Erin Hunter is a collective pseudonym used by the authors Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Inbali Iserles, Tui T. Sutherland, Kasey Widhalm 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, and Bravelands book series. It was also previously used by Gillian Philip. Each of the authors play a different role: while Holmes creates the storyline of each book, Cary, Baldry, and Sutherland take turns writing the books. In addition, another person who isn't an Erin Hunter writes the manga: Dan Jolley.
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 bonuary 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130403113933/http://www.wandsandworlds.com/community/node/2998 | archive-date = 3 April 2013
Authors
Victoria Holmes
Victoria Holmes was born in Berkshire, England. Holmes was the original author of the series with Harper Collins 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
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 she wrote Into the Wild, Fire and Ice and Rising Storm. In the second series she only wrote Dawn, the third book. In the third series she wrote The Sight, Dark River and Eclipse. In the fourth series 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 books Bloodline and the sequel Reckoning.
Cherith Baldry
was the third author brought in to the Erin Hunter team and was born on 21 January 1947. Holmes invited her to join on the third book, Forest of Secrets after seeing her writing style and feeling that it was similar to Kate Cary's. She wrote the rest of the books that Kate Cary did not write, since there were only 12 books of Cary's.
Tui T. Sutherland
was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but now lives in the United States which makes her the only non-British author of the series. She now lives in Boston and first wrote the field guide Secrets of the Clans. Sutherland was an editor of the Warriors series for HarperCollins until she quit editing to become a full-time writer. Victoria Holmes approached her and asked if she would like to become a writer for the Erin Hunter team, and Sutherland accepted. She is also the author of the novel series Wings of Fire.
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 with her husband, two children, three dogs, two cats, and hamster. 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 ; the Darke Academy series, and young adult novels including Bad Faith, Crossing The Line and The Opposite of Amber. She was married in 1989 to Lan and had a set of twins, Lucy and Jamie. Philip no longer writes Erin Hunter books as of June 2020.
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 The Storm of Dogs. She also publishes animal fantasy novels in her own name, including The Tygrine Cat and the Foxcraft trilogy.
Rosie Best
The newest addition to the group is Rosie Best, an editor working on the Survivors series. She was first involved with the Erin Hunter team assisting Holmes with responding to Warriors fanmail. She has published one YA novel, Skulk, in her own name.
The authors have specific roles. 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, the author fixes it up and gets ready to publish it. For the Survivors series, there is a different approach taken. The whole team creates a detailed story outline and develops the characters together, and then the actual writing gets 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 " '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. The books are all told in a third person narrative though the point of view changes with each series. The first series, the original Warriors series, followed Firepaw. Then in the second series, The New Prophecy, the view switched between Firepaw's, now Firestar's, two daughters, Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw, in addition to Tigerstar's son, Brambleclaw, and Graystripe's son and daughter, Stormfur and Feathertail in Moonrise. In the Power of Three series, it goes back between Firestar's grandchildren Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf. In the Omen of the Stars series, it goes between Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Dovepaw, and Ivypaw. In Night Whispers, it also includes the perspective of Flametail of ShadowClan, which is the only time it has been out of ThunderClan in the four main series since Moonrise. In Dawn of the Clans, the point of view switches between Gray Wing, Clear Sky, and Thunder. In A Vision of Shadows, the point of view mainly follows Alderheart, Twigbranch, and Violetshine. In the Seekers series, the point of view alternates between the three bears, Lusa, Kallik and Toklo until The Last Wilderness, where Ujurak's point of view is added in with the other three. In the Survivors series, the point of view is focused on Lucky, the Lone Dog turned beta.
