Colleen Houck Book Club discussion

Welcome to the group! Veronica will be answering questions on Monday, November 24th 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.

Dear Veronia

What's your favorite movie and song and book and holiday and weather season and drink and tv show and color and food and song?

Hi Veronica!! I love your books!! Have you ever thought of writing a book from Peter's perspective of Divergent? Like the thoughts that went through his head as he fought Tris, stabbed Edward, and as he was guiding Tris to the Erudite computers in Dauntless?

Hi Veronica! Welcome to the chat. What do you find as inspiration to motivate you to write? Under the Never Sky is a fabulous series! Are you going to be delving into new territory regarding a new sparkly book idea?

Where did the idea for the Aether storms originally come from?

Would you ever be interested in writing a prequel to the series?

What exactly is a SmartEye and how does it work? Is it like a contact?

The characters on the book covers don't exactly match the description in the book. Perry is blond, for example. What can you tell us about the covers and the change with the paperbacks?

Love the idea of the centipede train thing. How did you come up with that?

So my friend Laura suggested Liv might still be alive. Is it possible?

What can you tell us about Cinder? Where did his power come from and how does it work?

How did Hess and Sable get in contact with each other to form an alliance?

Are the pods actually underground or are they above ground and did Hess know they weren't going to last much longer? How long was he planning for the still blue?

So what's coming up next for you?

What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

Any suggestions for newbie writers?

How, exactly, does the Still Blue work, and what happened to create the world of Under the Never Sky?

Are you going to write any more novellas/short stories set in the Under the Never Sky Universe? I'd love to see more of the characters.

And you've probably been asked this question loads of times, but which character is your favorite/most like you?

Do you ever base your characters on people you dislike? You don't need to give names. :)

Do you have a special spot in the house you do most of your writing or a place outside of the home?

Colleen wrote: "Welcome to the group! Veronica will be answering questions on Monday, November 24th in this thread only. In the meantime if you have a question for the author or just want to introduce yourself fee..."

Testing, testing. *taps mic* Is this thing on? :)

So excited for this! Helloooo, everyone. *waves*

Christine wrote: "Dear Veronia

What's your favorite movie and song and book and holiday and weather season and drink and tv show and color and food and song?"

Christine - I have too many favorite songs and books to name. SERIOUSLY. I have really varied tastes, so it depends on my mood what my "favorite" is at the time. I will say that right now I'm obsessed with the VIKINGS tv show. I'm watching it for the second time :) My favorite drink is coffee, 'natch. Favorite color is blue (no surprise there, right?) and my favorite food is fish tacos - YUM! Oh! And I love all seasons except spring is probably my LEAST favorite, because I just want summer to hurry up and get here.

What about YOU? What are your favorites?

Hannah wrote: "Hi Veronica!! I love your books!! Have you ever thought of writing a book from Peter's perspective of Divergent? Like the thoughts that went through his head as he fought Tris, stabbed Edward, and ..."

Hannah, you'd be surprised how often this happens… but I think you're mistaking me for the lovely Veronica Roth, who wrote the DIVERGENT trilogy. Happens a lot! Best, V

Tawney wrote: "Hi Veronica! Welcome to the chat. What do you find as inspiration to motivate you to write? Under the Never Sky is a fabulous series! Are you going to be delving into new territory regarding a new ..."

Tawney, thanks for your questions! Well, for writing motivation, a lot of times I'll listen to music or read or go for a long walk. As for STORY inspiration, that can be anything. Life. A movie. A book. A person. I think everything cooks in a sort of idea stew in my brain for a while, until I feel like I can see the story. Until the characters start taking shape, and their desires and wants and problems. Then I write!

As for what's next, I have a two-book series coming up in 2016. It's a little different from the UTNS series, but I'm really excited about it. And I just started working on a third series that I'm really hugely excited about.

Thanks again for your question - and I'm so glad you enjoyed the UTNS series!

- Veronica

Colleen wrote: "Where did the idea for the Aether storms originally come from?"

