Hi, my name is Quin (with one ‘n’) Collier. I am Crystal Collier's 14-year old son, and if you know her, then you should know that I act like it, too. I also love cheese, love to read everything I can get my hands on, and love to write. Of course, if you know my mom, you also know her unique personality. Given that I am her son, we have had many strange and sometimes rather ridiculous conversations about books.
Top Five Conversations with My Author Mom
#5. Books we Both Disliked
Naturally, Mom and I share opinions on multiple YA series. Whether it be the latter books of Harry Potter, the sparkly vampires in Twilight, or predictable endings to books everywhere, there's always been something to talk about that seems perpendicular to the development of the rest of the characters/plot.
#4. Lame (or unnecessary) Superhero Powers
One day, a book idea came up, and everyone in the family started listing off lame superhero powers that could be incorporated into the book. Such ideas included being able to see through eyelids, 3-inch high levitation, being able to create smells, and any other flabbergastedly ideas that came to our heads.
#3. Amazingly Aggravating Alliterations
Imagine that your brother or sister is doing a test on words with "port" in them. Then, your mother says ''An importer imports portable important ports.'' Then you counter with ''An importer imports portable important portable ports through a portal.'' The sentence eventually become so extensive and ridiculous that I lose track of the words. The end result is something like: ''A port porter ported importing portals ports...wait a minute.''
#2. Redundant Redundancy
A conversation about redundancy led to a discussion about redundant statements, statements such as ''justified justice,'' ''sorrowful sadness,'' and my favorite, ''supercalifragilisticexpialidociousic supercalifragilisticexpialidociousosity.'' Eventually I was just saying the same word twice, and became ''boringly bored.''
#1. My Own Story Ideas
Having an author mother my whole life has inspired me to write my own stories from a young age. I have come up with strange and sometimes impossibly impractical plots ever since the age of five, and Mom has never pointed out their contingencies or poor development, only supported me along the way. I haven't published any of my own books, but I currently cheer on hers.
In conclusion, conversations with an author aren't boring. Unless they are non-fiction authors, but even then a conversation with them probably wouldn't be boring. So in other words, go buy Soulless!
The blog tour is making some awesome stops today:
Suzi Retzlaff at Literary Engineer goes in depth about my research process
Cortney Pearson presents a kick-trash character, Mae
VoilaFury at Homeless Chronicles in Tampa interviews Sarah, a recently turned-Soulless character you don't want to miss
And be sure to enter the
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for your chance to win some amazing prizes!
And now it's time to go. The pony is leading the way and you know why his eyes are so big? He's headed for HAPPINESS. (Aka, the rest of the tour.) Get your fix.
Have you had any super interesting conversation with an author? Other creative people?
Why do I get the feeling there are never ANY boring conversations at your house? ;) So nice to meet Quin, and I bet he one day is an author too, just like his mama!
ReplyDeleteYes, the only boring conversations I've had at home are about Normal Distribution. :)
DeleteAwesome you and your mom discuss books. My daughter and I do too. And not surprised you love cheese like your mom. Good luck with your writing, Quinn.
ReplyDeleteThank you! And yes, I do love cheese, even if I don't eat it as much as Mom.
DeleteQuin, I believe you must be an awesome son. Mom, I bet you're proud. Good job!
ReplyDeleteMerci Beaucoup! :)
DeleteThat was a quintessentially Quintistic interview! I love the "Ability to see through your eyelids" superpower -- you could stare at people without them knowing!
ReplyDeleteAuthors aren't boring -- well, at least not to other authors. :)
Two of my favorite words. I agree, authors aren't boring--at least, I haven't met a boring author yet!
DeleteWonderful post! Quin, I imagine you are destined for great things, just like your mother! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words! Whether I'll ever write anything nearly as amazing as Moonless and Soulless, only time will tell. I'm guessing no.
DeleteGood stuff, young Quin. I like your watch.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The watch is Alarm Chrono, and it has served me well. I just need to figure out how to disable the alarm :)
DeleteSo nice to meet Quin!! Something tells me I'll be reading his book someday, too! :)
ReplyDeleteWe'll see. Someday. :)
DeleteWhat a great kid. You just made me miss my daughter so much. We've had conversations about books that had us both laughing so hard we cried. Teenagers are such fun people.
ReplyDeleteUntil they find out that they don't know everything, they are fun people. At least that's my opinion :)
DeleteHi Quin - you take me back to the crazy days with my younger brothers .. the youngest was always dreaming up crazy idea ... xray eyes, magnetic passes etc etc ... I can imagine you having those delicious conversations with your mother .. mouth full spluttering splatters of cheeses various ...
ReplyDeleteThat's great you'll be following on your mother and her authorship - you might be able to ghost write for her - or she could do it for you??!! Congratulations and go for it ... Hilary
Spoilers.... :)
DeleteWhat a fantastic post! My grown kids and I still quote obscure lines from picture books to each other.
ReplyDeleteSounds fun! I quote Helen Keller all the time! (It's kind of quiet, though :)
DeleteGreat post, Quin. Your mother's books sound fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThey most definitely are. I missed my favorite show (Doctor Who that being) reading Soulless!
