Melissa de la Cruz on Writing for Adults

Melissa de la Cruz began her career with the YA vampire series, Blue Bloods, but she will soon release her first adult title, Witches of East End. At BEA, she joined a panel of YA authors who have also finished their first adult projects.

De la Cruz explained: “I was really excited to write an adult book, so I was like, ‘Woo! I can write about sex.’ So I wrote all the sex scenes first. And then I had to figure out how to make it work in the story. I kind of went backwards that way. I think I struggled with it a little bit more because I thought, ‘Oh, it’s an adult book.’ I thought I had to put on some other brain. As I was writing it, I was like, ‘Oh no, this is just like Blue Bloods. This is just what I do.’”

De la Cruz wrote Witches of East End with her YA fans in mind, considering that many of them will soon be adults. She promised a few favorite characters will reappear in her adult title.

When asked if she had social media strategy, the novelist answered no. De la Cruz explained that writing is an isolating activity and the majority of a writer’s professional socializing takes place online–therefore, social media should be fun. What do you think?

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