The Girlfriend Author Interview: Chris Whitaker, November 2024 – ‘All the Colors of the Dark’
In this candid interview, author Chris Whitaker talks about two violent episodes in his past that formed main character Patch, his experiences, relationships and the people around him. ‘This story felt so real to me,’ he says. ‘It’s so personal and now in the hands of hundreds of thousands of people. It's almost like their opinion of them and Patch is their opinion of me.’ He goes on to explain how this poignant love story wrapped in a crime novel came to be.
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Transcript for The Girlfriend Book Club’s Chris Whitaker author talk on “All the Colors of the Dark”
Shelley Emling: Welcome to the Girlfriend Book Club’s monthly discussion. I’m Shelley Emling, the editor of the Girlfriend newsletter and the moderator of the Book Club. This month, more than 100K members of The Girlfriend Book Club chose All the Colors of the Dark as our November book pick.
As I say, you have chosen so well every single month. I was a little daunted by the length of this book, but once I started reading, I could not put it down. So, thank you for selecting this New York Times bestseller. It’s amazing, and we’re so pleased to welcome the author tonight. Welcome, Chris Whitaker!
Chris Whitaker: Hi, Shelley. Thank you so much for having me and for choosing my book.
Shelley Emling: Yes, it’s amazing. For the handful of people who may not have read the book yet, can you give us the gist of it—without giving away the ending?
Chris: Sure. All the Colors of the Dark follows two abducted teenagers who fall in love in the pitch-black basement where they’re being held. They’ve never met before. The boy escapes but can’t find his way back to the girl. The police don’t believe she exists—they think he invented her as a trauma response—but he knows in his heart she’s real. That sets off a 26-year search for this missing girl, who may or may not still be alive.
Shelley: This book is both harrowing and heartwarming. I read that you worked on it for five years.
Chris: Yes, five years, and I rewrote it about seven times. I wrote another book, We Begin at the End, and put this one away for a bit. Then I’d go back to it. It was definitely the most challenging book I’ve ever written. The story covers such a long period, and it’s quite layered—multiple narrators, different points of view—so it was a huge undertaking for me.
Shelley: What inspired this story?
Chris: It started with the first line: “The boy loved the girl with the long, dark hair.” That came to me one day, and I just started asking myself questions. Who is this boy? Who is the girl? Why is he thinking about her? Why does he love her? The idea of the abduction and escape came next, and it snowballed from there.
Shelley: So much of your writing is rooted in emotion. Where does that emotional depth come from?
Chris: I think it stems from my own experiences with trauma and recovery. I was mugged when I was a teenager, and it changed the course of my life. I didn’t finish school, I made some bad decisions, and writing became my therapy. I try to pour everything I’m feeling into my characters. It’s my way of processing things, I suppose.
Shelley: That makes your characters feel incredibly real. Many of us were rooting for Patch and Saint from the beginning. Where did the idea for Patch come from?
Chris: Patch is probably the character I’m most proud of. He’s so different from your typical protagonist—he has a physical disability, is deeply empathetic, and is incredibly loyal. I wanted to write a hero who didn’t look like a hero, someone who surprises you. And Saint—she’s strong and resourceful and broken all at once. I loved writing her.
Shelley: The book also contains many tender, quiet moments. The relationships between characters—Patch and his grandmother, for example—feel authentic.
Chris: I’m glad you think so. I wanted to balance the darkness with light. There’s a lot of trauma in the book, but love, family, and hope also exist. I think that’s true to life—sometimes, even in the darkest times, there are moments of beauty.
Shelley: Absolutely. And that final twist—wow. No spoilers, of course, but did you know how it would end when you started writing?
Chris: Not at all. I rarely know how a story will end. I let the characters guide me. Sometimes they surprise me, and I think that’s when the writing is at its best—when something happens that I didn’t plan but that feels completely right.
Shelley: Well, it certainly felt right. I know many of our members were completely stunned by the ending. We’ve had tons of discussions about it in the Facebook group. Speaking of which, we have some questions from the group. One member asks: “Do you base any of your characters on real people?”
Chris: Not directly, but I borrow traits from people I’ve known. And I draw a lot from my fears, regrets, and hopes. It all ends up on the page in one way or another.
Shelley: Another member asks: “Do you ever get emotional while writing?”
Chris: Oh, all the time. If a scene doesn’t make me feel something, it probably won’t make the reader feel anything. I cried while writing certain chapters, especially the more tragic ones. My wife always knows when I’ve had a tough writing day.
Shelley: I love that. Final question before we let you go—what are you working on next?
Chris: I’m deep into writing my next book. I can’t say much yet, but it’s set in the same world as We Begin at the End, with different characters. It’s another emotional story, a bit of a mystery, and definitely character-driven.
Shelley: We’ll be eagerly awaiting it! Thank you so much, Chris, for joining us tonight and for sharing such a powerful story. And thank you to everyone in the Girlfriend Book Club for reading along with us.
Chris: Thank you all for having me. It means the world to me that people are reading and talking about the book.
