Today, I’d like to introduce you to Devin Harnois, author of the ownvoices novel, Rainbow Islands, Undaunted, and the Shadow Valley series.

I’ve always loved things that go bump in the night and I have a habit of turning the “monster” into the hero in my stories. Half of my Halloween decorations never come down and I have a love of skulls. I’m more than a little obsessed with Dragon Age.

I’ve been writing stories since second grade. Storytelling is what I was made for. I write mainly romance and YA, almost always involving some kind of magic.

I live in Minneapolis, MN with my cat, Buffy. Yes, after the vampire slayer.

You can find Devin’s books on Amazon here!

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What authors are auto-buys for you?

Alexis Hall, KJ Charles, and Jordan L. Hawk.

 

What does your writing space look like? (Can be a photo or a description)

I work surrounded by Yuri on Ice posters so I can soak up all the good and pure love. I also have a little shelf with my print books that sits right above my computer.

 

What are your favorite writing tools?

Scrivener. I love that program so much. It’s fantastic for writing out of order, which I do a lot. I can shift around scenes or chapters super easy and keep track of what’s in those scenes right in the file itself. It’s been an absolute blessing for my writing.

 

What is your favorite description of your books?

One of my good friends calls my writing “swift and ruthless” which amuses me.

 

What is one of your biggest strengths in writing?

I love writing conversations. Sticking two people in a room and having them argue or flirt — or both at the same time! I learn a lot about my characters that way, seeing what they say and how they say it, how they react to what the other person says.

 

What inspired you to begin writing fiction?

I’ve always loved stories and very early on I wanted to write stories of my own. I wrote my first “book” in second grade. The illustrated version is long gone, but I still have the first draft. It was about a parade and talking mice falling in love. I probably should have figured out then what I was meant to write, but it took me a long time to finally embrace romance.

 

What is your biggest struggle in writing?

Descriptions. I’m so bad at them. I always have to go back and add in details for the setting and so on. You definitely won’t find page-long paragraphs about a field or a house in my books. As long as I can get in the right details, then I’m happy.

 

What’s the first book you remember falling in love with?

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (and the two sequels). I must have checked those books out from the library at least a dozen times. The illustrations still give me nightmares.

 

What was your last five star read? What made it a five star read?

My last five star read from an author not mentioned in my auto-buy list above was Cat Sebastian’s The Soldier’s Scoundrel. Not only is it very well written, it’s really funny. The heroes love to needle each other and it was fun to watch them tease and flirt as they grew closer. Also it’s really sexy! 

 

What other projects are you working on?

My novel Rainbow Islands is at the editor. It’s a queer utopia vs. religious dystopia YA with a trans boy main character. This novel is very, very personal and my first #ownvoices book.

I also have two m/m romance series in the works. The Jak and Leander series is about a flirty mage and a shy inventor and it’s tons of fun to write. It’s set in a pseudo-victorian world with some steampunk elements like airships and clockwork animals. The other series is about a mage guild basically saving the world through love and friendship.

What’s one thing that would surprise people to know about you?

Apparently if you don’t know me on the internet, it’s really surprising that I write romance. I made a whole bunch of people take shots at a New Year’s Eve party during a game of Two Truths and a Lie when they guessed “I write romance” was the lie.

Where is the best place to contact you?

Twitter — @devinharnois. Honestly I spend way too much time there!

You can also find me on Facebook and on my website!

If you had a burger named after you, what kind of burger would it be, and what would you want to be on it?

Ooh, a teriyaki burger with bacon, cheese sauce, and pineapple. Oh man, now I’m hungry!

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