New Adult Book Club discussion

What or who inspired you to become a writer ?

Kindling wrote: "These covers are some of my favourites. Where did your inspiration come from for them?"

We wanted something simple and different. The artwork was done by Jen’s husband and Meljean Brook, (an awesome author in her own right), did the design.

S.Shade wrote: "Hello :) how do you come up with the names for the characters in your books?"

Names are important! They have to fit their birth circumstances. Remember that it’s the mother or father that picks the name

Katrina wrote: "How do you celebrate finishing a book or series?"

By taking a short rest and then starting again. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get all our ideas on a page...

Betul wrote: "What are some of the challenges you guys faced when you co-wrote this series?"

Time! Both of us write books separately as well as together, so finding time to plot, discuss, write, and edit the books we write together with our own separate writing schedules can be the biggest challenge!

Jennifer wrote: "I am obsessed with the Royals! You gals are the Queens of the cliffhanger. I am curious did you set out to this intentionally (have major ridiculously awesome cliffhangers at the end of each book)?..."

Thanks so much Jennifer!!

Yes and No. We had an idea of what we wanted to write for Ella & Reed's story, but we also knew it was going to be much too long for a single book. Mix in that we wanted it to have an over-the-top soap opera feel... What's a soap opera without a last minute twist-of-fate? ;)

Jennifer wrote: "I am so curious how you two write The Royals series. I saw that you answered a bit of how you do this. But I am curious a) if there are 2 POVs will one of you always write one or are you both writi..."

Regardless of one POV or two, we always switch off after certain goals are met. We plot out the story in advance, so we always have an idea of where the story is going, but sometimes one of us will decide to add something in - in which case we have a quick chat about it :)

Henrietta wrote: "Dear Erin!

What's your message to Hungarian readers?

In Hungary, Paper Princess has already released, they love it so much, and they love you, too! :) <3

#TheRoyalsRuinedAllofUs"


A legnagyobb üzeneteink: Köszönjük! Ez a rajongóink igénye, amely kiadja a könyveinket - nem tehettük ezt a támogatás nélkül!

Mercedes wrote: "How did you guys decide to start writing together? Any genres/tropes that you guys want to venture into in the future or want to stay far away from? Thanks!"

It really just happened. We started talking about our mutual love of football, which somehow ventured into us both wanting to write a ridiculously dramatic YA. Things fell into place from there.

Sabine wrote: "Hey Erin, I just wanted to say that I just finished reading the entire series (minus Easton's book) for the second time and boy, do I love your writing! I also just found out about Easton's book, a..."

There are no more books after Cracked Kingdom (the 2nd of 2 books for Easton). We feel 5 books was enough. As for Gideon - we did put out a short novella for Gid which we sent out 1 chapter / week via our newsletter all the way up to the release of Fallen Heir - it's still available to be read online on Wattpad: http://w.tt/2nLZkhK

Zeljka wrote: "Hi guys! I wanted to congratulate you on the great success you've had with the Royals series all over the world - hi from Serbia; I'm a big fan! I'm curious if you expected this big of a success wh..."

Hello Serbia! Honestly, no - we've both published multiple books seperately, but there was no way for us to anticipate (and we did not expect) the success of the Royals series! We're still so completely floored by all the support and kind words from our fans.. it's incredible!

For as much fun as we had writing Easton, he was probably also our biggest challenge. His personality is such a mixture of so many different things that we really had to try to focus on what direction we wanted to take him, as he could have ended up so many different ways...

Ashley wrote: "Was it easy to write this series for the two of you? P.s I might be going to Apollycon next year, and can't wait to meet you guys!"

YAY! Hope we see you there!

Yes and no: the first book we had so much fun writing, the words just flew onto the pages. The 2nd book is always a big harder than the first, because now you're invested in a storyline and you want to make sure you're keeping events straight and not veering off the path. We totally had a blast writing it!

Sarah wrote: "How did you decide to become erin watt togther?"

