We chat with author Colby Wilkens about If I Stopped Haunting You, which is an enemies to lovers romance with a spooky twist where two feuding writers end up on a writers retreat together at a haunted castle in Scotland
Hi, Colby! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi, I’d love to! My name is Colby Wilkens, I’m a queer, white and Choctaw-Cherokee PNW born and raised author. I love to travel with my partner, but when I’m not traveling or working, I’m usually spending time with my partner and two cats reading, catching up on the latest TV, baking, puzzling, or drinking tea. If I Stopped Haunting You is my debut, and it pubs October 15th.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I started out by writing poetry. When I was thirteen, I actually entered a competition and got paid a whole $13 to have my poem featured in a collection, of which I don’t have any of that information today! Shortly after that, I got into writing novels, mostly fantasy or contemporary YA thanks to authors like Tamora Pierce and . I received a merit award my senior year of high school for creative writing (I’d taken the class five times, I believe—yes, the exact same curriculum). I think I was always meant to come back to it, even if it took me switching majors and dropping out of grad school to figure it out!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: I want to say the Goosebumps books!
- The one that made you want to become an author: Oh, absolutely The Song of the Lionness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (I may or may not own 20 different copies of the book). I was lucky enough to receive an ARC and goodie box from Tor way back in 2020, and I have been fully obsessed with it ever since! V is my favorite author, and that book (as of right now) is still my favorite of theirs.
Your debut novel, If I Stopped Haunting You, is out October 15th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Messy, thrilling, hot, haunting, cozy
What can readers expect?
If I Stopped Haunting You is set at a small writing retreat in a supposedly haunted Scottish castle, so readers can absolutely expect not only some cozy feels that’ll make you want to curl up under a fuzzy blanket with a warm drink, but some fun hauntings. I wanted to strike a good balance between the horror aspects of the book, and the romance to appeal to a wide range of readers, but there are some moments that may make people with less of a scary tolerance turn on the lights.
Pen and Neil are also two of the messiest characters that I’ve ever written, so expect lots of stubborn bickering, banter, some hot, frustrating moments, and two imperfect characters that are just trying to live their lives. There are some steamy scenes between the two, woven into some of the spookier moments, so be prepared! While I do think the book is overall fun and warm, there are some hard moments, about Native identity, queerness, and discussions around racism and hurdles in publishing.
Where did the inspiration for If I Stopped Haunting You come from?
It was October of 2021, I’d just gotten back into horror and was binging everything I could get my hands on. I’d just watched The Haunting of Bly Manor when I saw a prompt on Twitter about a haunted house, and I wondered what would happen if you took a bunch of horror and thriller writers who usually write about things like ghosts and haunted houses, and then stuck them in one. How would they react? What would they do differently from a normal horror protagonist? It was originally a comedic horror told in six different POV’s, and then I wrote Pen and Neil, and the rest is kind of history!
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Both Pen and Neil have such deep, messy emotions. I really enjoy writing messy characters. I think we’re all messy. We’re human! So bringing those imperfections out, forcing them both to face the things they least like about themselves was really interesting, especially since they’re actually quite similar in a lot of ways, but where they differ is how they approach things. Pen is more brave and out there with her thoughts and feelings, but Neil is more reserved. But they’re both incredibly stubborn and difficult to reason with, which makes you want to shake them, even as the author!
What led you to romance?
I’ve always written books with romance subplots, but I didn’t write my first rom com until 2021 . All of my comfort movies and books are romance or heavily romantic, and I love how reliable they are, that they can always lift me up when I need it, and I also wanted to feature queer Natives getting a happily ever after. We deserve that too!
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
A LOT of work. I picked writing back up in 2018, and started pursuing publishing in 2019. I queried six novels, including If I Stopped Haunting You, over the course of three-and-a-half years. I signed with my agent Rebecca Podos in July of 2022, and we went out on sub in late October! It took me a long time to find a story that clicked the way this one did, and I think once I figured out that I needed to blend genres, everything just fell into place! I’m honestly very lucky that the book I signed with my agent with sold on sub and so quickly. My experience since has certainly not been so easy, so I’m grateful for it every day!
What’s next for you?
If I Stopped Haunting You is actually the first in a little interconnected standalone world, so the next book will have some familiar characters! If I Dig You is a sapphic friends-to-lovers adventure romance following estranged best friend archaeologists Louise and Isi, who are kidnapped by a private collector in search of lost Cherokee gold. It pubs March 25th, 2025! We’ll hopefully have more details and info on book three either later this year or in early 2025! I am also co-editing a YA anthology with Rosiee Thor featuring stories about the crossroads of queer and tabletop roleplaying games, This is How We Roll, set to pub next fall from Page Street YA!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Oh, so many! I’ve been primarily doing audiobooks, and I’ve really loved: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti, Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings, The Kiss Countdown by Etta Easton, Hers for the Weekend by Helena Greer, The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew, and You’re the Problem It’s You by Emma R. Alban. I am so excited for Homegrown Magic by Jamie Pacton and Rebecca Podos, I Think They Love You by Julian Winters, My Best Friend’s Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner, Brewed With Love by Shelly Page, The Love Simulation by Etta Easton, and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab.
