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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

What I Learned from a Quick Heart-to-Heart with Willow

by Chautona Havig ·

Every day I get half a dozen emails about Willow asking questions, making observations, and begging for more. For those who have taken the time to encourage me, I really want to thank you! It’s so cool to open my email and see, “I want to BE Willow.” It assures me that I’ve accomplished my goal– making Willow as appealing and yet unique as possible.

Because of those questions, I’ve arranged this Willow interview–just a little conversation, or character interview, to answer some of the questions out there.

What I Learned from a Quick Heart-to-Heart with Willow

Links in this post may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

What I Learned from this Willow Interview

Chautona: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me.

Willow: Not at all. It’s the least that I could do.

Chautona: So why do you think people are so drawn to you?

Willow: I don’t know that it’s me–I think that people are drawn to a life lived with purpose and not decided by culture or society. They may not want it for themselves, but they enjoy escaping into a world different from their own.

Chautona: I disagree. I think you have qualities people admire. For example, you say what you think. It disconcerts people at times, but there’s something refreshing about knowing exactly what someone thinks rather than what they think you are comfortable hearing.

Willow: But isn’t that just an extension of my life? It’s how we lived. If Mother hadn’t encouraged me to be forthright, how would I be any different than anyone else? *chuckles*

Chautona: What amuses you?

Willow: I just remembered Chuck. People don’t like his forthrightness at all.

Chautona: Which proves my point exactly. So, have you found it difficult to adjust to “regular life?”

*interject a confused expression*

Character interviewWillow: Am I supposed to? I wasn’t trying to adjust to anything. This is just my life. I’m adding a few things to it, sure, but what most people consider “regular” isn’t my regular.

Chautona: So things that are unfamiliar…

Willow: Some things will always be unfamiliar. Even if I’ve seen them before, how they are used or explained by people are different. Bill sees things differently than Chad does.

Chuck is almost from another planet, and then it’s as if women speak a different language and have different eyes than men. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. It’s hard to keep the nuances straight sometimes. *chuckles* I should probably admit that I don’t try very often.

Chautona: You don’t try what? To keep them straight?”

Willow: Right. I mean, sometimes I know what someone means, but it’s hard to articulate it if I’ve never discussed it before. Mother told me about a lot of things, and she probably told me about more than I know and less than she thought.

Chautona: I’m not sure I understand you.

Pride and PrejudiceWillow: Well, take cars, for example. I knew about them. I knew they were much faster than walking. I’d seen them whiz by the farm, sometimes being chased by a police car. Mother considered them dangerous, so I didn’t give a lot of thought to them–just to knowing I was never, ever, ever to get in one.

The first time I got in Chad’s cruiser, I was astounded at how fast things flew by. It was like being on the zip-line, but faster. Sure, I knew they went fifty-five miles per hour, and that at best, I walk about four. Thirteen times faster is one thing in your head. It’s another when you first get inside and experience it. It takes getting used to.

Chautona: Kind of like when I went to my first rock concert. I’d heard of people screaming and passing out, but I didn’t know until they set me in front of those person-high speakers that it was because it killed their ears and destroyed their equilibrium.

Willow: So that’s why you made me go to that movie with the camera spinning in circles!

Chautona: Hey, I needed some good return for that horrible experience. If it helps, you aren’t alone. My friend puked after the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice.

Willow: Is what you just said intelligible to you?

Chautona: Yes, why?

Willow: At least one of us understands you.

Touché

Chautona: Why did your mother choose not to have anything to do with the locals? Some people talked about her, but it doesn’t seem like they even knew where she lived. Chad said he thought that the reclusive woman he’d heard of (Kari) lived on the other side of the lake.

Willow: Well, Mother had been hurt. I mean, that’s obvious. I think she would have been open to being friendly with people if she wasn’t trying to protect me–

Chautona: Wait, what do you mean, “protect you?” Why did she think she had to do that?

Willow: The man gave her a check–paid her off. But he didn’t know about me. I’m proof of what his son did, though. If he knew, he might want to hurt me, so she wanted to be “gone.”

Chautona: And so she just ignored people?

Willow: It was more active than that. She made herself standoffish. She spoke as if she lived in the other direction. I think I remember walking the other way when I had to come with her as a child. I remember a highway, but that first morning– the trip into town–it was so much faster than I remembered. After I thought about it for a while, I realized that we never walked down the driveway. We walked along the river, around the lake, and came into town from the other side.

