FAQ

Q: Where can I purchase your books?

A: Nowhere, yet! But stay tuned for news in the topic, because there might be a few things in the works!

Q: Which authors/books had the largest impact on you?

A: Take a look at my Goodreads profile for an extended list, but among many others, the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Philip Pullman, and J. R. R. Tolkien have influenced my taste in stories from very early on. Recent favourites are The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin, the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie, the Wool series by Hugh Howey, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The Martian by Andy Weir, and the imagination and style of Neil Gaiman and China Mièville.

Q: What about television/movies?

A: As for television, Battlestar Galactica and Lost will probably be my favourite series forever. I also love Doctor Who and Stargate, and more recently The Expanse and The OA (rip), among many-many others. Star Wars has also probably played a much more significant role in my character development than I’d like to think. And no, I didn’t know Firefly when I started writing Skylark, but I’m happy about the comparison!

Q: What software do you use for writing and/or editing?

A: Currently, I simply use Google Docs, since being able to access and sync my documents quickly between different computers and phones is the most important aspect of a word processor for me. I have tried other simple text editors like OpenOffice Writer and Microsoft Word, which are also fine. More elaborate writer tools like Scrivener or Dabble have many very useful functions to experiment with, so they are worth a look if one likes to twiddle with things like that. Some of these even include neat formatting options to convert your stories into e-books, and I really like that!
For editing, I recently found Autocrit and although we’re still in the getting-to-know-each-other phase, I think we will be very good friends.

Q: Are you taking beta reading/review requests?

A: Yes! I would love to help out with your writing! Shoot me an e-mail and we can discuss. That being said, I’m no professional reviewer or editor, just a girl who loves stories. There are many grammatical and storytelling nuances that I cannot help with, and in the end, whatever I will say will only be an opinion. I try to be helpful, firm, but gentle, in any case. When I get too many request, there is usually a queue and some time constraints you have to deal with, but I will help out whenever/however I’m able!

Do you have more questions for Helyna? Send them to us to helynalclove at gmail.com!