About the Interviewee: “Helen spent a decade as a theatre stage manager, walking and talking very quietly backstage in theatres around the country. Her time working at Shakespeare’s Globe, and with Wise Children Theatre Company, cemented her love of theatre and allowed her to travel around the world looking for stories. After squeezing her writing into days off and train journeys, Helen left the touring life to settle in South Wales and dedicate herself to writing joyful (and ridiculous) books. When she’s not writing, you can find her hiking around the Welsh countryside with her dog, Cocoa” (Bio from author’s website).
Find Helen Comerford on the following platforms:
Sam Yanis: The Love Interest is your debut young adult novel, but you have written one other book. Did writing Rising Stars Reading Planet: Trapped in School help you prepare for this novel, and if so, how?
Helen Comerford: Trapped in School is an educational reader for 7-9 years. It was a lot of fun to write, and came with the added challenge of making sure the language was pitched right for that reading level. Other writers will probably disagree, but I’d say 7-9 is the hardest age group to write for. The book needs to be simple enough for them to read independently, but interesting enough to keep their attention. It’s great writing practice and because Trapped was published before The Love Interest, I also got to experience all the stages of editing and production for a smaller (8,000 word) project before doing it for my CHONKY (90k + words) YA novel. If you want to write for young people, I’d definitely recommend looking at schemes like Reading Planet. Lots of the big publishers have educational programs that need authors.
SY: Your website mentioned that you work as a theatre stage manager. In your opinion, what are the biggest similarities and differences between storytelling in the theatre and in books?
HC: Love this question! Scale and time are probably the biggest differences. I remember once writing a play with twenty characters and thirty settings and a very nice literary manager at a theatre explained to me that as a new playwright I should aim for a single setting and a cast of three! In the big leagues, there’s very little an incredible director, with a big budget, can’t achieve on stage, but there are literally no limits when it comes to novels.
Then there’s time. I think authors can learn a lot from theatre – they have to tell their story in around two hours, making sure to hit big plot points at the right time to keep the audience engaged. I work with the theatre director Emma Rice a lot, and she always says you need something BIG to happen at the hour mark when the audience will be starting to feel uncomfortable and thinking about going to the bathroom, and something REALLY BIG to happen if you’ve forced them to sit there much longer.
Good theatre has structure, clarity, and has been ruthlessly edited so every scene moves the story forward. This is definitely something I aim for in my books.
SY: I was originally drawn to The Love Interest because I’m a big fan of comic books. Did you like comic books/superhero movies growing up? Was there one in particular that inspired Jenny Ray’s story?
HC: I love superhero stories. I was a massive fan of the original X-Men cartoon and particularly loved Storm (a powerful Black woman who could fly). As much as I love the genre, the representation of women in superhero stories has always been a bit … meh. That might be what inspired Jenna’s story as much as anything. It’s written for all the under-developed Love Interests, the women who are there just to be kissed or killed to move the story on, and the ones who don’t have the agency to know what they want. Jenna knows what she wants and she fights throughout the book to try and do the right thing. I hope that this will leave readers feeling empowered and give them the boost they need to face the broken world we’re currently living in.
SY: I particularly enjoyed the small-town, coastal setting of the novel. Was the town inspired by where you live in South Wales? If not, was there another region that influenced the creation of Nine Trees?
HC: I moved around a lot growing up and spent time in the coastal towns of south-east England. Nine Trees is a fun amalgamation of places like Dover, Hastings and Brighton, but geographically and stylistically it’s based on beautiful Whitby in Yorkshire (northern England), which had the right number of lighthouses! All that said, I adore south Wales and the next couple of projects are rooted firmly in the country I now call my home.
SY: I loved how Blaze and Jenna would take turns saving each other. How important was it for you to portray their relationship as an equal partnership?
HC: SO IMPORTANT. In a couple of early drafts, Blaze actually spent more time being rescued by Jenna, then I realised I was doing exactly what I set out to challenge and gave him his agency back! But there were little moments where I wanted to make it very clear Jenna was capable of looking after herself and others. A tiny moment that springs to mind is when she ends up in Nine Trees Harbour (I won’t say how) and I wanted to make sure she climbed out unaided, rather than being pulled out by the men on the harbourside.
SY: The Diviner was a key figure in the story, but she was also shrouded in mystery. What was the process of crafting her persona like, and what can we expect from her if there is a sequel?
HC: The Diviner was really interesting to develop. She’s the epitome of how women are treated in the patriarchal hero universe; an insanely powerful person who can see into the future, but is a nameless, faceless servant because of her gender. You walk a thin line with superheroes, they need to be powerful enough to be exciting, but not so all-powerful, unbeatable that they become dull (ahem Superman). So, the Diviner’s prophecies are vague enough to influence the heroes, whilst leaving a level of uncertainty and anxiety for the characters to face. There’s definitely more Diviner drama to come (no spoilers here).
SY: While The Love Interest tackled important topics like sexism and misogyny, it also remained light-hearted. Was it hard to maintain the balance between the serious message and the lighter overall feel of the novel?
HC: I suppose I set up a misogynistic universe and then created characters who would be at odds to it and then let the story run from there. I always want to infuse my work with joy and humour, especially when I’m tackling serious issues. If there’s a way to add a joke into a scene, I will twist myself in knots to do it! I also wrote The Love Interest during the covid lockdowns and I honestly just wanted to make myself laugh. I think I wrote the scene with the super-powered pigeons around the time we were told that we weren’t allowed to travel back to our families for Christmas. The more depressing the world around me got, the more ridiculous the action of the book became.
SY: To wrap up the interview, let’s talk about the future! Is there going to be a sequel to The Love Interest, and if so, is there anything you can say about it at this moment?
HC: There is a sequel! The Hero Complex. I’ve just finished the final (copy) edit and it comes out on June 5th. There will be more heroes, more action, more romance and more humour. I’d read the first one before you google the sequel though to avoid spoilers. Jenna and Blaze’s story is a duology and I’m very excited to share the conclusion of their adventure with everyone.
Sam Yanis, Pine Reads Review Lead Writer