Chautona: But someone had to know where you lived–the feed and seed people for example. Maybe a mail carrier?

Willow: Yes, the Brant’s Corners feed people knew, but they didn’t know much. A few others… But Mother didn’t socialize. She kept to herself, ordered her things, and if it had to be delivered, she didn’t use Fairbury when we could help it. We’re five miles out of town in the opposite direction of most people. If you want people to leave you alone, if you rarely ever come into town, people forget you.

Chautona: I suppose. I’ve lived that a few times myself. No one in Mojave knew who we were and where we lived. My father appreciated his privacy much in the same way as Kari. I can see that.

Past Forward Quote

Willow: I don’t think that would surprise anyone. People live in small neighborhoods without ever knowing the person next door. Why is it so strange that people wouldn’t know us when we’re rarely in town and don’t talk to people when we are–well, were. As soon as I started coming to town and interacted with people, they knew me, greeted me, and things were more…

Chautona: I believe the word is normal.

Willow: Well, more normal for others, I guess. It’s not normal for me. I’m still getting used to it. I like it in small spurts, but I get overwhelmed. I don’t know how people handle being inundated with people around them all the time.

That girl with all the kids–Aggie–I’d go crazy. I know I would. Sometimes Chad stopping in or even calling—oh, how I want to throw that phone away some days–is just enough to make me tell him never to come around again. I want to revert into Mother’s cocoon and stay there where I’m protected from being smothered by people.

Chautona: I suppose that some of it is stuff you just don’t care about, too. We tend not to pay attention to things that don’t interest us.

Willow: Exactly!

Chautona: Was it really so weird to use a phone for the first time?

Willow: Actually, it was. I mean, I’ve read books where people used them, but I never read anything about how small they are! It sounds so much simpler when you read about someone picking up a phone and dialing than to have to program numbers in and stuff like that.

Chautona: Well, you probably read about landlines rather than cell phones. House phones are bigger.

Willow: I also read about people saying “hello” when they picked up the phone, but I forgot about that. That happens a lot. Like I said, using that kind of information is very different than just reading about it.

Chautona: At least your mother educated you. I’m trying to write about a girl whose father kept her hidden all her life. Didn’t teach her anything. Nothing. Not how to read, how to write, how to do anything. She’s a virtual prisoner in an abandoned place. I keep trying to give her knowledge that she simply wouldn’t have.

Willow: Now that would be horrible. I’m grateful that Mother loved me. I love my life and I had almost twenty-three wonderful years with her. I can’t complain about that.

Chautona: But you want to.

Past Forward quote

Willow: Yes. I miss her. She filled in gaps for me. Things like how I could have so much money. I knew that man paid her a lot; I knew that money made interest, but until you hear Bill say, “You are a wealthy woman,” it doesn’t make sense. He keeps trying to make me “get it,” but I’m still having trouble with how much things cost. Why is Bill’s apartment more expensive than my farm? I don’t understand. I have space and the ability to grow and produce. He just has wood and steel in an ugly building.

Chautona: It’s all supply and demand. There isn’t a demand for farms but there’s a big one for apartments in a city and the city supplies are low, so the price goes up.

Willow: That makes sense to hear it, but when I see what I get for half what he paid for his little place, it doesn’t translate very well.

Chautona: I suppose that is right. What is the worst part of the changes in your new life? Aside from the loss of your mother, of course.

Willow: The cell phone. I don’t like being interrupted. People don’t understand why I don’t want to answer it when I’m doing something, but it makes me feel like a slave to someone else’s schedule. If I want to answer, I will. The only time I make myself answer when I don’t want to is for Chad. I do it because he’s convinced I’m going to kill myself out here someday and that he could have saved me if I had just had that stupid piece of plastic.

Chautona: Now there I totally get you. I don’t even carry a cell phone.

Willow: That’s it. I’m telling Chad that if my author doesn’t have to, neither do I.

Chautona: It won’t work. You’re keeping it. You won’t regret it.

Willow: We’ll see about that.

Past Forward Quote

Chautona: Is there anything else you want to say about your story?

