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AuthorTracker :: Erin Hunter
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Hi everyone:
Brace yourselves -- there’s a new book on the way!
The New Prophecy Book Five: Twilight
will be out on August 22. If you’ve read
Book Four:
Starlight, you’ll know that two cats have fallen
in love in a way that means going against the warrior code in more
ways than one. You might have guessed from all the bickering between
Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw that I’m not the most romantic person
in the world -- it’s way more interesting to write about doomed love
than a happily ever after!
The two cats involved are genuinely torn between following the
warrior code and doing what they believe is right for themselves.
This is something that I love exploring. It's a major theme in
Firestar’s Quest (which I’m working on now and will be
published in Fall 2007), when Firestar is asked to do something that
will take him a long way outside the warrior code and all that he
believes in. I wonder if the forest cats ever get tired of all the
moral dilemmas and physical challenges that I put them through. . .
Somewhere there must be some Clans leading much more peaceful lives!
But you need conflict to have a good story -- even the ones with
genuinely happy endings. I don’t think you’d enjoy the books half so
much if there wasn’t a degree of anguish, fighting, and suspense as
the cats struggle to defend their territory, chase off predators,
and make (and lose) friends within their Clans. Sometimes I worry
that I won’t be able to think up exciting events for another series
of books because it seems as if we’ve covered every sort of
adventure already. When this happens, I make a list of old and new
characters and jot down notes about each one – what they like, what
their ambitions are, who might be their friends and enemies. By the
time I’ve finished, several stories will have jumped out at me and I
can get the next book underway. This is what I mean when I say that
the stories “write themselves” – the cats are so real to me now that
it feels as if I just have to watch a movie play inside my head and
write down everything that happens. How great is my job?!
I’m afraid it’s not just our two cats in love that are going to have
a tough time in
Twilight; another cat
receives a terrible piece of news right at the beginning of the
book, but which cat is it? And will their Clan survive without them?
“No! There must be some mistake!” The cat looked up from where
it crouched by the water’s edge, its fur washed by the moonlight.
“There is still so much I have to do!”
A broad-faced cat with blue-gray fur padded around the pool, her
blue eyes soft with sympathy. “I’m sorry,” she meowed. “I know you
expected many more moons with your Clanmates before coming to join
us.”
The crouching cat looked down into the water. The moon’s
reflection trembled like a floating leaf, and the surface of the
pool glimmered with starlight cast by the countless shining shapes
that lined the hollow. For a moment the only sound was the
waterfall that splashed down the steepest part of the rocks. The
cats of StarClan waited in watchful silence, as if each one shared
the grief of the cat at the water’s edge.
“You have served your Clan more faithfully than some cats manage
in a long lifetime,” the blue-furred cat went on. “It must seem
very unfair that you should have to leave them.”
Thanks again for visiting the site.
See you in September!
Very best wishes,
Erin
www.warriorcats.com |
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