Watch out vampires, something a little more angelic is about to be fighting for the small screen. The Embrace series, which centers on heroine Violet Eden, whose life changes when she learns that she’s actually part angel, has just been officially optioned as a pilot by The CW. We got the chance to talk one-on-one with the author, Jessica Shirvington (she has an oh-so-adorable Australian accent) during her book tour for Entice, the sequel to Embrace. Jessica spilled all about the series, her dream cast and how Violet almost had a different name! Check it out below.
BOP&TB: So The CW just announced that they’re ordering a pilot based on Embrace. How excited are you about that?
Jessica Shirvington: It’s kind of something that I’ve been dying to talk about. It’s funny, I went to have a meeting with my film and television agent and we were talking about it all and I left that meeting with him and was going back to the hotel and Source Books called me and said, “Oh wow, it’s just come online.” And it was a surprise because we didn’t know when it was going to be announced. It was just really great timing and so exciting.
BOP&TB: So how long have they been talking about making Embrace into a TV show?
Jessica Shirvington: It’s been a while. They started talking to us after Embrace was released, so it always sort takes a bit of time. And also, to kind of get everything done and tied away.
BOP&TB: That’s great. And The CW seems like a great fit since they already do shows like The Vampire Diaries, which is also based on a book series.
Jessica Shirvington: Yeah, if you had given me my pick, I would pick The CW because they are just so focused on that model and that age group. And they just do it so well.
BOP&TB: Have they started talking about casting yet at all? Who would you cast if you could pick any actors in the world to play your main characters?
Jessica Shirvington: I didn’t really picture anyone when I was writing the books because it was all sort of just happening in the weird place that is my head. But I get lots of bloggers putting up things saying, “Wouldn’t this person be great?” or “Wouldn’t that person be great?” And some of the suggestions that I have thought, “oh that could work.” I like the idea of someone like Emma Roberts or Lyndsy Fonseca or someone like that. Someone a bit edgy, who’s got enough attitude to hold Violet’s character. But I also love the idea of an unknown taking the part because then they’re not famous for being someone else. And then, I always think of Lincoln as a young Jensen Ackles from Supernatural or even, someone suggested the other day Chase Crawford from Gossip Girl. And Phoenix…I don’t know. It’s just going to be the hair that does it.
BOP&TB: Are you going to be really involved with the series?
Jessica Shirvington: I’ll be as involved as they want me to, but I know it’s in great hands and I trust them whole-heartedly really to just do with it what they do best. I’d love to have an opportunity at script writing, but I also know that’s not really what I do. It’s something that, if the opportunity comes up I’ll say yes, but I’m great with them leading the way.
BOP&TB: Where did the inspiration for the Embrace series come from?
Jessica Shirvington: I didn’t think about it at all. I just opened my laptop and started writing one day and the first two words I wrote were “Lincoln” and “Violet” and my life changed. It was kind of weird. I really didn’t realize what I was doing until I discovered the characters. But I knew if I was going to write a story about a girl, I wanted her to be really strong, but also coming of age through it as well. So in the beginning, she’s fallible. She makes mistakes. But she kind of has to so she can evolve and grow so she can become the heroine she needs to be. And then it was just getting into the mythology, like the angel lure and hierarchy and all of the folk lore that went around that. And once I started researching I just realized there was so much and I wanted to use from that world.
BOP&TB: What was the biggest change that happened to Embrace between your first draft and the final book fans have read?
Jessica Shirvington: Originally, in my drafts, I called Violet “Violet Reynold” and the publishers during the editing kind of came back and said, “We don’t really know about Reynold” so I said “Okay, I’ll come up with some more possible surnames and “Eden” was one of them and they loved it. So she got changed to Violet Eden.
Have you read Embrace? Will you watch the show? Who would YOU cast as Violet? Tell us in the comments and on Twitter!