Melissa de la Cruz is the talented author of young adult vampire series Blue Bloods. Her latest entry in the series is Blue Bloods 3: Revelations.
ML: Melissa, thank you so much for this interview. We at MonsterLibrarian.com have a lot of questions for you and greatly appreciate your taking the time to answer them.
Can you share with us how you started out as a writer? What was your path to publication?
MDLC: I started out as a journalist. My first article appeared in the New York Press in 1996. From there, I started writing for more newspapers and magazines, sometimes as a book reviewer, sometimes as a features journalist–I interviewed a lot of B-list celebrities! I also started an online fashion magazine with a bunch of friends, and I’ve had stints at magazines–I was a beauty editor at Allure for a while. I sold my first novel, for adults, to Simon & Schuster when I was 27 and it was published in 2001, called Cat’s Meow, about a New York fashionista. I published a couple more adult books and then S&S asked me if I would be interested in writing for teens, and I published The Au Pairs with them in 2004, and I never looked back. I love writing for teens–it’s what I was meant to do, totally. But I’m glad I had my freelance and fashion background–they were great material for my books.
ML: How did you end up writing YA horror fiction?
MDLC: My editor who had bought The Au Pairs moved to Hyperion and she asked me if I had any horror ideas. Again, I’ve been really lucky that people have liked my books enough to ask me to write for them, instead of the other way around. I’ve always wanted to write about vampires–again, it was like a lightbulb–THIS is what I’m meant to do! It just felt really natural.
ML: Do you enjoy writing in the horror genre? Will we see more YA horror from you, or do you plan to go in a different direction with your writing?
MDLC: Oh yes. I love writing YA horror. Although I think of Blue Bloods as more ‘fantasy’. But there will absolutely be more books in this genre. I’m writing a Blue Bloods spinoff right now called Wolf Pact, about werewolves, that I’m really really excited about, and also another new horror series I’m working on that I can’t talk about right now.
ML: What would you say are the primary influences in developing the Blue Bloods?
MDLC: All the books I’ve loved: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Sex and the City, Flowers in the Attic, The Secret History, The Vampire Chronicles, and The Dark Tower. I always think of Blue Bloods as a younger Sex and the City crossed with a sexier Harry Potter.
ML: Did you read other YA vampire fiction before writing the Blue Bloods books?
MDLC: No. I’ve never read Twilight. (I did see the movie though!) I finished Blue Bloods, submitted it to my editor, and then saw Twilight in the bookstores. I was really worried, actually, that because Twilight came out before my book did, that no one would read mine. Happily, that’s not the case at all. Because Twilight did so well, more kids wanted to read vampire books.
I read Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles when I was a teen, and those were the vampire books that influenced me.
ML: Revelations ended with a cliffhanger, leaving room for a sequel. What are your plans for continuing the story of Schuyler and the Blue Bloods?
MDLC: Hyperion has bought up until Book Six, they tend to buy two at a time. There will most likely be ten books in all. I know all the main big plot points, and I know the end. But I don’t know how long it will take me to get there. Book Four will be a resolution of some ma jor plot lines and will open up a new ‘trilogy’. Book Five will pick up a few years after Book Four. All the books will still feature the gang: Schuyler, Jack, Oliver, Mimi and Bliss. But there will be new characters, which I am excited about.
When I wrote the Blue Bloods mythology I had a nine-book series in mind, with three trilogies. The first trilogy kind of seeped into four books, but I want to keep the next books a little tighter.
ML: The idea of vampires as fallen angels seems to be unique to your work. What influenced you to create this concept?
MDLC: A lot of people ask me if they can find my mythology “anywhere else” because it seemed SO natural that vampires were fallen angels. And I have to tell them, nope: just in my books. I’ve always loved the story of Paradise Lost, I thi nk Lucifer is such a great character. I did feel like when I was making up the mythology that I was excavating the story–I was so excited when I made the connection because it just felt so perfect.
