Amanda Hocking

Last week, I posted a blog asking if anybody had questions about either the Trylle or Kanin series, and I got a lot of great questions! I’m going to be answering them with Nonspoiler ones at the top, and possible spoilers at the bottom.

NonSpoiler Questions

From Ways2Fangirl: Who do you like more. Bryn or Wendy?

That’s really tough. I like them both for different reasons, and I really like the young woman that Wendy grows into over the course of series. But I think at the moment, I like Bryn a bit more. She’s just tougher.

From Ways2Fangirl: Are you going to do a signing?

I will only be doing one signing for the release of Crystal Kingdom – a local one at the Austin Artworks Festival in Austin, MN on August 22nd. You can find out more about the event: here. I’ve done several extensive tours in the past, and unfortunately, the turnout has not been large enough to justify being away from home so long, the interruption in my writing, and the high cost of travel. It’s great meeting fans, but as an introvert with social anxiety, extended tours can get very taxing on me.

From Marwa: Do you roughly plan how the series is going to go or do you right the first book and then just continue with the second book not knowing the ending?
Thank you.

I always know the ending of a series when I start. Before I even started writing the Kanin Chronicles, I had the end scene in my mind, and I knew exactly which characters would live, and which would die. I wrote a more extensive blog where I talk about my outlining process, and what I know about a series before I start writing: here.

From Marwa: Has anyone contacted you about making the Trylle series into a movie? If someone did, would you still want to do a movie if you didn’t like how they were going to do it?

At this time, there will be no Trylle movie or TV series, but I’ve covered the topic of a Trylle movie extensively: here.

As for the second part of your question, that’s tough. Once I sell my rights to a film company, they actually can do whatever they want with them. Some people have enough clout to have a say in casting (like JK Rowling), but most authors (like myself) do not. So basically we just hope they get it right, and if the film production gets things wrong, there’s not a lot we can do about it, except say we’re unhappy with it. So if you ever see a bad film adaptation or terrible casting choices of your favorite book, don’t yell at the author about it. They probably hate it even more than you do, but there’s nothing they can do.

From Marwa: Are you planning on writing a new book series after this? You’re my favorite author, and your books mean a lot to me. I hope you can continue writing for the years to come.

Thank you 🙂 My next book coming out is a standalone novel, actually. I’ve been doing a lot of series, and I wanted to do something that I can start and finish in one sitting. It should be out in 2016 with my publisher. After that, I have a paranormal duology coming out probably in 2017, but I don’t have titles or a good synopsis on that yet.

From Debbie Browdy: Your Trylle series has perfect pace, beat, tempo (any and all of those terms apply), love it! I was wondering if you use writer’s dice? or how do you pace the action in your books so well? (perfect absolutely perfect)

Thank you! I haven’t used writer’s dice before. The Trylle series (particularly Switched) went through tons and tons of edits. I cut over a third from the original draft. I think that’s the only trick I really use in terms of pacing. I just keep cutting things, or moving things around, if I feel like the story is lagging.

From Maddy: Dream cast for the Trylle?

So I wrote I originally started writing the Trylle series over six years ago, and most of the actors I envisioned for the roles are now much too old. It’s kind of hard to say anymore. But here’s who I would pick for the Trylle if it were being filmed tomorrow:
Wendy: Odette Yustman (even though she’s probably too old)
Finn: Ian Somerhalder (who is also too old probably)
Loki: Liam Hemsworth
Tove: Emile Hirsch
Willa: Alexa Vega
Elora: Famke Janssen
Bain: Logan Lerman
Oren: Michael Wincott
Sara: Jennifer Connelly

From Ashley Lovell: Is there anything you can tell us about what your next book series is going to be about?

My next book after that will be a standalone YA paranormal romance novel set in the 1980s that follows a travelling sideshow called Freeks. I pitched it as Pretty in Pink meets The Lost Boys (minus the vampires) meets Carnivale. It will be out sometime in 2016 with my publisher.

From Dahlia: Do you think you’ll ever add on to the Trylle Series? It would be AWESOME if you did!

No, I won’t be adding anymore to the Trylle series. The main conflict of that trilogy – defeating the enemy, finding true love, all that – is over. I know there’s still little details in life that some readers wonder about – like Wendy’s life looks like now, how her family is, will she get rid of some of the archaic rules. But with the main conflict gone, the story would be boring and dull. For those kinds of questions, the answers are best left to readers – and fan fiction.

From Sara: For both the Trylle and Kanin series, what would happen if a Markissina and a tracker were to have a relationship? (I’ve figured out everything else with how the kingdoms would react, except for this one) Also, who is your favorite character from the Trylle series?

