Ask Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston - November 14th! discussion
Featured Author Chat - 2013
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Ask Melissa and Michael!
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I wrote a short story, which I WILL share with readers at some point. *grins*
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I think it's set for next year (2014) in the fall or winter sometime. We're still writing it so it's hard to figure out pub dates!
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A lot of the plotting in Blue Bloods was inspired by the plotting in Game of Thrones. Learning from the master is a good thing. I read Game of Thrones in the 90s, was always a huge fan, and decided when I did my own multi-book series I wanted to try some of its tricks. :)
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Yes Kingsley is English-ish. They're all so old and have lived so many lives, but I think in Masquerade he had just come from living in England.
I'm very excited to hear you've written a book together. I've been trying to convince my fiancé that we should write something together but he hasn't loved the idea. Did you write something together before this? Did you find a particular flow that works well? Do you have any other tips for someone who is thinking of following in your steps? Happy writing to you both.
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Ok, I am on!
First, I'd like to thank the both of you for doing this; I think it's really great that you both care enough about your fans to take the time to answer our questions. So mine is what's your opinion on the Witches of East End TV show?Love it/hate it/undecided?
Have you watched any of it? I ask because I know that Rick Riordan hasn't seen the Percy Jackson movies and I was wondering if you, like him, prefer to distance yourself from the version of your story that has landed on screen?
Thanks so much for your time and for the fantastical world you so wonderfully created :)
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-What inspires you most to create a plot for the story?
For me plot comes from knowing the end of the book. With Frozen, Mike and I knew we had this big climax at the end - then we had to work backwards to figure out how to get there.
-How do you come up with varying and round characters that can be strong throughout a whole series?
For me, my characters are real people, and once you know who they are, then you know how they would act, etc. Most of the time my characters don't want to do what the plot tells them to do, so I have to change the plot. It's weird when it happens, but it also means you're doing something right.
-Did you ever see yourself as an author during your teenage years?
YES. I always wanted to be an author. I've always identified myself as a writer since I was 8 years old.
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Prior to writing FROZEN, we spent nearly a decade working together. Collaboration is hard work, but don't let the effort intimate you. It will pay off, but may take a long time.
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I think my version of hell in Blue Bloods was mostly inspired by Nietzsche/Sartre, the whole "hell is other people" thinking. I thought, what's the worst kind of living? Boredom, repetition. It's not a flaming horror, it's vulgarity, the lack of art, music, knowledge, intellect, it's living in a place with none of that. Hell is a reality TV show? :)
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Thanks!!
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-Demi"
Frozen is different from Blue Bloods in that it's not set in our world with a secret paranormal society, instead it has re-imagined the WHOLE world. :) It's a post-apocalyptic universe but it is similar to Blue Bloods in that the themes of love, loyalty, sacrifice and friendship are all present. We hope you fall in love with Nat & Wes the same way you fell for Jack & Sky, Mimi & Kingsley, etc.
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Mike and I have been working together unofficially for years, but with Frozen it was a true collaboration from the start. It was both of our ideas, and at one point it was a graphic novel HE was going to do, then it was a novel *I* alone was going to do, then we decided, hey, let's just BOTH do it. Mike has been collaborating with me since Blue Bloods, helping me realize MY vision. He's working on his own book now which won't have my name on it, since it's HIS vision we're developing for that book. Whereas Frozen is very much a SHARED vision which is why both our names are on it this time.
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Next September!
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I write a little synopsis first. Like a paragraph. I begin from the end. Then I start writing an outline, filling in stuff from the beginning and the end. Then it sort of meets in the middle. Then I write the first 100 pages. Then if the story still fits the outline, I'll continue but usually after the first 100 pages is written I have to rewrite the outline too.
Melissa I just bought you book witches of east end and can't wait to read it..I love the Tv show but I know the book with be better. I read all the sookie books by. Charline Harris and the show in some ways was way off in another world than the book like two sets of rules lol.
