Author interview with Helen L. Brady
Screenwriter and author of the Rag and Boyd series
What inspired you to embark on a writing career, and how did your journey as an author begin?
After a 20+ year career as an antiques dealer, I had that 'mid-life crisis' thing and looked around for something else. The something else turned out to be a degree in film, theatre and text as a mature student. I loved it! Reading all the time and doing it legitimately. The course had a screenwriting module, and I discovered I could write stories, and that I was quite good at it.
Can you describe your writing process? Do you follow a structured outline, or is your approach more organic?
After the first degree I went on to take a Masters in Feature Film Screenwriting. What that drills into you is structure, structure and more structure. Writing a script has similarities to writing formal poetry - there are beats that you are expected to hit. I have tried to be a bit more organic when I write novels but the habit is now ingrained, so every time I start waffling about meals and scenery I feel the need to drag myself back to the real story. Having said that... when the sudden brainwave of 'oh yes, they could do that there' strikes, then of course - I just alter the structure to allow for wandering off into the wilds called 'making it up as I go along'.
Which authors or books have significantly influenced your writing style and thematic choices?
I have been a longtime reader of fantasy. Folk, fairy, and tales of the fae as a child, evolved into devouring science-fiction short stories as a teen, and then of course I collided with Tolkien. All of a sudden fae tales became grown up and legitimate, and I could search out authors like Ray Bradbury that fall into both sci-fi, and the glories of 'what if?' In my late teens I got into modern classics and read my way through Orwell, Greene, Waugh, etc before turning to historical and Arthurian inspired stories. Always returning for an annual 'Lord of the Rings' re-reading. My taste in writers has grown and evolved, it now includes alt-historical fiction. St. Mary's shenanagins are a joy, and I'm enjoying the Elizabeth Cage stories.I particularly like Bernard Cornwell's writing style, and the earlier books in the 'Rivers of London' series. Currently I am very enamoured with 'Pagans' by James Alistair Henry. This mixture of old, new, fairy tale and magic realism have led me to write contemporary stories that all have a twist that leans towards the fantastic.
How do you balance writing with other aspects of your life, and what strategies do you employ to maintain this equilibrium?
I'm fortunate to live alone so my time is my own. If I want to get up at 10 and start working at midday until mid evening that's what I do. I have a part-time retail job three days a week, which gets me out and interacting with colleagues and customers. I find this is very grounding - it keeps the edge of reality firmly in view. Three days a week I write, and I try to treat that as another job and sit down for 5-6 hours at a time. And some of that time, as my old Mum would say... I'm away with the faeries.
What challenges have you encountered in your writing career, and how have you overcome them?
My initial writing was solely feature screenplays, but as everybody knows or comes to realise, selling a screenplay is hugely difficult. I had three original scripts optioned over a number of years, out of the dozen spec scripts I'd written, but the films never got off the ground. They did leave me with a string of completed stories though. It seemed logical since I already had a number of, in effect, detailed outlines that I should simply turn them into novels. Of course, each story needs a lot more by way of sub-plots and details adding - and it's been great fun to explore my characters in the detail that 300+ pages allows for. And you know that thing about characters running off and doing things you never expected? Yep. Absolutely true!
Could you share insights into your current or upcoming projects that you're particularly excited about?
I always planned my current story to become a five book series. It's basically a coming of age story so I wanted to take my early teens, sister and brother protagonists into early adulthood. Good intentions, but the plot got in the way and five books may not get them to age 18. Nevertheless, I still have in mind more adventures, plus two of the sub characters are telling me they want their own story - so a possible fantasy pre-quel? And then there are the other scripts I haven't touched yet - though they would probably be stand-alone novels, all completely different from this current series.
How do you handle periods of writer's block or creative stagnation?
I find a mindless job like weeding the garden is good for thinking time. Also ironing. Personally I loathe house-work so often doing something that I want to get over and done with can be the jog to the ideas that let's me go back to the computer and writing. Then I have to trail around the house gathering up the hand-written scraps of paper I've been jotting ideas on as I cleaned.
What advice would you offer to aspiring authors navigating the path to publication?
Simply keep at it. Keeping writing will improve your writing. Write whatever you want. Write short stories, poetry, song lyrics - it all contributes to you developing a feel for language. And read - if you want to develop your own ideas, reading what other people have done should light some fires in your brain.
How important are book reviews to you?
Two ways to look at this. Good reviews give you the warm and fuzzies. Not very positive words can make you first angry, then regretful, then feeling like you should throw in the towel in because how could you think you could do this? Take a deep breath, and analyse the critical words, then really take on board if their opinion is valid. Then shrug, and tell yourself to get over it. Book reviews as a means of generating sales... those are vital. And you may just have to grit your teeth and bear it.
Helen Brady lives in a small, ancient town in Warwickshire, sharing her house with a Manx cat called Logan. 'Rag and Boyd The Fabulous Zoo' is her debut novel, the first of a proposed series of five about Rag and Boyd and their travels to the Otherworld beyond the Veil. She has two grown-up children, and when she's not writing, she's a volunteer, sorting costumes as Head of Wardrobe at her local independent theatre.
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