All about her debut novel If I Stopped Haunting You
Who is Colby Wilkens?
Colby Wilkens (she/her) is a white and Choctaw-Cherokee author of YA and Adult romance and horror with a heart for adventure. When she’s not traveling, she resides in the Pacific Northwest on unceded, traditional land of the Coast Salish Peoples with her partner, 2 cats, and a vast collection of books and candles. She can be found as @colbywilkens on all social media. Her debut adult rom com, If I Stopped Haunting You, is set to release from St. Martin’s Press October 15th, 2024.
What is If I Stopped Haunting You about?
It’s been months since horror author Penelope Skinner threw a book at Neil Storm. But he was so infuriating, with his sparkling green eyes and his bestselling horror novels that claimed to break Native stereotypes. And now she’s a publishing pariah and hasn’t been able to write a word since. So when her friend invites her on a too-good-to-be-true writers retreat in a supposedly haunted Scottish castle, she seizes the opportunity. Of course, some things really are too good to be true.
Neil wants nothing less than to be trapped in a castle with the frustratingly adorable woman who threw a book at him. She drew blood! Worse still, she unleashed a serious case of self-doubt! Neil is terrified to write another bestselling “book without a soul,” as Pen called it. All Neil wants is to find inspiration, while completely avoiding her.
But as the retreat begins, Pen and Neil are stunned to find themselves trapped in a real-life ghost story. Even more horrifying, they’re stuck together and a truly shocking (extremely hot) almost-kiss has left them rethinking their feelings, and… maybe they shouldn’t have been enemies at all? But if they can’t stop the ghosts pursuing them, they may never have the chance to find out.
Interview
What was your inspiration for If Stopped Haunting You?
I’d stumbled on a Halloween prompt on Twitter about a haunted house. I’d been watching The Haunting of Bly Manor at the time, and I wondered what would happen if you trapped some horror writers in a haunted manor. Manor turned into castle, which I knew immediately would be set in Scotland, and it just kind of dominoed from there!
What drew you to writing romance?
I love the comfort of romance, knowing that no matter what happens, there’s some sort of happy ending even after everything. I also think it’s one of the most diverse genres, and allows for a lot of reflections on things in the real world.
How did you choose which character to focus the story?
It was always Pen and Neil. I’m not sure why, but they were always the two main characters, and I saw them immediately! They did however start as friends and roommates, and they hooked up the first night in the castle! But it wasn’t working. There was a serious lack of tension, so I decided to flip it on its head and turn them into enemies, and then everything clicked into place!
What is your approach to world and character building?
For me, when it comes to world building, a lot of it is atmosphere. I want the entire world, every piece of it to make the reader feel something, and for If I Stopped Haunting You, it was a gothic-inspired world with cobwebs, smells, creaking floorboards, and secrets. I want you to feel cozy yet unsettled. I did have to figure out how I wanted to portray the ghosts, but I ended up going with much more traditional ghost conventions (except for something near the end of the book). In my books, characters and setting tend to play off each other, so I always ask myself “how would they respond to the environment?” or “what would someone like x do in this kind of situation?” And with horror writers, I think that was a fun exercise, because how would a real horror author react to an actual ghost encounter? Would they go toward the sound, or would they run away? And what happened to them in the past, whether or not that has to do with the love interest, affects how they react to things in the present.
Did you have a favourite moment to write in If Stopped Haunting You?
Oh gosh, so many! I think some of my favorite moments in the book are the ghost encounters and how they force Pen and Neil to face each other and their own ghosts, for lack of a better term. But if I had to choose just one, the moment in the hall when Neil asks Pen to describe the haunted wing with the five senses. It’s chilling and hot, and it’s also a sweet moment where we get to see Neil admire Pen, and Pen completely give into the moment despite her original refusal.
How would you describe If Stopped Haunting You in five words?
Chilling, sexy, cozy, thrilling, and wacky.
What was your favourite book growing up?
The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce, but specifically In the Hand of the Goddess. *Chefs kiss* I can’t tell you how many times I read that series and particularly that book!
Do you have a favourite genre to read?
Contemporary fantasy, or really anything set in our world with a dash of something other.
Leave a Reply