Helena Coggan (Author of The Catalyst)

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Helena Coggan

欧宝娱乐 Author

Born

London, The United Kingdom

Genre

Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Member Since

February 2015

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Helena Coggan is a writer from London.

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Popular Answered Questions

Omg it is amazing the young age you wrote this book! I can't wait to read it! I am also currently trying to write a book ( and failing ) and I'm thirteen, so do you have any advice for young writers like me?

Helena Coggan Hello Samiha- it's lovely to meet you, albeit virtually! You're very kind- I've never thought of it as amazing so much as lucky, but if you want my ad鈥辞谤别Hello Samiha- it's lovely to meet you, albeit virtually! You're very kind- I've never thought of it as amazing so much as lucky, but if you want my advice, and I'm flattered you do, well...

Firstly: I would not advise thinking of it as 'trying to write a book', because when you're starting from very little the concept of a full manuscript is very very daunting. I didn't start using the word 'book' in my head until I hit about 80,000 words, and even then it was tenuous. Your aims are, in order: an idea, a set of characters, a world they live in, the rudiments of a plot, a thousand words, five thousand, ten thousand, twenty thousand... and that's still not reason to get your hopes up that it will make it to a full finished book (sorry). I was trying to write a full story from about eight (yes, I know, I was weird), and very few of them ever passed the four-figure-word-count threshold. More recently, and in particular when writing the book I'm working on now (my third), I had about *counts silently* six ideas, in drafts that amounted to at least a hundred thousand words together, covering a span of an increasingly panicky eight months. And that was when I HAD to write a book. So yes, in terms of advice: enjoy writing when it's still a hobby and not a job; keep your sights low; don't think about the possibility that things might fail, because that's never helpful; DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST I MEAN IT (sorry); and know that, if it means anything, you have all my love and best wishes- you guys are my kindred.

If there's anything else I can help with (apart from actually reading your work, which I can't do for reasons that are mostly legal, sorry) or any more questions you'd like me to answer, please do ask- this is what I'm for. That and writing down the voices in my head for a living.

All the best,
H(less)

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My book club is reading The Catalyst and I'm sort of the leader so I thought it'd be cool to ask you some questions and then read them out to everyone at our next meeting! We're all under 17 so your age is really interesting. How long were you working on The Catalyst? What's your favourite character in it? I hope you don't mind those questions! I'm really looking forward to reading your book. :)

Helena Coggan Hi Gemma! I'm really touched that you guys are reading it- and of course I don't mind the questions! (Also, I love the idea of being the leader of a b鈥辞谤别Hi Gemma! I'm really touched that you guys are reading it- and of course I don't mind the questions! (Also, I love the idea of being the leader of a book club. That sounds amazing. I want to try that.)

The book took me a while to write. Actually, the writing wasn't the problem- insofar as time was a problem, which I never really thought it was, given that it just meant I had an excuse to spend more time writing (you may be able to tell at this point how inefficient I am)- the editing was the problem. The first draft of the book took six months- October 2012 until April 2013- to write. Then the second draft was another three months, or thereabouts- April through August. It wasn't until December that we knew it was getting published, and only in February 2014 did the actual edits start.

Now. I have a the most wonderful editor in the world, but even with her being as kind and brilliant and patient as she was, editing took a very long time (what with my being fourteen, inexperienced and overexcited), and that time didn't fly half as quickly as the months it took to actually write it. Once, I cut 70,000 words in one afternoon. The rest of it wasn't as brutal as that, but still: looking back now, I don鈥檛 think I really knew how much I loved the story, and writing itself, until I'd gone through six months of cutting it and dissecting it and stripping it down and building it back up again. But I still had the time of my life doing all of it (and will again with the second book, once the exams are over).

As for my favourite character鈥� I loved writing them all, of course, but I had different favourites for different reasons. Felix was the most difficult to write; Rose became the strongest from the lowest starting point, from a PoV vessel two years and four drafts ago to an actual person by the end; but David, I think, has to be my favourite overall. He started as the quiet, unrecognised voice of authority- I don't think that survived even past his first two lines of dialogue. Certainly 'quiet' and 'unrecognised' didn't. He is the perfect example of why I can never fully plot out stories, scenes, or characters before I start writing them. They always, always change between my head and the page. If I could give one piece of advice to anyone about the actual process of writing, it's that: they always change. And that's a good thing, because it means they probably have life in them.

Anyway. Thank you so much for being so lovely, and I hope you all really enjoy the book! Don't hesitate to ask any more questions if you have them- it's wonderful to hear from you guys.
Best,
Helena(less)

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Helena Coggan鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.5 · 1,446 ratings · 377 reviews · 8 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	The Catalyst 3.55 avg rating — 588 ratings — published 2015 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Witchling's Girl 3.90 avg rating — 328 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Orphanage of Gods 2.94 avg rating — 371 ratings — published 2019 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reaction 3.74 avg rating — 149 ratings — published 2016 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Witchling's Girl: An atmospheric, beautifully written YA novel about magic, self-sacrifice and one girl's search for who she really is 3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Orphanage of Gods it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Catalyst by Helena Coggan (2015-09-24) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	[(The Catalyst)] [By (author) Helena Coggan] published on (October, 2015) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Helena Coggan…

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Helena Coggan's Blog

October Update

Hello, everyone! Thanks for sticking around. It鈥檚 the fourth day of Freshers鈥� Week in the UK and I am officially very tired. I have so far managed to avoid any hangovers, but only by drinking聽very very slowly.聽It鈥檚 an art, I keep telling people, about halfway through the second drink. An聽补谤迟.听It takes聽precision. (I鈥檓 not very good at drinking yet.)

Everyone here is lovely, it turns out.聽鈥楬ere鈥� is C

Series by Helena Coggan

The War of Angels (2 books)
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Helena Coggan (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.59 avg rating — 737 ratings

Quotes by Helena Coggan (?)

“Sometimes,' she said, 'if someonedies too young, they've never really felt guilt before. Not the way you feel it at the end. It hits them too hard. They act . . . rashly. You have to be careful. You have to soothe them. If they won't be moved, if they really don't want to survive death, then you have to honour that. But if you can, you stop them. You understand?”
― Helena Coggan, The Witchling's Girl

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“I don't know what Marian's told you, but you can't do everything yourself. No one's going to hurt you. Tell me what you need.”
― Helena Coggan, The Witchling's Girl

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“Sometimes,' she said, 'if someone dies too young, they've never really felt guilt before. Not the way you feel it at the end. It hits them too hard. They act . . . rashly. You have to be careful. You have to soothe them. If they won't be moved, if they really don't want to survive death, then you have to honour that. But if you can, you stop them. You understand?”
― Helena Coggan, The Witchling's Girl

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