Willow: I guess I just want people to remember that their experiences aren’t the only ones out there. Mine are different–yours are. You made choices for my character based on how you’ve lived, what you’ve observed, and what suits my personality best. If it seems implausible, perhaps it is because, in the average (or even in most) American’s life, my entire existence is implausible, but [clickToTweet tweet=”…isn’t that what fiction is about? Making the implausible come to life and touching people with it?” quote=”isn’t that what fiction is about? Making the implausible come to life and touching people with it?”]

Then again, you lived five miles outside of a town the size of Fairbury and without electricity OR running water, in the DESERT, when you were in high school, so how implausible is it really?

Chautona:  True.  You know, I just thought of something else that reminds me of my childhood. Your mother was much like my father in how she created cool memories for you.  My dad was a master of that.  Kari did it much differently than Dad did, but the concepts… they are somewhat similar.

Chautona:  Well, thank you for your time and I hope you’re pleased with how things get edited.

Willow:  Oh, dear.

Past Forward CollectionWell, that’s it.  My heart-to-heart with Willow.

Hope you enjoyed it.  For your perusing pleasure, I’ve got the following for you:

YouTube Trailer: 

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 265: A Chat with Karen Witemeyer
byChautona Havig

Nothing says fairy tale like a sweet western romance by an author like Karen Witemeyer… unless it’s a fairytale retelling set in Texas in the late 19th century, right?  Fairest of Heart takes the familiar “Snow White” and turns it on its head with retired cowboys, a self-absorbed actress, a Texas Ranger, and a sweet girl who knows the true Source of her beauty.  Listen in to see all the genius Easter eggs Witemeyer planted in this book.

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Sometimes All a Girl Needs Is a True Change of Heart

I fell in love with the cover of Karen Witemeyer’s Head Over Heels a few years back (only to learn it’s much older than that, even), and meant to read that book.  I didn’t.  #BecauseIdiot. Well, that’ll be rectified just as soon as I’m done listening to her first book in a trilogy of fairytale retellings. I loaded it up on my Audible app tonight and wheeeeeeee. Here I go! So much for no new books until October. HA! 

Karen talks about her heart for young women today and how they’re taught by every bit of media blasting at them that they need to use their bodies to get what they need or want when the Lord has a better plan. And I can’t guarantee it, but I strongly suspect she does it without preaching. SQUEE!

Fairest of Heart by Karen Witemeyer

Once upon a time in Texas . . .

Beauty has been nothing but a curse to Penelope Snow. When she becomes a personal maid for a famous actress whose troupe is leaving Chicago to tour the West, she hides her figure beneath shapeless dresses and keeps her head down. But she still manages to attract the wrong attention, leaving her prospects in tatters–and her jealous mistress plotting her demise.

After his brother lost his life over a woman, Texas Ranger Titus Kingsley has learned to expect the worst from women and is rarely disappointed. So when a young lady found in suspicious circumstances takes up residence with the seven old drovers living at his grandfather’s ranch, Titus is determined to keep a close eye on her.

With a promotion hanging in the balance, Titus is assigned to investigate a robbery case tied to Penelope’s acting troupe, and all evidence points to Penelope’s guilt. But Titus might just be convinced that the fairest woman of all has a heart as pure as her last name . . . if only he can prove it.

You can learn more about Karen Witemeyer and her books on her WEBSITE. Don’t forget the book is 30% off on BakerBookHouse.com.  

Follow Karen on BookBub and GoodReads.

And don’t forget her Posse Group on Facebook.

Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at:

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Episode 265: A Chat with Karen Witemeyer
Episode 265: A Chat with Karen Witemeyer
September 29, 2023
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Episode 264: A Chat with Romance Author, Sarah Monzon
September 26, 2023
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Episode 263: A Chat about The Love Script w/ Toni Shiloh
September 23, 2023
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Episode 262: Chatting about The Legacy of Longdale Manor with Carrie Turansky
September 19, 2023
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Episode 261: Chatting with Christian Youth Fiction Author, Candice Yamnitz
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Episode 260: A Chat with Rachel Hauck
September 12, 2023
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Episode 259: A Chat with Debut Author, Laura Conaway
September 8, 2023
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Episode 258: A Louisiana Christmas to Remember
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Episode 257: A Chat with Fantasy Author, N. Ford
September 1, 2023
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Episode 256: A Chat about Summer in the Spotlight w/ Liz Johnson
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