For C. Jill Hefte, human fairies were her constant companions as a child. Her passion was creating and developing her own worlds. Entertaining the neighborhood children with her storytelling and receiving pennies gave her much delight growing up in Northern California’s Silicon Valley.
Reading into the night under the covers, Jill’s imagination visualized each book in detail. She wrote her first play at ten years old. The subject matter included drinking at bars and bums. Dysfunction in families always makes for the best writers.
At UC Berkeley, she was the first undergraduate to show her art pieces at UC Berkeley Museum. During this time, she danced with the Oakland Ballet and performed as a backup dancer for Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck. Despite receiving a scholarship for the Master’s Dance Program at Stanford University, she accepted another scholarship with New York’s Joffrey Ballet.
In New York, Jill took a secretarial job from a Broadway producer in which she read screenplays. It didn’t look too hard. To her surprise, her first screenplay, Railroad Crossings, got her signed to the Harry Upland Agency in Hollywood—they also represented Marty Scorsese and Robert De Niro, among others.
She wrote, produced, and directed the film short, A Given Moment, which took a Bronze award at the New York Film Festival. She won a scholarship for screenwriting with the National Endowment for the Arts and finished her dancing career in International Latin Ballroom. Cheryl Burke, of Dancing with the Stars replaced her after she left her partner, Tony Delgado.
She has never forgotten what her crusty South African writing-partner, Frank Unruh, told her before passing: “Forget about original screenplays…. Go write a novel. Besides, you’ll get paid twice.” Jill lives in Sedona, Arizona with her Bichon Frise, Sophie Tu. Clarissa Hedgestone and the Blood Moon is the first novel in her series, A Human Fairy Tale®.
Upcoming Series: Clarissa Hedgestone Chronicles
She was born during a war between light and dark.
In another galaxy, the human fairy race that left Earth thousands of years ago is in a civil war. The human fairy queen is defeated by her evil brother, but not before giving birth to a princess. The rose crystal necklace chooses a mutant creature to take the princess back to Earth.
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
2-3 years
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Editing
Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
yes
If you didn’t write, what would you do for work?
Interior designer
How do you select the names of your characters?
I ask them.
What did you edit out of this book?”
sex, sex and more sex
How long were you a part-time writer before you became a full-time one?
all my life, until now
Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?
yes
The best advice I could give my self at a younger age would be to not listen anybody else.
All my books are connected and they stand alone.
Writing must have an emotional impact.