HW: So, we selected the book and gave you the call, and then you got my huge edit letter with the “Don’t panic, I love your book, really!” e-mail. What was that like?
TW: I was really nervous. I was really, really nervous. While I had edited it as much as possible, I hadn’t really touched Velvet in a long time, so I knew there were things about it that I wasn’t satisfied with when I submitted it to Swoon Reads. I was really nervous to have your notes come in, knowing that there were things that even I didn’t like about it. And then I actually read your notes, and I think I literally laughed out loud at the fact that I agreed with all of them and that they were so kind. I was expecting this scathing, “This is wrong, this is wrong,” and it was just so sweet and kind. I won’t spoil it, but your notes about adding that one scene to the ending, I know I literally laughed out loud and said, “Of course, yeah. That definitely needs to happen.” I just thought it was so funny. So, it was a very good experience, the editing process.
HW: When you get your edit notes, how does the revision process work?
TW: What I like to do is read the notes, talk them over with you if I have any questions, and go through and just be like, “Page 147, go make that change. Page 287, go make that change,” whatever it is, kind of spot-check it, and then go back and read through the entire thing cover to cover and make sure that those changes work. With some of the deadlines we had, I couldn’t do that every time, but that’s how I like to do it just to make sure that things are flowing correctly and that the old material works with the new material. A lot of times, it doesn’t. The changes are good changes, but it’s just not quite flowing.
“The Writing Life”
HW: Where do you write? Do you have a writing ritual, or have to be in a certain place?
TW: That’s a good question. When I wrote Velvet, I’d write it in my dorm room. My roommates and I had three people in our room, so the other bunk bed was just like bed-bed, but mine was like bed-desk, with the desk underneath my bed, so I had this little writing cave. I could pull my blanket over and make a space. It was awesome. I wrote Velvet there, at least the first draft. Nowadays, I try to write from home and it sometimes works, but I often get really distracted, so if I really need to power through and get stuff done, I go to a café. And have coffee.
HW: Coffee always helps.
TW: It really does. I think it’s like a Pavlovian response now. If I have coffee, I want to write, and if I write, I want to have coffee.
HW: What’s your process? Do you outline everything or do you just start at the beginning and make it up as you go?
TW: I have tried to make myself become an outline person, but it has not really worked so far. Most of the time when I get an idea for a story, I just sit down and write for as long as I can on that spark of an idea. So for Velvet, I think that was like the first chapter. I think I wrote the first chapter in one go. Generally, it’s a scene, a bit of dialogue, something. And then I’ll stop and kind of think, “Okay, what genre is this in, what story am I telling, where is this going?” And I’ll try to kind of think through it a little more and that’ll generate more ideas and I’ll write those into a scene. So, I kind of go back and forth between thinking about the story and just vomiting the story onto the page.
HW: If you could give a piece of writing advice to someone, what would it be?
TW: I would say study your favorite stories, whether it’s a movie or a book or whatever, and figure out what makes that story work. Why do you like it? Why is it satisfying? What did they include in the story that makes it satisfying? Basically studying other stories, dissecting them analytically. And obviously just keep writing. That’s a given, just keep writing all the time.
Velvet
Discussion Questions
1. Are Velvet’s vampires different from what you would typically picture for a vampire? If so, in what ways? Did you like them more or less than other vampire characters you’ve read about?
2. What is the significance of the title, Velvet? Would you have given the book a different title, and if so, what would it have been?
3. After Caitlin loses her mother, she’s forced to move from her home in Connecticut to her aunt’s house in New York. After such a terrible loss, do you think it would be better to get a fresh start somewhere else, or to remain in a comfortable and familiar place?
4. What did you think of Caitlin’s reaction to Adrian’s vampire-ness? How would you have reacted?
5. Is the explanation of vampire physiology/need for blood satisfying or distracting? Would you prefer to know or not know how vampires work?
6. Caitlin’s friends go behind her back to buy the Green Thing for her to wear for Adrian. Do you think they were out of line? How would you have felt if your friends did that for you?