Author Profile: Melissa de la Cruz

July 20, 2005

SKINNY-DIPPING is the second installment in Melissa de la Cruz's Au Pairs series, about three girls from different classes and parts of the world who spend their summers together in the Hamptons. Teenreads.com contributing writer Amy Alessio spoke with de la Cruz about the wonderful friendship her young protagonists share and the feedback she receives from readers concerning this subject. She also explains how she became interested in writing for teens, discusses the inspiration for some of the characters in her novels, and gives readers a sneak peak at her new series, which combines fantasy with the high-fashion world.

Teenreads.com: What appealed to you about the Hamptons as a setting for The Au Pairs series?

Melissa de la Cruz: When we still lived in New York, my husband and I used to rent a house in Shelter Island every summer, and it was the highlight of our year. We loved being in the Hamptons --- the whole getting-out-of-New-York tradition and the NY-on-the-beach culture (Hermes towels! Citarella grapes! Picnics with champagne! P. Diddy's white party!). It is a magical place and a kind of over-the-top environment that was perfect for my kind of writing. I love stories about social-climbing and outrageous behavior, and I wanted to show the Upstairs/Downstairs world. Also, a friend of ours who is a true blue Hamptonite told me about the "hot nanny/au pair" phenomenon in the Hamptons, how these girls who worked there for the summer were the most-wanted girls in town...they had these crazy, glamorous lives even though they were babysitters.

TRC: The ending of the first book seemed to hint at a sequel that would take place during the girls' Christmas recess, but SKINNY-DIPPING actually begins during the next summer. Will any future books occur over holiday breaks or will they all follow the summer theme, and why?

MDLC: I'm not sure yet. I did want to set the sequel in Palm Beach, but with the publication schedule of the book for a summer release, my publisher (S&S) and I decided that it would be better if the girls would also be back in the Hamptons and the story set there. Right now we are publishing the third book for next summer as well, so we might be back in the Hamptons again. There was also the concern that a TV show (The Au Pairs was bought by the WB network for television) would be set in the Hamptons, and we didn't want the book and the TV show to veer in such different directions. Right now, I don't have any more news on the TV show, and I think after Book 3 I would like to explore other environments. My original plan for the book was to have the girls in a different glam locale every time --- Cannes, Palm Beach, Aspen, etc. So we shall see!

TRC: The best feature of The Au Pairs is the friendship that the three young protagonists share. In many teen books these days, female characters are competitive with and hurtful toward one another. How and why did you develop this great friendship among three women with very different backgrounds?

MDLC: I think friendship is really important, and from my experience, girls are very supportive towards one another. I have a great set of girlfriends --- all of them so different --- and that was the inspiration for the girls' friendship. I really wanted the girls' friendship to reflect what real friendship is like --- some bickering, some deception (I've totally done the Eliza thing, fooling around with my best friend's ex, and my friend and I are still friends. We actually just laugh about it now.), but always being there for each other. Also, that people aren't perfect and you have to accept your friends for who they are and not want to change them. When the girls tell Mara how beautiful she is, that's my experience from having great women friends. We always tell each other how great we look and it's so funny --- we all coo and cluck, just like a bunch of chicks.

TRC: Do you have any work experience that you draw upon for the characters in The Au Pairs?

MDLC: I went to an elite private high school in San Francisco, and I worked at the day care center after school, taking care of a lot of wealthy children. Many of the Perry kids' characteristics are from the kids I took care of (and from observing their parents!). But I also have to confess --- I grew up in Manila as a rich kid (before we moved to America and were struggling immigrants), and we had a staff of nine in our house (and a chauffeur). So a lot of the Perry kids' demands were actually the ones that I used to ask our nannies to do when I was little! I always had peeled grapes. When I told my parents about the book, they laughed and told me all the things I used to do. I was a bit of a brat. So I've been on both sides of the story.

TRC: What was the inspiration for Jacqui from Brazil? Will there be any books about her new life in New York?

MDLC: Jacqui is based on my best friend from high school, this gorgeous Italian girl, who always wanted to show that she was more than her fantastic looks. My friend Isabella was the type of girl who went to NY nightclubs at 13, knew her way around older men, and always struggled with her studies. She also had a great sense of mischief and adventure. I made Jacqui Brazilian because I wanted to give her a South American flair. (It always seems like the wild, beautiful girls in New York are from there.) I do plan on following her life in New York somehow. Maybe a spin-off? We'll see!

TRC: Where is the series headed? How do you see the series changing as the girls get older?

MDLC: For now it's a summer series, but I do see the books changing a little bit, and perhaps I can write about their lives during the school year at some point (or fun breaks --- Spring or Winter break). I don't think the books will change that much, and I also think I want to keep them a certain age for a while. Right now they have gone from 15 to 16 and the next book they will be 17. I think it will be a while before they turn 18 though!

TRC: What are some hot fashion trends that readers across the country may want to copy from the Au Pairs?

