Erin Hunter
Erin Hunter is a collective pseudonym used by the authors Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Inbali Iserles, Tui T. Sutherland, and Rosie Best in the writing of several juvenile fantasy novel series, which focus on animals and their adventures. Notable works include the "Warriors", "Seekers", "Survivors", "Bravelands", and "Bamboo Kingdom" book series. Each of the authors play a different role in the production of the books: Holmes creates the plot for each book, and the others take turns writing the books. Dan Jolley, though not an official Erin Hunter author, also writes the stories for manga published  under the Hunter name. History. In the year 2003, HarperCollins asked Victoria Holmes to write a fantasy series about feral cats, but, not being a reader of fantasy, she was less than enthusiastic, despite her love of cats. After writing one storyline, Kate Cary was brought in to write the book as Holmes went behind the scenes to supervise details and edit the book. Then, on the third book, "Forest of Secrets", Cherith Baldry joined Erin Hunter. Later, after Sutherland wrote the first "Warriors" field guide, she became the fourth Erin Hunter. The name "Erin Hunter" was chosen for several  reasons. First, if the authors used all of their own names, the books would be placed in different places in a library, making them hard to find. Second, they wanted to pick a surname that would place the books very close to the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques, which was, at the time, the book series with the closest plot to "Warriors". One of the authors suggested "Hunter", and the others found that it was "perfect" because not only did it place the book series close to Jacques, but it evokes the image of a cat. Victoria Holmes suggested ‘Erin ' because she liked the name. One of Victoria Holmes's favorite given names is Erin, and it was accepted for being a strong Celtic name and "not particularly girly". Members. Victoria Holmes. Victoria Holmes was born in Berkshire, England. Holmes was the original author of the series with HarperCollins requesting her to write the series. After inviting Kate Cary to do the actual writing of the book, she moved behind the scenes to help edit and supervise the details. Holmes grew up on a farm in England. She learned how to ride horses at age two. Later she attended Oxford  University, whose buildings "inspired an interest in history". She now lives in London where she works as the editor for the series. On 5 April 2011, the Bookperk website ran a special for signed copies of "Warriors: Omen of the Stars #4: Sign of the Moon". Because Erin Hunter is not an actual person, these books were signed by Victoria Holmes on her behalf. As of 14 April 2017, Holmes announced on her Facebook page that she would no longer be writing for the series as she feels she has reached the point where she can contribute no more to  the story. With this, Holmes is no longer a 'Hunter', but will apparently still play a role in the development of the film. Kate Cary. Kate Cary was the second author brought on board to write for the "Warriors" series. Holmes chose Cary to write the first book after Holmes had finished one storyline. In the first series ("The Prophecies Begin") she wrote "Into the Wild", "Fire and Ice" and "Rising Storm". In the second series ("The New Prophecy") she wrote "Dawn". In the third series ("Power of Three") she wrote "The Sight", "Dark River" and "Eclipse". In the fourth  series ("Omen of The Stars") she wrote "Fading Echoes" and "The Last Hope". She was born in England on 4 November 1967. She later moved to Scotland where she lived for 12 years before going back to England where she currently resides. Besides the "Warriors" series, she has also written the book "Bloodline," and its sequel, "Reckoning". Cherith Baldry. Cherith Baldry was the third author brought in to the Erin Hunter team. She was born on 21 January 1947. Holmes invited her to join when they were writing the third book, "Forest of Secrets," after seeing her writing style and  feeling that it was similar to Kate Cary's. Tui T. Sutherland. Tui T. Sutherland was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but currently lives in the United States, which makes her the only non-British author of the series. Her first credit to the Erin Hunter team was the field guide "Secrets of the Clans". Sutherland was also an editor of the "Warriors" series, until she quit editing to become a full-time writer. She went on to write the novel series "Wings of Fire". Inbali Iserles. Inbali Iserles has written three books so far, the third, fifth and sixth books  of the "Survivors" series: "Darkness Falls", "The Endless Lake" and "Storm of Dogs". She also publishes animal fantasy novels under her own name, including "The Tygrine Cat" and the "Foxcraft" trilogy. Gillian Philip. Gillian Philip is the author of "The Empty City" and "A Hidden Enemy", the first two books in the "Survivors" series. She lives in the northeast Scottish Highlands. Philip has toured the United States twice as the face of the Erin Hunter responsible for "Survivors". In addition to "Survivors", she has written the "Rebel Angels" series ("Firebrand, Bloodstone, Wolfsbane" and the forthcoming "Icefall"); the "Darke Academy" series , and young adult novels including "Bad Faith, Crossing The Line" and "The Opposite of Amber". Philip no longer writes Erin Hunter books as of July 2020, after being fired from Working Partners for tweeting support for J. K. Rowling's statements about gender identity. Works. Section::::"Warriors". Warriors: The Prophecies Begin Warriors: Dawn of the Clans Warriors: A Vision of Shadows Warriors: The Broken Code Warriors: A Starless Clan Graystripe's Adventure The Rise of Scourge Tigerstar and Sasha Ravenpaw's Path SkyClan and the Stranger A Shadow in RiverClan Winds of Change Exiles from ShadowClan Super Editions Field guides Novellas  Short stories Plays Section::::"Seekers". Seekers: The Original Series Seekers: Return to the Wild Manga Section::::"Survivors". Survivors: The Original Series Survivors: The Gathering Darkness Novellas Section::::"Bravelands". Bravelands Bravelands: Curse of the Sandtongues Book development. In "Warriors", "Seekers" and "Bravelands", a specific order is followed. First, Holmes, the editor, sends in the preliminary script and outline to Cary, Baldry or Sutherland, depending on who writes the book. Then, the author develops Holmes' ideas into a single book which is sent back to Holmes for one last check-over and edit. After she finishes, she sends it to HarperCollins for publication. For the  Survivors series, there is a different approach taken. The whole team gets together and creates a detailed story outline and develops the characters together. Then, the writing itself is done by a single author, who is allowed to change something significant about the plot or characters if they feel that a certain character would not act a specific way. Writing style. With four different authors, Holmes has said that "[the book] 'sounds' like Erin, because she has a very distinctive voice". She compares the style of the authors to a different language where a stray line or word can stick  out. Holmes says that she is in charge of editing and making sure that the book sounds correct. Erin Hunter books are all told in a third person limited narrative, though the focal point character changes from series to series, book to book, and sometimes from chapter to chapter.