Ask the Author: Helen Watts
Answered Questions (6)
Helen Watts
Harold Fry and Queenie Hennessey, because when it comes to love, they show that age and the passing years are of no consequence
Helen Watts
Most of my story ideas come from the past, from my love of history. I love finding out something I didn't know before. If it surprises and excites me then I have a chance of turning it into something that will surprise and excite the reader. And I love blending fact with fiction.
Helen Watts
Read lots, write a little every day and get out and about. There is a whole world of inspiration out there!
Helen Watts
By meticulous planning and by having a plot laid out before you begin. Then you always have something to aim at, even if you throw away what you write and start again. You never sit there staring at the wall.
Helen Watts
I am writing a collection of short stories (and some not so short) stories about strange mysteries and unsolved murders. I have also recently completed a novel for teens and up set on the island of Alcatraz in the 1950s.
Helen Watts
Believe it or not, my idea came from a dog walk! I have a ten-year-old golden retriever called Dexter. He and I walk every day, but the walk which we love most takes us around the edge of a disused quarry, now very much overgrown. Every time we passed that quarry, I would try to imagine how different it looked in the nineteenth century when it was in its heyday. Then one day, while browsing through a local history book, I spotted an old photo of the quarry. The accompanying text said that limestone from the quarry was used for the flooring of the Houses of Parliament when it was rebuilt after it was destroyed by a massive fire in 1834. I was amazed that what was now a relatively innocuous hole in the ground on the edge of a small rural village could have such impressive connections. I was determined to find out more, so I starting doing some digging of my own - into the archives - and the story of No Stone Unturned was unearthed.
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