Author Interview: Helen Harper

Today I chat with Helen Harper, author of the delightful fantasy, Wishful Thinking (How To Be The Best Damn Faery Godmother In The World (Or Die Trying), which I reviewed here.

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 upentirely immersed in books of all sorts, but fantasy was always myfavourite. In my early twenties I had vague notions of trying to writefor Mills and Boon but, when I tried to write something, I realised itwas 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 discoveredthat writing was the perfect way to take a step back from life andimmerse myself in other worlds. Instead of slobbing out in front of thetelevision, I would write. I didn't have any plans to share what Iwrote. It was purely a release for myself. Nobody was more surprisedthan myself when I realised that not only had I managed to writecomplete 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 goalong. However, I always start with a germ of an idea that can come fromanywhere. With The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic, it was a chat with a goodfriend about how we would make useless book heroines because we were toolazy. With Highland Magic, the ideas came from wondering about thedivide between the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland and theDreamweaver series was inspired by an article I read about adult nightterrors.
DJR: What authors have most influenced your writing?  What about them do youfind inspiring?HH: I have very eclectic tastes so I think I'm probably influenced from allsorts of different authors. I enjoy a lot of crime fiction and thrillersand there are echoes from those authors in my own work, from MichaelConnelly to Stieg Larrsen. And then there are the Urban Fantasy greatswhose books I will read over and over again, such as Ilona Andrews,Patricia Briggs and Kelley Armstrong. The first true urban fantasyseries I ever read was Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake books. I was soblown away by the blend of thriller and fantasy which was set in a worldI could relate to that I think I'll always be influenced by thosestories.
DJR: Why do you write what you do, and how does your work differ from othersin your genre?HH: I always write strong heroines who are flawed in some way because, afterall, nobody is perfect and I love seeing how my characters can overcometheir own difficulties. When I started writing, it didn't seem as ifthere were many other authors who wrote Urban Fantasy books set in theUK so I felt in a small way that I was beating a (slightly!) new path. Idon't tend to follow trends in the market. I write the story and thecharacters who are the most insistent in my own head. I feel veryfortunate 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 Iwould like to read, with no particular idea of what's coming next andwith scenes of romance or action or whatever as I'd like to read them. Igo for long walks at the start of each day where I work through variouspossibilities in my head and then head back home and write whateverscene feels the best. I have to admit that I'm not particularly good atdeleting ideas or removing scenes when I'm editing. Once the story iswritten 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 afaery godmother working in an office and with all the  politics that youmight expect from an open plan workplace of that nature. I likedexploring the character of someone who's got all the power but isn'ttypically considered the hero of a story. My next series, however, isfar darker and much more typical of Urban Fantasy. It's about a womanwho's training to become a police detective and who gets involuntarilywrapped up in the world of vampires and werewolves. She is murdered atthe start of the book and then is reborn in flames and has to solve herown 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 worldwidesuccess of her Blood Destiny series of books. She is a professionalmember 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 andfantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland.She currently lives in Devon in the UK with far too many cats – not tomention the dragons, fairies, demons, wizards and vampires that seem tokeep appearing from nowhere.