MDLC: I always try to be really up to date with the fashions (as a former fashion editor it really matters to me!) I love Eliza's Sass and Bide mini dress with the sequins, and I've seen tons of knockoffs of that dress --- which is great because that dress is originally a thousand dollars I think, and I love that you can get a replica for $20 at Forever 21. It's a Grecian, drapey, ruched dress in silver jersey with sequins in the shoulders. That rocks! Also, Mara's platform espadrilles and Jacqui's loose bohemian dress are really big this summer.

TRC: Friendship is also a strong theme in FRESH OFF THE BOAT, which was released earlier this year. Many teens will relate to the novel's immigrant experience. Where did you get your ideas for this book? Do you have any plans for a sequel?

MDLC: FRESH OFF THE BOAT is based on my real life. I didn't want to write a memoir, but I definitely wanted to capture my family's first year in America. It's so vivid to me and my first year as an "American" teenager. So much of what's in the book actually happened. My family used to tape American TV shows to export to Manila, we operated the Sears Employees Cafeteria, I used to have crushes on the CUTE stock boys, and the kooky French friend is based, again, on my best friend Isabella (who is actually Italian). I would love to do a sequel, but so far the publisher of that book hasn't asked for one, so I don't know if I'll be able to continue the story. I hope so, though!

TRC: How did you become interested in writing for teens?

MDLC: I wrote an adult novel for Simon & Schuster called CAT'S MEOW that was about a NY fashionista in this over-the-top world, and Simon & Schuster asked me if I would be interested in writing about that world, but for teens. I said yes immediately! I love writing for teens. It seems to be my true calling. I was a huge bookworm when I was a kid, and I loved all the Sweet Valley High books. I think The Au Pairs is a bit of a homage to that. Pure, fun entertainment. I read those books TO DEATH.

TRC: I'm sure you've received much feedback from readers about the series. What are some of your favorite responses, or the ones that stand out for you?

MDLC: The ones that stand out are from girls who say they love the friendship depicted in the books, but they are sad because they don't have friends like that in their lives. I always tell them, I didn't have friends like that in high school either (Isabella actually moved back to Italy our sophomore year and left me alone!). But I met them in college, and after college. And it WILL happen...you just need to be open to people and be a friend yourself. It takes a long time to make that kind of friendship. So The Au Pairs is a bit of a fantasy, or an ideal world, but the core of it is real.

TRC: Please talk about the books/authors that you enjoyed reading as a teen and what your reading habits are like as an adult.

MDLC: I read ALL the time. I was not a social person and kind of awkward, and I loved books more than anything. People scared me. Books were a haven.

I loved all the classics: Nancy Drew, LITTLE WOMEN (and all the sequels), Sweet Valley High, the Sweet Dreams series, LORD OF THE RINGS, Anne Rice's vampire books. I also loved all the Enid Blyton books, a British writer who wrote tons of books about groups of friends (THE FANTASTIC FIVE, THE AMAZING SEVEN) and they had adventures and a lot of fun. Those were my favorites. Also, Gordon Korman's Bruno and Boots books, about two best friends in prep school, are HILARIOUS. I now share a publisher with Gordon Korman and I can't be more thrilled!

As an adult, I also read all the time. I just finished THE STARTER WIFE, ERAGON, and Nick Hornby's A LONG WAY DOWN. I love reading contemporary books, about over-the-top culture. SNOBS by Julian Fellowes --- I couldn't get enough of it! And I also re-read my favorite classics, like WAR AND PEACE (which I am obsessed with) and Dawn Powell's New York novels, anything by PG Wodehouse, George RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series, and, of course, the Harry Potter books. My dad reads a lot of thrillers so I'm also now reading Michael Connelly's books.

TRC: What do you say to teens who want to become writers?

MDLC: Don't give up! I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn't know how. I come from a family of bankers. I went to Columbia and I took as many creative writing classes as I could, majored in English, etc. But I took a "practical" job (at a bank!) so I could make enough money to live in New York. But on the side, I was always writing. I began writing for small, local papers and started to make a name for myself there. When I sold my first novel, CAT'S MEOW, it was actually the fourth book I'd tried to sell. I was 27. I had been trying for five years to sell a book, and I thought it would never happen for me. I even got rejected from MFA programs! But I always thought, they are wrong. I am a writer. You have to believe in yourself. It's talent, but more importantly a lot of determination, that makes a writer. And discipline.

TRC: What are you working on now, and when can readers expect to see it?

MDLC: I have a new series coming out next year that I'm working on right now. I'm obsessed with it. It's called BLUE BLOODS and it's about a group of NYC teens who discover they share a secret past! It's dark and mysterious and sexy, and I think it's the best thing I've ever done. It combines fantasy with the high-fashion world (I'm a sci-fi geek under the fashionista clothing) --- two of my favorite things ever. It comes out from Hyperion next spring and the second book will be out in the fall. And of course, Au Pairs 3, which should be out next summer!

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