Erin A. Craig: On Always Dreaming Up More Amazing Twists
Erin A. Craig is the New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows and Small Favors. She has always loved telling stories. After getting her BFA in Theatre Design and Production from the University of Michigan, she stage-managed tragic operas filled with hunchbacks, séances, and murderous clowns, then decided she wanted to write books that were just as spooky.
An avid reader, an embroidery enthusiast, a rabid basketball fan, and a collector of typewriters, Erin makes her home in West Michigan with her husband and daughter. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Erin A. Craig
In this post, Erin shares what inspired her most recent novel, how writing in the same world surprised her, the importance of parentheses for writers, and more.
Name: Erin A. Craig
Literary agent: Sarah Landis at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.
Book title: House of Roots and Ruin
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release date: July 25, 2023
Genre/category: Fantasy
Previous titles: House of Salt and Sorrows; Small Favors
Elevator pitch for the book: When Annaleigh’s sisters begin to die one by one on their isolated island estate, she must unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family and decide whether to trust a mysterious stranger who seemingly has secrets of his own in this atmospheric, spellbinding novel.
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What prompted you to write this book?
When I finished writing my debut novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, I knew I was done with Annaleigh’s story. She’d been put through so many dreadfully gothic perils, I wanted her to have a nice, quiet “happily-ever-after.”
But. I didn’t feel done with the world I’d created…
One of the fun parts of writing with casts so large is that you get to wonder what the other characters might be up to while your retired MC is off doing her laundry or checking up on her Netflix queue!
Verity Thaumas—the youngest of the Sisters of the Salt—had been one of my favorites to write in HOSAS and I began imagining how her life might have continued along, what kind of teen she’d grow into. She’d been seeing the ghosts of her sisters long before the events of HOSAS played out and I started to tinker with what it would be like if she still was seeing them—blissfully unaware that they were ghosts—and suddenly, a plot was born!
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
House of Roots and Ruin has had the longest drafting time of all my books. I originally had the first seed of an idea before I started writing Small Favors back in 2019!
Verity’s adventures looked very different then—there was a haunted art academy and a smoldering but mysterious instructor!—but I set it aside to work on SF. When I came back to it, my plot and settings no longer felt right and I started a new notebook, returning to the things I’d most loved in HOSAS—a lonely estate by the sea and the fierce and complicated love between the Thaumas sisters.
I began drafting that iteration in the fall of 2020 and wrapped it up in late spring of 2021!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
While HORAR is a complete standalone—you don’t have to have read HOSAS first!—I was surprised by how often I went back to reference my first book. When writing that, I felt like every word had been tattooed on my heart, that I’d never forget a single detail of Highmoor, that I’d be able to walk its rooms blindfolded and know exactly where I was at all times… yeah, not so much!
I think debut writers get very caught up in writing “the book of their heart.” At the time, it feels like no other book will ever be as special, no other book will hit your feelings with such force. And, for me, that was very true… in that moment.
What has surprised me most is that, not only will every book I write become one of those “heart books,” but that I also will quickly throw out all memory of it from my system the second the next new and shiny plot comes along! I am a magpie of future ideas and plot-twists. And I think that’s a really good way to approach a long writing career. I don’t want to always be looking back at the cool things that were before. I want to be dreaming of the even more amazing twists to come!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I was in middle school when I first read “The Lady or the Tiger” and I remember the white hot outrage I felt over its ending. How could Stockton just leave us there, without confirmation, without a clue as to his intent? How dare he make us have to imagine what happens next?! Come on, dude!
HORAR has been my little homage to that moment in my life.
I hope readers feel like they’ve found a new heroine to root for. I hope they get transported into a new decadent world of mysteries they want to solve. I want them to feel like they too are creeping up and down the long and confusing corridors of Chauntilalie, candlestick in hand, breath held as they wait for that thing in the shadows to finally emerge. I hope they get covered in goosebumps and laugh and cry and fling the book across the room when they’re done. But most of all—I hope they walk away from this book with a deep, abiding fear of bathtubs.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
My best piece of advice is to never forget that parentheses are your friends. Don’t know a character’s name? Stick an (insert name here) right into your draft. Know there’s a big emotional conversation that’s supposed to happen in this beat but you’re tired and just want to get to the kissing? Or killing? (Convo of Doom here).
It’s so easy to get bogged down in the many, many details of a zero draft. Do absolutely everything you can to keep the words flowing out fast because you can always fill in your parentheses later. They’re super searchable!
And if you do get stuck, really-truly-in-the-mud stuck, and can’t go forward without a better idea… just do what I do and take a bath!
While there’s no shortage of writing advice, it’s often scattered around—a piece of advice here, words of wisdom there. And in the moments when you most need writing advice, what you find might not resonate with you or speak to the issue you’re dealing with. In A Year of Writing Advice, the editors of Writer’s Digest have gathered thoughts, musings, and yes, advice from 365 authors in dozens of genres to help you on your writing journey.