Sean Sweeney: 'Ello, Love! You have a rather excellent series going, one that I love--not because you mentioned the sexy counterterrorism agent in the first book. Let's talk about Paranormal Investigations: What's it about, how you got the idea, etc.
E.H. Walter: I love Jim Butcher’s The
Dresden Files and wondered what a British, female version would be like. Thus
Leo and her world came into being. I didn’t have much time for research, as I
wrote all of Paranormal Investigations 1 during Nanowrimo one November, so set
it where I lived and in the places I saw every day. Leo also took on some of my
theatrical background. I guess other ideas must have been bashing around my
subconscious for a while because it was very easy and enjoyable to write.
Quickly after PI1 was published I realised there was a demand for more, so I
kept going and have written three more to date.
I love writing them but with every book Leo’s world gets a bit bigger
and there are more characters to remember – it gets harder! I know the writer Jasper Fforde struggles
with the same thing and has his wife helping him, covering books in notes and
post its. I think I need a wife!
SS: One of the underlying
themes of PI is her deal with the Fae, and it turns out she has been warned,
time and again, about this. What is it about this series of events involving
the Fae that keeps readers turning pages?
EHW: The Fae weren’t really
meant to be so important in PI, but they have now got their own thread running
throughout the series which will become clearer in PI6. I blame Jamie really, he keeps building his
part up. I don’t know why the Fae catches
readers’ interest, but the paranormal generally holds a great deal of
fascination for people – myself included.
SS: Let's talk about some
of your other books, because you have a few solid tales that don't involve Leo.
Break them down for us.
EHW: I try and write one PI
book and one non PI book a year. Non-PI
books include: Fallen – what would happen if Lucifer fell into modern London
and tried to get revenge on God? The ReedBed – two mismatched individuals fall in lust in the Victorian
countryside. Snowbound (to be published
soon) – a London teenager gets snowed in rural Wisconsin as the world
ends. I also publish a few short stories
and have about three other novels to edit and publish at some point in the
future (a historical fiction, a Victorian crime/thriller and a YA werewolf
trilogy). I’ve also written a film script.
It’s about the Scottish football team full of amateurs taking on the
World Cup, when the professionals get fired for asking for too much money, but
haven’t had any takers on it yet. I like to write something completely
different every time which can be a problem for mainstream authors as
publishing houses are notorious for pigeon holing you into one specific
genre. Being self-published gives you a
great deal more freedom. I can write the
stories I want to tell, the stories I want to read – which are spread across
many genres.
SS: Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post about the changes that I've gone through as an author these
last few years, and I know that you've gone through a few changes, too: You've
become a mother, you've moved from Barnet to a cozy flat, etc. Let's talk about
the changes that you've had to make regarding the writing, and balancing it
with motherhood.
EHW: Wow. Motherhood.
People insist on telling you how hard it is going to be and you never
listen. The thing is, they weren’t right
when they told you how tough it was – no one can; it’s worse! I managed 60 000 words last November by
writing as soon as my then-four-month-old fell asleep. I wrote in bed on my iPad (which presents its
own problems) and set myself a strict daily target. I’ve since managed to finish that novel
(Snowbound) but you definitely need discipline. I also find bets based on cake
and coffee are good motivators with other writing friends. I don’t like giving away cake. I like eating it.
SS: Who were your literary
heroes/heroines growing up? I'm sure there are loads of great characters in
British literature that pulled you into their worlds.
EHW: My favourite ever books
growing up were the Anne of Green Gables series – I just loved them. I read them so many times the spines were
lined and the covers bent which says something as I’m one of those people who
never cracks spines! I also read the classics
such as the Brontes, Austen, DuMaurier, Conan Doyle and tried Dickens, who I
have never gotten on with. I have a
theory you must read the classics by the age of twenty one because life gets in
the way afterwards.
SS: Let's go back to Leo's
world for just a tick. There's something about one of the stories that so
reminds me about my work, because like you, I love digging through the layers
of history to uncover little known nuggets in order to help move the story along,
and in PI3, I believe, you have Leo and her pals delve into an abandoned
portion of the London Underground. What was that experience like, in regards to
the research?
EHW: I’ve had a fascination
with the London underground since my first trip on it aged nine. I remember it clearly because I was terrified
of escalators and at Knightsbridge there was this enormous one. It seemed to stretch for miles underground
and so steep you couldn’t see the bottom.
I just stood there terrified, blocking everyone – until my Aunty Rita
shoved me on and I sailed down loving every minute! It was shortly after that trip that there was
the dreadful fire at Kings Cross which finally led to a lot of modernisation on
the underground and so this old, rickety world began to be lost. Wooden escalators were replaced and smoking
banned! Some stations were too difficult
to modernise and the smaller ones, such as Aldwych, were gradually closed. They joined the platforms and whole stations
that have been mothballed and are sealed pockets of history. Some haven’t been used since World War Two and
still bear the posters from that era. It’s a strange feeling to stand on the
platform at Holborn and know through that foreboding, thick, grey door is a
whole extra part of the station never used.
The abandoned stations are sometimes open for limited tours and,
although I’ve never managed to get on one, I study the photos of those who
have. I also walk around London a lot
and the Piccadilly line stations are easy to spot as they were all bricked in
what is called ‘ox blood red’. London is
dreadful for destroying its own history in the name of progress so I like to
hold on to these little bits that remain.
SS: You're giving me 100
quid when I arrive in London. What am I doing?
EHW: Take a walking tour
tailored to your interests. There are
lots of different options: a literary tour of Soho, Jack the Ripper’s East
London etc. That would only cost about a
tenner per person per walk so I guess you could spend the rest on a good play
at one of the better theatres (the National or the Old Vic – or for a fiver you
can be a ‘groundling’ at the Globe but pick a shorter Shakespeare play or your
feet will ache!) and then a walk along the canal in Camden, the Thames or around
the London parks. To be honest, you
could just walk around London for the day and spend nothing, just taking it all
in.
SS: I'm giving you $100
when you arrive in Boston. What are YOU doing?
EHW: I want to see
history! Show me where it happened! I also like to be by the water so a walk along
the waterfront? Then let me collapse and
gorge myself at the best vegan restaurant Boston has to offer.
SS: What is up next for
you?
EHW: Next up is the writing of
Paranormal Investigations 5: A Faint Whiff of Wet Dog as well as getting
Snowbound ready for publication. After
PI5 I’ll write something different (probably in November) before cracking on
with PI6 and then PI7. I already have
titles and the main plot idea for them and can’t wait to get started!
Thanks for stopping by, Liz!
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