W.R.I.T.E. with Derek Power

Derek Power is the mind behind Filthy Henry, the fairy detective. Born and bred in Dublin, he currently lives in Skerries with his family. He predominately focuses on comedy-fantasy works but has dabbled in sci-fi noir with his novel 'Duplex Tempus'. When not writing he spends his days refreshing the inbox wondering when Hollywood is going to come knocking for the film rights to his books.

After much blackmailing, erm sorry that should read persuasion, Derek has joined me to talk about writing. To that end the questions fit into a clever little acronym that is not in the least bit contrived: W.R.I.T.E.

Without further delay then:

1. Derek Power, author of the adventures of the only (as far as we know) fairy detective in Ireland, Filthy Henry. Tell us a little about him, is it true that he’s actually a leprechaun?

DP – Ha, it is not true that he is actually a leprechaun. Such falsehoods would have Filthy Henry getting the fireballs out I can tell you. No, Filthy is what I call a half-breed. The only one of his kind. He has a fairy father and a mortal mother, but his existence is something of a rarity. Usually, the fairy folk find out about half-breeds and ‘take care of them’ – in the very gangster meaning of the phrase – before they turn one year old. According to The Rules, a sort of magical compact that oversees the fairy races uses of magic, a half-breed that survives to their first birthday is allowed to continue living. However Filthy Henry has a very powerful fairy father, one so powerful that his survival was almost a sure thing, making him the first half-breed to actually live. A huge bone of contention in the fairy world.

Because of his unique nature, Filthy Henry is ideally placed as a sort of bridge between the mortal and fairy world. Mortals don’t actually know the magical side of things exist and fairies like to keep it that way. But The Rules stipulate that any time the two worlds mingle, there needs to be a neutral party involved to sort things out – which is where Filthy Henry steps in. Of course, he has a huge chip on his shoulder about pretty much everything, so nobody really likes dealing with him. But they are also stuck dealing with him, so it let’s me write some hilarious adventures.

2. W is for World Building. Describe the world of your Filthy Henry novels. They’re predominantly set in Dublin but is it the Dublin we will easily recognise or something more?

DP – Yes, it is very much a Dublin that would be recognised. A lot of the landmarks mentioned I purposely picked so people can actually go and see them. In fact, one review (on Goodreads I think) walked the route of the second book and mentioned it. Which was a nice thing to hear. But because of how the fairy world is hidden from mortal eyes I can play with some locations. Such as the location for Bunty Doolay’s Bar. I know exactly where it is and the building has been a boarded-up shop for at least thirty years. I pass it every few months, just to make sure it is still there…and maybe pop into the bar itself to say hello to the occupants.

Other than the true aspects of the city, the world of Filthy Henry is really two worlds. The mortal one, which is unmagical in every possible way, and then the fairy one that exists right alongside it. But due to The Veil Mór – or The Great Veil – mortals cannot see the fairy world and any time they might bump into a fairy the spell causes their memories to be altered. It allows the streets of Dublin to be populated with fairy folk as far as the eye can see…but they aren’t seen. And sometimes it makes you wonder if you really did sidestep for a random reason or was it to let a fairy pass you on the street.

3. R is for Routine: you have a family, a career and you’ve recently turned director of a theatre company that produced a play by Terry Pratchett! How do you find time to write? Is there a routine? Or is writing about catching spare moments as they race past?

DP – For me writing is as much a part of my life now as breathing, I can’t not do it. There are days that I don’t get words down because stuff gets in the way, sure, but I am pretty much always doing something in the creative space. Either plotting, doing a short story, editing, or when I am in full flow writing the latest Filthy Henry novel.

My routine is fairly simple – I have a daily word target that I hit before I do any of the fun stuff like computer games or watching a show on T.V. It is a realistic goal these days since I’ve the family stuff that I like to be involved in, so I aim to get 500 words a day written. Most days I fly past that without breaking a sweat and get maybe 1500 done. Other times I might struggle to get the 500, but get it I do. Then once the book is done I switch the goal to editing at least five pages a day. Even with the play I managed to get the goal down five nights out of seven.

But I have a little mantra that I like to use as well for these types of questions. I have an unknown and finite amount of seconds on this wonderful rock, so I write for as many of those as I can.

4. I stands for Inspiration, an essential commodity to any author. What has (still does?) inspire you? Does it change or is it constant? This must be an interesting question for someone writing a series – does Filthy Henry still inspire or does he need a kick every once in a while?

DP – Filthy Henry is steeped in Celtic myths and legends, of which I have a vast pool to pull from. So, it is very rare that I get stuck for a story. In fact, right now I have six novel ideas paragraphed out – that’s six novel seeds that each just need to be plotted. I’ve often said that writing a Filthy story is like putting on my favourite coat, it just fits. I rarely need to get back into his mindset. Even now with the latest Christmas Case File up on the podcast, I wrote it entirely in a day and edited it over two. It was about forty pages long and just flowed out.

I think that’s why I enjoy doing projects that aren’t connected to Filthy Henry at all. Sometimes it is nice to stretch the writing muscles but not be in my comfort zone. But I know he is always there, waiting with his next adventure.

I also get inspired by other writers – both those I read and those I have been lucky to engage with. Hearing how everyone has different approaches to things is great and can inspire you in those moments when you think “Why am I bothering with this at all?”

