When you started the Erin Solomon Pentalogy, how much of the plot of the five books did you have worked out, and in how much detail?

Jen Blood Great question, Matty! I thought I had most of the series worked out when I first started -- there were graphs, there were flow charts, there were Venn diagrams and vision boards... Many of those original ideas remained with me over the years, and there were definitely several major plot points that I knew from the outset. However, there have also been pieces that surprised even me.

One of the biggest surprises has been the evolution of Jack Juarez's character. In the first draft of All the Blue-Eyed Angels, Jack and Erin had actually been high school sweethearts (and Diggs, incidentally, was the bad guy)... That storyline had obviously been scrapped by the time I finished the final draft of Angels, and the Juarez who emerged was the quintessential tall, dark, and dreamy action hero. As I got to know Jack a little better, however, he started to show some of his true colors. The journey of discovery with all the characters has been interesting, but I think Jack's is my favorite because he was so unexpected.

So... I think I knew a lot of the plot when I first started, but occasionally my characters had their own ideas about the twists and turns. As the author, I felt it was my obligation to pay attention to my people's protests (Erin, in particular, proved to be unwieldy at times -- shocking, right?). I'm glad I listened, though... It turns out they usually knew what they were talking about.

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