Reflections on working on Warriors
BY THE STORY TEAM
From Clare:
I have a lot of good Warriors Story Team memories, but my favorite is probably the pure excitement and fun of creating the Dawn of the Clans arc. I had edited two of the earlier Warriors arcs at HarperCollins and then, as a freelancer, assisted Vicky in plotting some of the super editions (I still laugh when I think of her shouting ”He’s Billy Elliott!” when we decided that as a kit, Tallstar would battle with his father about whether he would follow in the family tradition and become a tunneller or follow his above-ground dreams). But the beginning of Dawn of the Clans coincided with my joining Working Partners full-time and getting to be in on a Warriors arc from the very beginning.
Over the first four Warriors arcs, the books had followed three generations of Firestar’s family, the Clans had gone from the forest to the lake, and readers had met the Tribe and learned about the ancient cats who were the Clans’ ancestors. And we’d dropped a few crumbs of history about the founding of the Clans in field guides like Battles of the Clans and Secrets of the Clans that we knew we wanted to tie in: there had been a great leader, still remembered as Graywing the Wise, who used to draw battle plans on the floor of his den; WindClan cats hunted rabbits during hard winters by digging tunnels beneath their territory; StarClan, their friends and kin who had died in this new territory in the forest first came to the cats who would become the Clans after a great battle and told them to unite or die. But how could we tie the little we already knew together? What was the story of these early ancestors of the Clan cats, and how had they come to establish the Clans?
It was so much fun figuring it out. Some of the cats we created for Dawn remain my favorite series protagonists, especially Gray Wing, who originally was planned to die at the the end of Book #1, but became such an important emotional center of the arc that (I won’t spoil it. But he doesn’t die in Book #1!)
From Lynn:
I first joined the Warriors story team back in 2013 and was immediately hooked. I loved how epic the stories were, and how complex each storyline was. I found myself thinking about the cats as though they were people I knew! A couple of years in, I was working on my section of one of the storylines and needed to name a random cat another character met in the forest. So just for fun I borrowed part of my partner’s name for the cat and gave him the same hair color. Anyone who has read Warriors knows that there are a lot (a LOT) of cats in this series and not every cat is around for very long. Little did I know that this character would still be alive and well a full decade later. After working on the series for a few years I departed the Warriors team to work exclusively on young adult books but regularly got updates from my colleagues on what this cat was up to. He became a father and then a grandfather. He became way more important to the Clans than I ever could have imagined. Now I’m thrilled to say I have recently rejoined the team. And I’m so happy to get to help figure out what some of my favorite cats are up to next. Including Tree!
From Stephanie:
What a weird and wonderful ride it’s been to get to be part of the team that plots and edits Warriors! When I first joined the team, back in 2013, I had no advance knowledge of the series. So I was mailed copies of The Prophecies Begin, along with an explanation that it was “kind of like Watership Down.” Like a lot of children of the 1980s, I remembered being low-key traumatized by the animated Watership Down movie, which was often foisted on kids by adults who thought it was just a sweet animal story. [Spoiler: a lot of rabbits die horribly!] So I approached the first book with great caution.
WOW. I fell in love with these cats.
The world of Warriors is so rich, so exciting, and so filled with complicated characters, impossible decisions, and epic stories! But what I love most about the series is that it’s a series for kids that avoids black-or-white thinking and is totally comfortable with shades of gray. Few decisions the Warriors cats have to make are easy. But they are real, and impactful, and over the generations of characters we’ve seen, the echoes of some of those long-ago decisions are still felt years later.
When we plot a Warriors arc, we always have a rough idea where we’re going. But you might be surprised to know how many plot choices are made in the moment, and how many of those original ideas are discarded because the characters have changed and grown by the time we get to Book Six. To be honest, the sixth book is always my favorite to plot. We often approach the first meeting with a “how the heck are we going to land this thing” level of anxiety. Over time, as we go through each character, what we want for them, and what makes for a satisfying conclusion to the series… things just weirdly slot into place. Villains are punished or redeemed. Heroes fulfill their destiny. Sometimes, our favorites don’t survive. But once we’ve written the final bullet point, I think we all feel a little bit like we’ve watched our kids graduate from college. They went through so much to get here… and faced so many difficult choices… but it made them into the cat they’ve become.
And we’re so proud of our Warrior heroes!
From James:
It’s kind of terrifying to review the files on my computer at the office and note that the first drafts of the first WARRIORS novel I worked on (Dawn of the Clans #1) are dated “August 2012” – coming up on fourteen years!!! I had been fortunate enough to have already assisted Vicky Holmes on the second arc in our SEEKERS series, and was part of the editorial team that developed the concept for the third “Erin” series, SURVIVORS, in 2010, but my involvement in the “mothership” series had been limited up to that point – mainly stepping in to proofread a text when a helping paw was needed.
Before joining the WARRIORS team, proper, one of my favourite memories of the series was when I was gifted a “bound galley” of INTO THE WILD to take home and read (it was 2003, and I had just got the job at Working Partners). It should not be a surprise to anyone that I loved the book, the concept, and the world – I loved it all so much that I pretty much threw it at my then twelve-year-old brother and said, “I think you’ll like this.”
He did – he liked it so much, he loaned it to a classmate… who loved it, and loaned it to a classmate… who loved it, and loaned it to a classmate… You get the idea! I never saw that bound galley again but would regularly bring up this anecdote to explain my bafflement at the series never quite “taking off” in the U.K. the way that it did in the U.S. (something that still baffles me to this day!).
Over the years, I was always very aware of the series’ stature and would pick up little titbits here and there, around the office, as to what Vicky, Kate and Cherith were up to, creatively. Being asked to step aboard the creative team with the Dawn… arc was rather intimidating, but the near-fourteen years (!!!) I’ve now spent getting to contribute story ideas to this rich and vibrant world has been among the most rewarding of my professional life.
Long may it continue!
From Crystal:
My first brush with Warriors happened long before I became part of the story team. I was still working at Penguin Random House as a production editor, and I was doing a lot of freelance proofreading and copyediting on the side. At some point, I got to proofread several Warriors books and thought, What is this? A book about feral cats who form Clans and battle one another or fall in love or communicate with their deceased ancestors? How weird; how wonderful! I was amazed by how quickly I came to care about the characters and their interpersonal dramas while following the larger story of survival. I became an instant Warriors fan.
So years later, when I accepted a job as an editor at Working Partners, I was thrilled to discover that I would be part of the team that helped create these fantastic stories. What I didn’t realize at the time was how taking on that role would make me a low-key rock star in the eyes of my friends’ children.
About five years ago, I went to visit my high school friend, Grace, in Seneca Falls, New York, where she lives on a farm with her husband and four children. I hadn’t seen this friend in years, so it was great to catch up and meet her family. Her kids were lovely to me in the polite but distant way any kid would be when meeting one of their parents’ friends for the first time. But then Grace asked more about my career, and I mentioned that I worked on the Warriors books . . . and her children’s eyes lit up! Suddenly, they had a million questions for me. They wanted to know EVERYTHING! Especially if I could give them any spoilers. (I could not. Ha ha) The best part was that they had LOTS of suggestions for me—name ideas, couples they wanted to see break up, plot points they adored, plot points they wanted changed . . . But mostly, they just wanted to tell me how much they loved the series and couldn’t wait to read the next book. From then on, I can safely say that I went from being one of their mom’s boring grown-up friends to being cool.
As soon as I got home, I sent them a care package full of Warriors merchandise—plushies, key chains, and tote bags. Again, they were thrilled. As far as their mom’s high school friends go, I solidified my place as their favorite. Thanks, Warriors!
