I recently had the pleasure of interviewing the amazing Erin A. Craig, author of the upcoming book House of Salt and Sorrows. This stunning YA novel has a gothic and haunting feel that is sure to knock more than a few socks off. While you’re trying to figure out the mysteries laid out in this story, something even more sinister is playing out against our characters, and it’s definitely deadly. I highly encourage everyone to pick this up, especially if you’re a fan of gothic horror.
Hi Erin, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Hello! I’m Erin A. Craig, author of House of Salt and Sorrows. My house in Memphis, TN is full of typewriters, towers of books, a bunch of basketball memorabilia (Go Grizz!), my very handsome husband, and our impossibly sweet little girl. I like my coffee strong and black, my movies super atmospheric and spooky, and my shoes extra sparkly.
Of all of the fairytales, you chose The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Could you tell us a little more about your choice and how it helped shape your novel?
The Twelve Dancing Princesses was actually the final piece of the puzzle for me before I started drafting House of Salt and Sorrows. I’d been attempting a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee on and off for years but couldn’t seem to make any headway with it. I loved his repetition of “a kingdom by the sea” and could see the world I wanted to create—the dark mourning clothes, the even darker corridors of the manor—but I couldn’t come up with enough of a plot to warrant a book.
My mother was the leader for my little sister’s Girl Scouts troop and they used to tour skits to local libraries and retirement centers. I stumbled across a picture of me playing the soldier in their production of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and suddenly everything for the book just came together in my head. I broke out my old copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and reread it, picking out points of the story I knew I wanted to hit—the golden and silver forest, the tattered shoes—and it was off to the races!
How long did it take you to build the world in House of Salt and Sorrows, and what helped you in your process?
I’d known I wanted to do a creepy seaside Gothic tale for some time but it wasn’t until The Twelve Dancing Princesses storyline came together with it that I knew I’d have to build totally different areas of the kingdom for them to travel to for balls. I’d envisioned the Salann island chain as a strange, alternate Victorian England so the rest of Arcannia was loosely built around a similar Europe and Asia. I’m a Pinterest junkie and spent a lot of my downtime putting together boards to help ground me into the places I was building. I find it easier to plot if I truly understand what the characters’ world looks like. It helps me make decisions on how they’d behave and react to situations. Even though it took me just three months to write the first draft, I’d been contemplating the world of Arcannia for about a year or so, even if I wasn’t fully aware of what I was creating at the time!
If the sisters lived in the 21st century, how do you think they would react/interact with technology?
Oh my goodness, I can just imagine the triplets on Instagram—they would be the queens of long hashtags and angst-filled inspirational quotes! Camille would definitely have active profiles on Match.com and Tinder, and Verity would have gorgeously curated Pinterest boards and Tumblr threads. I don’t think Annaleigh would be terribly proficient social media—she’d only use it to keep track of family and scope out live streams of the Salann beaches to check for irregularities in wave patterns. But I also could see her falling into a long rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and wikipedia articles when something strikes her interest!
Which character was the hardest or easiest to write?
Annaleigh’s youngest sister, Verity, was my absolute favorite. She’s so sweet yet so terrifying! All of her scenes flowed out really easily—the chapter where she and Annaleigh discuss her sketchbook was the least edited part of the entire book. Very little of it ever needed to be changed. It was one of those happy moments where I could translate exactly what the movie in my head was playing perfectly onto the page and I just adore that scene.
If you lived in the House of Salt and Sorrows world, would you be a mainlander, or would you be an islander?
Definitely an islander! I grew up in West Michigan and have always been drawn to the water. My grandfather loved fishing and it was always so much fun to go out on the boats with him. I think the slap of waves is one of the most soothing sounds—it’s even the setting on my daughter’s white noise machine.
Is there a scene you loved writing? Could you share it with us if it’s not too spoilery?
Without giving surprises away, there’s a chapter that takes place in the gallery at Highmoor, full of oil paintings and statues on plinths. Some seriously spooky stuff goes on there and during revisions, my editor wanted me to ramp up the creepiness even more. (Hooray!)
