Colleen’s Comments (group member since Apr 21, 2014)

Colleen’s comments from the Colleen Houck Book Club group.

Sarah wrote: "When i read your books I see the happiness and anticipation going on inside the story. I was wondering how you decide what to write about next,like do you have a checklist of how each character wil..."

Hi Sarah, I think I just like Happily Ever After endings. I want them to be happy. They go through a lot to get there but in the end, I want everything to work out. Life doesn't always do that so I think you should at least get that in a book once in a while. ;) I usually let the story take me where it goes but I do know how my characters are going to end up as I write.

Lizzie wrote: "What inspired you to write a story around a curse that turned the main characters into tigers? And why tigers specifically? I love your work and I love tigers."

I was looking for a beast since I was basing my story on the beauty and the beast tale and first thought about a bear and then a bird. I didn't want my hero to be too slow when running and a bird couldn't fight the villain properly (though for those of you who've read my Egyptian series you'll notice I did use birds there). I thought a lion would work but the male lion spends most of his day sleeping. When I moved on to tiger, I couldn't find anything to list as a con so I decided to keep a tiger as the beast side of my hero.

I'm so sorry to report that Rachel has had an unexpected family emergency and will have to come back to our chat a different month, but I will keep it open for her to return whenever she's able. She's so good at answering these questions! I'll still be selecting a winner at the end of the month though, so check back to see if you are the lucky participant.

Rachel wrote: "Colleen wrote: "What's the weirdest question a fan ever asked you?"

Probably, the weirdest was, "Why did you rip off Stephenie Meyer?" Thing is, I've been a vampire fan since I was a kid, wrote va..."

That's a good one! Mine was probably a marriage proposal from an ardent Bazilian fan. He was about 20 years younger. Pretty good looking too. If I wasn't happily married... ;) So working in adult, YA, etc, do you have multiple editors at different publishing houses you pitch book ideas to or do you just write something, send it to your agent and he shoots it out into the universe?

Rachel wrote: "Colleen wrote: "What's your go-to date night dish?"

I am ashamed to say I have none! I'm usually so busy that our date night dishes are found at restaurants, not in my kitchen."

Ooh then where's your date night restaurant? Do you favor steak houses? Italian? Chinese?

Rachel wrote: "Hey, Colleen, thanks for having me!

Colleen wrote: "How did you get started writing?"

Ha, funny story: I got mad at a TV show when I was 14 years old. I thought their story was dumb, so I angrily..."

Wow! That's some serious story issues at age 14. It wasn't the Brady Bunch, was it? I had Oliver issues personally.

What's the weirdest question a fan ever asked you?

What's your go-to date night dish?

How did you get started writing?

Thank you all so much for chatting with me and Romina this month. Our chat winner is Trishla! Join me next month when I feature another amazing author and keep reading. ;)

Romina wrote: "I tend to let the words flow naturally UNTIL the deadline creeps up on me, & then I'm basically writing round the clock. But when I'm not under contract & just starting something new, I'm pretty casual about my word count. ."

I'm the opposite. I'm very rigid about word count. A half-day is 2K and a full-day is 4K but I don't actively write every day. When I do write, I throw myself into it and don't want to be bothered by anything else.

No! Unfortunately, I can write & produce trailers, but I can't edit them--though it would be fun to team up with an editor & give it a shot at some point! ."

You totally should. I think you'd be great at it!

Romina wrote: "I LOVE SVU!! I've rewatched the series too many times to count. I really love procedurals, but in particular with this show I'm enamored with the idea/ideal of Det. Benson. ."

Detective Benson is a great character. I've loved watching her grow in the series.

Romina wrote: "Trudy wrote: "What part of life scares you the most?"

Growing up, I think. It takes me a while to settle into each stage of life, & often by the time I start to get the hang of things, I've aged i..."

That's probably the way it should be. Keeps things interesting.

Louise wrote: "Any news on the movie? or will you be waiting to change production companies once the lease hold has run out."

Hi Louise. We've actually re-upped the contract several times now so the tigers getting some screen time is still a possibility. Keep wishing on those birthday candles. I know I do. ;)

Trudy wrote: "What is the most interesting fact you’ve learned from researching for your books?"

Oh, that there is an actual body farm where people study how bodies decay in nature or trapped in the trunk of a car and left in the sun or buried in mud, etc. Fascinating. When you donate your body to science, this is one of the interesting possibilities I guess.

Trudy wrote: "What is your revision process like?"

Good question. I usually reread and revise the entire book on my own before sending it off to my agent. Then he takes a stab at it. Sometimes he wants to edit it. Sometimes he just sends it to my editor. After he or they go through it, we go back and forth at least three times until we all agree. Then it goes to copyediting. That's fairly easy. Maybe two rounds of that. After that the book is mostly done. Just a tweak or two here or there to fix things that might need slight revision.

Romina wrote: "Ashley wrote: "If you weren’t an author what do you think you’d be doing instead?"

Hmmm. I think I'd still be involved with storytelling in some form. Prior to ZODIAC, I was writing & producing mo..."

Did you do your own book trailers?

Romina wrote: "Miranda ❤️ wrote: "Who are some of your favorite authors? Any particular book(s) you'd recommend?"

Ack, too many to list! So I'll just stick to recent YA releases I've loved:

What They Don't Know..."

I've only read two of those so far. I've got to add some more to my list.

Romina wrote: "Colleen wrote: "What are you working on right now?"

I'm currently in revision mode for my newest novel, a YA fantasy called WOLVES OF NO WORLD that's heavily influenced by my immigrant identity & ..."

Love it! Adding it now.