Can you tell us a little about how you started writing; was it something you have always wanted to do?
I learned to read when I was 2 1/2, and I was fascinated by the stories people put in books. I had a great imagination, and wanted to see my own stories in book form. When I was four, a nursery school teacher started teaching me how to write, and as soon as I was able to string letters together to make words, I started writing down my story ideas. In kindergarten, my teacher allowed me to write stories as part of my “individualized” reading program. So yes, I’ve always wanted to write, and have been doing so as long as I can remember. Of course, I’d like to think my stories have improved since I was four!
Who or what has been your biggest influence as a writer?
That’s a tough one. I can’t think of any single influence. I’ve been influenced by the great writers whose work I’ve read; I’ve been influenced by teachers and friends who have encouraged my writing. All of them have contributed, none more than any other.
Your work is very popular with readers and reviewers; how does it feel to have such positive recognition for your work?
Having someone tell me they like my work, or mention something they like about a character or about my writing, is a huge rush.
What do you consider to be the key elements of a great story?
Strong, realistic characters, a solid plot with no holes or contradictions, and good writing.
Could you tell us a little about how you develop your characters? Who has been your favorite character to write? The most challenging?
Hmm. How do I develop my characters… I guess it depends on the story. For something like my current WIP, which is a story I’m targeting for a special line at a specific publisher, I come up with the plot first and then have to create characters to use in that plot. In that sort of case, I choose the gender and name of the character and maybe one or two major personality points, and then let the character develop fully as I write. Other times, the characters just seem to show up and start talking to me about their story. Either way, though, the characters tend to develop completely in the course of the writing; I rarely start with a fully developed character, just like I rarely start with a complete outline or brainstorm. It’s more fun to wait and see what happens.
My favorite character in my erotic romance/romance stuff is probably Rhys Owens, a 938-year-old immortal romance novelist who is a virgin at the start of his book. He was a lot of fun to write because he’s coming from the perspective of having seen nearly a thousand years of human development. His dialogue and even some of the third-person narrative from his point of view is interesting; it’s a strange combination of formal, old-fashioned speech and modern phrasing that just flowed out whenever I was writing him.
The most challenging characters are the ones in my current WIP. Tanner Wohl and Courtney Southard are typical twenty-somethings, but even though I made notes about them before I started their story and even though I’ve nearly completed the first draft, I just don’t feel like I really know them.
Please tell us about the projects you are currently working on; what can readers expect to see in the coming months?
Right now, I’m waiting to hear back from my editor about edits to my novella “Beginner’s Luck”, which is coming out from Pink Petal Books in September. I’m finishing up the first draft of a novella tentatively titled “Deep Down”, which is about a Boston subway musician who meets the woman of his dreams when he saves her from a mugger (the above-mentioned Tanner and Courtney), and will start revising that after I let it sit for a couple weeks. I’m revising my novel Timeless, which features the Rhys Owens I mentioned, and haven’t decided yet where to submit that, and I have a few other WIPs that are in various stages of first draft.
Hollywood came calling and asked for one of your books to be made into a movie. Which one would you choose and who do you see playing your characters?
Definitely Timeless. No question. That novel has a special place in my heart because it grew out of the first erotic short story I ever wrote; I looked at the short and realized it wasn’t a story by itself, it was part of a novel. It took me two and a half years to actually be able to write the novel, but once I started it, 85,000 words flowed out in about five weeks. As for who would play the characters… Hmm. I would say Christopher Eccleston (the 9th Doctor Who) as Rhys, and I’m completely stumped who I’d have play his love interest, Gwen Davies. I don’t watch many movies or TV shows, so I can’t really think of any actresses offhand who suit my mental image of Gwen.
Summertime…sun, heat and tans. What is your favorite Summer time treat to snack on?
Lemon-flavored Italian ice.
Where can readers find more about you and your books?
They can check out my website, www.karennacolcroft.com, or they can follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook.
For fun: You are able to meet one character from any book, who would it be and what would you do?
Ooh, *any* character? I want to meet Harry Dresden and just follow him around Chicago for a day.
Sneak peek into Who can see the wind?:
Released June 1 from Excessica Publishing. Buy it at http://excessica.com/index.php/books/who-can-see-the-wind-by-karenna-colcroft/
It was a calm spring day. Warm sun shone, and not a breath of wind blew. Except around Nyssa.
Nyssa hurried up the street, her long, curly, brown hair ruffled by a mild breeze. She was running late for work, and she couldn’t afford to show up after nine again. Her manager had already told her she was on probation; one more late arrival and she’d lose her job. But how was it her fault her car only started three days out of every five?
As though to calm her, the wind stroked her hair. It escaped her notice that no one else’s hair moved, that none of the leaves on the sickly trees protruding through the sidewalk stirred. She was too focused on getting to work on time, and she was used to feeling wind in her hair and against her skin. It never left her.
From the time Nyssa was a child, she’d loved the wind. Whether a light breeze or a hurricane, she had always tried to get outdoors when the wind blew. Her parents had had to lock her inside during storms, and even that had failed once Nyssa grew tall enough to reach the locks. The wind was her friend; it would never harm her, no matter how hard it blew.
It seemed the wind loved Nyssa, too. Always it touched and caressed her, gentle even at its strongest. This had never seemed odd to her; she took it for granted just as she took air and sunshine. As she’d grown, she’d discovered that not everyone felt the wind when she did and she’d learned not to mention it. She felt sorry sometimes for those who didn’t feel it.
Only fifty yards now to the office building. Without a break in her step, she glanced at her watch. Three minutes. If the elevator cooperated, she would just make it to her office on the third floor.
But the brief look at her watch was her downfall. Nyssa ran headlong into someone who stood still in the middle of the sidewalk. The impact made her drop her purse, which spilled its contents over the cement. Tears of frustration came to her eyes. “Shit!”
The stranger grasped Nyssa’s shoulders to steady her. “Are you all right?”
His voice was deep and calm, with an accent Nyssa couldn’t place. His skin was tan, his hair and eyes so dark they were almost black. She caught her breath and had to look away; it was the only way to keep herself from staring. The wind around her strengthened slightly, brushing her cheeks, helping to calm her.
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2 Responses to “Guest Author Day: Karenna Colcroft”
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Hi Karenna,
I loved your sneak peek into your newest book. What inspired it?
Thanks for being my guest today.
Raine D.
Raine,
Thanks for having me as a guest! Who Can See the Wind? was originally a short story on a free site, and it was written because I needed a story that had a nonhuman character. Most stories in that category had vampires or weres, and I wanted something different, so I got the idea of having something to do with the wind. When I was little, I used to pretend that the wind was my friend and was always around me, so that gave me a story seed and I went from there.