I had the chance to interview Hélène Boudreau recently, author of the wildly imaginative and popular Real Mermaids series. Book 3, Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels is hitting stores today, February 1! Be sure to check this series out!
Why mermaids? What
is it about them that prompted you to write a series around them?
I have two daughters and one day we were talking about
phobias. I have a fear of heights so we were laughing about how funny an
acrophobic bird would be, or an arachnophobic spider, or an aquaphobic
fish…which led to a silly discussion about aquaphobic mermaids. That was it!
The idea stuck. Hemaphobic vampires just didn’t seem as funny.
The other thing that attracted me to mermaids is that I
grew up on an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. My dad has a lobster boat and he used to take
us on sailing trips from the ocean, through a canal, and into a fresh water
lake. I was always amazed by the purple jelly fish on the salt water side of
the lock and the white jellyfish on the fresh water side and often wondered
what else was happening in those watery depths. That area of Nova Scotia, Canada
was the inspiration for the setting of my mer-world.
Who is your
favorite character to write about in the Real
Mermaids series?
Some of my favorite scenes to write were the ones between
my main character, Jade, and her dad. Jade’s dad is a mixture of nerdy and
affable; your all around adorkable good guy who means well even though he
sometimes may get things farcically wrong—especially where his puberty-addled/
newly-betailed daughter is concerned.
Other than your
series, what is your favorite mermaid story?
I love Liz Kessler’s EMILY WINDSNAP series and actually
mention it in REAL MERMAIDS DON ’T NEED HIGH HEELS.
Your idea of the
perfect vacation is:
Anywhere near water! There’s actually an underwater
hotel in the Maldives that looks pretty amazing.
What books are you
most looking forward to in 2013?
There are so many! Jodi Meadow’s second book in the
Incarnate trilogy, ASUNDER,
Anna Staniszewski’s MY EPIC FAIRYTALE
FAIL and lots more.
What do you use as
inspiration when you’re writing?
Lots of people love to listen to music when they write
but I find that really distracting. Since I get some of my best ideas in the
shower, I got the idea to listen to a soundtrack of rain or flowing water while
I write. I know it may sound goofy but it’s very soothing and
inspiring—especially while writing about mermaids.
I also have a set of all 3 books of the Real Mermaids series to giveaway to one lucky winner! Winner must be over 13 and live in the US or Canada (the publisher will be sending out the prize). Winner has 48 hours to claim their prize once notified. Good luck!
I agree completely, I'm a water girl so an ideal vacation for me is definitely somewhere near it! Also, I want to stay in that underwater hotel. How amazing would that be? Though I might mildly panic that the hotel would spring a leak, but I could probably move past it:) Such a fun interview ladies, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love that these stories came from a simple talk between the author and her daughter. She turned that into a whole series of books, Amazing!
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