rural France for 12 years, so it stands to reason that people used to ask: ‘when are you going to set a book there’? Many couldn’t understand how I could live in a place that was so interesting and beautiful yet set my books in the UK.
My answer was always ‘I’m waiting for the right idea.’ I didn’t want to shape a plot then shoehorn it into a location for the sake of it. I knew, if I was patient, the idea would come.
My first two novels were set in small English towns, close to where I grew up in Hertfordshire. At the time I was fairly new to France and looking back on the places I’d spent my life to date was quite cathartic – from my new distance I was able to view life in the UK through a different lens; a great opportunity to create both humour and pathos within my writing.
Then, when I lifted my pen to plan my third book, inspiration finally came.
It was late 2021 that I had the idea for my latest novel ‘A Year at the French Farmhouse’ – my first destination novel set in my local area of Limousin, the ‘lake district’ of France. The idea came seemingly from nowhere – popping into my brain on a Tuesday afternoon and demanding to be written. When I started, the book simply poured from my fingers.
And I loved every minute.
Moving my Writing to France: A Guest Post by Gillian Harvey
In setting a book in the place I’ve enjoyed living and exploring for just over a decade, I was able to draw on my love for my adopted country, while still pulling back enough to create humour at the clash of cultures between British habits and French customs. I set scenes in some of my favourite places – the lake at Vassivière, the coffee shop in Eymoutiers – and was able to include 12 years of observations in my writing.
As a result, so many people who’ve lived in France or visited have got in touch to say just how evocative they found the setting of my latest story. How it made them want to visit again, or move here or – for those already settled locally – how it helped them to see anew the beauty of the country they call home.
Really rooting my novel in France has helped me to fall in love with my location again too. After a while, wherever you live, you stop ‘seeing’ things. Looking again with my writerly eyes helped me to realise just how lucky I am to have found a home in France.
Moving my Writing to France: A Guest Post by Gillian Harvey
But the reader reaction has also taught me a lot about writing. About the value of pinning a story firmly to a place, so that the location is as much as important feature as the story – the two are intertwined and inseparable. Before the location was secondary to the plot. But now, the location is central. And I believe my book is more immersive, more evocative and even more humorous as a result.
I’m now writing my second book set in France – this time in a location near Bordeaux that I love. And I’m enjoying once more looking more closely at the details of life here and bringing that detail to my readers.
I’m still glad I waited for the right idea – that spark of. It was the right story at the right time, and I’m so very proud of it. But now I’ve found my niche I know that setting is going to be at the top of my list when planning future work.
After all, we all need an escape, and what better way than diving into a beautiful location within the pages of a book?
Moving my Writing to France: A Guest Post by Gillian Harvey
‘A Year at the French Farmhouse’ is out now with Boldwood Books.
Moving my Writing to France: A Guest Post by Gillian Harvey