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Hi! The question is why didn't the actors look more like the way the characters are described in the books on the Witches of East End TV show. I think the MOST important for me, was that the actors EMBODIED the SPIRIT of the characters, and so when I saw Jenna Dewan-Tatum as Freya, she was SO Freya that I actually forgot Freya had red hair, and Rachel Boston was SO Ingrid that I forgot Ingrid was blonde. I really did. It's hard to cast on PHYSICAL looks, it was MUCH more important to have actors who have the SOUL of the character and can translate that on screen.
When I saw the girls on screen, they look like a FAMILY - and that was really important to me.
I don't think we'll see characters from my other books in the TV show just yet, but who knows?
Glad you are enjoying the TV show! Hope you pick up Frozen soon! :)
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We wrote the entire book together, that's how we work, but that being said, Mike tends to focus on the action scenes and I focus on the kissing scenes. :)
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Have no idea about international release dates. I do know we've sold Frozen to France, UK, Russia and Brazil so far.
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How did you create them? Did the details about them, their feelings, the way they..."
I have a "plan" for the book, then the characters take over. There is a little part of me in every character, especially Schuyler and Mimi. They're sort of the opposites of me, but both me. Although Oliver has my sense of humor.
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P.S. Your books are just wonderful!"
We did send them out! We had a bit of trouble with Media Mail though. If you did not receive your copy please email us again!
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Good Question. I am wary of prequels, but as we go forward we will definitely learn more about the world, the magic, and how the two came to exist.
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P.S. I am a HUGE Blue Bloods fan!"
I get my inspiration from everywhere, from books I read to friends, to overheard conversations. Schuyler's name came from a friend with the same name from a prominent American family, but he was a guy, so I stole his name and gave it to a girl. Tee hee!
Characters have to feel real, to be real, to have their own lives. The more you write them, and put them in dark situations, then you understand them better. I don't know how else to explain it, but you do have to put a piece of you into each of them to give them life. I think the more you have experienced in life, the more well-rounded and real your characters will be.
I've been a loyal friend, a terrible friend, a mom, a girlfriend, a wife, a diva, a nice person, a byatch, everything. You gotta experience it all then put it on your writing.
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I will answer the second. Making an average reader into a prolific reader is a challenge, but I think almost everyone has "a book" that will help ignite their love of reading. Finding "that book" is seldom easy. It takes time, effort, and conversation. To help a person find the right book, the book that will compel them to read more often, you need to get to know the person, find what inspires and interests the reader, and then find that topic in a book.
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Don't be surprised if Mel and I provide conflicting answers, process is a messy business. Both Mel and I like to plot, we write outlines, we research, we take notes, we spend hours discussing the work, writing ideas on napkins, on iphones, and text messages. It's obsessive! There is no prescription for writing novel. I can only recommend practice and perseverance, keep trying, keep writing, and most of all keep reading!
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I went to grad school for architecture, headed a firm, worked in New York and Los Angeles. It took a long time for me to be able to write full time. I sometimes think it's better to work in an industry outside publishing, it provides perspective and experience, don't be too eager to publish, take your time, get it right!
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- Becca Jayne(Pretty Little Memoirs, YA Book Blogger)"
Creative work is fun. I don't have a boss, I don't work in a cubicle. I read, I read write, I drink too much coffee, listen to music, stay up late watching movies. I challenge myself, I get a thrill from inventing, from new ideas, from new scenarios.
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Q: What song or artist get you into the mood to write..."
Sigur Ros, the XX.
I like eerie, atmospheric music.
First of all i want to say how much I love blue bloods and how much It is my favorite vampire series!!!!!! I am so addicted to this series i am pretty sure that I have read it like 100 times!!!! :)
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I like it too, but I'm married to the author.
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Mike and I met and bonded over our love for fantasy and sci-fi, when I was mostly writing contemporary fiction, I would read him some lines that made me laugh, or that I liked, but we didn't work together. When I started writing Blue Bloods in late 2003, it just seemed natural to work with him because we could talk about fantasy tropes, themes, etc. and he helped me realize my vision. As the years went by, it was just a natural thing as my books got more in the paranormal vein.
