Hi friends! I'm pleased to be featuring author Caitee Cooper and her newest book, The Dark Lady from The Portlock Trilogy on the blog today. It was super fun getting to chat with her and get to learn more about the books and the author herself. The first two books in the series are available now, so make sure to add them to your TBR today. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Caitee!
Q & A with the Author
Explain the process of bringing this book to life - i.e. when did you get the idea, how long did it take you to write, etc.
The process of bringing this book to life was a long one! I first had the idea when I was seventeen, while visiting family friends who had a commercial fishing operation in Soldotna, Alaska. During the ten days we spent with them, I heard a story about a nearby(ish) ghost town called Portlock. According to legend, the residents abandoned it in the 1950s after being terrorized by a hairy, wild demon called the Nantinaq (and other ghosts, including a howling lady in black who would emerge from the cliffs above the town and scare the living daylights out of anyone close enough to see her). My storyteller mind took that and ran with it, and when I got back to the Lower 48, I immediately got to work on my shiny new book idea.
But the tricky thing about shiny new book ideas is that they only stay that way for so long. This one was no exception.
A few weeks later, I started college, and a job, and the book fell by the wayside. I did eventually get a job in writing, but it was in digital marketing, specifically SEO writing. Decidedly NOT fiction. After five years of that, I put my work on the back burner when I had my first son, Evan. He was an adorable baby and perfect in every way, but all was not right with the world—more specifically, with me—and I couldn't figure out why. Long story short, eight months later, I found out I'd been struggling with severe postpartum depression since his birth. Fun fact, though: that depression was what inspired the character Wormwood in the Portlock Trilogy, so in retrospect, I'm kind of glad it happened. It gave me a lot more perspective, which a) made me a more compassionate person, and b) made the book much better.
After recovering for a year or so, my husband and I decided we were ready to have our second—and final—baby. About four months into the pregnancy, two major events coincided for me: reading Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, and a nasty bout of insomnia. Now remember, I was pregnant and hormonal, so when I read the ending, I was devastated. I went to bed that absolutely irate, thinking to myself that I needed to recover with a good story where the lovers did get to be together in the end. (I always add in a little disclaimer here that I do NOT hate Veronica Roth, nor do I hate that trilogy. She's a very good author and there's no smearing here; it's all just personal taste. And hormones.)
Somewhere around 2 A.M., I bolted awake. Bolted. Like, hit by lightning. Because that story idea I'd had in Alaska years ago? It smacked me upside the head and demanded that I write it; there was no negotiating. So, the next day when Evan went down for his nap, I sat down, dusted off my laptop, and got to work. It was lucky I did, too, because the story that would eventually become Silverskin—and then the Portlock Trilogy—was one of the things that kept me going through a second, equally prolonged round of depression.
Now, I knew quite a bit about writing and editing. I did not, however, know how to write a book. The first draft of Silverskin was a complete disaster; it was way too long, rambling to the point of senile, the main character was a Mary Sue, and the middle sagged so hard that the whole thing collapsed under its weight. Luckily for me (and everyone who's picked up the final version) Brandon Sanderson was kind enough to put his creative writing lectures on YouTube, and I discovered them just before Silverskin entered its editing phase. I listened to every one of those hour-and-a-half long videos—during naptimes, while cooking dinner, while my babies were in the bath, even in the bathroom (I know that's TMI, but us moms take what we can get!)—and treated it as if I were taking the class myself. I also found a developmental editor and some amazing beta readers who helped me apply my newfound knowledge. (Especially when it came to killing my darlings. They were everywhere, the sneaky little monsters.)
Silverskin was also the first Kickstarter that I ran, so ... yep, let's just say there were learning curves all over the place.
Anyway, I finally published it on September 15, 2023, a little over ten years after that fateful trip to Alaska. It's expanded; it's now going to be a trilogy, with The Dark Lady coming out on August 23rd, 2024, and Portlock (or at least, that's the current working title anyway) releasing in the spring of 2025. The spinoff worlds it could provide are endless, so we'll see what my brain spits out next!
-In one sentence, describe your book
Your inner demons just became real.
-Besides writing, what is one thing you do for fun?
Just ONE thing?! :) (I'm restless beyond belief; even while watching TV my hands have to be doing something.) In my spare time, you can usually find me hiking, kayaking, reading, drawing, traveling, or oil painting model horse figurines. And you can almost always find me with my husband and/or kiddos because they're really cool.
-What is your favorite part about writing fantasy books?
Two things:
1) I'm kind of a biology/ecology nut, so I love creating new creatures and exploring the ramifications of them and their environments. I barely allude to this in the Portlock Trilogy, but later books (including an epic fantasy series that's been on slow-cook for a couple of years now) will have a lot more intense—and hopefully, interesting—world-building, especially when it comes to their natural end ecological aspects.
2) I love how human nature can be explored through fantasy. While I read across most genres, I sometimes struggle with historical fiction (especially war fiction) because it's just too real and horrific to me. In fantasy, I find it easier to put up a sort of mental block where the violence and sadness actually is just a story. That gives me the freedom to explore and think deeply about both the good and the bad without my bleeding heart, well, bleeding all over the place.
