Welcome to this fun and lively chat with Cat Collins, the brilliantly snarky and unapologetically spicy author behind the Diminishing Magic series and other sassy, steamy reads! Cat is the reigning bestseller in her own home (sorry, Cat's husband, your training manual doesn’t count). Known for her swoony alphas, witty dialogue, and hot-as-hell tension, Cat's books are a twisty bundle of fun packed with elemental magic, wolf shifters, and heroines who refuse to back down. Cat is also a reading interventionist, a dedicated mom, and a caffeine renegade who prefers Diet Coke over coffee any day.
Cat, I’m so excited to have you here today! I’ve been dying to chat about everything from your unique writing quirks to your take on tropes, and of course, that cheeky retelling of Pinocchio in "Wood." Let’s dive in!
Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BK557JMR?ingress=0&visitId=dac0ffe4-75b2-445a-ae88-e6193ea6be52
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catcollinsbooks/
Website: https://www.catcollinsbooks.com/
Star Trek or Star Wars? This is a toughie but I’m going to go with Trek. I love Star Wars, but I’m more emotionally connected to Star Trek. I used to watch with my dad when I was young and the universe to me is warm and inviting.
Firefly – gone too soon or overrated? Gone too soon and I will die on that hill. Not only were the actors fabulous in pretty much every role, but the writing and style were like nothing we’d seen before. It truly was a ground-breaking series. To this day I call things “shiny” and I find myself humming, “The Hero of Canton, the Man they Call Jayne.”
Coffee, tea, or cacao? Honestly, I’d prefer Diet Coke though I’m sipping tea as I type. I’m probably the only writer in the universe who doesn’t drink coffee. Ironically, one of my published books is called, “Read Between the Grinds,” which is a magical realistic romance centering around coffee and tea.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? I’ve always been some form of writer since I was a child making up stories for my dolls, then writing fiction for school and just for fun. I decided to act on this passion of mine after reading the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. My daughter was a voracious reader in junior high and high school and I borrowed the books from her one day. As soon as I finished the series, the urge to write myself was so powerful that I picked up my laptop and started, not knowing how or what I was writing about. I just had to write. As soon as I had one chapter done, I literally googled “How to write a book” and joined the SCBWI (Society for Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators) where I met lots of friends and got lots of great advice to further my career.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? I’m not sure I’d call it a quirk, but I always write the blurb before I write the manuscript. It was a tip given to me by an agent long ago and I ignored it for a lot of years, struggling to get the blurb “just right” after I’m done. I finally listened to the advice and find it so much easier to bang out the blurb before my head gets muddied with the plot, subplots, and characters I put in the manuscript. It also helps keep my writing on track as I’m a pantser by nature and sometimes I veer a touch off-course if I’m not careful.
When did you write your first book and how old were you? I rewrote Romeo and Juliet for a project in my ninth-grade English class. Only I used Kermit and Miss Piggy as the main characters. I got an A+ and I still have the “book” sitting on my shelf with my other work.
Is there a trope you find yourself going back to in multiple works? Or one you avoid? I love writing the snarky, brooding hot guy, so you’ll find me writing Enemies to Lovers, Touch Her & die, Morally Gray, and Slow Burn in my books. So far I’ve managed to include a lot of specific tropes in my writing: he falls first, why choose, rom-com, dark romance, hockey romance, and coming soon: reverse age gap and plus-sized FMC. I don’t see myself writing second-chance romance or pregnancy stories. I just don’t enjoy those myself, so I don’t think I would do them justice as a writer.
What does your family think of your writing? My (adult) son has not read any of my work, thankfully as I write spice and he would die of embarrassment. My (adult) daughter has read several books and says she glosses over the spicy bits because I’m her mom, but she loves my plot and world-building. My husband isn’t a fiction reader, so he hasn’t read my work, but he’s cool with me writing spicy as long as I don’t reveal too many secrets. They all support me unconditionally though. With everything from helping me work out plots, to assisting with cover designs, to my daughter being my PA at events. We just don’t tell Mamaw (my mother-in-law) about my books. She’s a lovely woman, but a pearl-clutcher! I would never hear the end of it after the first f-bomb or spicy scene.
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite? I’ve published seven, written another that’s in the editing phase and am in the process of writing my next work for a Christmas 2024 release. It’s hard to nail down a favorite, but the one I had the most fun writing was “Wood.” It’s what I call an ‘unhinged’ hockey romance based on the story of Pinocchio. Only it’s not his nose that grows. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink) It’s a dark comedy that’s not meant to be taken seriously, but I also put my signature heart and heat into it, which made it more than just a silly read. I worked hard to stuff as many Pinocchio references as I could into it and I love how it turned out. I also love people’s reactions when I explain the plot. I recently went to an author signing event and I wish I’d taken photos of all the faces people made. It was my highest-selling title and I sold out completely because once they hear the plot, readers just have to know how I gave that guy a wooden…body part.
Do you like to create books for adults? I’ve discovered that I love it. I started out writing YA and that was great for me, but after a few querying years where I got a sensational amount of agent replies along the lines of “Your work is great, you’re a super writer, BUT…. I can’t sell this type of book now or this is too close to something else on my list or…I’m not taking new clients, but come back to me later” responses. I was sick of waiting for my big break, so I decided to make a break for myself and self-publish. In my research, I discovered that YA doesn’t sell as well so I tried writing spicy adult material and never looked back. I love writing what I write. I’m proud of it. While others may not consider spicy romance to be “real” literature, there are a lot of folks out there who would disagree.