Really we decided to do Erin Watt because we wanted this series to stand on it's own feet. It's also so completely different than the works we write separately that we wanted to give the Royals a bit of distance.

Karen wrote: "Did you want to collaborate first and then came up with the idea for this series or were you brainstorming/talking about writing and then decided it was an epic idea and it would be great to team u..."

It actually all sort of happened at once! We had started talking about writing YAs (maybe together), and then we started throwing around ideas.. next thing you know we had plotted the Royals!

Nicole wrote: "Who are some of your favorite authors?"

Can we just say yes? It really depends on our moods, but we're both avid readers!

Ninadonata wrote: "Do you plan Charakters before writing? Or you just let them act like you are imagine how to have to act?
How the relationship between Lauren and the twins worked? Is a releasedate set for cracked k..."

We have a general idea of the characters before we start writing - what role they'll play, their personality, things like that.. but as the story develops we also learn a lot more about the characters as well, so they're always evolving for us.

Cracked Kingdom does not have a set date just yet, but we're hoping to release it in January 2018!

Why and when did you decide to work together??

Hey there! I love the Royal series so much! I can't for more! (Easton!!! <3)

Had you always intended to write the other brothers' stories?

If you could be any of your characters for a week, who would you like to be?

How do you agree on the concepts and the storyline with this being a joint effort?

Emily wrote: "Where is your favorite place to write?"

We both have different places (Elle likes to write outside, whereas Jen has a whole office set-up), but the one thing we both have in common is silence! Somewhere warm and peaceful is always good ;)

Debra wrote: "What or who inspired you to become a writer ?"

Very different experiences for each of us, actually. Elle always knew she wanted to be a writer and started at an early age. Jen never considered a career in writing until she tried the NaNoWriMo challenge, and then she was hooked!

Nadine wrote: "Hey there! I love the Royal series so much! I can't for more! (Easton!!! <3)

Had you always intended to write the other brothers' stories?"

Not at all! We had set out to write Reed & Ella's story - the original trilogy, but never anything past that.

As we started nearing the end of the trilogy we released we had so much fun writing about Easton that we wanted to give him his own story (books 4 & 5). As for Gideon's story.. we wanted to give a little thank you to our fans, so that was just some bonus content we put together :)

After Easton's two books, however, there will be no more stories for any of the characters from the Royals series.

M wrote: "If you could be any of your characters for a week, who would you like to be?"

That's a really hard one! All of our characters seem to have about as much of a great time as they do a bad, so it's hard to put ourselves in any of their shoes. Maybe Val? Val, despite her broken heart, seems to be unapologetic for who she is.. especially after Ella comes into her life and shows her that once you stop caring what the Astor kids think, the world's your oyster.

Nicole wrote: "How do you agree on the concepts and the storyline with this being a joint effort?"

It really is just about pitching ideas and plots to each other and seeing which ones we both like - or seeing what idea one of us comes up with we can add onto. We're both very good at communicating, which really is the key for any project you do with another person!

I'm such a fan of Royal Series and would love to know if the twins will get their own book? If yes: individualy or together?

Irma wrote: "I'm such a fan of Royal Series and would love to know if the twins will get their own book? If yes: individualy or together?"

At this time we have no plans to write anymore books for anyone involved with the Royals after Cracked Kingdom, sorry!

Erin wrote: "Irma wrote: "I'm such a fan of Royal Series and would love to know if the twins will get their own book? If yes: individualy or together?"

At this time we have no plans to write anymore books for ..."

Noooooooooooooooo :( *crying my eyes out*

Hey girls.

How's the process to create each character as an idividual? The series has so many characters and each one of them is so different from the other (specially the Royal boys). Do you come up with the personality and then give it a name or it all comes naturally while writing the books?

How many books do you plan on writing in the Royals series? Do you plan to write more on Reed and Ella? I would LOVE a wedding or baby story - like LOVE LOVE LOVE that!