5. The T in this sequence refers to Type (yes, mega contrived!). We’re talking about genre predominantly here – how would you define your series? How did you arrive at it? (Was a map involved?) We’re also talking about other types – such as Point of View. Third person? First person? Third person omniscient? Past tense? Present tense? Which and why?

DP – This is a tough one to answer. I have always classed my genre as comedy-fantasy, but sometimes I get told to drop the comedy part and just call it fantasy for a broader appeal. There aren’t many comedy-fantasy authors out there these days but I also don’t want to have some hardcore fantasy reader pick up my “fantasy” book and wonder why it is trying to be funny. In terms of the series itself then, I have always been a huge fan of Sir Terry Pratchett and really loved how you could read the Discworld books out of sequence and still enjoy them (with one exception, where he explains why you need to read another book first). So, when I started Filthy Henry that was my idea too. I want to have books that could be read in isolation. You could read the latest one and work backwards or pick up on in the middle and then jump to the end. Each book is written in a stand-alone manner with all the information you might need from previous books stuck into the one you’re reading.

In terms then of the third person aspect, it was because I genuinely did try to write it as a first person detective novel in the beginning but it wasn’t working. You can have all the dry humour you want, but when it is only from one person’s perspective it can get a little grating. I jump around with the point-of-view depending on which character gets the spotlight and it also allows me to use the right character for the right emotional beat. Such as when you need to feel sadness, I bring in Shelly as she is the heart of the cast. But if you want a bit of ‘well I feel foolish’ then I switch to Dru the Druid. It just works better and allows me to play with some voices too.

6. When including E for Edit, the focus is on the mindset needed to shift the book from something sitting on your computer, looking shifty – to being polished, well-dressed and ready to meet the world. How do you get it ready to party?

DP – In the beginning, eleven years ago, I was a bright eyed and idiotic writer who was convinced you couldn’t write paragraph two until paragraph one was perfect in every way it could be. I think I spent about six months trying to make every single perfect before I realised how daft I was being.

So, I started writing with the mindset that everything can be cut – changed – reworked. Nothing is set in stone. This isn’t like back when books were written on a typewriter, we are digital and should behave like we have that at out disposal. Now I write a full draft first without looking back and then I go into edit mode. Draft 2 is what I call my refresher draft – as I go through fixing up typos I jot down the plot points to make sure stuff gets patched up if needed. Draft 3 is the cutting draft, whatever didn’t work is gone, with the plot patched up to make sure nothing is left in a mess.

Typically I might go through eight drafts before I, well not so much say ‘This is brilliant’ but effectively give up because I am changing nothing of value and just changing for changing sake.

A friend once said they were jealous of the edit phase – because it meant there are versions of the book nobody else ever gets to see other than myself. He was right too, in book three of Filthy Henry I removed an entire subplot around his grandfather.

7. OK, so that’s the contrived stuff. Tell us what you’re up to at the moment. Got any exciting news that’s hot off the presses? Or even lukewarm?

DP – I won’t lie this one will sound a little like a daft answer considering everything I said about finding it easy to write Filthy Henry. I have draft five of the sixth book in the series and I have sort of…stopped. I am at a point I am sure other writers get to were I am wondering why I am bothering. Filthy Henry is great and fun but sometimes I think the books don’t get read as much as they should and maybe I should try something else.

So the lukewarm news is that I am working on draft five, but slower than usual. I finished the Christmas short story and that is up on the podcast for folk to listen to if they want. But I am working on something a little different that I may make the main project in 2026. Still comedy, still fantasy, but not Filthy Henry.

8. If it had been possible to squeeze an A into W.R.I.T.E. there would have been a chance for you to offer Advice for people who write and want to publish their work. What words of wisdom can you impart?

DP – My advice on this is always the same – just write. You don’t have to get it perfect, you don’t have to be happy with it, but just write. Writing is a muscle that you can’t see on an MRI scan. You get better by doing it, but you need to do it to get better. You may pump out a thousand pages of utter trash but from that you can edit a nice three hundred pages of a novel that is brilliant. Editing is your friend as well. Get the first draft out and edit it, if you keep trying to edit during writing you will never finish anything.

But mostly…write!

9. The other A word that hung around, eager to be involved, was Aspirations. What dreams do you have for your writing? Any plans for 2026 that might make the dreams more likely?

I will aim to have Filthy Henry: Big Shoes (working title) out in 2026 because it has been about three years since the last book came out and that’s too long really. But this new project I am noodling on in the background is causing the voices in my head to get loud…so I think I will definitely have to get going on it or become a madman screaming at the grass.

10. Finally, there was another A word that felt left out, along with the other two. Admire. Which writers do you admire and why?

DP – I am assuming I can’t name your good self here but let’s say I will for the bonus point aspect.

From the indie world I do find David Green somebody to admire. He has been pumping out books in the last few years and is really making a go of it. His self-promotion is something I’d love to emulate successfully because it clearly helps him move units but he has a fanbase building nicely too and you can see that from the reviews he gets.

I usually drop Sir Terry in here for the other end of the spectrum but I think this time I will say Brandon Sanderson. I’ve started his books and they are fantastic pieces of work. But I love some of the lore around him as well. Like his publisher and agent both said he had to take a holiday from writing…so during his holiday he wrote four books instead because he got bored doing nothing.

Tell us how we can find you – not in a stalking way but on social media and the internet.

My website: https://www.powerwrites.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/dcpower_author

Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/derek-power-author.bsky.social