An American at Hogwarts

Q&A Answers!

Thank you all so much for all the questions you sent in!! I had so much fun reading and answering them, and I want you all to know, I wrote my answers while wearing a Hogwarts robe to get in the mood 😂 Some questions came from readers who've read all the way to chapter 30 in book three (the most recent thing I've published as of the time this is being posted), so some of the questions had spoilers for books two and three. I separated those questions out to the second half of this chapter, and I made it clear when and where they start, so if you're not caught up on the rest of the series I'd seriously recommend it before you start reading those questions and answers.

The Spoiler-Free Section:

For the Author:

• Is Kate Bishop going to be in the next book?

No, probably not. Hawkeye is lovely and she's such a cool character, but I'm probably not going to get into anything post-Infinity War as far as characters and canon go. We're operating like it's 2012 and people are still writing fics where all the OG Avengers are living happily together in Stark Tower.

• What inspired you to write Alexa's story?

I always thought it would be fun to have a tech-savvy character who could get around all the nonsense at Hogwarts and turn the wizarding world upside down, simply by the introduction of muggle technology. As I finished up Saving Grant Ward and started thinking about what I wanted to write next, that idea was bouncing around in my head more and more. I was trying to figure out who my main character would be, and how I could make it believable that she knew so much about technology, and then the Marvel nerd piece of me came up with the perfect answer: who better than Tony Stark's daughter to use muggle technology and ingenuity to turn the wizarding world upside down?

• Where did this idea of plot originate?

Honestly? I had no idea where I was going with this story until the last minute, in more ways than one. When I was writing the first book, I just kind of dove into it for the fun of it without coming up with details about what would happen later. I was actually toying with introducing Harry Osborn as the "villain" in book one until I got about halfway through and came up with the idea of using Jackson as a main character instead of just a rando who showed up to give Alexa a hard time. Now, I know where I want to go with the series as a whole, and I have the rest of book three mapped out along with rough outlines for book four and five. But that didn't come until much later either, I think some time either during or right before I started publishing the second book. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I'm lucky I didn't shoot myself in the foot with plot stuff in the early AAH chapters before I really knew where I was going.

• Who are your inspirations?

I've been writing since before I could remember, and it's always been a passion of mine, even before I had favorite authors. That said, if I had to pick somebody, it'd be Sarah J Maas. First because that woman literally published two MASSIVE novels a year as her regular writing schedule, and has only since slowed down to one massive novel a year because she has a baby now. And not only that, but her writing is *fantastic*. Her plot, characters, and world are literally amazing, and A House of Earth and Blood is probably my favorite book of all time. Her A Court of Thorns and Roses series is a very close second, and I haven't read Throne of Glass yet, but I'm sure she did a great job with that too. It's just cool to see how well she develops her characters and gives them struggles but also shows us they can get through them and come out on the other side okay, and happy to still be here. She's wonderful, and even though I'm a pretty new fan of hers, I'd definitely put her as my #1 inspiration.

(Also, while her books are absolutely AMAZING, they do have some adult content—especially her newer stuff—so if you're under 18 I'd recommend waiting a little bit to read them.)