Hi Erin Im a huge fan of the series Ive read the first a second book in 2 days and the third in like a couple of hours... so my question is did you have any inspiration in real life stories for the writing of the books? thanks so much

If you could re-write Paper Princess, or the entire The Royals series, would you change anything? If so, what change would that be?

What's the best thing about writing The Royals?

If you could meet one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do?

Do you have plans to have an international book tour especially in Asia? :)

I’ve read your first book of the Royals in Dutch and when I finished it, I was so relieved to find out that part 2 is already available in the Netherlands! (I also want to read them all in English)
I was wondering: did one of you ever had the feeling you completely disagreed with the other author about the storyline in the books? Like, you would do it totally different but you didn’t say anything about it? Because I can imagine that it’s very difficult to combine different ideas to form such an intriguing story. Looking forward to your response!

Hi ! Sorry if you've already answered my questions !

1) Why "Erin Watt" (this name I mean) ?
And...
2) Were you laughing when you see our reactions to the different cliffhangers through the Royal series ?

What was it like writing the moments that Ella/Reed and Easton/Hartley are apart? The heartbreaking moments where they have arguments?

Because I die of shipping-couple-pain !!!

When you began writing the series did you have a clear picture of how each book was going to end, or did you need to make significant changes during the writing process?

How do the two of you go through the writing process for these books?

Is there a plan to give Callum a book? Because I would honestly love to read a book about him, he deserves to to be happy and in love.

Hey :) I just read Fallen Heir and I have to say I'm oerwhelmed. I love all of your books and I can barely wait to read the next one. My question is: Which character of your royal series would you like to have as your best friend?

Another question: If you could spend a day in your books world, what would you do first or who would you like to spend the day with? (srry for my bad english, I'm from germany)

Are you planning on writing again about Ella and Reed?

Mariana wrote: "Hey girls.

How's the process to create each character as an idividual? The series has so many characters and each one of them is so different from the other (specially the Royal boys). Do you come..."

Wow! That is a question with a lot of different answers!

We come up with the "bigger name" characters during the plotting stages - you know immediately going in who your antagonists are going to be, and who is going to help the story a long.. so once you know the role they need to play, you can start putting together the personality that goes along with it. Naming works the same sort of way - names have to fit their birth circumstances - as it's their parents who name them.

Lesser known, more background characters, though they get way less thought, work pretty much the same way.

Ashley wrote: "How many books do you plan on writing in the Royals series? Do you plan to write more on Reed and Ella? I would LOVE a wedding or baby story - like LOVE LOVE LOVE that!"

The Royals series will end after Cracked Kingdom, so it'll end up a total of 5 books and 1 novella.

Paula wrote: "Hi Erin Im a huge fan of the series Ive read the first a second book in 2 days and the third in like a couple of hours... so my question is did you have any inspiration in real life stories for the..."

Not at all! Though we love all the drama of tv shows, movies, and of course - The Royals, we can do without that sort of RL inspiration ;)

Ana (thestarslisten) wrote: "If you could re-write Paper Princess, or the entire The Royals series, would you change anything? If so, what change would that be?"

That's a hard one! No?

The decisions you make writing a book are sometimes like the decisions you make going through life - you sometimes look back on them and wonder if you had changed one thing what would have happened.. but much like life changing one thing doesn't ever change 1 thing.. and we're pretty happy with how the Royals series has turned out :)

Lady Nakhita wrote: "What's the best thing about writing The Royals?"

As funny as it sounds: writing with each other. We've had such a blast writing together, and even when we're writing separately we know we can always call up the other for help, or just to talk through some writers block. Though you have to learn to compromise more when you write with another person, it's really awesome having that co-writer you can always turn to!

Agustina wrote: "If you could meet one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do?"

Probably Easton! He's such a wildcard you know it'd be an amusing experience to say the least! As for what we'd do.. probably let him know he needs to stop blaming himself for so much, and let him know it's ok to be vulnerable sometimes, with the right people. And give him a hug!