If you could go back in time before ever writing the first House of Night novel, what advice would you give to your younger selves?
—ANDREA BUCHANAN
P. C.: I’d tell myself that I should try writing two books at the same time sooner than I actually did it. It makes my professional life a lot easier. I’d also tell myself to be wiser about “friends” who were wolves in sheep’s clothing.
K. C.: Drop out of college. I’m still paying off loans for a degree I never completed.
Was it always your plan for Heath to die? I also want to point out that it was super clever to do the opposite meaning for the bulls I really hope they hold open auditions for the cast!
—HANNAH NICOLE
P. C.: No! I didn’t know that was going to happen until Kalona did it! Often my characters do things I don’t expect, and this time it was a massive shock. And yes, our producers do plan on holding open auditions!
If you and Kristin were to live in these books, what would your roles be? For example, would you want to be a professor, a High Priestess, someone on the side of evil, etc. Also, thank you so much for writing these books!! They have let me travel into a different world and are so amazing!!!
—MOIRA DAVIS
P. C.: If I could live in the HoN world I would want Lenobia’s job! I’d be a High Priestess and Horse Mistress for sure.
K. C.: I’d for sure be on the side of evil. I don’t know what I’d be doing, but I’d be doing it evilly.
To me, Loren Blake seemed like he had a story that was waiting to be told. As much as he gave in to Neferet, he had some humanity in him that stood out when Neferet killed him. Did you ever have any other plans with Loren’s character?
—SARA WESTERKAMP
P. C.: Loren Blake was a predator in the original series and a weak, egotistical man in the Other World series. When he writes Skye with his blood as he was dying he didn’t do it because there was a good guy lurking below his shallow surface. He did it because he wanted revenge.
Regarding the House of Night TV series, what is it like behind the scenes for you? What decisions do you have to make to transfer this book into a show? What’s the process like? And, if you picked the actors for the show by the time you publish these questions, what helped you know they would portray the character the way you wanted them to?
—JESSICA MARIE
P. C.: Well, right now (early 2020) we’re in the beginning stages. Kristin and I are highly involved in advising our wonderful screenwriter and also helping our producers compile analytics on our HoN fanbase. We’ll continue to be highly involved in every aspect of the series with the blessing of our wonderful producers, Don Carmody and David Cormican at DCTV. They, too, want to get it right!
What’s next in your guys’ writings? Are you going to continue HoN or work on other series?
—LACHELLE FRANKLIN
K. C.: Other than the TV series, I’m taking a break from the HoN to work on my solo trilogy, the Key. The first book, The Key to Fear, releases October 2020, and I am so excited to introduce readers to a postpandemic world where touch is outlawed. I am also coauthoring Sisters of Salem with P. C. It’s a witchy young adult trilogy that releases in 2021.
P. C.: As Kristin mentioned, we’re coauthoring Sisters of Salem, which will begin releasing in 2021. I’ve also been working on two other solo projects for some time now—one adult and one YA—but I’m not at the announcement stage yet!
How did you come up with the background for the “mythology” of the vampyres?
—KALEIGH HOOVEN
P. C.: My dad, Dick Cast (a biology teacher), and I worked together on the idea of having vampirism be more physiological than magickal. Then I set about creating a matriarchal Pagan society for my vamps by mixing Wicca with Celtic shamanism. And the HoN was born!
So a few questions … you are or were an English teacher. Did you come up with the idea for the original HoN series so that your students would enjoy reading and assignments, and did you hope they would get hooked on the series like we all have? I love English as a subject and I would have been in heaven if my teacher had done so.
—STACY RENEA DEWBERRY
P. C.: I taught high school English for fifteen years and had published over a dozen adult books when I began writing the HoN. I chose to make the HoN YA because I was excited by the excellent storytelling that was beginning to happen in that genre. As an English teacher I read the same books my students were reading, which made me want to set up the HoN as an alternative high school. The fact that my students started reading and loving HoN was a wonderful bonus surprise.
With the TV series starting soon, which person in the books are both of you most excited to see come to life?
—JESSIE SCHRECENGOST
P. C.: I’m going to love seeing all of them come alive on-screen, but especially Zoey and Grandma Redbird.
K. C.: I am most excited to see Neferet come to life!
Are there any famous actors either of you dream of portraying certain characters?
—NICHOLE ARNOLD
P. C.: I’ve always seen Angelina Jolie as Neferet, Michelle Pfeiffer as Lenobia, and Dwayne Johnson as Kalona.
K. C.: I would love to see Joel Kinnaman as Dragon Langford. But, honestly, I would love to see Joel Kinnaman as anyone.
What are some of the main takeaways you want readers to get from the House of Night Other World series?
—ELIZABETH AGUILAR
P. C.: That even very small changes in your life can make an enormous difference in your world.
I love these books so much!!! Thank you for writing them!! For the characters who have Marks, how did you guys come up with what they looked like? Each person’s mark is such a great representation of themselves and what has happened to them. How did you first come up with how the marks were going to be? Also, if there were marks that were to represent you guys, what would each of them look like and mean?
—MOIRA DAVIS
If you and Kristin were to have vampyre facial tattoos, what would they look like? What symbols, patterns, etc., would they contain?
—MARTHA FARRALL
P. C.: I do the writing, so I made up the tattoos. I came up with the idea as a nod to the ancient Pagan tradition of physically marking a woman as she entered the service of her goddess. I usually made them symbolize some aspect of the character’s personality or affinity. Were I to have a Mark I’d want it to be Celtic knots with vines and animals woven within the design to symbolize my heritage as well as my affinity for the earth and her creatures.
K. C.: My facial tattoo would be a thick, black, Wolverine-style mask. No symbols or patterns, just boom—menacing mask tattoo.
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