-I always love learning more about an author’s writing process. What is one way that your book has changed from the first draft to the final one?
The biggest change might be that Silverskin turned into a trilogy! Again, I had no idea how to write a novel when I started, especially when it came to word count. Some people may curse my name for it, but the Portlock Trilogy really is one big book cut into three pieces. Sorry (sort of).
Another major change that I've made as an author is outlining much more seriously. Granted, I've had a loose one in my head ever since starting the trilogy, but there are so many complex threads, ideas, and character moments woven throughout the novels that I've had to start taking notes in an outside document or risk losing my mind. I think Portlock will come together a lot faster and have a much cleaner editing process because of that (which I'm very much looking forward to.)
-What are some fun quirks or characteristics your characters have that readers can look forward to learning about in your book?
Ellie's a violinist, and when she gets stressed, she (almost) subconsciously "plays" whatever piece she's currently learning on whatever hard surface is available. For example, if she's driving down the road, or sitting at the dinner table, her left hand will be tapping out the finger pattern to the Barber Violin Concerto on the steering wheel or the tabletop.
Oliver's a gangster-turned-fisherman (he's definitely a reformed bad boy if we're talking tropes) with a really compelling backstory that you don't get the full extent of until book two (sorry for the wait; the good news is, it's almost out.) I also loved juxtaposing their socioeconomic statuses: he's poor and she's rich, and some really interesting interactions come of that as their relationship progresses.
As far as other characters go ... I love the way Sam Forth talks; writing his dialogue was incredibly easy and I have no idea why. Darien harbors a deep sense of wonder and appreciation for beauty, which I tried to emphasize in her sections (it helps that they spend all of The Dark Lady in Hawaii, which is amazing.) Helen stress-cooks (and yes, future Kickstarter backers will definitely be getting her cookbook as part of Portlock's campaign), Henry likes Robert Service poems, Oliver and Helen love books and often talk about their current reads ... and that's without even getting started on several other characters, who you'll meet in book three.
Also ... there are interludes from the perspectives of the bad guys. So that's a fun little quirk of the books themselves.
-Without any spoilers, share your favorite scene that you’ve written.
I'm a hopeless romantic, so kiss scenes are always up there when it comes to my favorites. As far as scenes I'm the most proud of, there's a chase scene that happens halfway through The Dark Lady that I think takes the cake for the best-written scene I've done. I'm hoping to improve even more in book three (that's the idea, right? Improving your craft? :)
-What do you hope readers will take away from your book?
It's a little cheesy, but I hope they come away uplifted. Yes, I want to provide adventure, thrills, an escape, a great story, characters they can root for, etc. But I've experienced firsthand how inspiring stories can be, and how much strength they can give during hard times. I'd like to pay it forward. If my novels can help even one person who's struggling, that's awesome. More than one would be even better!
-What projects are you working on now?
Portlock, of course! I'm hoping to publish it in early 2025. After that, I'm cooking up something with loose ties to the Portlock Trilogy that will take place in Yellowstone National Park. And, as I mentioned before, there's an epic fantasy series simmering in the back of my brain that may or may not involve both alicorns and another, carnivorous species of equid that sprang out of a joke between my husband and I. (It's no joke now.)
About the Books
When Ellie Forth sets out to have a great Alaskan adventure with her remaining family members, she’s got something to prove—and not to them, but to herself. Four years after the unexpected death of her mother and sister, she’s ready to re-embrace her adventurous side.
Oliver Cole’s life, on the other hand, is very simple: go to work, catch fish, come home, and stash every penny earned into his bank account so he can afford to pay for college. But his life is turned upside down when Ellie and her brother—two nearly-forgotten acquaintances from his childhood—burst back into his life.
After a horrific encounter with the supernatural deep in the Kenai Peninsula, Ellie and Oliver must team up to discover the truth about what happened in Portlock, and how to fight a rising tide of evil that has the power to envelop not just Alaska, but the entire world.
Check out the newest book in the series, The Dark Lady
Ellie and Oliver are on the run with one goal in mind: survive long enough to make it back to Alaska.
Sam and Darien have escaped the scorched ruins of their wedding, but their Hawaiian honeymoon quickly takes a shocking, sinister turn that no one expected.
With dangers closing in on them at every turn and more questions than answers, the four will have to learn to rely on each other, the love they’ve cobbled together from the
broken remnants of their families, and perhaps most importantly, themselves.
About the Author
Caitee Cooper grew up in Laramie, Wyoming, where she enjoyed all things outdoorsy, musical, and bookish. She went to college at the University of Wyoming, where she earned a B.S. in Psychology as well as two minors: one in music and one in business management (which is code for 'she didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up so decided to just cover her bases.') While attending school, she met and married her husband, Dallin, and they went on to have many adventures. Caitee currently lives in Riverton, Wyoming with her husband and their two boys, Evan and Levi.
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