Weirdly enough, it came from swimming as a child! One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to sink down to the bottom of our swimming pool and watch the way the sunlight danced on the water's surface. I've always loved the image and that was, really, the very first inspiration for the Aether.


V

Colleen wrote: "Would you ever be interested in writing a prequel to the series?"

You know… Yeah. I think I'd be open to it!

Colleen wrote: "What exactly is a SmartEye and how does it work? Is it like a contact?"

A Smarteye is a very advanced prosthetic/bio-tech device. It's not real, of course, but scientists are getting closer and closer to Smarteye-type devices all the time. When I wrote the series, it was before Google-glasses, and I'm sure in a few years, or less, something will come along that brings computer tech closer to the human mind than even that.

I imagined that it would work via electronic or sonic impulses… energy, basically.

When I was researching for the series, I read a lot about the experiments that were going on at the time, particularly by DARPA. I loved this one device they pioneered that used bone-conductivity to transmit sound. So you could essentially HEAR something that's silent. It's traveling INSIDE your body, in your actual bones, to your ear canal. Okay, I'm definitely starting to geek out, so I'll stop myself here… I love this stuff, as you might be able to tell. :)

Tawney wrote: "What do you like to do when you aren't writing?"

Tawney, I'm a major book worm. I LOVE reading. And I hike/walk/run as often as I can. I also love going to movies. I used to paint pretty often but I've gotten too busy to do much of it. I still hope to do more of it, though. Oh, and travel! I looove traveling!

Yun-a wrote: "How, exactly, does the Still Blue work, and what happened to create the world of Under the Never Sky?"

The world of UTNS came about after a solar flare that deteriorated the magnetosphere - the upper layer of earth's atmosphere, and introduced this alien atmosphere - the Aether. The still blue is a place that's free of the Aether because of the earth's magnetism in that particular area. There are actually pockets of reverse polarity on earth. I find them super interesting. No one really understands how/why they happen.

Thanks for your question!

Hi Veronica! I love how you wrote from Aria and Perry's POVs in the main three books and then from Roar and Brooke's in the novellas.

Who was the hardest to write? And who was the most fun to write?

Colleen wrote: "So what's coming up next for you?"

Well, I have a two book series coming in 2016/17. RIDERS and SEEKER, which I'm excited about. It's a modern day fantasy, based on four guys who unwittingly become the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. The flavor of the story is somewhat Avenger-ish.

I'm also working on a new series which I unfortunately can't talk about it yet. But it's skewing closer to the UTNS feel right now - in that it's somewhat epic in feel and there's a romance at the heart of the story.

I also have New Adult romances that I cowrote with a friend under the pen name Noelle August, for readers who are ready for more mature subject matter and love fun, sassy, smart romances.

Hi Veronica! I love the trilogy! Would there be an extension series or the like? :) That would be awesome! ♥

Tawney wrote: "Any suggestions for newbie writers?"

Yes! Read a ton! Write a ton! And don't give up. Writing is a marathon. And there are setbacks for almost EVERYONE. You can't let the "no's" stop you. Just learn from them and keep going!

Shara wrote: "Do you ever base your characters on people you dislike? You don't need to give names. :)"

Shara - ha ha ha! No. I haven't done that. Not EXACTLY. But I've borrowed characteristics, for sure! I definitely will write down things people say. Usually what I do is pull out my iPhone and email myself a great piece of dialogue, when I hear it :)

Shara wrote: "Do you have a special spot in the house you do most of your writing or a place outside of the home?"

Shara - I go in phases. Sometimes I'll write in my home office. Sometimes on the couch. Other times I'll work at a coffee shop. I just go wherever I think I'll be able to concentrate best!

Yun-a wrote: "Are you going to write any more novellas/short stories set in the Under the Never Sky Universe? I'd love to see more of the characters."

Thank you so much! I don't have plans to write any more novellas right now. There are a few characters I'd have loved to write. Perhaps some day!

Colleen wrote: "How did Hess and Sable get in contact with each other to form an alliance?"

Well, Hess has hovercraft at his disposal, and a small military force. That was how I envisioned it.

