Halfway through our eight-part interview with writer Charlaine Harris, whose Sookie Stackhouse novels have been transformed into the HBO series TRUE BLOOD, ScriptSuperhero.com asks the novelist to discuss her journey from aspiring writer to published novelist to full time mom and back again to bestselling writer.

ScriptSuperhero.com: I’d like to concentrate a bit more on your history at this point. Let’s start at the beginning. At what point did you recognize an interest in writing, and when did that interest develop into a specific focus on writing for a living?

Charlaine Harris: That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I learned to read.

SS: Tell me about the first time you saw your name in print… not necessarily your first novel, but your first published work in any form. What was that like?

CH: I’m trying to remember. It was probably one of those poetry press things while I was in high school, where they “select” your poem and then you pay an outrageous amount to get a copy. But it’s like being an addict, I guess; you see your name in print once, you can’t wait to do it again.

SS: What drew you to long-form fiction – novels – specifically over other storytelling forms, like short fiction or scriptwriting?

CH: I knew I could do it.

SS: How long did it take for you to get noticed and get your first novel, SWEET AND DEADLY, accepted for publication?

CH: I wrote that book as part of a creative writing course at the University of Missouri St. Louis, when I was about 27. My teacher had left Houghton Mifflin in Boston to move to St. Louis, and she recommended it to an editor there. It was published the next year.

SS: What qualities about that first novel do you think helped it stand out from the crowd of other submissions?

CH: I have no idea. Maybe the voice, or the sense of place.

SS: When you were trying to get your first break as a writer, did you pursue an agent first, or submit directly to publishing houses instead? What was the approach that worked best for you?

CH: Joshua Bilmes was an agent of a writer I’d corresponded with, Barbara Paul. Before I wrote my third book, he called me and we talked. He’s been my agent ever since.

SS: After your first couple standalone novels were published (SWEET AND DEADLY in 1981 and A SECRET RAGE in 1984), you took several years off from writing, presumably to be a mom. What, if any, writing did you do during this period of time? Was it difficult to set writing aside for an extended period of time like that?

CH: No, it wasn’t difficult. I was totally wrapped up in my momhood. It came to me a little late, and I was very grateful to have my children. As anyone who’s taken care of infants knows, it’s pretty draining on the inner resources. I didn’t find time to write until both of them were a little older, and when I began working again I found out I was pregnant again. However, I worked through it this time, because I’d gotten the bit back in my mouth and I didn’t want to let go.

SS: What led to your decision to start novel-writing again? What fears and mental hurdles did you have to overcome?

CH: I was only glad I was able to get back to it. The relief was immense. Stupidly enough, I’d never considered that it might be difficult.

SS: Did having a couple novels under your belt help you at all in re-launching your writing career, or was it like starting over?

CH: It was awfully like starting over, which was a shock. At least by then I had an agent. Probably the previous two novels ensured that a few editors read the book, and finally Janet Hutchings, then with Walker, took REAL MURDERS.