Amanda HockingAnswers to Questions about Ascend
Okay, so I went through all your questions and tried to answer them. If questions were repeats or similar to other ones, I answered the first one that came up. And if I didn’t answer your question, it’s because the question will be answered in Ascend.
Will Ascend have a conclusive finish or will there be a door left open for the possibility of a future book or novella down the road?
This storyline is completely wrapped up at the end of the book. I haven’t completely crossed out the idea of spin off yet, but it wouldn’t be with the main characters. I’ve thought a little bit about it, and I’ve considered something possibly with Finn’s little sister Ember.
Who is your favorite character and why?
I can’t really say out of the boys because that might give something away. But I definitely have a favorite there. I really like Duncan and Elora. I’ve seen some Willa hate lately, but I dig Willa, and she does some growing in Ascend too, so hopefully people will like her more.
How did you come up with the Trylle Trilogy?
I had a few ideas in mind for something I wanted to do with a paranormal romance, but I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done yet. I was reading a lot of old folklore, and in some Scandinavian folklore, trolls were beautiful and cunning. They had changelings, and they were wild and ill-tempered. So that’s the basis for the Trylle.
How long did you take to write them?
It took me about 3 weeks to write each book.
I know you can’t tell us who does get killed off, but could you tell us how many (if any)?
Of the characters that have already been introduced in the book that you know, three die. EDIT: I miscounted. Four die. Sorry.
In Ascend, will we find out more about what will happen with her father and the kingdom?
Yes, absolutely.
Will Akira be a main part of this book?
I’m not sure who Akira is, so no.
As far as a question is concerned, I couldn’t really think of a great one, so I am going with…Is Finn a tea drinker or coffee drinker? 🙂
Tea. Trylle prefer tea to coffee.
Would you be Trylle or Vittra? What kind of power/s would you want? Do you believe in changelings?
I’d probably be Vittra, because I’m short and a little hobgoblin. As for powers, I’d like to move stuff. It would be awesome, and I am lazy. And no, I don’t believe in changelings.
How do you manage to come up with these amazing characters? Do you ever base your characters on people you know?
I don’t know exactly. They’re not really based on people, but they’re mostly based on people I want to hang out with.
This really has little to do with the Trylle series, but just out of curiosity, do you have a brother? In all your stories, the heroine always has a brother.
Yes, I have a little brother. He’s eleven.
Are there any female trackers? Or are only males able to be trackers?
There are female trackers. Males tend to be trackers more often, because one parent has to stay home and raise tracker children. But sometimes the guys will stay home with the kids, and some ladies don’t have kids.
If you could pick anyone to play your characters, who would you pick!?
Michael Wincott as Oren, obviously. Anjelica Huston as Elora. Logan Huffman with green contacts as Tove. Blake Lively as Willa. Olivia Thirlby as Wendy. Um… that’s what I’ve got.
1)If compared to Breakfast Club who is who?
Wendy = Claire
Finn = Andrew
Duncan = Brian
Loki = John
Did I get any of them right?
Wendy = Claire
Finn = Andrew
Duncan = Brian
Loki = John
Did I get any of them right?
Ha, yep. That’s perfect.
Will Ascend be longer than the other two books???
No, it’s about the same length as the first two books.
So what is Wendy’s favorite meal, and what would be the Trylle version of junk food, especially dessert? Does chocolate envy lie at the root of Trylle hatred for humans?
Wendy loves blueberries. Junk food might be champagne and strawberries?
OMG I could totally see where you were headed with Matt and Willa but I never thought you’d actually go there – heck yes! And aside from my delight with that pairing, I wanted to know if you had planned to put those two together from day one or did it just kind of evolve and turn into something?
I planned on them being together from the beginning. Willa needed someone to ground her and help her grow. She has potential to be something awesome, but she’d been spoiled a lot in her life. So she needed someone to push her to be better.
I don’t know why you keep adding such amazing male characters to the mix to totally mess with my head! Just when I get my mind totally fixed one way you add another great guy/option/delima, you’re killing me (in a good way)! On that note, did you already know who Wendy would end up with when you started writting the books? And if you were in Wendy’s shoes who would you choose, and why?
I knew how the book would end when I started it. And I can’t tell you who I’d picked. But I can say I agree with Wendy’s choices.
Does Duncan play a big role in Ascend? You made him out to be so cute, silly, kind and loyal I just can’t get enough of him and I’d hate to think that I won’t get a lot of him in the next book.
I don’t know if Duncan’s role is necessarily big, but he is in Ascend a lot. And he’s definitely important.
I was even more impressed when I came upon this website and heard music for each book. If you don’t mind me asking what are the songs called?
If you’re asking the songs from the book trailers, the trailer for Switched is “You Think You Deserve That Pain But You Don’t” by Dance Movie available at http://dancemovie.bandcamp.com, the trailer for Torn is “Leap Year” by Maria Taylor, and the trailer for Ascend is “The Walk” by Imogen Heap.
Is Loki’s personality and/or his actions based on his namesake (the Norse god)?
I definitely chose the name Loki because the character that Loki is. A lot of the mythology from the book is from Scandinavia, and I’ve always the stories of Loki. He’s a trouble maker and he’s fun.
How do come up with their names?
Wendy is named after Wendy in Peter Pan. She kind went to a reverse Never Neverland where there are no children and Wendy has to grow up instantly. Elora is the name of the little girl in Willow. Willa is a variation of Willow. Loki was named after the Norse god. Rhys and Rhiannon – I wanted similar sounding names because they have similar positions. Tove was named after a Finnish author who writes books about trolls. The author is a girl, but Tove is a boy. I just like the name Finn.
