Helen Salter quite possibly remains 14 years old inside her head.                       

Helen first began writing in 2001. "I was reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith and I read that she was 23 when it was published," states Helen. "So I thought I had better get on with it! I was interrupted for six months while removing pink woodchip wallpaper from every surface in my first home, but I did get there in the end.  I still haven't got round to finishing White Teeth."

Helen attended an all-girl's independent school in Croydon in an historic 15th century building. It came complete with Hogwart's-esque architecture, creaky oak staircases, its own ghost and (perhaps more scarily) a green and brown school uniform.

She then gained "far too many insights into teenagers' heads" while funding her French and Italian degree at Manchester university, which included a stint teaching 11-15 year olds in one of the tougher Paris suburbs, and being employed by The American Council for International Studies as a tour guide for teenage American students visiting Europe.

However Helen's 'most random' job was selling aerial photographs door-to-door in the Chicago suburbs, which only fuelled her love of the cheesy 80's John Hughes movies which were filmed in that area.  Since graduating Helen has worked full-time for a software company, and is currently a Product Manager for their European offices.