Welcome Hellucy!
How did you come to write paranormal romance? What attracted you to the genre?
Growing up, my Dad read me fairy tales from old books he’d collected at the market. I loved the magic, the romance of those fascinating worlds, and the adventures that befell the characters. Contrast that with going to school and having to read John and Betty - they bored me to tears.
I’ve actually been writing all my life, but never had the courage to do anything about it. My daughter is a writer, too, so when author friends of hers were putting together several authors for an anthology, she said: ‘oh, I know someone. My Mum is an excellent writer.’ I could have declined, but the requirement was only a novella, so I said: ‘what the heck’, and “Filigree and Fate” came into being. Thereafter came several more anthologies, so several more novellas. I found the brevity of the novella fitted in well with the occasions I had to write between my, at the time, work shifts. They also didn’t individually, require a complex plot, but, although they can be read as stand alone, I’ve also linked them through family.
Are you a plotter? Panster? Or somewhere in-between?
Do you have a favourite of your characters/book?
Do you have advice for aspiring writers?
Never give up. My motto for everything. Keep writing. Write anything. Write about things you find interesting. I found fairy tales interesting - ta da, I write paranormal romance. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been writing all of my life. Obviously, the early stuff was crap, but it matured with me. I’m also a prolific reader and I think that’s really important. You see good writers and bad. Some books are so bad I can’t even finish them, but you pick up style ideas, see grammar and editing issues, understand plot, and eventually think: I could have written that better. Don’t be afraid to pick a badly written book and privately rewrite it - but, ONLY for yourself and for practice purposes. Write fan fiction of books that you do like; quite a few series have authorised, published fan fiction. If you particularly like a character someone else has invented, come up with a similar one and write some adventures for them. If you’re a gardener, make up something to write about that involves gardening. Just write.
What are you currently reading/watching?
I’m currently reading … hmm. Oh yes: ‘How to Flirt with a Hellhound’ Book one of Hellhounds of Paradise Falls by Shannon Mae. It’s a spin off series from Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures, which had 8 books. They’re all M/M romance, which doesn’t bother me. The author has a great imagination, her characters are real; I sometimes find her grammar a little bit in need of a polish, but there are many authors way worse. She’s American, which means, in terms of who, which and that, they’ve forgotten ‘who’ was ever invented and people are all ‘that’ - which, as a self confessed grammar cop, does drive me a little nuts. But, I just have to overlook it.
Tell us about your latest release?
What can we expect from you in the future?
I had completed three quarters of book five in the Fae series when John Lennon’s quote struck me down. Or rather, the vehicle I was driving got rear ended by another doing 80kph while mine was standing still. I suffered long term concussion and some trapped nerves in two places in my spine. The accident occurred whilst I was working on 3/1/2023, which is now 22 months ago, and I haven’t been able to return to work since. In fact, for a long time, the concussion turned me into a sort of zombie. I remember the first 3-4 months through a thick fog. I functioned on automatic pilot, up to a point, but my higher thinking brain was offline. My daughter was my lifeline the entire time (and still is). It wasn’t until one day something happened that meant both her children needed help at two different schools, at the same time, and she was like: gahhh. And suddenly a plan formed in my head. I, too, was on the accepted list at both schools, and I volunteered to help one of my grandchildren while she helped the other. After that my brain started on lining more often and my daughter was overjoyed as she later told me she’d been afraid I might never find my way out of the fog.
So, as you can imagine, not just writing, but my entire life, came to a screeching halt, and when I did begin writing again I found that the long term concussion I’m still suffering from, had caused memory impairment. I went back to the novella, intending to finish it, but couldn’t remember half of what I’d written and became discouraged. Eventually, because I can’t not write, I started something else, which has turned out to be a shifter space romance, or something like that, for which I now have 80,000 words. I’m getting close to the finale, somewhere in the next 10,000, and then I’ve promised myself I’ll finish the Fae novella.
Helen Lucy Howe is a bookworm who teethed on romantic fairy tales and went on to voraciously devour anything paranormal. She became a Professional Reader and a Closet Scribbler because who’d want to look at the mad ramblings of someone who hates getting dirt under her fingernails and thinks ironing was invented as a torture method?
