Henry the Hedgehog lives in France with his hedgehog family and everything is going normally until one day Henry starts getting ill and realises, that something strange is up in the hedgehog world…
What’s going on with the hedgehogs? To find out, Miriam Jans, author of ‘Henry and The Super Chillies’ has kindly set aside some time to chat with me today about Henry and what’s going on in his hedgehog world. Miriam, let’s get to the really important questions first. What inspired you to explore the world of hedgehogs through this book?
The book started from an image of Henry which I drafted early 2016 in a cafe in Cornwall, England where I lived at the time.
Do you feel that Henry’s life in England mirrors your own experiences in Cornwall, or life generally?
Not in particular, just the urge to translate my urge for reconnection into something creative for the world to enjoy and understand.
Did you find that your creative urge kept you energised as you wrote? Or did the challenge to produce creative work get a little overwhelming at times?
Depends on the day. If everything just flows its easy but even on harder days I can get into editing once I see the first changes improving the story.
Creative work really can be hard, especially if you’re having problems sharing your message with the readers. What message were you trying to communicate?
Henry & The Super Chillies is about honesty, so my message with the book is how being true to oneself and honest to others is the ultimate aim to keeping us all connected.
And how did you find that the characters developed around these principals of honesty and connection?
Through a long process of focussing on the message and comparing the hedgehogs life to one of a human.
Looking back over this long process of story creation, what do you think was the most important thing that you learnt?
The most important thing I learned was patience and not to get too attached to the words rather than the storyline itself.
Do you trying to keep the storyline at the front of your mind as you write?
I think about the children who will inherit the Earth and the mentors who teach them.
Has your writing progressed as you’ve taken the challenge to become a mentor to these children through your writing?
I feel more mature in my work and sure of what and how I need to express myself
Have you found that by developing greater maturity in your work, that you’ve also developed an author brand that showcases your self-expression?
I haven’t yet as my focus is on the books themselves at the moment, maybe in the future.
That’s a great goal for the future! Now, you’ve teased us about other books, what can you tell us about what you’re currently working on?
Henry is only one animal of The Animal Alliance Series, and there will be a total of 12 books of which 7 are already written and I am currently working on editing Volume 2.
Wow, seven books are fantastic progress. You’ll be a fantastic writer with a very strong author brand full of ideas by the time you get to your twelfth book! Even with seven books written, I have a feeling that you have some fantastic ideas to share. To round out our interview, let’s see a little of your idea generating power in action with some funky fun questions. Let’s try the question if space is a vacuum, who changes the bags, to start. What’s your opinion?
The stardust fairies.
Now, Stardust fairies just sound like they’re made up of all kinds of magic! I certainly want to meet one of them. While I’m waiting, perhaps I can meet a new animal that you’ve made from mixing two animals together. What would I be meeting?
A dolphin bird.
Neat. Obviously not as sparkly as the fairies, but definitely someone I’d like to meet. And perhaps when you’ve finished those twelve animal books you’ll move onto mythical animals for us to meet. Until then, we’ll go and meet Henry the hedgehog and his family in ‘Henry and The Super Chillies’. Miriam, thanks for sharing a taste of Henry’s life with us, and I can’t wait to meet more of his friends soon!
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Excited to read the book we discussed today? Find it here on Amazon: ‘Henry and The Super Chillies ( ASIN: B07K2P22H1 )‘.
Want to find out more about Miriam Jans? Connect here!