Colleen Houck Book Club discussion

Welcome to the group! Erin will be answering questions in October in this thread only. In the meantime if you have a question for the author or just want to introduce yourself feel free to do so in this thread.

How do you research your characters, locations, and tidbits of history and things like that?

Where do you like to write the best? Can you write on vacation or other places?

Who is your favorite character? Is it one of yours?

Do you come up with characters all at once, or is there a certain point in your story where you decide 'there needs to be another person here'? I'm thinking of Vengeance Road, which had a rather small cast. How did you decide which characters needed to be in the story?

What was the first thing you knew about Vengeance Road? Was it a scene? The characters? Setting? Or something else?

How did you come up with the title for Vengeance Road? Did it change at all during the writing of the novel?

Are the genres you write in reflective of your reading habits?

I LOVE westerns but I've been told westerns are dead. Did you have a hard time finding a publisher?

Do you like to dress up for Halloween and if so what is one of your favorite costumes?

What do you like to do in your spare time? What books/genres do you like to read?

How did you get started writing?

Do you have a favorite Western movie? Cowboy?

Shara wrote: "How do you research your characters, locations, and tidbits of history and things like that?"

I actually wrote a few posts about research as part of promo for VR back in 2015, so I'm going to link to those to save some time and keep things succinct.

General research approaches for me: http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2014/0...

Research trip to Arizona for VR: http://us3.campaign-archive.com/?e=[U... (This was part of an email blast to my street team, so scroll down to "Standing Where Kate Stood" for pics/info!)

Shara wrote: "Where do you like to write the best? Can you write on vacation or other places?"

I used to be able to write from anywhere, but lately (the past few years), I do best in my home office, with no distractions. I get my writing playlists going on Spotify (all instrumental film scores and video game soundtracks), put on my headphones, and dive in.

Tonnie wrote: "Who is your favorite character? Is it one of yours?"

Luna Lovegood will always be on of my all time favorite characters. I've dressed up as her for Halloween several times. :)

Yun-a wrote: "Do you come up with characters all at once, or is there a certain point in your story where you decide 'there needs to be another person here'? I'm thinking of Vengeance Road, which had a rather sm..."

With VR, I knew all the major characters before writing a single word. Because the book is inspired by a true legend, I did a lot of research upfront, and that helped me figure out which characters to include. I knew Jacob Waltz (a key figure in the Lost Dutchman legend) would appear. I knew my villains (the gang, plus the surprise character at the end), protagonist Kate, her allies (Jesse and Will and Liluye). There weren't too many surprises, character-wise, and the small cast made sense given that most of the plot unfolds on the desolate plains.

Yun-a wrote: "What was the first thing you knew about Vengeance Road? Was it a scene? The characters? Setting? Or something else?"

VR was actually inspired by the Legend of the Lost Dutchman. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Du...

This legend started a research spree, but the actual plot of the novel didn't appear to me until Kate surfaced. I heard the first line of the novel while showering (because all great ideas come while in the shower!) and leapt out to type it into my phone. Once I had her voice and that opening scene in my head, the rest fell into place from there. Her motives were clear, and I spent some time figuring out how to weave the true Lost Dutchman legend in with her fictional tale of revenge. Then I started drafting. This was one of those rare instances where the book practically FLEW out of me :)

Yun-a wrote: "How did you come up with the title for Vengeance Road? Did it change at all during the writing of the novel?

Are the genres you write in reflective of your reading habits?"

For awhile, the book was simply called "western.scriv" (I write in Scrivener) on my computer. When I finally started brainstorming, I came up with a list of nouns and adjectives that felt like the book to me. Gold, revenge, plains... stuff like that. Eventually I came up with VENGEANCE ROAD and it just stuck. We sold the book under that title and never had to change it.

re: genres -- I read across all genres and write across all genres too. My debut trilogy was a dystopian. My forthcoming title after Retribution Rails is sci-fi thriller. I LOVE playing in different sandboxes. As a kid, one of my favorite genres was historical fiction though, specifically *anything* to do with pioneering and the 19th century. There was a period in middle school where I wrote almost exclusively about girls living on farms, gathering chicken eggs and cleaning their rifles. Clearly, I've come full circle. ;)

Colleen wrote: "I LOVE westerns but I've been told westerns are dead. Did you have a hard time finding a publisher?"

I definitely heard that a western would be a hard sell, but I was so in love with the book, I wanted to write it anyway. And my agent understood and agreed to try to sell it. She must have put the book in front of the right editors, because for all the talk of westerns/historical being tough, the book ended up at an auction. (A very modest auction, advance-wise, but multiple publishers wanted the story.) VR has some commercial appeal outside of the western and historical elements—revenge stories are timeless—so perhaps that helped.

