AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Colette Davison

Colette Davison's newest release, A Dance For You was released this week.
You can check out my review at A Dance For You!


Here you can read my interview with Colette!

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

No! I ended up asking my mum, who says the first one she can remember is a story I wrote about a girl with a bag full of stars. Neither of us have a clue what it was actually about. I was always writing, dabbling in several different genres from fantasy, science fiction, to mystery and eventually romance!

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Don’t be too over critical. Self-editing while writing the first draft will slow you down. Actually, that’s something I need to keep my current writing self, too!

How do you select the names of your characters?

For my contemporary characters, I figure out how old they are and then look at popular baby names for the year they would have been born. Generally, a name will jump out at me I’ll know it’s ‘the one’. If I’m very lucky, a character will turn up complete with a name, although that’s only happened twice: with Jamie, from Why I Left You, and Mason, from A Dance For You.

What is your favorite childhood book?

I was into fantasy in a big way when I was kid. I adored the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander and the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce.

What is your favorite font?

Do you know, this is something I actually think about a lot! I know, that probably makes me a bit of a nerd, but I format my own books, so it’s important. I like Palatino as a font for body text in a paperback, it’s really easy to read and looks nicer than Times New Roman. For display fonts, I love Trajan Pro and Quicksand, which is the font I used on the covers for A Dance For Two and A Dance For You.

What is your favorite cover from your books?

A Dance For You. I love the energy of the dancer on the cover and the cleanliness of the white space.  

Which of your characters would you most love to have as a friend?

Mason! I really do adore him. He’s so happy and vibrant and he’s a really good friend. He helped Adam through tough times and I know he’d do the same for any of his other friends.

What was your first job?

I was a paper girl, does that count? I also got a part time job in a local supermarket (a small 7-11 style shop), for about £2 an hour! That was before minimum wage, obviously.

Favorite snack to indulge on while writing?

I love Haribo Balla Stix a bit too much. I can happily get through a packet during a writing session, which isn’t very good for my waist line!

Favorite comfort food?

Ice-cream. Favourites are Haagen Dazs Cookies and Cream and Ben and Jerry’s Switch Up.

Do you write part time or full time?

I write part time at the moment, but my aspiration is to become a full time author.

Are you a morning person or a night person?

I’m definitely a morning person. I tend to turn into a pumpkin if I stay up too late! I set my alarm for 5:50am every day (yes, even at the weekends), to fit a writing session in before I have to get up and see to the kids.