Featured(@WattpadChronicles)
What is Solace?: Comfort or consolation in a time of great distress or sadness.
Even so, what does Solace mean?: If you're sad, you might find solace in music or in talking to your friends. It is no surprise that consola...
Q: On a typical day, how much time do you spend writing?
This varies from no time to up to an hour or two.
Q: How do you deal with the emotional impact of a book (on yourself) as you are writing the story?
Writing is like an emotional vent for me. If I don't get to write often, I find myself feeling on edge. I don't think it has an emotional impact on me beyond a calming one.
Q: Describe your perfect book hero or heroine.
My perfect contemporary hero is Damien from Burning Moon: dark hair and eyes, small, quirky and he knows what he likes. It's a bit cliché, but Jamie from Outlander is another favorite. I tend to like sensitive, but confident guys who make me laugh. I like a bit of an edge to them, too. What I don't like is an emotionally or physically abusive hero.
As for heroines, since I was a teenager, I loved the strong-willed women that are often seen in fantasy novels. For example, Tamora Pierce's Alana.
Q: What's your favorite spot to visit in your own country, and what makes it so special to you?
The Yorke Peninsula: the south-west foot from Marion Bay to Corny Point. It is a place that I and my husband often go to. The landscape is incredible: green bushes, white soil, red cliffs, rockpools, empty stretches of beaches, world-class waves, and tonnes of dolphins. You just have to watch out for the kangaroos and emus that walk out on the road!
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Q: If you could choose celebrity parents, who would you choose and why?
Meryl Streep and George Clooney/Leonardo Di Caprio. They are intelligent, ethical, worldly people who have chosen to use their celebrity to highlight the problems in this world and speak for change.
Q: Would you rather have an endless summer or an endless winter?
Neither! Too much winter gets me down. But I am from Australia, and this summer season has been long, hot and absolutely terrifying. I will stick with my four seasons, thank you.
Q: Helena, if you could choose three of your favorite authors, in general, to invite for a dinner party, who would they be and why?
1) George R.R. Martin: I would love to hear more about how he draws from history, particularly medieval and Tudor, to build his plot and characters, and then puts in unexpected twists. I'd also want to try to understand how he can have so many narrative and character arcs going at once!
2) Dianna Gabaldon: to learn more about her technique to develop such lush and unique description, and her research methods for her world-building.
3) Frank Herbert: to understand more about how he fed his interest in ecology into the themes behind the Dune novels.