Finally with Frozen, we were ready to come out and also because we worked on the book, from the very beginning TOGETHER. I DO want to NOTE that "Melissa de la Cruz" is NOT a pseudonym for a writing team as I have read on some yucky blog posts. The books have my name on them because they are MY books. While he helped me (and when I describe how we work authors I've talked to say "But that's what husbands who are married to authors do all the time"), and Mike wrote parts of Blue Bloods, the series is MY vision.
Mike is working on a new book now that will ONLY have HIS name on it because while I am helping with it, it is HIS vision and HIS story. Whereas Frozen is a SHARED vision.
I think it's hard to understand a creative marriage if you're not in one. But from the very beginning when we met, Mike would make photograph collages for me, I would write poems for him, and we would always work on many artistic projects TOGETHER. So asking a question like "why did you want to write with your husband" is not even the correct question.
We've been working together since we met. I met a cute boy who read books and made art and took photographs and could draw and for his part, he met a cute girl who wrote poetry and loved art and wanted to write books and we've been together ever since, writing books, making art, and taking names. :)
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Possibly! I have an idea now for a few books in the Witches of East End universe, but nothing formal that I can announce yet. Stay tuned! :)
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We worked on Wolf Pact together and that was the difficult, child-bearing, everything-went-wrong-process. So with Frozen, even though we had worked on it on and off for 5 years, when we got to it finally with the two of us, it was very peaceful. We agreed on a lot of things and we just had fun with it.
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Wow, I can't believe I'm really talking to Melissa De La Cruz....
Okay well, first off, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Blue Bloods. Schuyler and Jack are the cutest couple ever, and I..."
Aww, a lot of questions are about spinoffs - VAMPIRES OF MANHATTAN is coming next year folks! With new and old characters and lots of fun!
As for music, I don't listen to ANY music when I write. I MUST have absolute silence. Then I take dance breaks and dance around to, Beyonce or Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus. I like pop music. Also I like parodies of pop music, which is why I can't get the "Frodo" song from YALLFEST out of my head. We rock to the Weird Al Star Wars songs in my house all the time. *nerds*
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For this book, frozen, how do you both keep the consistency in writing a..."
Mike wrote a series bible with all the rules we made up after we finished writing Frozen. He's the meticulous detail-oriented one of the two of us. :)
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I would say write an outline, and also have LOTS of things happen. When I say lots of things, think of the subplots, think of the external arc and the internal one. What is happening in the physical world of your story and what is happening in the internal character feed? Also, don't start writing until you've written character backgrounds, outlines, think of huge things that can happen, not just one, but like, TEN, then start plugging it in. Also, have your characters fall into HOLES. (Libba Bray's advice.) By that I mean, get them into trouble, shake them up, write them into corners that they have to fight out of.
Good luck!!
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I'm lucky, writing is my job and it's been my full-time job for over a decade now. I quit my day job in 1999. But it is hard, being a mom, to try and do all the mom things AND the writer thing. It takes discipline and also for me, not to do things halfway. If I'm with my kid, I'm FOCUSED on my kid, I'm focused on my family, my husband, dinner, vacation, etc. And if I'm writing I'm JUST WRITING and I give all my attention to my book. I've just learned to stop and start my brain that way.
All the books I write are inspired by wanting to write books that I want to READ. From Fresh off the Boat to my latest, The Ring and The Crown, they are all personal passion projects. I'm lucky that the stuff *I* like, most people like too.
Hi Melissa! I love your Blue Bloods series! I have to admit you really tricked me! I thought Schuyler was going to be all by herself, but no! Thank God Jack came back at the end of Gates of Paradise! I fell in love with Blue Bloods when I read the part about the lost colony in Roanoke! It's really creative of you to use so much history (I love history!) and turn it into such a beautiful story. Hi Michael! I can't believe you and Melissa are writing a book series together! I can't wait to read Frozen! I look forward to reading your creative work. :D
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I hope you enjoy FROZEN! We had fun writing the book.