Yun-a wrote: "And you've probably been asked this question loads of times, but which character is your favorite/most like you?"

This is such a tough one to answer, because there are so many of them I love. Obviously, Roar, Perry and Aria. But I was surprised by how much I enjoyed writing Soren and Brooke. I also have a soft-spot for Reef and Twig and Willow. And Cinder… see? I can never answer this question without ending up sounding like I'm listing ALL my characters :)

Colleen wrote: "Are the pods actually underground or are they above ground and did Hess know they weren't going to last much longer? How long was he planning for the still blue?"

That's a good question, Colleen, about Hess. I think he definitely knew they were going to last - and was planning for their eventual demise. I think the speed of which they deteriorated caught him off guard, even though I think he was anticipating it too, if that makes any sense!

I conceived of them as primarily above-ground, but with perhaps one or two levels below ground (sort of like a basement level.)

Colleen wrote: "So my friend Laura suggested Liv might still be alive. Is it possible?"

Umm….

I'm going to plead the 5th here!

Colleen wrote: "Love the idea of the centipede train thing. How did you come up with that?"

Thank you! I loved it too. I had an idea for what I wanted, a segmented earth-crawler-thing, which I shared with a friend who is an illustrator and HUGELY talented. He has drawn up images for me that help me "world build" and he has a real knack for coming up with cool space-craft/vehicles. He riffed on my idea and drew it up, and whalla! The Komodo was born. It was a super cool partnership. I love working with him on stuff like that!

Heather wrote: "Hi Veronica! I love how you wrote from Aria and Perry's POVs in the main three books and then from Roar and Brooke's in the novellas.

Who was the hardest to write? And who was the most fun to write?"

Ohhh, great question! Honestly… Roar was probably the most FUN to write, just because he's funny. And he says what's on his mind. And he's kind of a goofball.

Perry was the easiest AND hardest to write. Easy because I *got* him right away. I just felt who he was on a deep level very early in the writing process. Hardest because he goes through so much heartache and pain. He had to grow up far too quickly and take on huge amounts of responsibility. There were plenty of times I wanted to just wave a magic wand and give the guy a vacation for two to the Bahamas. :)

Nyze Gremio wrote: "Hi Veronica! I love the trilogy! Would there be an extension series or the like? :) That would be awesome! ♥"

Hi, Nyze! Thank you! I'm so glad you liked the series. No plans for an extension series now, but perhaps some day!

Veronica wrote: "Hi, Nyze! Thank you! I'm so glad you liked the series. No plans for an extension series now, but perhaps some day!"

Oh! I'll still look forward to that since I miss all the characters ♥

Anyway, have you started writing Riders? :) I'm excited about that too though it still a long wait from now.

Nyze - I know! It feels like RIDERS is sooo far away! It's written. It just needs to be edited and revised, which will take a few months. It's just that the whole publishing process, from editing, to design, to printing, etc. takes so long. But hopefully the time goes fast!

Veronica wrote: "Nyze - I know! It feels like RIDERS is sooo far away! It's written. It just needs to be edited and revised, which will take a few months. It's just that the whole publishing process, from editing, to design, to printing, etc. takes so long. But hopefully the time goes fast! "

Could it be earlier than 2016? Haha! And hey I can't wait to see the cover. I recall the feeling of love at first for the covers of the Under the Never Sky series. :)

Nyze Gremio wrote: "Veronica wrote: "Nyze - I know! It feels like RIDERS is sooo far away! It's written. It just needs to be edited and revised, which will take a few months. It's just that the whole publishing proces..."

I can't wait to see the cover too! :)

Veronica wrote: "I can't wait to see the cover too! :)"

Anyway, will you be doing international book tours? It would be so awesome if you'll visit the Philippines for book signing. I would love my Under the Never Sky books to be sign by you. :)

Veronica wrote: "Colleen wrote: "Welcome to the group! Veronica will be answering questions on Monday, November 24th in this thread only. In the meantime if you have a question for the author or just want to introd..."

Yay! So excited to have Veronica here! I'm a HUGE fan!