Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.
Reading with Tequila: When you first started writing the Otherworld series, how much of the story did you have planned out? For example, did you know from the beginning that Savannah would eventually become the central character in the series?
Kelley: I’d always planned to finish the series with a Savannah trilogy. I chose her because she’d grown up in the series and is the most connected to all the other narrators. It seemed fitting that she should take her place as a “Woman of the Otherworld.” As for the plot, for the past six books I’ve been laying the framework for this final adventure.
RWT: I loved the alternating main characters in each book and have always wondered, why did you choose to write from multiple viewpoints?
Kelley: When I was asked to consider turning it into a series, I discussed it with my agent and said I didn't want to do umpteen novels with the characters of Bitten. I love them, but after a few books, I'd been struggling to find fresh threats for them to face! It would get very repetitive very fast. So we came up with the idea of the wider supernatural world, and creating characters in Stolen I could spin off to as narrators. That has meant infinite possibilities for the series and it has kept it very fresh for me.
RWT: Is there any character in the series you identify with more than the others? Any character that's more fun to write?
Kelley: I don't have a favourite, but some are easier to write than others. Elena is the easiest because I've written the most from her point of view. Because she was the first, she was also the most relatable one for me--I made her my age, from my geographic area, with my education level, etc. The hardest to bring to life was my ghost, Eve, because she's the least like me, so it took some work to get into her mindset. Once there, though, I had a blast! So she’s definitely one of the most fun to write.
RWT: Otherworld is an increasing popular series, gaining new readers with each new release. Why choose to end the series after one more book?
Kelley: I don’t consider it “slamming the door” on my universe. It’s more like pulling the curtain for now. I’m not tired of the world and readers don’t seem to be tired of it, but it seems a wise idea to wrap things up where I’ve long planned to…before I—or my readers—get bored. Although I’m moving on to a new adult series, I still have plans for more Otherworld short stories and, if I get a killer novel idea in the future, I have left things open enough for a curtain call or two.
About the Most Recent Release
It's been ten years since Bitten, the first novel in Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. In that time hundreds of thousands of fans have ravenously devoured the adventures of Armstrong's witches, demons, and werewolves. Now, in Spell Bound, she brings them all together for her most sweeping tale yet. Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she's powerless to help herself. At the heartbreaking conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would prevent further pain for a young orphan. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise.
And now, witch-hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell-casting talent, the thing she counts on most. In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Armstrong gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jamie, Hope, and other beloved characters, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within.
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