Can or when can we preorder Ascend?
No, sorry. The way I publish books, it’s not possible to preorder them.
I was just wondering why you decided on trolls? Was it just to kind of revamp the image and things like elves are way over done or was there another reason?
I didn’t actually really mean to revamp them. If you look in old folklore about trolls, they were often described as attractive. And in all the stories of changelings, the trolls had to have human appearances to be able to be switched with human children. A lot of the attributes I give to the characters do come from the mythology of changelings – they were ill-tempered, never wore shoes, did not bond with their families, they had hair that couldn’t be tamed, and they were finicky eaters. So I’m actually sticking a lot to the traditional stories about trolls. They’re just not the ones we hear as often.
I have always wondered if there are some characters that are harder for YOU to figure out/get to know as you start a book/series? Is it hard to get into some of your own characters’ heads? Take Finn… did you know his history – his deepest fears – his childhood pets 🙂 – etc – right off the bat? Or did he start out as a mysterious guy to you too at first?
I know all the major stuff about Finn. His age, name, his history, his family, why he treats Wendy the way does. I don’t know every detail of his life – like childhood pets, though.
Is Ascend going to have two possible endings?
Nope, I wrote one ending. Sorry.
And if you could write Switched and Torn again would you change anything?
Um, I don’t know. I cut about 25,000 words out of Switched. I wanted the main action of the story – with the Trylle – to start sooner in the book. But I wonder if maybe I should have left some of that in there. Wendy got to be more tough, and there was more stuff about Wendy and Finn getting to know each other.
Which character do you think you resemble the most in your books?
I don’t know. Maybe… Rhiannon. Yep.
What will the ISBN for Ascend be?
I don’t know yet.
I understand that Ascend will be out on January 15th, but I would like to know if it will also be available as an e-book on that date??
It will be out in e-book before paperback.
If you had to rename Switched and Torn what would you change their names to?
I like the title Switched. But for reasons I can’t remember, Torn was originally called Proxy. I don’t know why. But I changed it.
Novels on the Run said something earlier about Loki, about him being tempting but not quite getting his attraction to Wendy. I’m curious about this too, I can’t say I was surprised by his wanting Wendy but I didn’t completely understand it and his proposal seemed sudden. Will we learn more about this in Ascend?
Yes, we will.
Also, what exactly does Finn’s family know about Wendy? His sister made it clear that Finn had mentioned her but what do they know about their relationship? I can understand Finn’s mother’s resentment towards Wendy because of her husband’s affair but I still don’t quite understand why she dislikes Wendy so much. Can you tell us more about that?
Finn and his sister are sorta close, or about as close they can be considering Finn is gone all the time. So I think Finn was a bit more open about his feelings to Ember, but also Ember is excited about the prospect of a princess, so she asked him a lot. But I think Finn still kept his real feelings to himself. As for his mother’s feelings about Wendy, I touch on it a bit more in Ascend. I will say this – her feelings for Wendy aren’t really based on Wendy herself, but rather on the monarchy and the royalty.
I don’t necessarily think this means Loki is bad; I just wondered, is there any significance to the fact he does not call her Wendy?
I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative significance, but I did do it on purpose. Calling her by her name does denote a level of … closeness.
Could you possibly maybe tell us all how to pronounce the places and names in the Trylle trilogy?
All the words are based on Scandinavian. So, if you go to Google translate and pick Swedish and put the words in, you can listen to them pronounced. In my mind, that’s how you say them.
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Gracie says: Does Finn still have fellings for Wendy after ascend omg I loveeed your books sooo much your the best
Are you going to make Trylle Trilogy into a movie? Cause that would be AWESOME!!! I would want to audition for Wendy:D
I was just wondering if Ascend will be released right at Midnight for the Nook????
Can’t wait to read it!!!
My daughters name is Willow, so I am rather partial to it. Must watch that movie sometime. looking forward to see how Willa grows in Ascend. I thought Matt and Willa was a great coupling:D
Michelle
KtAnjo says: WILLOW! i was wondering if elora’s name came from that movie. it has to be my all time favorite movie. i lovee madmartigan.
sahar says: I just read both switched and torn in one night…..i really need to get some sleep. But i have to know! when will ascend be out as an ebook??
I just wanted to let you know that I have never been more addicted to any book series. I just started reading the trylle series and I absolutely love it. However, I am very upset that you are ending the series after Ascend. I love the idea of you writing a book about Finn’s sister but I would also like you to write more about Wendy’s experiences. It pains me to know that after Ascend there will be no more books. Also, I love Finn and Wendy’s relationship. I am some how addicted to it and am thinking about it day and night. If you ever have a chance to write more books I would love you to add more about their lives especially involving romance. Thanks 🙂 P.s. I feel that movies are always a disappointment when there based on such amazing books. The actors you have chosen for your characters are wonderful but I feel that your characters deserve better. I would be honored to talk to you one day because I would love for you to comment on my opinions and I have further question to ask you. You have inspired many and I idol you for your wonderful talent.
Laura says: i definetly meant loki srry hard to keep characters straight!! 🙂 is loki going to be a big part of ascend? again srry
ok I just came up with a question because I just re-read Torn lol. In the book Loki says “as you wish Princess” and as soon as I read it (both times) my mind jupmed to “the Princess Bride” movie. So was that intentional or did my mind just link because I love that movie so much lol? Even if it wasn’t it made me love Loki even more 🙂