Interview - Helen Hart
Interview by Cameris Knight
As well as being a successful novelist, Helen is one of the judges of the Bristol Short Story Prize, an exciting international competition sponsored by Waterstone's. She also teaches courses and runs SilverWood Books, a reputable self publishing company which offers editorial services to writers starting their careers.
Hi Helen, Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed!
CK) Could you please give me a brief background: How you became not only a successful published author but also the founder of SilverWood Books, a reputable self-publishing company?
I’ve been a professional writer since 1999. I’ve written 11 novels and had 8 published – some of them have been translated into Swedish, German and Japanese. One of my YA novels (written as Maya Snow) has recently been shortlisted for the Solihull Children’s Book Award, which I’m very excited about. I also worked as a freelance features writer for a while (mostly for FHM Magazine) which was great fun. However it’s really really tough trying to become a published writer, let alone make a living from writing. So in 2007 I set up SilverWood Books (silverwoodbooks.co.uk) to help writers like me in a variety of ways. SilverWood offers editorial advice, manuscript appraisal and proofreading services to writers starting their careers, guiding them through the process of preparing their work for submission to agents or publishers. SilverWood also provides a range of services aimed at the serious self-publisher who wants to produce a very high quality book which can be confidently marketed in bookshops or online. We currently work with a range of individual authors and organisations, including poets, novelists and charitable enterprises.
CK) You write under the pseudonym ‘Maya Snow’. It is definitely an eye-catching name. How did you come up with it? Do you think the name of a new author is important in influencing whether a reader will chose to read their book or not?
Maya Snow was a name that we chose because of its slightly exotic sound and the lovely way it flows off the tongue. Publishers usually want to establish an author as a recognisable brand with a memorable and attractive name that sticks in readers’ minds. This one seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
CK) Before you were published did you have many rejections and if so, how did you handle them?
Oh, I definitely had rejections – plenty of them! I was turned down by more than 20 agents for a previous novel (a time slip romance set in the modern day and during the time of the Norman Conquest) before I figured out that I was on the wrong track. I decided to write what I wanted to write – what I really enjoyed – and sat down to write my YA novel ‘The Black Banner’ featuring girl pirate Becky Baxter. Seven weeks later I sent the manuscript to the first agent on my list, and had a call immediately (from the lovely Joanna Devereux at Pollinger Ltd). Pollinger wanted to represent me, and could I come up to London to sign contracts? I was so excited, but still had a lot to learn. Rejection doesn’t stop once you’ve got an agent! Publishers turned down ‘The Black Banner’ on the grounds of wrong timing – ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ had just come out, they already had their pirate books lined up, and felt that by the time my book hit the shelves a year later pirates wouldn’t be fashionable any more. They were probably right! Luckily I was already working on my next book and this time I got the timing right – vampires were on an upward sweep, and my YA novel ‘The Vampire Plagues: Outbreak’ (the first in a series of three about teenage vampire-hunters in Victorian England, written under the pseudonym Sebastian Rook) was very successful. I then went on to write the first two books in ‘The Sisters of the Sword’ series about two girls who have to dress up as boys, learn to be samurai, and get revenge on the evil uncle who killed their family.
My tips for dealing with rejection are:
• Be ready for it. Rejection happens to all writers, even those who eventually go on to become well-known names.
• Don’t take it personally. It’s not you, and it’s probably not your work. There are so many factors involved in publishing decisions that success can sometimes be determined by things we writers have no control over such as luck, timing, right place/right time/right person.
• Focus on your next project. Map out your new story and characters, get excited about them and it won’t hurt so much that the previous project hasn’t come to anything (yet!).
• See if there’s anything you can learn from the rejection. Do you need to take some more time and polish your work further? Are you on the right track with this project? I didn’t succeed with historical romance, but was snapped up by an agent as soon as I turned to YA.
