The Belle Dame interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Hello there. I write under the pen-name “The BelleDame,” which is an inside joke with my three daughters, who were deliciously terrified of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline when they were younger. The “other mother” in that has a very dark side, and my writing, which tends toward horror, murder and the supernatural, was a bit of a startling contrast to the cosy, comforting mum role I’d taken on since they were born! When I began putting my writing in the public domain I took the name “The Belledame” as a warning to them about what they might find if they took a sneaky peak! It doesn’t hurt that the name makes some people think of Keats’ “faery child forlorn,” either, since my first YA, In The Blood, has very much to do with the faery folk.

When did your love of books begin?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with books and stories. Growing up, we were quite poor, but Mum made sure she got library cards for my brother and I, and we went all the time. We even got books for Easter instead of chocolate - I’m not sure I was so keen on that at the time but there’s no doubt they lasted longer. Dad was a fanatical hoarder of secondhand books, and his bookshelf was an eclectic jumble of everything from magicians’ biographies to medieval gests of Robin Hood. Back in the day, there wasn’t much on TV at the weekends, so I’d raid his bookshelf and read anything I could get hold of.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

I can remember writing what you might kindly term a “fanfic” about the Groovie Goolies cartoon show when I was about six. Mum helped me mail an illustrated version to a publisher and I was heartbroken at the very kind rejection letter - the first of many! So I’ve wanted to be a writer mostly forever!

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

I had a bit of a false start at writing in my twenties - I wrote freelance articles for an online journal in London’s Canary Wharf, and made beer money writing book reviews for the local paper while I was researching my Phd. But life got in the way, and I’ve only had the time to come back to writing this summer. I started tentatively putting work on Wattpad and micro fiction sites, and the positive responses made me think perhaps I wasn’t crazy to follow this dream I’d hidden for so long! So I’m really just a baby in the “becoming an author” game - watch this space, I guess!

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

There is so much more to honing your craft than I’d ever imagined. I’ve spent decades studying and teaching literature, so I knew I could write well in one sense, but crafting stories and books is something you only learn by trial and error, and you can’t write for readers until you actually do it! I started writing on Wattpad, which was brilliant as I got instant feedback on everything I wrote as I posted it, and it really changed the way I write. The most important thing for me so far has been trying everything from micro fiction competitions to novels, and putting my work out for people to see in as many different places as I can.

Tell us about your book/books:

My first novel is a YA called In The Blood. It has murder, vampires, werewolves, and a dark, shadowy organisation bent on crushing anyone who’s different to the norm. I’ve also written some murder shorts and a horror about moths that I’m particularly fond of as it’s very creepy and unpleasant indeed! At the moment I’m working on a supernatural thriller about a young woman adjusting to life outside a psychiatric ward while dealing with demons from her past that turn out to have a disturbing echo in her present. It’s a bit like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Supernatural, and I love writing it because it gives me chills! 

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

The writers’ community on Twitter is amazingly supportive, and I’ve learned so much from them, from practical knowledge about what a query is and how to write one to emotional wisdom on how to accept rejection and build from it. Someone on there always knows how to advise me, or give me a belly laugh. The only problem is knowing when to drag myself away from writing tweets to writing stories!

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

A huge thank you for taking time to plunge into one of the worlds I’ve created, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve loved dreaming it up!

Where can people connect with you?

You can find me on https://ko-fi.com/thebelledame1 or https://www.wattpad.com/user/TheBelleDame where everything is currently free. If you’d like to connect on Twitter, look for @TheBelleDame1.