Debra Williams Interview Published on: 27, Feb 2023

I had 2 choices: an artist or a dancer. I was good at, and loved both, but didn’t end up following either as a career.

Yes. I’m an Australian and the first book I read and loved was The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, by Australian children’s author May Gibbs. We have gum trees which produce little, hard seed pods called gumnuts, which are hollow in the middle after the seeds are dropped. May created fantasy stories about tiny Gumnut babies and the dangers that they faced. My grandmother gave me this book when I was 7.

Probably like most teenage girls, rock stars!

I wouldn’t actually change many things. I take the good with the bad, the hard times are part of life. Mistakes are learning experiences. However, the one thing I wish I could change is the recent sudden loss of my first daughter, 7 years after suddenly losing her father.

I’ve always had a vivid imagination and been an excellent reader, from a very young age. I spent a number of years assisting in classrooms, seeing many children struggle with their reading and comprehension. I wanted to write stories to engage their interest, fire their imaginations and creativity, and help their literacy levels. I also wanted to share some history in a fun way.

I have 3 self-published Middle-Grade books called The Harriet Series. The first book, Harriet and the Secret Rings, involves two 11-year-old friends who time-travel whilst researching information for a school history project in their local library. I wanted to base the fictional stories on historical fact, so I spent many hours researching the backgrounds of the 3 places the friends visit: Ancient Rome, Philippi and Sherwood Forest. I learned many interesting facts about the lives and lifestyles of the ancient people of those regions. It was also my learning curve to work with an editor for the first time.

Funny story. I was helping a child with her spelling. She accidentally spelt the word after as arfter. It set me thinking about a cartoon dog from many years before who was called Arthur, and then the name evolved to Ah-Fur, a Persian cat. (Persians have very long fur.)

I’m a constant reviewer on Goodreads, and I give reviews to author friends on their new works. I feel that reviews are important, and whilst they may be subjective, they also help to define a reader’s decision on whether they would like to read the book.

Yes. My character Harriet is largely based on myself as a child, and her great-grandmother who appears in Book 2 is based on my own maternal grandmother. I have an upcoming Chapter Book which features 4 grandmothers who solve local mysteries with the aid of their grandchildren. One of the grandmothers is based on a dear friend, who is thrilled to be one of the characters, a crazy cat lady. (In real life she has 5 cats.) I’m also a puppeteer and puppet builder. My late husband always used to warn people to be careful or they would end up as a puppet character!

Absolutely. A well-published Australian author was a keynote speaker at a writing conference I attended. She said the average person spends 7 seconds deciding whether they will buy your book based on the cover; that’s 7 seconds front and back. I designed the first 3 covers for my self-published books. With the release of my Ah-Fur, Super Sleuth chapter book in 2022, I used Assisted Independent Publishing. I hired an illustrator and the publisher designed and created the book cover from one of the illustrations.

A parent purchased a copy of my 3rd Harriet book, Harriet and the Secret Coins. This was his response: “Thanks for the copy of Harriet and the Secret Coins. It’s my daughter’s favourite book. She reads it all the time.”

I don’t write every day, but I do find myself thinking of storylines or chapters to add to current works most days. I will either write something down on a notepad, or sit at my laptop or iPad and transfer my ideas and thoughts to a Word document for inclusion in the story. I’m a member of several online writing groups & a critique group, so there are days where time is set aside for those engagements.

I’m not really sure how anybody would describe me as a character! I’ve never asked anyone that question.

I am working on the next Ah-Fur, Super Sleuth novel, called The Case of the Crooked Chocolate Chef. Like the first book, it is set in London and involves Ah-Fur tracking down his nemesis, the criminal rat Ratho. He is a slippery customer!

My experience with AllAuthor has been very positive. I am pleased with the book promotion tweets and mock-up banners and GIFs that have been created and shared. I copy the links and share them on my other social media networks.