• Reduce the chances of rejection happening in the first place. Learn your craft. Polish and perfect your manuscript. Research the submission guidelines for your chosen agent/publisher and follow them to the letter. Be professional. Make sure your submission package shows that you understand how publishing works and that you’re ready for publication.
CK) What inspires you to write Y.A novels: Are there any particular memories from childhood that have influenced your stories?
I love writing (and reading) YA novels because the stories are so much more exciting than most adult novels. Being a young adult (or teen) is an exciting rollercoaster time where you learn who you are, how you fit in, who you can rely on. You’re discovering so much for the first time, and every experience is intense. This is reflected in YA fiction. Characters tend to be smarter, more energetic and more resourceful than their adult counterparts. The baddies can be really bad. And the settings can be fantastic – after all, there aren’t that many adult novels with pirates or highwaymen or supernatural creatures. Generally you can have more fun as a YA writer, and as a YA reader. And yes, I use my own childhood when I’m writing. I think back and ask myself, ‘What would I have done if...?’
And in all honesty, who wouldn’t want to go back to be a 13 year-old girl with no responsibilities except hunting down vampires or disguising yourself as a boy and throwing in your lot with a gang of pirates on the high seas of the Caribbean?
CK) Have you ever suffered from writer’s block and if you have, how did you manage to get through it?
Writer’s block is a strange phenomenon. Before I got a publishing deal I was positive that writer’s block didn’t exist. I could write and write and write. Ideas flowed, characters lived and breathed in my head, and manuscripts grew. As soon as deadlines came along, and editors began suggesting small tweaks, and writing became less of a creative occupation and more of a commercial one, things changed. Satisfying a whole team of people can be quite stifling, so writing became less easy for me. But even so, I wouldn’t categorise what I experienced as writer’s block. I still wrote every day, whereas writer’s block is probably the complete inability to put words on the page for a long time. Weeks. Months even. And that never happened to me.
But sometimes writing was tough, and so I developed strategies which might help other writers:
Strategies to help cope with Writer's Block
• Work to schedule and set a manageable daily target for your word count.
• Switch off your internal editor. Don’t correct anything, just get the words down so that you have something to edit later. (Don’t get it right, get it written.)
• Write something else for an hour. Try a monologue from the point of view of one of your minor characters. You might be surprised by what they have to say.
• Go for a walk and let your next scene ‘compost’ in your head as you get some fresh air.
• If all else fails just keep putting one word after another on the page until you have a sentence, then a paragraph, then a page, then a chapter. At least now you have something to edit, and that can stimulate fresh ideas for your next writing session.
CK) What advice can you give to an author wanting to get published in the Young Adult market?
The good news is that YA is hot. The market is expanding. Authors like Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling have really helped. Readers love their work, and now they want more! So if you can write sharp, smart YA fiction the chances are an agent or publisher will snap you up. However, competition is fierce and and any writer who wants to compete has to be outstanding. My advice? Write an exciting page-turning YA novel with a gripping plot and fresh, vital characters that young readers can relate to at a deep level. Research and carefully target the right agent/publisher. Be professional. Polish your submission package. Be persistent. Be lucky.
CK) Finally, can you tell me who your favourite Y.A author is and why?
What a great question! There are so many YA writers I admire, that we could be here a while... if I had to name just one, it would be Robert Westall. He was a genius at conjuring up compelling characters and fast-paced plots. He mixed adventure with genuinely heart-breaking tragedy to create unforgettable books that deserve to be read again and again. There’s also Maggie Prince who hooks the reader from the first page, and doesn’t let go. Her believable heroines have great adventures amidst a rich cast of unique and fascinating characters. I also admire a lot of Catherine Fisher’s work, especially her fantastic YA novel ‘Corbenic’ which is a modern and utterly brilliant take on the Grail legend. And finally (although I could go on...!) Mary Hooper is a great favourite of mine – she weaves magic with words, and I couldn’t put down her Great Plague novel ‘At the Sign of the Sugared Plum’ (which has such a gorgeous cover, too).
Helen Hart
Author and publisher
