Author Interview ~ Lisa Helen Gray

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself that we won’t find in your bio? 

I can't remember exactly what I typed in my Bio, so hopefully I don't repeat what I wrote in there.
 

I'm a mother to three kids, two girls and a boy. I've constantly reading a romance novel, there are only rare times when I'm not. I hate sand *laughs* but my biggest fear is stick insects. Ever since watching 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here' I've had a massive fear of them. I'm a massive movie nerd, I love films, any genre and the only horror movie that has ever scared me is 'The Grudge 1&2, I can remember crying my eyes out wishing I could turn it off, I regretted going to the cinema to watch it because I walked out looking pale, and like I'd just watched a tear jerker, whilst everyone else were laughing about how they jumped.   

What do you do in your spare time or when you are not writing? 

Spare time? What's this? LOL!! I usually hang out with a friend, read, or watch movies or a television series like Pretty Little Liars, TVD or The Originals. I don't watch any other television programs, no soaps, no documentary's, nothing. I'm kind of boring.

When did you first start writing? 

I feel ill a few years back and decided to write a book about domestic violence. I never imagined it would ever be read let alone be published and that people actually enjoyed it. 

How or why did you choose the genre you write in? 

I love romance novels, there's something in a happy ending I can't explain. I think it's more to do with the fact that in real life, not many people -myself included- get a happy ending. I like the fact I can give my characters that or a resemblance to  a happy ending. 

Where do you get your ideas? 

To be honest I have no idea, they just come to me. Whether it's in a dream like one did, or whether I daydreamed it, they always start out like a fantasy. 

Do you ever experience writer’s block? 

I'm in a massive writing block right now. I've tried moving on and starting another project, or rereading the work I've already completed to get my mind focused. No such luck, so I've decided to have a mini break and write when the inspiration comes to me. 

Do you work with an outline, or do you just write? 

With my first book I just wrote it, my mind already knowing where I was heading with it. Better left forgotten which is my second novel, but the first in the Forgotten series, was also written the same way, but Obsession, Book Two in the forgotten series needed an outline. I didn't want the book to drag or get confusing, so I made a plan of what was going to happen and where. 

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult? 

The three Gollywogs. My name gave it to me as a child and it belonged to my mom. I can remember taking it home along with some other books she gave me and reading until late, my head under the blanket, torch in one hand and the book in the other. Since then I always loved books, I always loved library's and always imagined working in one. The one book though that will always stay with me is Kirsty Moseley's The Boy Who sneaks In my bedroom window.  

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change? 

Oh God! Loads. I had so many because it was all new to me and I had no one to mentor me. I received a lot of help from fellow authors and Beta readers. I'm still lost on some things, but have so many author friends now that I can always count on them to offer advice or explain something.
 

My first novel. If I could I'd wish it all away is the only one I'd change. I never had an editor, so there are minor errors throughout the book. 

Is anything in your book based on a real life experience or is it purely all imagination? 

If I could I'd wish it all away was based on experience. I was in a violent relationship after coming out of another and I honestly thought that is how my life would map out, from one abusive relationship to the next. It took a lot for me to realize that there's more to life than a man. I really do hope that If I could... showed women all over the world that they are a lot stronger than they feel.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why? 

Awwww, there's been a few because like the question above they were real life experiences. Me and an ex boyfriend when I was sixteen went shopping with my mom. We were play fighting throughout the store and he did, like in my book, embarrass me. I kissed him and all of a sudden he shouted to mom...'' mom tell Lisa to stop kissing me she's my sister.'' I went bright red, my mom and ex made it worse by laughing at people's disgusted stares. 

How did you come up with the title? 

If I could I'd wish it all away came from myself. It’s something I kept wishing over and over. I know everyone wants certain events erased, but I know if I could go back and turn time, I would wish it all away. That time in my life was hard. 

What project are you working on now? 

I am working on the third installment of the forgotten series. Dante and Kelly are my favorite characters, but like earlier I'm having a little writers block. I've also been told my a few readers my books come across American (I'm from UK) so I came up with an idea to show them life in the UK. Well in certain areas anyway. It will be about a young girl losing her parents and moving in with her Uncle where she gets the attention from a gang leader. That's all I can giveaway right now on that one.  

Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with again? 

I've done a series so the characters stories are still continuing. I would like to write an American based romance novel, see how I am with that. 

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment? 

It will have to be that I was an amateur. That I'm an English writer pretending to be American. It really got to me because I've never been to America and everything in my book is UK. 

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers? 

Go for it!! Don't let one bad review erase all the good reviews.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans? 

Weird saying fans! I don't know if I have any lol. To everyone, and I mean everyone who has supported me during my writing journey, whether it's from reading the book, beta reading, reviewing and anything else, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!! You'll never know how much it means to me to have you all support me and my writing. I've lived a life where I never thought something so extraordinary would happen to me and it has, it truly is a dream come true.

Lisa Helen Gray (1987) born in Birmingham. All Lisa has ever wanted to do in life, apart from be a mother, is to read and write, and at a certain age she wanted to be a princess.
We can all dream, right?

Serious note though, she has been a passionate reader ever since her Nan first handed her The Three Gollywogs by Enid Blyton. After that, she lived in a land of fantasy.

First came Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then Angel, and it went on to Twilight and The Hunger Games. Some would say she is a daydreamer, but she is just a firm believer that there is a happily ever after. Hence, her huge love of romance novels.

She got into reviewing other author’s novels, and then decided to publish her own work. Bringing us to her first novel, If I could I'd wish it all away (2014).

She always has her head stuck in a romance novel and is often (too often) reminded of this. When she hasn't got her head stuck in a book or writing her next novel, she is glued to the TV series Pretty Little Liars, walking dead, The Originals, The Vampire Diaries and of course, Veronica Mars.

Just an ordinary girl surrounded by extraordinary books.
 

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When you hit rock bottom the only way forward is up, right?

When Lola Lawson escapes her abusive boyfriend, she goes back to the only place that’s left to go. She returns to the one place where the memories of her parents will comfort her.
It’s taken Lola sixteen years to return to Cabin Lakes where her parent’s best friends Mark and Lilly live.
What she wasn’t expecting was for her childhood crush and best friend, Dean Salvatore to be grown up and sexy as sin.

As Dean Helps Lola come to terms with moving on, Lola finds something she hasn’t had in a long time, family.
Just when Lola feels like she finally has the one thing she’s always dreamed of, her past comes back to haunt her.
With a storm brewing, can Dean get to Lola in time to shelter her? Or will she forever live in the past she fears?

WARNING: Due to strong content, violence and sexual scenes not recommended for under 17.

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How far would you go to protect the ones you love?

Some things are better left forgotten, but for Caitlyn Michelson forgetting is not something that she can do. After the brutal death of her sister, she packs up her four year old daughter Carrie and moves across the country, all in an attempt to get away from her sister’s killer, Robin Quinton.

After blackmailing Robin she believes that she will finally be free to live her life. However Caitlyn was naive to think her threats would work against the man who brutally murdered her sister. It’s only when she meets gorgeous bad boy biker Cage Carter that she finally begins to feel like she is living again.

Will lady luck finally be on her side? Or will everything she has be torn away from her?

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Danni Carter has had an obsession with Nate Mathews ever since she could remember. But then one dreadful, drunken night, her obsession turned into rejection. She has spent years distancing herself from Nate, the one person she always wanted, and who never wanted her in return.
After Danni finds her boyfriend in bed with another woman, her life has turned upside down ….

Now a stalker is obsessed with her …
He’s always watching, never showing himself, and never talks to her. The only thing he has done is make her life a living hell.
When her stalker takes his fixation to the next level by vandalizing her apartment, Nate is there to pick up the pieces and offers Danni somewhere to stay.

How can she live with a man who rejected her all those years ago, and not be able to feel anything towards him? As the heat sizzles between the two, someone else’s blood is boiling into a rage.

His obsession will lead to a death, but whose death will it be? …..

Read obsession, second installment of the Forgotten series to find out ….

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