Natasha Preston, the bestselling author of The Cellar, The Cabin, and other titles for teens, whips up another YA suspense novel, The Party. To ensure that no adults can derail their spring break plans, friends attending an English boarding school lie to the administration and their parents about their destination: an ancient castle, complete with a moat, that belongs to the wealthy family of 16-year-old narrator Bessie’s friend—and lead party planner—Allegra. Though the whole class is invited, an oncoming storm waylays many, and only 10 make it to the destination. That’s not enough to put a stop to this once-in-a-lifetime gathering—until the party takes a lethal turn. Preston spoke with PW about origins: of her love for thrillers, The Party, and her career.

Why do you write horror and suspense novels?

From a very young age, I’ve loved being scared; I was watching horror movies way before I should and reading anything that promised to keep me up at night. When I started experimenting with writing, it felt quite natural to explore something that I really enjoyed.

How do you generate ideas for new thrillers?

Quite a few of them started as a random thought or a dream. With The Cellar, I dreamed I was kidnapped, and then in the morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Why did I dream that? What happened? Where do you go from there?

And from where did The Party originate?

It was during a conversation with my publisher. Most of my books are set in the U.S., so we wanted to have one in the U.K., so we could look at creepy settings in old castles. It snowballed from there. I asked myself, “Why would teens be going to a remote castle for the weekend alone?” And then The Party was born.

Did writing a story based in the U.K. require a shift in perspective compared to your previous books?

I feel like it was slightly easier to write because I’m British, so it came quite naturally. But I had to be careful with character ages because in the U.K., we leave high school at 16, but in the U.S., you’re in high school for longer. Wanting them to still fall into the older teen category was probably the only real challenge I faced.

On your website you mention that you got your start in writing on Wattpad in 2010, and your debut novel The Cellar was published in 2014. How has your writing—and your career—changed over the last decade?

I like to say I was never supposed to write. It was never a goal; I didn’t ever think I would be a writer until I started reading on Wattpad and decided, “Just give it a little go.” I really enjoyed it, but I still didn’t see it as a career. It was a hobby—it was just for fun. And then a young publishing professional found me on Wattpad, and I published my first book.

I thought maybe that would be the only book, but then they came back and wanted a second one. That’s not the typical way you get published in the traditional world. I got very lucky.

What are you working on next?

I’ve just started my next book. I don’t think I can reveal too many details, but we’re back in the U.S. and we’re going down the stalking route.

The Party by Natasha Preston. Delacorte, $14.99 paper, Dec. 3 ISBN 978-0-593-70408-0