It’s been quite a while since my last confession… no, since someone else’s confession, meaning me inviting another writer over to spill all their secrets in reply to my silly questions, so I thought I might let C H Clepitt have another go. You might remember, I got her to talk about a fantasy novel of hers once, The Book of Abisan (still highly recommended). This time around, I’ll let her tell us about something a little more realistic – the end of the world, and superheroes. Aaaaaand here we go.
Who are you again?
C H Clepitt
Where are you this time?
Right now I’m on the sofa. I may move, I may not.
Sounds reasonable. How are you?
World’s most stupid question! Does anyone actually want to know the answer?!
Duh! Would I ask the question if I didn’t want to know the answer?! Okay, which book do you want to talk about?
I’m gunna talk about Everything is Better with a Cape, the Second Part to I Wore Heels to the Apocalypse.
Why did you write it?
Because the characters still had stuff to say, and people wanted to know what happened to the badger.
Of course. Everybody always wants to know what happens to the badger. He’s not the main character, though. We want to know about that one, too.
My main character and narrator in both books is Kerry. She is a sort of hopeless every woman. We know she’s five foot six, and attractive, but I don’t go into more detail than that, as I want readers to be able to envision characters that they can relate to, and for that reason I try not to over describe physical appearance, unless it’s relevant to the plot.
If you could make up your own genre for this book, what would it be?
I would like people to look at my book and think “I might like that” without me having to label it for them. I suppose I could label it “not erotica” because eeeek!
Is there a message in your book? Do you want your readers to take something home?
There are quite a few messages in my books, but if I have to explain that then I’m doing something wrong! Read it and see!
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a fantasy novel, working title is The Smuggler’s Daughter. It will be a stand alone book, but will tie in with The Book of Abisan later on. We’ve waited a while for that series to continue.
Indeed. And we’re not happy about it. We don’t like waiting. Anyway, back to superheroes… Which target audience do you write for? What do you think makes your book especially appealing for that audience?
I write things that I would want to read, which means I write diverse characters who react plausibly to whatever situation you put them in. There is not only one type of person in the world and I try and show that through my writing. It makes me really happy when a reader tells me they found something they could really relate to in one of my books.
Do parts of you shine through? Are some characters like you, or friends, or family?
Almost all of my characters have parts of me, they’d have to, wouldn’t they? Some have more annoying parts of me than others.
Who is your favorite author?
So many, how can I choose? I will say that all through school and much of university, I didn’t really like reading, because the syllabus I was given was mainly old white, male writers, and I was yet to find a voice I could relate to. Then, for my master’s degree I read Virginia Woolf and Silvia Townsend Warner and I finally heard voices I could identify with. It was like an awakening, and I thought, yes, there are books for me out there. I think until that point I’d felt rather sidelined. Everyone deserves to love reading and find books and characters they can relate to, and the way we do that is by encouraging all different types of authors to tell their stories.
Is there an author you’d love to be compared to?
Depends if it was in a positive way or not! How about Angelika Rust??
Depends if it was in a positive way or not! 😛 What are you addicted to or can’t live without?
Writing. I need to be writing something all the time. I don’t know how I’d survive without it.
What happened to sleep and coffee? Ah, well. Not everybody needs those, apparently. What’s the most stupid question you’ve ever been asked?
I look much younger than I am, so I get asked a lot of stupid and patronising questions. Fortunately I have mastered the Paddington Stare!!
A badger with a Paddington Stare, 
now that’s surely a sight. I mean, Batman. But wait, you’re not really Batman, are you? Are you? Hey, where have you gone? Somewhere here, presumably:
Find C H Clepitt on Facebook, Twitter, her website, Amazon.
Angelika Rust 