DeleteFantastic post. I would love to hear about who like what and who disliked what with Harry and twilight. Maybe you two could review a YA book together as a post now and then :D Matt @ JC's Book Haven.
ReplyDeleteEasy: Rowling Killed Dumbledore, and Myers made Edward sparkle. :)
DeleteWell, Quin, I loved your post! My mother and I always talked books and writing when I was still lucky enough to have her, and she always supported me in my writing too. Good luck with yours ~ You'll get there!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Sometimes I fall into so many plot holes that I'm not sure myself. :)
DeleteYou both are so supportive of each other!
ReplyDeleteThe ability to create any smell might actually be a cool power. One smell could clear a room you know.
That would be an AWESOME Power! If I had that, the faint aura of cookies would follow me everywhere.
DeleteNice to meet you Quin :) Sounds like you guys have a great relationship!
ReplyDeleteI have an awesome relationship with my entire family. Being at home with nothing to do for 4 hours straight helps. :)
DeleteLove this. :-) I'm afraid I'm guilty of the Amazingly Aggravating Alliterations.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you and your mom can discuss YA. I have a few years before I can chat about those with my kids.
I must say, I'm not sure there is such thing as a bad super power. (Except the eyelid thing...what's that all about?)
Well, that could be a great power! What if someone tried to assassinate you in your sleep?
ReplyDeleteBut... Would you be able to sleep with see-through eyelids?
DeleteI think it's cool to have the ability to create new smells but I see the point that it's nothing compared to other superhero powers, it's not even really a superpower. Number 2 and 3 were funny! Thank you so much for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! :)
DeleteQuin, you are absolutely fantastical. What a teen! I homeschool too, and know your mom pretty well. She's cool too. Loved this post. You need to visit here more often. Hmm. I love the sense of smell superpower. Imagine what you could do with that. WOW!
ReplyDeleteQuin is a fantastic name! Love it! Sounds like you have great conversations at home. Also wonderful you share the love of reading and writing, too.
ReplyDeleteQuin, you are awesome and so is your mom. I have her book on my Kindle and will be reading it soon.
ReplyDeleteBest author plug ever! Have you seen Mystery Men?
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite published as an author yet - I've had a few stories and features published, that's all - but my kids do say they find me interesting.
ReplyDeleteLevitating 3 inches off the ground... That is actually a cool idea. You might not think so, but imagine all the shoes that would never wear out. And no one would notice that you weren't touching the ground. Well, maybe some would, but most people are oblivious to things that don't immediately impact them.
ReplyDeleteHi Quin! So great that you share common interests with your mom. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun conversation. I bet life around your house is never dull..
ReplyDeleteGotta watch those redundant redundancies. Good thing I have an editor to catch all mine.
ReplyDelete"flabbergastedly" - A+ on the word creation! I'm sure you & your mom will go on to have many, many more outrageous literarary conversations.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new release, Crystal!
Wish I could sit at your dinner table! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThis post reminded me of me and my mom. :)
ReplyDeleteI think you should publish a book, Quin. Maybe it could be a horror story about a mom who is a writer. That's what my kids would write about. Uh, what's that over your eyes in the first picture? Is your mom making you pretend you're blind so you'll have empathy for blind people? It won't work, because blind people don't see darkness.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Quinn has quite the vocal for a 14 year old, and my editor keeps telling me to dumb down my writing for young adults...duh?! I predict another author in the family!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice post! And I'm sure that your stories will be published someday too, Quin, and it's great that your mother encourages you to read and write. When I was fourteen I had to hide in my closet or under my covers when I was reading novels; my parents said I should spend my free time reading my school textbooks instead.
ReplyDeleteHa, ha! Love this! ^_^
ReplyDeleteNever a dull moment when you're talking to a writer indeed! So lucky to have two writers in the house!!
By the way, I would totally NOT want to be able to see through my eyelids. Kind of defeats the purpose of closing my eyes. ;)
Hi Crystal! Adorable adorable adorable. Love that son of yours and he sounds like one proud dude to have a mother like you. Love those superpowers! Hope the tour goes well.
ReplyDeleteDenise:)
Congratulations, how proud you must be of Quin! My son did read my book, but so far no family member has read book 2. Very few in my family read - makes me sad!
ReplyDeleteKeep on writing Quin - you never know when one of those ideas will turn into your first book!
That post rocked! I agree about lame super powers. In fact, I'm sure I've created a few before. LOL!
ReplyDeleteQuin your Mom is an inspiration just like you! :)
Awwwwww...loved hearing these creative ideas! Thanks so much for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteReally cute post! I was lukewarm about those "Books we both Disliked" books too.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Quin, I'm glad you have such wonderful conversations with your mom! My younger daughter and I used to read the same kind of books, but we diverged with Divergent -- which I absolutely could not get into.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Quin - sounds like you have a lot of fun at your house - especially liked the word play.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and I used to have craking eggstended egg based puns. We'd yolk around for hours ... you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteIf I could create smells, I would totally bomb my husband with all of the horrid smells he's bombarded me with over the years. :)
ReplyDeleteLoved the zeal. I grew up in a house like this and when I became a Mom myself made sure to encourage my kids to explore their own creativity. It makes for interesting dinner conversations.
ReplyDelete