Deborah J. Ross: Tell us a little about yourself. How did you come to be a writer?
Helen Harper: I always thought of myself as a reader rather than a writer. I grew up
entirely immersed in books of all sorts, but fantasy was always my
favourite. In my early twenties I had vague notions of trying to write
for Mills and Boon but, when I tried to write something, I realised it
was far harder than I thought so I abandoned my efforts. Much later on,
when I found myself under a great deal of stress at work, I discovered
that writing was the perfect way to take a step back from life and
immerse myself in other worlds. Instead of slobbing out in front of the
television, I would write. I didn't have any plans to share what I
wrote. It was purely a release for myself. Nobody was more surprised
than myself when I realised that not only had I managed to write
complete books but that other people wanted to read them.
DJR: What inspires your books?
HH: I'm a pantser rather than a plotter so I tend to make things up as I go
along. However, I always start with a germ of an idea that can come from
anywhere. With The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic, it was a chat with a good
friend about how we would make useless book heroines because we were too
lazy. With Highland Magic, the ideas came from wondering about the
divide between the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland and the
Dreamweaver series was inspired by an article I read about adult night
terrors.
DJR: What authors have most influenced your writing? What about them do you
find inspiring?
HH: I have very eclectic tastes so I think I'm probably influenced from all
sorts of different authors. I enjoy a lot of crime fiction and thrillers
and there are echoes from those authors in my own work, from Michael
Connelly to Stieg Larrsen. And then there are the Urban Fantasy greats
whose books I will read over and over again, such as Ilona Andrews,
Patricia Briggs and Kelley Armstrong. The first true urban fantasy
series I ever read was Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake books. I was so
blown away by the blend of thriller and fantasy which was set in a world
I could relate to that I think I'll always be influenced by those
stories.
DJR: Why do you write what you do, and how does your work differ from others
in your genre?
HH: I always write strong heroines who are flawed in some way because, after
all, nobody is perfect and I love seeing how my characters can overcome
their own difficulties. When I started writing, it didn't seem as if
there were many other authors who wrote Urban Fantasy books set in the
UK so I felt in a small way that I was beating a (slightly!) new path. I
don't tend to follow trends in the market. I write the story and the
characters who are the most insistent in my own head. I feel very
fortunate to be able to create stories for a living!
DJR: How does your writing process work?
I think because I'm always primarily a reader, I write in the way that I
would like to read, with no particular idea of what's coming next and
with scenes of romance or action or whatever as I'd like to read them. I
go for long walks at the start of each day where I work through various
possibilities in my head and then head back home and write whatever
scene feels the best. I have to admit that I'm not particularly good at
deleting ideas or removing scenes when I'm editing. Once the story is
written down, to me it already seems almost too real to change.
DJR: What have you written recently? What lies ahead?
HH My last series was a bit off the wall, where the main character was a
faery godmother working in an office and with all the politics that you
might expect from an open plan workplace of that nature. I liked
exploring the character of someone who's got all the power but isn't
typically considered the hero of a story. My next series, however, is
far darker and much more typical of Urban Fantasy. It's about a woman
who's training to become a police detective and who gets involuntarily
wrapped up in the world of vampires and werewolves. She is murdered at
the start of the book and then is reborn in flames and has to solve her
own killing. It's quite thrilling!
DJR: What advice would you give an aspiring writer?
HH: Read everything you can get your hands on!
DJR: Great advice!
After teaching English literature in the UK, Japan and Malaysia, Helen
Harper left behind the world of education following the worldwide
success of her Blood Destiny series of books. She is a professional
member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and writes full time,
thanking her lucky stars every day that's she lucky enough to do so!
Helen has always been a book lover, devouring science fiction and
fantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland.
She currently lives in Devon in the UK with far too many cats – not to
mention the dragons, fairies, demons, wizards and vampires that seem to
keep appearing from nowhere.
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