Elizabeth Hoyt FAQs
The Princes Trilogy FAQs * The Legend of the Four Soldiers FAQs * General FAQS
The Princes Trilogy FAQs
Is there a book where I can find the fairy tales you feature in your books?
No. I write the fairy tales all myself. Like all fairy tales, however, they are inspired by other tales. Here’s a list of inspirations:
- For The Raven Prince: the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros and “The Princess Golden-Hair and the Great Black Raven,” a fairy tale by Howard Pyle in his book The Wonder Clock (now out of print.)
- For The Leopard Prince: “The Water of Life” from The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle.
- For The Serpent Prince: very, very vaguely “The Goose-Girl” fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm.
Updated! Will you be writing about any of the secondary characters from the Princes Trilogy? (Coral from The Raven Prince, Georgina’s brothers from The Leopard Prince, Violet and Bennet from The Leopard Prince or Christian from The Serpent Prince)
Sadly, the short answer is no. I’m very, very flattered that readers have connected so strongly with my secondary characters. I have to admit that when I wrote some of them—particularly the secondary characters in The Leopard Prince—I had some vague idea of doing sequel books. My writing led me in another direction, however, and I have no plans at the moment to write about any of these characters in a full length book. If, however, I’m ever invited to participate in a novella anthology . . .
UPDATE: Check back in November 2008 to hear exciting news about Coral…
The Legend of the Four Soldiers FAQs
NEW: Who are the male cover models in the stepbacks?
Is the Spinner’s Falls massacre based on a real event?
Yes. It’s vaguely based on two British defeats during the French and Indian War. The first is the massacre of the surrendering British at Fort William Henry in August 1757 (read the Wikipedia entry here.) This is also the massacre that was featured in the Daniel Day-Lewis movie, The Last of the Mohicans.
The second defeat is called either The Battle of Monongahela or Braddock’s Defeat and took place in July 1755 (read the Wikipedia entry here.) General Edward Braddock was leading two regiments in an attempt to capture a French Fort. Braddock ordered a road made to the fort and his troops became fatally strung out along the narrow road. When they were attacked by the French and their Indian allies, Braddock himself was shot off his horse. He died in the retreat led by George Washington--then a colonel in the British army--and was buried secretly along the road so his body wouldn’t be dug up and desecrated. Almost a third of the approximately 1,500 men on the British side died, with another third wounded.
Will Rebecca and Gil O’Hare from To Taste Temptation get their own book?
No, but they will be featured in the final Legend of the Four Soldiers book, To Desire a Devil.
What are the inspirations for the fairy tales in The Legend of the Four Soldiers books?
- For To Taste Temptation: The Welsh myth of Prince Llewellyn’s dog Gelert and “The Seven Swans” fairy tale.
- For To Seduce A Sinner: A short fairy tale by Oscar Wilde called “The Birthday of the Infanta.”
General FAQs
Do you write under another name?
Yes. I write fun contemporary romances under the name Julia Harper.
Have you been writing long?
Not long at all. I started writing about eight years ago.
What made you start writing?
I was a stay-at-home mother with two children, so I didn’t have a “real” job—not one that paid money, anyway. When my youngest started kindergarten I was thirty-five and it occurred to me that I would never have a chance like this again to try writing. I gave myself permission to take five years to try and write a book and get it published. As it turned out, I didn’t quite make that deadline—I got an offer for that first book, The Raven Prince, a week past my fortieth birthday.
Where do you get your ideas?
This is always a hard question for a writer to answer. The fact is, we have ideas coming out of our ears. For years I thought everyone went around with weird stories floating in their heads. ;-)
What’s a typical work day like for you?
I find that I work better out of my house, so most days I meet my critique partner at a coffee house and we write on laptops there. We usually write for four or five hours, but there have been days that we’re there from nine a.m. to five p.m. Of course, there’s also days when the most I get done is reading the newspaper!
What are you working on now?
I’m finishing up the third book in The Legend of the Four Soldiers quartet. It’s Sir Alistair Munroe’s book and it’s titled, To Beguile a Beauty.
How can I be notified when your new books come out?
Easy! Sign up for my e-newsletter. My e-newsletter readers get to read excerpts and news ahead of everyone else and there’s also a contest exclusively for e-newsletter readers in every issue.
I’m thinking about writing a romance novel. Do you have any advice?
Of course!
- Write every day, even if it’s only a sentence or two.
and
That’s how I learned to write. Seriously!
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