“Where’s Helen?” follows an unassuming girl’s harrowing quest for justice as she navigates family dysfunction and uncovers dark secrets, finding strength in her own resilience and an unexpected alliance with her enigmatic grandmother. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The basic theme was derived from the speeches of Russ Dizdar, who helped the police in occult crimes and was very familiar with Satanic ritual Abuse themes.  The characters are mainly composites, and I have taken a lot of literary license with the ones inspired by real humans I have met or even fictional characters I like from other author’s novels.

Helen is an intriguing and well-developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

Helen has many of my own characteristics, but she is a better, stronger, sane, and more sensible version.  I see mistakes I made during my youth and how I could have done better.  However, it must not be discounted that Helen had Anna as a role model, even if she could not depend on her own mother. It would have been extremely difficult to navigate the situations Helen was in without Anna’s influence and mentorship.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

I wanted to present two themes. First, can a girl who was not raised in a “good” family be a moral and virtuous girl?  Absolutely, yes, but it will take more commitment to God, who will protect her, and more strength on her part.  Second, I wanted to show what a narcissistic personality looks like from the viewpoint of those who have to deal with it in a family situation.  Anyone who has had a narcissistic close family member and “woken up” from why the person is that way knows what I am saying.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

I really enjoyed writing “Where’s Helen?”. I want to write another book, but right now, there are only vague ideas floating around in my head.  I want to write something original.  Many romance authors turn out novel after novel, which is basically a selection of the same themes mixed and matched over and over. Plate wrote of a Sacrates situation where Socrates met an actor called “Ion.” Ion acted in the plays of Homer and was renowned for his acting in his time.  When he acted in another playwright’s play, he was only a so-so actor.  The plays of Homer inspired his with a muse, Socrates said, so he could truly act the part. When a creator is inspired, they will stay up late, get obsessed with their task, and enter into another world.  Ayn Rand is an author I admire, and she writes about this when Roark designs the Enright house. Ayn Rand was not an architect, but she understood what it meant to be inspired by your work.  I can see her staying up writing her own novels all night and slumping over her desk in quiet exhaustion in the morning.

I have written a lot that I never tried to publish and much of which I never finished. The muse has to hit me, and as a Christian I need to make sure God approves as well.  

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