Today, we bring you an exclusive Q&A with Isle of Night: The Watchers author Veronica Wolff. Thanks for stopping by, Veronica!
I’m a sucker (pun totally intended) for vampire stories of all kinds, and I love seeing how authors put their own twist on the legend. For readers just discovering your book, tell us a bit about what sets your vampires apart from the others in literature right now?
The vampires we meet on the island are all men, and they recruit and train young women to be Watchers—an elite group acting as agents, ambassadors, and sometimes assassins for them. The training is ruthless, and failure means death. With each book, we’ll learn more about the vampires, their world, their enemies, and their motivation.
This is purely a selfish question, but Ronan? Hello, hottie with an accent! So let’s play fantasy movie casting. Who would you see as Ronan? (Okay, okay, you can fantasy cast Annelise, too, if you want.)
LOL…I’m so glad you think so! Can you tell that my first books were Scottish romances? Casting Ronan is easy. He’s always appeared in my head looking a lot like Henry Cavill, especially in some of his rougher, razor-stubble shots. Hell, I might just cast every book with Henry Cavill. (Though the model they found for my cover is pretty perfect too!)
As for Annelise, that’s tougher. She’s much more a figment in my mind. I pictured her, not resembling Jennifer Garner in Alias, but still, having just that sort of mutable look. The kind of girl who could be stunningly pretty one minute and utterly ordinary the next. Someone who could rock a catsuit then look just as at home in sweats and a ponytail.
Annelise ends up at the Isle of Night pretty much as a last resort, but partly because she was swayed by Ronan’s charms. Do you think she would have been okay if she had stayed in Florida?
Annelise is a survivor, both strong and smart, and I do think she would’ve been okay. But she’d always longed for something bigger—for travel, for worldly experiences—and she gets that and more when she goes with Ronan.
Personally, I loved the more violent, action-packed aspect of ISLE OF NIGHT. But I know from experience some readers may complain about it. What would you say in response to these naysayers?
Like spinning a top, I just set up a world and let it proceed as I thought it logically might. An island of bloodthirsty vampires recruiting young women to be special agents? It makes sense that their training would be fierce…and deadly.
And the most obvious (and again, selfish) question of all: what’s next for Annelise, Ronan and the rest???
Going forward, there are infinite missions to go on, vampires to meet, and mean girls to vanquish. We’ll follow Annelise as she progresses through her training and her skills are tested in increasingly dangerous situations. But, when all is said and done, she’s a teenager. Best friends, enemies, guys, crushes, fights…she’ll get a good dose of all that, too.
Vampire’s Kiss hits the shelves in March 2012, and in it, you’ll find all that the title implies…you know, there’s a vampire and a kiss.
If they made a Veronica Wolff candle, what would it smell like?
Plumeria. I lived in Hawaii as a kid, and remain a laid-back, flip-flops kind of girl.
Favorite cartoon?
The one that is currently occupying my children’s attention!
Chocolate or vanilla?
Vanilla, in a photo finish. That’s for ice cream, though. I consume some sort of chocolate pretty much every night, preferably sea salt dark chocolate.
Your personal theme song?
Oh wow, this is tough! It changes from day to day, on a spectrum from Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” to the much lighter “Octopus’s Garden” by The Beatles.
You’re on a deserted island and have to read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?
A field guide to tropical bugs, indigenous foods, and dangerous native maladies, which I would undoubtedly obsess over.
Favorite book as a child?
I adored the Trixie Belden series. But if I had to pick just one book, it’d probably be Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret.
Secret talent?
I can speak Hindi, though it’s been a while since I’ve needed it, so only verrrry slowly.
And you can check out the trailer for Isle of Night here:
Novel Novice 