Q&A with Amber Hamilton

Thanks for joining us here at YALC. We would love you to introduce yourself

I’m Amber. I’m the author of Seven Deadly Thorns and Twelve Dark Hours. I like to say I write dark and spooky kissing books!

Where do you write?

In my dining room or at my local pub. They all know me as “the author” there.

What is your favourite genre to read?

I read a lot of fantasy, but I also love science fiction and nonfiction.

Where can our readers find you on social media?

I’m @amham_writes on Instagram and Threads, @amhamwrites on TikTok

Can you give us your favourite quote from a novel (it can be yours!)?

I have a Wuthering Heights quote tattooed on my back. “I wish I were a girl again—half savage and hardy, and free.”

From my own books it’s “If your existence disturbs their peace, they don’t deserve peace.”

Can you give our readers an overview of your YA novel Twelve Dark Hours

It’s a dark rivals-to-lovers Cinderella retelling in which Vesper and Lonan are stuck in their magic school overnight while the school tries to kill them through deadly trials. Along the way, Vesper finds her fated mate, but it turns out he’s a fate worse than death.

And, if you could do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?

Cinderella with evil vampires

What was the original spark that inspired Twelve Dark Hours?

Seven Deadly Thorns was a love story that happened in seven days, so I wanted to see if I could write one that happened even faster—twelve hours! I also was inspired to write cursed poetry magic by Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department.

What made you want to retell Cinderella? What elements of the fairytale inspired you the most?

Cinderella is fun because everything happens so quickly. The ticking clock element brings in so much suspense, and versions of the original fairytale were very dark. It lends itself really well to thrills and chills.

Who was your favourite character to write and why?

Nurse Verne! I originally had a matronly woman as the school nurse and decided in later drafts that that was boring and predictable. I wanted to write the least likely character to be a school nurse, so I chose a curmudgeonly old man. That’s exactly what’s so lovable about him—prickly exterior, but a teddy bear at heart.

Is there a particular scene that felt rewarding to write?

Any time I can scare readers’ pants off is rewarding for me, so the scene in the coffin is a favourite of mine.

Is there another character’s backstory you would love to explore in another book?

I would love to dig in more to Lonan’s history and the Dark nation of Imaelhain.

What did your research process look like before you started writing, and what did you discover along the way?

I’m grateful for Nick Groom’s book on vampires. There are so many takes on vampires, that I wanted to make sure mine were rooted in history, not just and amalgam of every vampire novel I’ve ever read. Every time I write a fairytale retelling, I also read the original fairytale many times over so that I can purge my brain of any Disney associations as much as possible.

What aspect of crafting this novel challenged you the most as a writer?

This was my second novel, and I had a bad case of the Second Book Scaries. Add to that that I was writing with financial pressure for the first time as a newly minted single parent, and it made it difficult. I was also trying to write a love story just after getting divorced, and that felt forced and inauthentic. Then the first words came to me: “Sometimes a heart breaks slowly. Sometimes all at once. But it is a rare and terrible thing for a heart to be broken by magic.” Finally, I was being authentic and was telling the truth about love. The words came more easily after that.

Did the ending change for the book while you wrote, or did you already know the ending?

I’m a discovery writer, so I only ever have a vague idea of the ending during the first draft. From that draft, I discover opportunities to surprise the reader. The only thing I know for certain from the beginning is that the couple will live and will be in love at the end.

Vesper and Lonan share a dangerous secret, and are rivals. What made you decide to make them rivals rather than friends?

I am a friends-to-lovers hater! Honestly, I find it boring and far too close to reality. I need my romance to have all that zesty tension that enemies and rivals bring to a story.

The story unfolds over just twelve hours. How did that compressed timeline influence the way you built the plot, characters, and tension?

I loved the show 24, and I thought it would be so fun to try to do something similar in a book. To build the story in such a short time frame, I had to set up huge tension between characters that existed before page one, like a line of dominos just waiting to fall.

Both Seven Deadly Thorns and Twelve Dark Hours follow a similar rhythm and structure. Is that a conscious part of your branding as an author, or is it simply a coincidence?

It’s an intentional feature of this series. It’s a bargain I’m making with the reader—I’m not asking them to stick with for four hundred pages. I’m asking them to let me entertain them for just one thorn at a time, just one hour at a time. That makes it more challenging for me and more exciting for them.