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The question is how to create a distinct point of view - To create a realistic POV - you really need to KNOW your character really well - like what would they eat in the morning? What would they find funny? You have to see the world THROUGH their eyes - and since everyone has a different way of looking at the world - once you have that DOWN, your characters will be DISTINCT from each other.
One way to do this easily is to start with very GENERIC traits that you then layer with more DETAILED traits- like I'll start with Mimi Force, for instance, so you go from SPOILED, BITCHY, SELFISH but once you get to know her, you know she's LOYAL, CONSERVATIVE, CONFLICTED... She became a real person once I knew all her motives.
So try to understand your characters and try to get to know them almost like you are getting to know yourself. Because they are PART of you... :)
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Thank you!! :)
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My favorite of MY books are Masquerade, The Van Alen Legacy, Witches of East End and Frozen.
I was inspired to write by being a reader all my life, and particularly by the lives of Enid Blyton, who wrote 500 children's books, and the young writers of Sweet Valley High, who were in their 20s when the wrote those books, and later by Stephen King, JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling. My favorite book of all time is War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
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Thank you!! :)"
Thanks Everyone!
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my question is which character do you associate your self with the most out of all your books
and also which character would you want to be like, if you were not yourse..."
Which character is most like myself, Vicenza from Fresh off the Boat is pretty much me, in Blue Bloods, Sky and Mimi, the character I would most LIKE to be but am not like is Nat from Frozen. She's such a cool, deadpan, awesome chick. I am not cool. I am pretty goofy.
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What is it like in the beginning? REJECTION, REJECTION, REJECTION. I went through four agents before one was able to sell my book. But I have to say when I was unpublished and just aspiring, I had a group of friends who believed in me, who thought I was a great writer, who believed I would be published one day. They encouraged me and pushed me, and I don't think I would be here without their support. So find a group of friends like that and treasure them. :)
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Q: What song or artist get you into the mood to write..."
The song that encapsulates the spirit of Frozen is "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons. For SO many reasons, not least of which is the band name. We played that song over and over and over again while we were writing the book, not WHILE we were writing, but in the car, or at home, relaxing. It was the soundtrack of our lives during the process.
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Melissa, I've read your website several times, and I catch each one of your tweets, so now getting to ask you a question directly is awesome! (So keep tweeting away!!!)
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Aww, your poor dad. My dad was a banker. He supported my dreams up to a POINT. He wanted to make sure I could financially support myself as well as realize my artistic dreams. I had a day job for nine years as a computer programmer. If you want to be a writer, who says you can't be an engineer as well? Don't quit until you can support yourself on your writing. A LOT of writers have day jobs and still do.
But I would say, don't give up either. And keep working on your writing while you're doing the other thing. Think of it has having TWO jobs: a writing job and a money job. One day those two will become one. But until then, you have to do both. Yeah, it's hard, but life is hard. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING is easy.
And we went through many many drafts of Frozen, it took five years on and off to write it. So keep rewriting until you get it right! :)
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My questions..."
Blue Bloods came from surfing the internet and finding out all these rich and famous Americans had ancestors who came from the Mayflower...it made me think, What if they were vampires? What if vampires came over on the Mayflower? And the series came from there.
How did you combat the "Just another teen vampire book ideology"?
There's no way to "combat" this, it was not part of my writing process, I just wrote the book I wanted to write, I don't pay attention to that sort of thing at all. I think Blue Bloods did well on its own merit, but certainly also from a lot of people being interested in vampires, so being "lumped" in that category was also good for the books.
How will readers respond to the new novel (Frozen)?
I hope they enjoy it as much as Blue Bloods! Certainly I have fans from my Au Pairs and Ashleys days who started reading paranormal because of Blue Bloods, and so we hope we have Blue Bloods fans who come to Frozen. All my books have the same DNA, it's my sense of humor, it's my worldview, whether it's chick lit or tween lit or fantasy. So they share that, even though the new book is set in a very different world from Frozen.