Amanda Hocking

There will be spoilers in this post for the Trylle series, so if you haven’t read them or finished the series yet, read on at your own risk.

A couple weeks ago, I did a Q&A over at GoodReads for the Trylle re-read of Switched. I got a lot of fun and interesting questions, but I noticed that a few of the same questions kept coming up. The top three seemed to be:

1. What’s going on with the Trylle movie?
2. Did you always know who Wendy would end up with? (Or other variations of this, including when did you decide Wendy would not end with Finn? Why did you have Wendy choose Loki over Finn? etc).
3. Where do you get your inspiration?

Since these questions seem to be so common, I thought it would be a good idea if I made a post answering them for everybody. So here I go:

What’s going on with the Trylle movie?

UPDATED: At this time, the film rights have reverted back to me, so there will be no movie or TV show in the near future. You can read this blog to find out more: What’s the Deal with the Movie? 

I really, really, really, really want the Trylle to be a movie/TV show. Really. Even more than you do. The very second I hear anything about a movie/TV show, I will be so excited that I’ll be unable to contain myself and I’ll be telling every person I know every way I can. So that’s all I know for now, but the second I know more, I will definitely tell you. 🙂

Did you always know who Wendy would end up with?

The most honest answer is that I always knew who Wendy would not end up with, and that it would not be Finn.

When I originally envisioned the Trylle series, I envisioned the ending much as it is now in the epilogue of Ascend, with Wendy sitting on the throne, determined to make the kingdom better. But I imagined her ruling alone – no boyfriend, no husband.

I knew from the start that Finn wasn’t the one for her. He’s a good a guy, he’s important to her and her growth, and he’s her first love. But that doesn’t mean that Wendy should end up with him. Throughout the series, his growth is static – he’s the protector, wanting to shield and restrain Wendy from tough decisions and negative outcomes.

But Wendy has a lot of growth. She changes dramatically from the first book, and ultimately, she is the Queen. She’s ruling a kingdom, and she needs to make difficult choices if she wants to change the kingdom for the better, and she can’t have someone holding her back.

As soon as I was outlining Torn, I realized that Loki would be able to rule beside her without holding her back. Loki was originally intended just to provide romantic intrigue when I was doing the broad outline of the series. But before I even started writing Loki or Torn, I knew that I wanted him to be something more.

Loki wasn’t afraid of danger, and he encouraged Wendy to do the things she needed to do. He was never going to boss her around, the way Finn would, and he was content taking a backseat to his more powerful wife, but still strong and comfortable enough to rule alongside her as King.

So that’s the long and the short of the answer. I did always know that Wendy wouldn’t end up with Finn. I didn’t know that she would end up with Loki until just before I started writing the second book.

Where do you get your inspiration?

I get this question a lot, and it’s always weird to answer because I always feel like I’m being glib but the truth is that I take inspiration from everywhere. Movies, books, music, nature, even my pets. I love writing about the things I love, so anything I enjoy can lead to inspiration.

Some things that inspired Frostfire and the upcoming Kanin Chronicles were the works of Alexandre Dumas, whose books and movie adaptations of his books I adored as a child (and still do). I also took inspiration from a trip I took to Alaska and Canada last year.

I’ve lived in southern Minnesota my whole life, and there’s a lot of Scandinavian heritage here. That was my part of my initial inspiration for the Trylle series, since it’s based on Scandinavian folklore.

There’s also some nods to Labyrinth and the works of Brian Froud in both the Trylle and Kanin series.

Music also plays a role in my inspiration. There’s a scene in the third book of the Kanin Chronicles that is entirely written around Aston’s classical cover of La Roux’s “Bulletproof.”

So basically anything and everything. Some things are larger and more obvious, but even smallest can have an impact on my books.

So I think that about answers those questions. I also regularly update my FAQ section, so if you ever have a question, be sure to check there.