Bestselling authors Sarah Biglow and Molly Zenk have co-authored the book Hunted. And the new book is perfect for fans of vampires! In order to save his younger brother from a vampire recruitment weekend disguised as a live action role-playing game, Vampire Hunter Darren Paxton must team up with Vampire Edith Dorset and things get…complicated. An impromptu late-night encounter leads Darren and Edith to be honest with each other about who and what each of them are. And Edith longs to keep Darren and his brother close, even though it goes against the rules. The two start to grow closer as they seek out the truth from Edith’s Sire, Mr. Heartsong. And soon Darren is finding it harder than he thought to snuff out Edith and her family. Before Sarah and Molly take over our Twitter account today, they told us what it was like writing a vampire novel together.

Young Entertainment Mag: How did you both meet? What led to your collaboration? 
Sarah Biglow and Molly Zenk: We both had the same literary agent years ago.  He “introduced” everyone in the agency so the authors could chat and become friends via email.  Even though we both left the agency about a year and a half after that, we stayed friends. We have the same interests in books, tv, and movies, beta read for each other, and have similar writing styles…so much so that unless we specifically tell people who writes which narrator, people don’t know. We started collaborating two years ago and have written 12 books together since then.

YEM: How does writing a novel together compare to writing solo? What is the biggest difference between writing by oneself and co-authoring?
Sarah Biglow: I like being able to bounce ideas off another person (not that we don’t do that with our solo projects, too), but it’s a much more shared-brain experience writing together. And I also enjoy only having to write half a book. I think the world-building is a lot of fun when you’re doing it with another person because they might come up with something you’d never think of.
Molly Zenk: With co-writing, I like having someone to bounce ideas off of regarding characters, world building, and plot. It’s also nice to only have to write half the book. Having a build in support system with a co-author is great.  I’m less confident in my solo projects now, but plan to get back into those in 2021. 

YEM: Your newest book is called Hunted. What is the book about? 
Sarah and Molly:  Hunted is an alt history paranormal romance where a vampire (Edith) and vampire hunter (Darren) must team up to save Darren’s younger brother from a deadly game with real consequences.  The core themes are family and acceptance. 

YEM: What inspired you to write this story? Where did the idea come from?
Sarah and Molly: We wanted to write something paranormal for a multi-author boxed set.  Instead of putting it into the boxed set anthology, we decided the alt-history and world building aspects were so unique we wanted to shop it to publishers. The idea came from a brainstorming session of “what if vampires live among us but are second class citizens? And what if all historical events such as the civil war and civil rights were vampire vs human instead of how we know it in our timeline?”

YEM: There are lots of readers that love a good vampire story. What is it about vampires that make them so fun to read about?

Sarah and Molly: Vampires are so unpredictable yet very, very human. They were human once. Vampire lore is pretty ingrained in popular culture but writers, etc can still find ways to make it unique, fresh, and interesting. 

YEM: Did you do any research on vampires when writing this book? Did you learn anything new about vampires when writing this book?  
Sarah: I don’t think we did too much research about vampire lore while writing. We really focused more on making our vampires sympathetic and relatable while also making them unique.
Molly: I did more historical research than specific to vampires to make sure things like the vampire-human civil war, vampire rights movement, and forming of the vampire human alliance lined up with the dates we said they were in the story.  I’ve always been a big fan of Dracula by Bram Stoker so based most of “what do humans think of vampires?” perception on Dracula. 

YEM: Do you have a favorite vampire book or movie?

Sarah: TV: Buffy for sure. Team Spike all the way! And to an extent, Shadowhunters (who doesn’t love Raphael and Simon).

Molly: Books: Dracula.  Movies/TV: Buffy The Vampire Slayer and True Blood.

YEM: This book tackles the idea of “vampires vs. humans.”  What do you think is the most interesting difference between vampires and humans?

Sarah and Molly: One of the most interesting differences is that both sides view each other as “monsters” when really, they are not different at all. Sure, there are surface differences like vampires drink blood and are never age, but – deep down—both sides still are human/possess humanity. 

YEM: There is also the conflict between vampire and vampire hunter! What do you think makes a good vampire hunter?

Sarah and Molly: Willingness to take orders and be dedicated to the cause (in Darren’s case – eradicate all vampires) makes a good vampire hunter.  Darren also realizes that his views may be wrong. His willingness to accept this and go against training shows his humanity. 

YEM: Do you plan to write about other supernatural beings in the future? Like witches, werewolves, zombies maybe?

Sarah and Molly: Yes, and we already have!  We have two supernatural/paranormal series besides HUNTED. 

Captivity series – Set in a post-apocalyptic world where shapeshifters are hunted for bounties and kept as “pets” by the human elite. A group of misfit shifters and magical creatures band together to find for shifter rights and their own freedom. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083LXCXH3

Celestial Academy series – Set in a boarding school for the children of Archangels and descendants of Saints,  the daughters of Lucifer and Michael team up to solve mysterious disappearances on campus, stop the apocalypse, and discover that Fallen and Angels may not be that different after all.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08693RWW3