An Interview With Helen Bailey!

Hey Guys x

I reviewed the book 'Running In Heels' here and spoke about how much I loved it, because it's an amazing book!

When I tweeted that I reviewed it, the author Helen Bailey thanked me and followed me, and that was so amazing because I had never had any kind of contact with an author before!

Even more amazingly, a few weeks ago, she agreed to give me an interview for my blog!!

I can't even explain how grateful I am that she even considered my request, let alone agreed to be interviewed! So thank you so much Helen, it really means a lot!

And  when coming up with the questions, I kept you guys in mind, as I know that a lot of you want to get into the writing world as I do, so I hope that my questions and Helen's answers help you out too!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the interview!

The Interview

Hello Helen, could you please introduce yourself to my readers?

Thank you for inviting me to feature in your interview series, Bria Lou! My name is Helen Bailey and I’m a writer of young adult and children’s books, mostly teenage fiction. I’ve had over twenty titles published (some, such as the Felicity Wishes books, with an illustrator), including the five book series, The Crazy World of Electra Brown.

When did you decide that you wanted to become an author?

It’s funny, I never had a burning desire to become an author, because it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t become one. I always thought of myself as a writer, even when I was churning out pages of childish loopy nonsense, and I often practised how I would sign my books when I became famous. I was too shy to use my own name, so I called myself ‘Kay Litchfield’ after the name of the pattern of our best bone china plates. I wasn’t an especially confident child, I certainly wasn’t part of the school in-crowd, but in amongst all the uncertainties and anxieties in my life was this unshakeable belief that I was destined to write for a living. Looking back, I was probably quite a weird child. I certainly looked it.

 How did you go about getting published for the first time?

Growing up, I was forever entering writing competitions and sending off short stories and poems to magazines in the hope that they would be published. The first time I got paid for a story I would be about ten or eleven, when The Brownie magazine published a story I had submitted. They sent me some money, which was thrilling, but I couldn’t cash the cheque as I had submitted the story under the name Kay Litchfield, which was when I had to confess to my parents that I had been secretly writing. I got paid for other articles too, and although I never wrote for money, being paid for my stories made me feel as if I was a ‘proper’ writer. I then became a bit too confident and forgot who my stories were aimed at: I sent an article to Cosmo magazine when really it was more The Brownie material. I can’t imagine what the editor of this rather racy teen and adult mag must have thought to get a story from a thirteen year-old all about being a good Samaritan, but I got a very nice letter back saying it wasn’t quite right for their readers, which was a kind way of saying I hadn’t got a clue.

 What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

There are two pieces of advice I always pass on when I’m giving talks or running writing workshops: Firstly, write as if you are sitting on your bed or across the table from your best friend, telling them the story. If you see something funny when you are out and about and you are telling your friend about it, you never get stuck over what to say, conversation just flows as the two of you gossip away, but when you are asked to write down what happened, most people find it awkward, freeze or get frightened by the blank page. Just think of your writing as a conversation between two friends and your ‘voice’, that element of your personality that makes your writing unique will naturally emerge. My second piece of advice is always, ALWAYS read aloud everything you write. By doing so you soon find out whether your writing has any awkward phrases or doesn’t flow. If you, the writer, stumbles over your words, so will your reader.

 Did you study any type of creative writing before deciding that you wanted to be an author?

No, I didn’t, and although I wouldn’t discourage anyone who wants to go down that route, I firmly believe that you don’t need to study creative writing or take English at university to become a writer, but you have to write something, anything, every day to hone your skills. The opportunities to write, to get your work out there and read are greater now than they were in my day because of blogging and social media. It’s a very exciting time for aspiring writers.

 What is the average day-to-day life of an established author?

It can vary depending on whether I am working on the first draft of a new manuscript, have a book out and am doing publicity appearances, or going to schools to run writing workshops. If I’m working on a new book, I use what I call the ‘Vomiting’ approach to writing. I spend the morning ‘throwing up’ the words on to the page, and then I take the dog for a long walk and come back and spend the afternoon cleaning up the writing I did that morning. I like to get something down on the screen, however awful, otherwise I panic that someone has stolen my brain in the middle of the night and I’ve lost my ability to write. I’ll often review everything I’ve written in the evening, making a few changes before starting again the following day.

 What is your favourite genre to read?

I honestly don’t have one. If it’s a great story with believable characters, I will read crime, chick-lit, science fiction, whatever. I guess the only genre I don’t tend to pick up is fantasy.

 If you could have written any book, which would you choose and why?

Oh, there are so many books I admire. Two that particularly stand out are Anne Frank’s Diary, and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Clearly, I don’t wish to have hidden from the Nazi’s or committed suicide, but to write a powerful book that stands the test of time is something that all writers aspire to.

 Would you still be writing if you couldn’t do it full time?

Absolutely. I have done. Four years ago, I put my young-adult fiction writing on ‘hold’ after my husband drowned in an accident whilst we were on holiday. It was a terrible time, and I was in no fit state to take on any professional writing projects. I had always written diaries and even letters to myself during difficult times, so I started a blog about my grief called Planet Grief. I never had any intention of the blog being turned into a book, but it’s being published later this year under the title, When Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis. I have heard of other bloggers having their work published, so it can happen to anyone, not just established writers. Have faith!

What is your inspiration for writing?

Everything I see, everything I hear and everything I experience eventually finds its way into my writing.

Where do you get the ideas for your different novels from?

It depends. For the Electra Brown books, I met a girl in the street called Electra, whereas Channy in Knowing Me, Knowing You, was based on a girl I saw hanging around a bandstand with some skateboarding lads. She looked so fascinating, I followed her down the street and secretly took a picture of her with my phone. Most of my plots start with a character.

 What book have you most enjoyed writing and why?

Definitely, Life at The Shallow End and the rest of the Electra Brown series. All the characters in the five books are based on people I’ve known or met. They were huge fun to write, though it was painful at times: I cried buckets writing about the break-up between Rupert and Electra in Falling Hook, Line & Sinker, because it took me back to my angst-filled teenage years. Electra is based on me. I love her. She doesn’t always get things right and can be amazingly daft, but her heart is in the right place.

Thank you to Helen Bailey for the most insightful interview that I've ever done! As an aspiring author, your answers are really inspirational to me and I will certainly have your advice in mind forever.

Thank you for reading!

Comment below something to ask my next interviewee!

Keep Smiling - Lou xx