Ashley wrote: "Do you like to dress up for Halloween and if so what is one of your favorite costumes?"

I'm not a huge Halloween junky, but I have dressed up as Luna Lovegood a few times. Basically, if I love a fandom enough, pulling together a costume is far from a chore. ;)

Milena wrote: "What do you like to do in your spare time? What books/genres do you like to read?"

I have a 3yo, so my spare time has been sorely lacking the past few years. I used to do a lot of hiking/camping, but that's changed to long walks where we can pick up leaves and acorns and pebbles. ;)

I read across genres. Nothing is off limits to me!

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

I've been writing since I was a kid, but I didn't write my first novel until after college. I'd always tried before then, but would quit a few chapters in. I stuck to poetry and short stories and finally—after losing my job when the market crashed in 2008/2009—I made a promise to myself: I would start a novel while job hunting, and I would finish it no matter what.

Turns out, finishing was possible. Once I knew I could do it, the door was wide open. I've been writing novels ever since :)

Colleen wrote: "Do you have a favorite Western movie? Cowboy?"

Clint has always been my favorite cowboy. Gruff, morally ambiguous, often a tortured soul. I watched a lot of his movies in my youth with my father. I can now see the problematic aspects of many of those films, but they still hold a dear place in my heart as they introduced me to the genre.

In terms of favorite western movies... The Outlaw Josey Wales, 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Lonesome Dove (1989 TV mini series)

Who are a few of your favorite authors to read and have you had the opportunity to meet any authors in person?

I saw your new book is going to be sci-fi or is it dystopian? What can you tell us about that? So excited for this one!

Are you a plotter or a panster?

Favorite conference?

What made you want to write?

A bit of a fun question - if Kate and Jesse were stuck on a deserted island and could each only bring 1 thing, what would they bring with them? (Not a boat. And don't ask how they went from Arizona to an island. Thats up to your imagination.)

Ashley wrote: "Who are a few of your favorite authors to read and have you had the opportunity to meet any authors in person?"

It's rare that I've been able to meet an all time fave. (If I ever meet JK Rowling, I will likely cry all over her.) But one of the best parts of being an author is going to events and meeting amazing readers as well as amazing authors. I've met many authors I admire at events like this, many of who I can now call friends: Susan Dennard, Alex Bracken, Veronica Rossi, Beth Revis, Amie Kaufman, Mackenzi Lee... There are too many to list!

Colleen wrote: "I saw your new book is going to be sci-fi or is it dystopian? What can you tell us about that? So excited for this one!"

It's a sci-fi! CONTAGION is the first book in a duology, out 7/24/18 from HarperTeen. It's about two teens who are working temporary jobs at a drilling conglomerate when they are coerced into investigating a distress call on a distant, uninhabitable planet. When they arrive, they find a few dead bodies and the rest of the crew has gone missing. While trying to find out what happened, they unearth some answers that may have been better left unearthed. ;)

It was a lot of fun to write and plays with some of my favorite sci-fi/thriller/horror tropes!

Colleen wrote: "Are you a plotter or a panster?"

I used to write by the seat of my pants, but I'm much more of a plotter these days. I read John Truby's ANATOMY OF STORY and that book totally reshaped how I approach drafting. Now, I like to have a pretty detailed plan going in. It of course changes slightly in the act of drafting, but I do a lot of legwork up front these days.

Colleen wrote: "Favorite conference?"

I'm a big fan of any conference that is specifically geared at teens. That's who I write for, so I love going to those conferences and meeting teen readers. (And teen librarians/teachers!) YALLFest/West are really great and I also enjoyed the Texas Teen Book Fest!

Melissa wrote: "What made you want to write?"

A love for stories. I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't have my nose deep in a book. That love for reading turned into a love for writing when I was in middle school and only grew from there. I loved getting lost in a good story and wanted to create my own works that evoked the same desire in other readers.

Melissa ~ Missy (FrayedBooks) wrote: "A bit of a fun question - if Kate and Jesse were stuck on a deserted island and could each only bring 1 thing, what would they bring with them? (Not a boat. And don't ask how they went from Arizona..."

Ha! I love this question.

Kate would bring her pistol, because she feels lost without it and also it would be good for hunting food...? Jesse, being the practical guy he is, would bring matches. If they teamed up on this island, they might stand a chance. ;)

Thanks for all the great questions, guys! And thank you, Colleen, for organizing everything. :)

Thanks to Erin for joining our chat. I loved Retribution Rails and know you will too. The winner of the chat is Yun-a! Thanks to all for participating and don't forget to join me next month when my featured author is Erica O'Rourke!