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

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

Carla wrote: "Hello Mrs Houck,
Eu vou escrever em português pois não domino a língua inglesa, espero que conheça a minha língua materna.
Qual o livro que mais gostou de escrever?
Qual o livro que mais trabalho l..."

My favorite book to write was Tiger's Voyage since I love anything to do with the ocean. The hardest to write was probably Tiger's Destiny since I had to bring so many things together. I enjoy reading pretty much anything young adult. You can follow me on Goodreads to see what I'm reading. My goal this year is to finish 100 books which is a lot for me.

My first question is, how do you classify this series? Do you call it dystopian? It's not mermaids. =)

We are just about out of time! Thanks all for joining us. I'll leave the chat open for a day or so, that way Rachel can finish up answering any lingering questions she would like. In the meantime I can announce that Brandi is our prize winner tonight! I'll be msg you Brandi on your goodreads account to get your mailing address. Thanks for joining us tonight and tune in next month when my special guest will be J.A. Souders! =)

Rachel wrote: "When they came into our world, we called them demons because they "possessed" bodies. They just sort of appropriated our vision of them. ;"

Ah so then would you classify them more as aliens?

Rachel wrote: "Now I write a synopsis and a few chapters, then send it to my agent. BRAVE NEW GIRL sold just like that this month, based on a 4,000 word, two-book synopsis and 3 chapters. "

This is the thing about being a writer that I despise the most. I would much rather write what I want and then sell it. It just doesn't work that way unfortunately.

Rachel wrote: "Lin wrote: "tell us more about Menagerie"

MENAGERIE is set in a world where supernatural creatures are real, but they live as second-class citizens. Delilah, the main character, goes to a carnival..."

It sounds fascinating!

Rachel wrote: "Lin wrote: "tell us more about Menagerie"

MENAGERIE is set in a world where supernatural creatures are real, but they live as second-class citizens. Delilah, the main character, goes to a carnival..."

Is this one a YA book too? Same publisher?

Rachel wrote: "Tonnie wrote: "Who is your favorite author from your pre-writing days?"

Stephen King."

Have you been able to meet him yet? I've been able to meet a few of the authors I read before I started writing. It's always a cool experience.

Rachel wrote: "...because the demons in the book aren't truly demons. They just preyed on humanity's conception of them as "unholy." So I got to make the whole thing up! "

Wait a second, they're not? (Quickly thumming through pages) What are they then?

Rachel wrote: "Until you hit some of those plot twists. ;)"

And there are some doozies in that one, let me tell you!

Rachel wrote: "Krysta wrote: "When you have multiple ideas for different, new books, how do you sort them out and focus on writing them all?"

I don't. I write the one that's due next, because that's how contract..."

I struggle a bit going back and forth myself. My preference would be to just focus on one series until its absolutely finished. We don't always get to do it that way but its a bit easier on the brain.

Rachel wrote: "Colleen wrote: "Can you tell us a little about your next YA project?"

I've just sold two new books to my editor at Delacorte. The first is called BRAVE NEW GIRL. But I'm not sure what all I'm supp..."

Is it a series or stand alones?

Rachel wrote: "But writing YA tends to go much faster for me."

Huh...interesting. I wonder why that is...

Rachel wrote: "Colleen wrote: "What is your favorite YA movie?"

Probably THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Or EASY A."

Haven't seen Easy A yet. I'll have to check it out.

Rachel wrote: "I'm a little bit like all of them, but not entirely like any of them. "

I'm the same. There's a little piece of me in each of my heroines.

Rachel wrote: "Colleen wrote: "Tell us about the gorgeous cover!"

The butterfly cover is actually the 2nd version for this book. I'm not sure it's plot-relevant, strictly speaking, but as we all know, the job of..."

Ah now I understand. Yep that happens sometimes. I was trying to figure out where I missed the butterfly.

I was just catching up reading through all the comments. These are some great questions guys!

So Finn! Please please tell us more about him. What is he? Who is he? How did he become what he is? Anything? Something?

Welcome to the chat! Colleen will be answering questions on Thursday, August 27th at 6 PM PDT in this thread only. Feel free to ask all your Reawakened questions here!

Miranda wrote: "When writing a story such as Reawakened, how do you keep track of everything? Do you use visual timelines or collages?"

I use Pinterest a lot and I keep lots of notes in the document as I write and move them down as I complete a chapter.