Q&A with Colleen Halverson *CLOSED*

[LeAnn]

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend, NABC! We have the wonderful Colleen Halverson joining us for a Q&A over the next two weeks. Colleen is the author of Through the Veil, which was our July non-contemporary group read, and her newest release,Children of the Veil, which is our November non-contemporary group read! Leave your questions for Colleen below!

[Colleen]

Thank you so much for having me! I'm an open book, so feel free to ask me anything. Cheers! :)

[Ingeyla]

What is your favorite genres to read? What is your favorite genres to write which you might have tried or you want to try?

[J.]

If you could be any book character for a day, who would you choose and why? :)

[Colleen]

Hi Ingeyla!

I love to read PNR, and I'm a huge Black Dagger Brotherhood fan. I also love fantasy, but recently I've been reading a lot of historical romance. I think someday I would love to write a contemporary NA romance, but I still think I'm sorting through the experiences of my twenties, haha. Writing those experiences out beneath the veil of fantasy feels a little less raw somehow, if that makes sense? But perhaps, in time, I can write some of those stories out for readers.

[Colleen]

Hi J.!

That is an interesting question. I think I would like to be Daenerys Targaryen because then I would get to ride a dragon. :)

[Nicole]

Who are your favorite authors?

[Colleen]

Hi Nicole! I love JR Ward and KM Moning. Of course, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and love JK Rowling. I also love Courtney Milan, Tessa Dare, Lisa Kleypas, and Loretta Chase. I also really enjoy fantasy by Patrick Rothfuss and Robert Jordan. Right now I'm reading Radiance by Grace Draven, and I'm nuts about it!

[Heather]

What was your inspiration for Through the Veil?

[Colleen]

Hi Heather!

My degree is in Irish literature, and so in the process of earning that, I learned so much about Irish mythology and folklore. For a long time I had this flash of a scene--a graduate student, a warrior, a book, a snake-like creature--and it haunted me for years. But I never really thought I could actually write a novel based on this until I read KM Moning's Fever series. When I finished her books, I thought, "I might be able to do something like this. At least I could try..." I decided to pour all that knowledge into THROUGH THE VEIL, and thus Elizabeth and Finn were born.

[Jaylah]

What about Irish literature stands out most to you? Like your favorite thing related to Irish Literature.

[Colleen]

Hi Jaylah!

Thank you for that question. The poet Seamus Heaney once said (I'm paraphrasing) that the English may have given the Irish their language, but the Irish taught them how to use it . Ireland has had four Nobel prize winning writers, and to me, it's no wonder. The sheer beauty of how Irish writers wield the language just kills me every time. I took a few classes in Irish Gaelic because I wanted to understand the underlying forces at work in the literature I read. Irish Gaelic is so interesting because there are all these levels of reality embedded in each turn of phrase, each unique idiom. In Irish literature, we see writers who use language to expand the ways in which we know, understand, and experience the everyday world. Most famously we see this at work in a book like Ulysses in which Joyce takes one man's walk through Dublin in a single day and turns it into an epic quest of the mind. I mean, wow! Irish literature often plays with representations of historical memory with the use of ghosts, spectres, vampires, faeries, and magic. I wrote my dissertation in part on the role of the vampire in Irish literature. I think it's those magical things that draw me in and keep me coming back again and again.

[Caty]

Hi Colleen,
Do you ever get inspiration to write a character based on someone from your family or friends?

[Colleen]

Hi Caty!

Absolutely. One of my favorite characters is Grainne, an ex-pirate and warrior in the Fianna (which, in my book, is the secret organization that polices the mortal world from Fae baddies). She was very much inspired by my Irish language professor, and I hear her voice whenever I’m writing her dialogue. She was so warm and caring, but she could cut you with a word. She didn’t suffer fools gladly at all. But she was also a really supportive friend in one of the darkest periods of my life, and I think Grainne serves as that person for my heroine, Elizabeth.

[~Viktorija~]

Hi Colleen!
If you could choose one author to write a book with, who would it be? :)

[Colleen]

Hi Victoria!

I would absolutely love to write a book with Courtney Milan. She has such an extensive knowledge of history and politics in the 19th century, and I just know our minds would meld to create some incredible story. I actually met her once and made a complete FOOL out of myself, I was fangirling so hard. But yes, if she ever gets over that one time I fawned all over her at RWA Spring Fling...Courtney, you and me, babe. Let's talk some labor unions and blue stockings!!!

[Irma]

Hi Colleen.

What is the hardest thing about writing?

Thank you in andvance.

[Colleen]

Irma wrote: "Hi Colleen.

What is the hardest thing about writing?

Thank you in andvance."

Hi Irma!

Cool name. You don't see a lot of Irmas these days. :)

For me, the hardest part about writing is finding time to do it. I teach full-time, I have two small children, I do, occasionally like to leave my house and see the sun...it doesn't leave a lot of time to write. I have to very, very disciplined. Luckily, I teach online now and a lot of my work with students is done at night (I help nontraditional students get certified to teach, so they stay up late and need help with things), so now I generally write about 1-2 hours every day in the afternoons and sometimes on the weekends. I have to jam a lot of work into that time, but it's amazing how quickly it adds up.

I think the second hardest thing about writing is being able to admit you're wrong. Wrong about a character, a scene, a plot twist, etc. There were times I thought I was SO. RIGHT. about something, but my editor wanted something very different. I huffed and puffed, but I decided to try it her way. In the end, she was always right. We talk a lot about "experimentation" with writing, but I think sometimes that means doing something that feels uncomfortable or inherently wrong to you. There have been things where I've stuck to my guns, but there are other things where I've been willing to work it from another perspective. That can be hard, but I would hate to never be challenged as an artist, does that make sense? I think it's a good editor who can push you like that, and I'm so lucky to work with mine at Entangled.

[Hanne]

Do you like paranormal movies?
What is your favorite paranormal creature: demon, vampire, ghost, ... and why?

[Colleen]

I do love paranormal movies! I still remember going to see INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE and falling in love with Brad Pitt and just the whole world Anne Rice created. I knew I wanted to try to do something like that someday. I think my favorite paranormal creature is the Fae, of course, because the folklore surrounding them is so rich and multi-layered.