ML: You use a more advanced vocabulary in the Blue Bloods books than we’ve seen in other YA vampire novels. Is that typical of your writing, or does it serve a particular purpose in the books?
MDLC: How funny you ask! I do get emails about that sometimes. I even got a hate email about my vocabulary! Someone said “Stephenie Meyer doesn’t need to use words like ‘ameliorate’ to sound smart.” Which I find so hilarious. I’m not out to impress anyone. I think that’s just typical of my writing. I like big words, and I like to use them. I don’t write down to my readers, I write the same exact way for my adult books. I read Dune when I was fourteen. I read Kafka and Camus at fifteen. Kids are able to read much more dense and complicated books than mine. 
I’m not really sure what purpose it serves, but I’ve always loved the tone of books like Jane Austen’s and Edith Wharton that very dry, very exact language.
ML: We also noticed that you create atmosphere and setting using very detailed descriptions, and that you create suspense effectively. How do you balance setting, character development, and plot when you’re writing?
MDLC: Oy! Thanks for that! I try. I don’t know–I like glamorous settings, and I like richly detailed books like Anne Rice’s. So I always try to set the books somewhere fun. The plot is key – I work on that to death, I do a huge outline and I try to make it all dangerous and fun and cliff-hanger-y. But when you write the book the story kind of just takes a life of its own so you have to change things as it goes. It’s such a cliche, but the characters have a life of their own and you just have to follow what they want to do too.
The only book I ever wrote that emerged, perfectly, from the outline was Masquerade. None of my other books were ever that easy. Sometimes you just get lucky. My husband and I had just come from the Venice Biennale, and I wanted to introduce Lawrence in a cool way.
ML: How do you organize yourself when you’re working on several projects for a variet y of audiences simultaneously? How do you stay motivated?
MDLC: It’s difficult. But the fun is that I get to be in different worlds. I can’t work on books that are too alike. I’ll hear a song and I’ll think, oh that’s perfect for my chic-lit book, or then I’ll read something and think it’s perfect for Blue Bloods. It keeps me interested in a variety of things.
I think it’s really helpful to be curious about the world. Writers want to know what makes people tick, and how the world works. I love learning about new stuff kids are doing, or new slang, or just, everything that’s new. I like being trendy. It keeps me young and the books interesting. I’m never bored with life. There’s always something new to discover.
ML: What’s your routine? Do you need peace and quiet to write, or do you prefer to write with music playing?
MDLC: I need total silence. And I need to work in an office away from my home. I used to be able to work at home before I had a kid, but now my little girl wants to play all the time and it’s heartbreaking to say no. So it’s easier if I just get out. Also, because I had a day job for all those years and wrote my books at work, I really like being in an office to write. The sound of typing is very soothing.
I like music on when I’m editing, but that’s the only time. I like to take dance breaks though. I’ll work and then I’ll put on some house music and dance around for five minutes and then it’s silence again and writing.
ML: Do you write a series with a story arc in mind before you start? When you are writing a series, how much of the plot and the details do you already have worked out in your head and how much occurs when you are writing that specific book in the series?
MDLC: I always know the big arc, the big plot points, the big story. I work out a lot of things in my head for a long time. It took a year to write Blue Bloods. Kids want the books so quickly, but it takes a long time to do these things. I had the idea for the werewolves for a long time too, but I didn’t even want to sell it until I was really able to think about it for a year. While I think there’s an advantage to doing things quickly, I think writing books takes time. And it’s good to let them sit in your head for a while.
ML: To wrap up, is there anything you’d like to share with librarians and readers?
MDLC: I’d like to thank all the librarians for your support–you guys are the best, and you really care about the kids. It’s so nice to meet you guys on tour, and the kids are really lucky to have you. For my readers, I have a special Christmas treat for them, so check out my website around the 25th for a fun Blue Bloods surprise.
Thanks so much for giving us the opportunity for this interview. We at MonsterLibrarian.com appreciate your taking the time to answer our questions. We look forward to reading your future work!
Thanks for having me!! It was a pleasure!!