My daughter was going through a super fun sleep regression cycle at the time, which meant I was up at all hours of the night, changing and feeding her, so once she was all drowsy and snuggly again, I would often work on my phone… rocking her back to sleep… all by myself… in a dark, dark nursery….
I’d just finished adding in a really eerie moment with Annaleigh and Verity in the gallery and put the phone down, pleased with the chills I’d created, when I saw a pair of eyes staring at me from across the room. I wanted to let out the most epic Janet Leigh shriek before realizing it was my daughter’s Cookie Monster doll. The phone’s glow had reflected off his big googly eyes, making them look far scarier than anything I could ever come up with in a plot!
There’s something going around on Twitter at the moment where authors share 5 things in their WIP, if you’ve done it already, could you share 5 more with us?
I’ve loved seeing what everyone’s secret projects are about! I was super coy saying “people, places, things, scary places, scary things,” but I suppose I can reveal a little more here—but not much!
– Wind rustling through branches laden with pine needles
– The tickle of a campfire’s smoke in the frosty morning air
– Frayed calico and worn leather
– Slow burning yearning and aches
– The constant reassuring, yet sometimes oppressive, drone of the bees
Could you tell us some hidden talents that the girls might have besides dancing?
It’s not so hidden but Annaleigh and Camille both love playing the piano. The triplets delight in reading bawdy romance novels and I have a feeling that Rosalie has probably penned her fair share of swoony stories. Lenore happily listens to them while working on a tricky embroidery pattern while Ligeia tries out new hair styles. Mercy and Honor love helping Cook in the kitchen and can decorate cakes with skill and panache, and oh little Verity… I imagine once all the fallout from House of Salt and Sorrows clears away, she takes her easel out into the gardens to work on some lovely landscapes with absolutely no ghosts or ghouls in them!
If you had to pick any of your characters to save you from certain death, who would you trust with your rescue?
I’d definitely want Cassius on hand because of [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS!] and he’s got quite a way with words. No rescue would be complete without some witty banter!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us?
Always! I just finished up Riley Sager’s LOCK EVERY DOOR and am such a fan of everything he does! His books are some of the few I have to sit down and devour in big chunks because I just have to know what’s going to happen next! Kim Liggett’s THE GRACE YEAR has been haunting my memory for weeks. She has the most beautiful voice. It’s sharp and spare and just punches you in the stomach. I can’t wait for it to come out this October so I can scream over the ending with everyone. SOUTHERN LADY CODE is another one of my favorites this summer. I absolutely adore everything Helen Ellis writes and these short stories had me snorting with barbed laughter!
Fan Questions
We reached out to a few fans and readers to see if they had any questions for Erin!
How do you deal with writer’s block?
From @bookquotesjunkie on Instagram
If I’m stuck on a little moment within a bigger scene in which I know where I’m headed, I don’t hesitate to slap a big, bold note saying (COME BACK LATER) or (INSERT SPOOKY THING HERE). If I’m stuck on a moment where I don’t know how to get from Point A to Point B, I find shutting the notebook and walking away from it for a spell can be immensely helpful. I love going to walks with my daughter. They always seem to jar something loose in my head and I usually can come back to the scene during my next writing session with fresh ideas.
What advice do you have for anyone who plans to write a fairytale retelling?
From @j.j.fryer on Instagram
Always, always, always go back to the original story first. Read it, reread it, find other versions of it and read those too. Find the parts of it that interest you the most—what makes that story unique and compelling—and then start your world building off that. Don’t be afraid to take chances and make the story your own. Find what angle works best for you—sometimes the character the original author chose to focus upon aren’t who needs to be telling your story. It could be the maid, or the dress maker… or the Duke of Salann’s sixth eldest daughter…
AUTHOR BIO
Erin A. Craig has always loved telling stories. After getting her B.F.A. from the University of Michigan, in Theatre Design and Production, she stage managed tragic operas with hunchbacks, séances, and murderous clowns, then decided she wanted to write books that were just as spooky. An avid reader, a decent quilter, rabid basketball fan, and collector of typewriters, Erin makes her home in Memphis, TN with her husband and daughter. She watches entirely too many horror movies. HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS (Delacorte Press) is her debut novel. You can find Erin on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, along with at her website.
