Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.
Tell us five random facts about yourself.
I am deathly afraid of buoys (or anything else that floats in the water).
I like my car stereo volume turned to an even number (Yes, I know that’s not rational).
I pick all of the chicken out of canned chicken noodle soup.
I wear size 11 shoes (Yes, I know that’s gigantic).
My fingers are double-jointed.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer.
I took an untraditional route. I should’ve known at an early age that I was a writer because I used to write when I was little. But it never occurred to me that I could actually write books. I guess I’m slow on the uptake. I worked in corporate America until I came to realize that I could actually write the stories that kept forming in my head. I tried my hand at it, I realized it was the most amazing job in the world and I’ve never looked back.
Why do you feel you had to tell this story?
Someone close to me struggled with drugs. He wasn’t addicted, but if he hadn’t changed his ways, he would have traveled down a dark and ugly path. I realized that there must be many people out there balancing on a precipice — at the very place where they could choose to give it up, or they could choose to give in to it. I began wondering what types of things would make someone turn to drugs as a crutch…what was something so dark that it would make someone crave oblivion? And that’s how Pax’s story was born.
What was your favorite chapter/scene to write and why?
The last chapter. During the rest of the book, I was on edge. I hated that I had to put my characters through some of the stuff that I did. But I think it was necessary. I had to give Pax room to grow. By the end, he had grown and I was finally at ease.
At what point in the development of an idea do you know that it will become a full-length novel?
I know from the very beginning if it is good enough for me to write about it. I think that in order for any one person to effectively write a good story, they have to feel passionately about the idea, whatever it might be. If I’m totally into the idea, if I can’t get it out of my head… then I know it will work for me. I was pretty much obsessed with Pax’s story so I knew that I had to write it.
What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
Hmmm. I like to think that I have fairly thick skin and in normal life, I do. But it’s always hard to hear criticism about your books, because they’re like your babies. When you put yourself out there for everyone to read and examine your thoughts, it’s hard to hear negative things of any sort.
And actually, I think the toughest criticism I ever hear is from my husband. Bless his heart, he’s my toughest critic. He’ll get on to me for this interview because he hates it when I start a sentence with “and” and I just did that. He thinks my writing style is too casual sometimes. I have to remind him that I write fiction for entertainment purposes. I’m not writing doctoral dissertations full of technical jargon. I write how people speak. That is what’s fun to read.
What has been the best compliment?
I LOVE it when readers tweet me and say that they stayed up all night reading one of my books because they just couldn’t put it down. To me, that’s the best compliment ever.
Do you most relate to your main characters, or to secondary characters?
Eeep. This is hard. I think it depends on the book. In If You Stay, I really connected to Pax. Surprisingly, I found it easy to get inside his head. But in another of my books, Confessions of an Alli Cat, my main character had a hilarious best friend that I absolutely adored writing. So, I do think it just depends on the story.
Do you have things you need in order to write (i.e. coffee, cupcakes, music)?
I need coffee for life in general. Strong Kona with Splenda and Italian Sweet Cream. After that, I just need quiet. Some authors like to write with music. I can’t do that… I’m too easily distracted. I listen to playlists when I plot, but when I start to write, the music goes off and the sound-blocking headphones go on.
Where’s your favorite place to write?
My office. I’m a creature of habit, so I like to be in my office. And my storyboards are in there. And I just started another sentence with “and.” My husband will kill me. (Notice my utter lack of fear.)
What character do you relate most to?
In this book? Oddly enough, I relate to Pax the most. I really don’t know why, except that I concentrated so much on trying to get inside of his head, that I immersed myself in his character. Some actors method-act, and I think some writers method-write. I listen to music that my character would listen to and I get myself into the same mind-set as they would be in. In fact, I almost got a tattoo solely because Pax is tattooed, but I reined myself in on that one. I might get a tattoo someday, but it won’t be because of Pax.
What is easier to write: The first line or the last line?
Both are so important. But for me, the first line is easier. I usually change it a few times, but the last line is so crucial…it’s what will stay with the reader. It’s the taste you’re going to leave in their mouths. If you mess up the first line, you still have the rest of the book to make up for it. The last line though… that’s the last they’re going to hear from you in a while. You’d better make it good. I think I changed the ending lines to If You Stay twenty times until I was finally satisfied.
What one YA novel do you wish you had when you were a teen?
This is probably a common answer, but I wish we’d had Harry Potter. I mean seriously, what great books! They really wake up the imagination and immerse you in the story. I don’t remember having a series like that when I was a teen…not something that an entire generation obsessed over.
If I would have had Harry Potter, I’d probably have been one of those kids going to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in a Hogwart’s robe. But of course, when I was a teen, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter didn’t even exist yet. Because I’m old(ish).
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a companion novel for If You Stay, called If You Leave. It will follow Mila Hill’s sister, Madison. She’s quite a character in her own right and I thought she deserved a book of her own.
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