What do you think makes a good story? For me, good characters. Or rather, well-fleshed-out and nuanced characters. I like action and plot and I like unique world-building, but for me, if you don’t have the characters to drive all of that, then what are we here for? It’s the characters people identify with and root for or against. It’s the characters that breathe life into the worlds and make them three-dimensional, in a sense. As a reader, I will often skim setting descriptions or lengthy fight/action scenes to get to the character development and dialogue and all that comes with the human condition. (Or alien or werewolf or fae or whatever species were talking about.) Its in putting characters through conflict that creates the story for me.
Does writing energize or exhaust you? Writing energizes me for the most part, even writing the heart-wrenching scenes brings energy to me. I’m a writer whose mood is directly influenced by how well my writing is going. If I’m struggling with something in the manuscript, I’m going to be grumpy. If things are flowing, I tend to be a bit manic. I think this stems from having an emotional connection to my characters, which I hope will transfer to my readers and make me a good writer. I’ve gone through some health issues recently and the months in which I wasn’t writing were awful. I felt like I’d left the house without my watch on. Something was just missing.
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? I do write under a pen name. Well, it’s a tweaked version of my birth name, but not what I go by in the ‘real world.’ The reason is that I work with elementary kids and I don’t want them accidentally finding my work and reading it. Also: see above re: my mother-in-law.
Who shot first, Han or Greedo? Come on. You know it was Han. And thus began my lifelong crush on the bad boy with a heart of gold.
Do you write novels, novellas, short stories, episodic fiction, poems, screenplays, or something else? What is your preferred format? I write mostly novels, but I have a novella (the aforementioned, Wood) out too. I like writing in the long form, but I discovered that writing a novella wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d imagined. One of my series will be comprised only of novellas as a result. I did write one script as a birthday gift for my daughter once due to our shared mutual love of the show, Supernatural. It’ll never see the light of day, but it was great to stretch my writing muscles with a different format in characters I didn’t create myself.
What is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything? Forty-two. Fun fact: whenever I need a number in a manuscript, I use forty-two in some capacity. An homage to one of the greats. So long and thanks for all the fish.
What do you have coming next? I’m releasing an ebook bundle of my Diminishing Magic series on September 30th. It’ll contain a never-before-published prologue and a novella centering around a reader favorite character in the books, Ren. After that, the next book in my Curse of Between series, Between the Sheets releases sometime in October. And then November 18 I’ll release “Not So Stupid Cupid” the second book in my Why Choose Reindeer Games series. 2025 will see the continuation of my Re-Membering novella series and a new pirate fae romance.
Excerpt from Jewels of Clay, book one in the Diminishing Magic series. A spicy paranormal romance.
He was wearing a towel wrapped low around his waist.
Nothing else.
Not even a shoe or sock.
He must have shifted into his wolf form.
My entire body short-circuited, and I flushed with heat as I took in his sculpted pecs and glistening abs that led to the sexy v-dip in his hips. I had to stuff my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching out and tracing that little line of dark hair running from his navel down to—
Stop it, Terra. Hormonus, controllus.
He straight-up had the most perfect body I’d ever seen.
Until he smirked.
He enjoyed watching me take in the surprise of him. It made me fume hotter in a different direction. So, yeah, he had a KILLER bod—all caps—but he was a cocky son of a bitch and that canceled all the perfection.
I decided at once, I was not going to allow myself to be affected by his utter beauty. I couldn’t. He was my overlord and judge. Nothing more.
An excerpt from Wood, an unhinged retelling of Pinocchio.
I slid into the seat and turned. She reluctantly placed her foot on my knee so I could examine the broken strap. “I have super glue in the glove compartment if you want to make yourself useful for once.”
I definitely wanted to be useful to her—in so many ways—so I got the glue out, then took her leg in my hands, twisting it slightly so I could see the offending strap. “I’m very useful in certain capacities. Just saying.”
My eyes were drawn to a small tattoo on her ankle. It was a tiny fairy with a blue dress and wings with the word “Bleu” in scrolling letters above it. “What’s this about?” I ran my thumb over it, wrapping the rest of my hand around her ankle. “Did you forget how to spell blue?”
“Hilarious. Did you forget how to act like a civil sports pro—” Her breath hitched as I skated my hand over her shin and back down. Her skin was soft and inviting and the shape of her calf alone was making me ache for her.
She’d totally lost the rest of her word as I fanned my fingers over her skin. Swallowing, she stuttered to answer my question, watching my hand as I skimmed. “Sh-she was my cat. I got her in Middle School when I was obsessed with Paris and all things French.”
I bent down, blowing on the glue to dry it, noting the way goosebumps erupted on her legs as my breath tickled her skin. “It’s still cute.” When her tongue slicked over her bottom lip, I had half the mind to pull her inside the car by the leg and let her experience my new member or whichever no-no word she wanted to call it.
I cannot imagine my life without news, it has become a very important part of our lives today. Everyone needs a high-quality news portal that can provide only verified and up-to-date news. Thanks to the fact that I use only a professional source of information, I always get incredible news articles. So recently, I read an interesting article about the fact that the owner of the NAVI team, Maxim Krippa, received permission to buy the Parus business center, thereby confirming his ambitions and development in the real estate sector. According to the article, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has granted permission to Ola Fine LLC, which is managed by Maxim Krippa, to acquire Parus Holding LLC, which previously belonged to…