Ask the Author: Helen Arlet
Answered Questions (6)
Helen Arlet
For Mouse Powered Baby Momma Revolution I decided to do something a little different from what I normally do. It was something of a writing exercise for me. I took scraps of paper and wrote about 200 or so random words on them, on word per scrap, then tossed them all in a hat, shook it up, and pulled out words at random to build a title. It took a few tries to get something coherent but once I had a title I then went to work on writing a book that could fit said title. It didn't matter how weird the book was as long as it was a readable story that fit the title. It was a fun little writing exercise and I'm pretty happy with the outcome, but I doubt I'll use it to come up with many more books in the future. I prefer writing what I want to write instead of writing what the words in a hat tell me to write.
Helen Arlet
At the moment I'm trying to get something out in time for Shark Week. I tried to get Miss Nolly's Class out for Shark Week last year, and I almost had it in time, but then cover delays pushed it back and I missed that deadline. While I still play to write a follow up to Miss Nolly's Class, I'm not going to try to rush it to have it out for shark week and run into the same problem again. Instead I am working to get a unrelated book (but still about sharks) out in time for the big week.
Helen Arlet
I have very peculiar tastes. And there aren't a lot of authors out there who cater to my specific tastes. So for me, the best part of being a writer is the fact that when I am done, the books that cater to my tastes will now exist. Not just for me, but also for others who share my tastes and were just as frustrated as I was with the limited selection they had to choose from.
Helen Arlet
On the job training and an understanding editor. Seriously, if you want to be a writer then just get out there and do it. You can waste all the time you want practicing, or joining writer's groups, talking about writing, reading about writing, taking classes... None of it is going to give you the real world experience you need like actually writing and publishing a book will. Just sit down and start writing books. Then when you are finished writing them, publish them. Go self published on Amazon or something. That's going to teach you real fast what it takes. I've learned more in a year following the "Just do it" mentality than I have in several years of doing all the other stuff. Just make sure you have an editor who is understanding of your work and willing to actually put in the same amount of effort you are. You don't have to pay for some fancy professional editor if you can't afford it. Doesn't matter if your editor is just a friend who happens to be a spelling and grammar nazi. It's still better than nothing because there will always be something you missed when you were in the heat of the moment and you don't want your book full of errors you didn't realize were there. And finally, be prepared to fail. But don't get discouraged by that. Use your failures as a learning experience. Figure out what you did wrong and then try to improve on it in the next book. You'll get the hang of it faster than you think. And if you are worried about too many failures, you could always start out under a pin name and then swap over to your real name once you think you are ready.
Helen Arlet
If I get writer's block I put whatever I am working on aside and start working on a different book until an idea comes to me and I suddenly know what to do in the first book. And if that doesn't work and my writer's block is so bad I can't work on anything, then I'll find a really bad movie to watch. That normally gets me thinking about what I would have done differently to make the movie better and usually that gets the creative juices flowing. It's also made me connoisseur bad movies.
Helen Arlet
Considering I write weird erotica... I honestly get most of my inspiration from scrolling down my dash on tumblr. Sometimes a picture will pop up that catches my eye and gets me thinking and it just takes off from there. For example, maybe I'll be scrolling down my dash and I'll see a humorous video about anglerfish. And I say to myself, "Oh my god that is so weird..." And then that warped part of my imagination suddenly sparks to life and I follow that up with, "I wonder if I can make it sexy?" And then next thing you know I'm writing anglerfish erotica. So yeah, when I need to get inspired, overloading myself with random pictures, gifs, and videos normally does it and tumblr is a great place to do that.
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