The Trylle are a bit more relaxed than the Kanin, so I think it would be possible to have a relationship without as much fuss. However, a Marksinna or Markis would have to give up their title if they were to marry a tracker. (A tracker can never be royalty, so the royals would have to lose their title).

In the Kanin, it would be dramatic. They would most likely lose their inheritance, their title, and possibly become ostracized from their social circle. It could be even greater if it’s a powerful bloodline, because they’re risking losing their abilities – they’re less likely to pass on the chameleon abilities to their offspring since they’re have children with a tracker.

From Helen: I would really like to know what would your dream cast look like,for both Trylle and Kanin.

I posted my dreamcast for the Trylle above, and I actually made a dreamcast for the Kanin Chronicles at Pinterest.

With Wendy, I just started with the idea of a changeling that had a traumatic childhood, and built around there. The hardest part about writing her was making her likable, because she had hard edges and acted out from being a troll, from having an abusive (host) mother, and from feeling she never belonged.

For the Kanin Chronicles, I just thought about what I wanted to explore. What questions about the troll world weren’t really answered in the previous series (since they weren’t as relevant to the previous series). I created Bryn to be counterpart for Wendy, and I wanted her story to be complimentary to the one in the Trylle story but also sort of the opposite.

It’s hard to pick favorite characters. Elora and Konstnatin have had the most interesting story arcs for me to write, but Loki and Linnea were probably the most fun for me.

I don’t really want to be any of the characters. The kingdoms of the trolls all sound difficult (and dangerous), so I’d rather to stick to my safe, ordinary human existence.

From Thalita Motta: Have you ever thought that would be Trylle can turn movie or series ? And what’s your favorite person? My is the Loki.
I am Brazilian and I am in love with this series . Blow a kiss to me and Brazil. Thank You

I would love to see the Trylle series as movie, but as you probably saw in my previous answer, movie studios just aren’t interested. You can read more about it: here. Hello to Brazil!!

From Julie: Were some of the characters inspired by people you know?

No. I never base characters on real people. It becomes too limiting, because people I know in real life don’t usually behave the way I need my characters too.

Spoiler Questions:

From Lynette: SPOILER What kind of song did you think of when you were writing the scene where Wendy and Loki were dancing romantically in the ball room (my favorite scene by the way)?

I thought of this song specicially – “Don’t Wear Me Out” by Oceanship. It’s probably my favorite scene from the books, too. 🙂

I knew from the before I even started writing the books when and how Kasper would die. I had it in my notes in the outlines, that the conflict at the end of the second book would result in his death. It felt necessary to me because this was the action would lead Bryn to war, and in war, people die on both sides of the aisle. Good people are killed. It was something that changed Bryn’s perspective and forced to her reevaluate what she thought she knew about the Kanin and the Skojare, and more importantly, the Hogdragen.

In a lot of ways, Kasper is the ideal for Bryn. He’s an excellent guard, he’s a intelligent, and he’s managed to find a balance between his work and his personal life that Bryn hadn’t even realized she was missing. But he’s chosen a career that puts his life in jeopardy, and Bryn always saw honor in that. But with Kasper’s death, I think Bryn is able to understand more what Ridley said in the first book about why he would never be a member of the Hogdragen.

From Marwa: SPOILER Do Wendy and Loki have an other children besides Oliver? Thank you.

I don’t think they do.

From Marwa: Was Wendy ever able to make it okay for Willa and Matt to get married?

In my mind, not yet. But the thing about the end of the Trylle trilogy – and all my series for that matter – is that some point they have to end. Which means that some questions I can’t answer, and that’s where the reader’s imagination and fan fiction pick up. The Trylle trilogy ended with Wendy setting things on the right course, working toward a better world, but it’s up to readers to decide if and when she ever gets there, and what that world looks like.

From Jocelyn: How did the father of ryhs die? You never mentioned that!!! Did wendy kill him?:O

I actually do mention how her host father dies. In Switched, Chapter 8: Family, Elora tells Wendy that she is a changeling for money, and Wendy explains that her host family doesn’t have much money. She says, “My dad killed himself when I was five, so none of his insurance paid out. My mom never worked a day in her life, and she’s been in a mental institution for the past eleven years, which has eaten a lot of her funds.”

So that’s how Wendy’s host father and Rhys’s biological father died. He killed himself. Wendy doesn’t go into too in depth, because she was only five when it happened, but I always imagined hanging himself. As to the motivations for it, I don’t think Wendy knows, because she was just a kid, her host mother was too crazy to explain anythign to her, and in many cases, people never truly understand why people kill themselves.