Lisa: Um, see above! I love fantasy of every kind. I adored the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis when I first read them when I was nine years old. I made up a land like Narnia in my head, and it was named Felicity, which means “happiness.” It always made me happy to think about my fantasy world, which was ruled by a beautiful white unicorn, who could turn into a boy with white hair named Julian (I suppose that this was one of the beginnings of The Forbidden Game).
When I was ten or eleven I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. I was breathless from beginning to end. By then I was realizing that I wasn’t going to actually find real magic, and that I would just have to think up my own magic in my head.
My first two books, The Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor, were pure fantasy. Although I wrote them for children around 12 years old, they were sold to an editor at MacMillan who didn’t like fantasy and they were marketed as middle-grade books, for kids ages 8-10. Also the cover of Solstice was hideous! The beautiful mansion Fell Andred looked like a giant spaceship, and Alys was black-skinned with yellow hair! I was so disappointed that I cried. Even the people who wrote me fan letters (and there were a few) said that it was the ugliest cover they had ever seen and that they almost hadn’t read the book because of the awful cover.
Those books sold very few copies, but they did get some nice reviews, and also they were read by Elise Donner. Elise worked for Alloy Entertainment (it was called Daniel Weiss Inc. back then). They were doing some books for HarperCollins. She called me to say that she had read my books and enjoyed them very much and that they were looking for a writer to do a “special, high class vampire trilogy.” I thought it sounded like a good offer since she guaranteed that my books would appear in lots of bookstores, something that hadn’t happened with my first two books.
I had to write each book—and edit it—within three months. I worked harder than I ever had, to get three books finished within nine months I had finished the entire trilogy. After that I took a little vacation in the far East, and soon after I got back the first Vampire Diaries book came out and my whole life changed.
So I guess my connection to the supernatural world is half chosen (by me even as a child) and half accidental (by being asked to write what became The Vampire Diaries series).
Luana: You started writing "The Vampire Diaries", around 1991 (am I correct?) I wasn't even born and you were
making history in the entertainment business. How cool is that, huh? What I am
saying is that the story you wrote in the nineties became even more successful
in the 21st Century. Twenty years ago, when you started writing the book did
you expect it would be a huge success, even on TV?
Lisa: Well, you see even back then I had TV offers
and options and things. There was a
Secret Circle TV pilot that almost got made—the producer would call me and ask
me for ideas and tell me how wonderful the books were (quite different from
what eventually happened on the TV show).
So I was content with being on the bestsellers list with every book I
did back in the 1990s. I didn’t know it
could all get bigger.
But no, I
didn’t really imagine the happiness (and sadness) that could come with even
greater exposure. Back in those days
there was no question of my own website, my books being on TV (even if the
series flopped like Secret Circle), of getting messages from around the world or
doing interviews with Brazilians! I
didn’t know that I was a big fish in a very small pond back then. Now I know how big the pond is and that I’m
only a guppy!
Luana: The TV producers had to make some changes to
adapt the story you created to TV. For example, Elena is blond on the book, but
Nina Dobrev has dark hair. I heard the fans complained about it in the
beginning. But after watching Nina's performance on the pilot, everyone felt in
love with her. How do you feel about the changes that were made by the
writers?
Lisa: As I said, I honestly can’t say, as I don’t
watch TV! I’m so sorry!
I also felt
very sad when an actress claimed that they “had” to change Elena because in the
books she was “mean.”
I don’t
think of Elena as mean in the books. She
is a very intelligent, very strong young woman.
Yes, she evolves in the books from being selfish and spoiled to being
unselfish and willing to give her life to save Damon and Stefan. That’s because in every book the main
character needs to learn and grow, so they don’t always start out as perfect. But I like my characters to be strong young
women from the start, even if they don’t know it themselves, like Cassie in TheSecret Circle. Cassie thinks she’s weak,
but she is brave enough in the opening chapters of The Initiation to hide Adam
from witch hunters and to undergo having her wrist twisted and bruised without
giving any information about him. I
think this shows Cassie as being a girl with a core of true strength. By the end of the trilogy, Cassie fully
accepts herself as a strong young woman.
Anyway, to get back to my original point, there are too few truly strong
young women on TV and in the movies. I
suppose that’s another reason why I don’t watch TV and why I am often critical
of movies I watch. I think that it is
sad when a strong character “has” to be made weaker or more “vulnerable” before
she will appeal to a TV audience.
Luana: Your characters are all mystics, mainly
vampires. But the plot of the book is about family, friendship, love, revenge, which are all human feelings. Why did you choose the
vampire universe to discuss family matters?
Lisa: Are we talking about The Vampire Diaries
here? If so, see my answer above as to
how I came to write it. As for why my
books deal with family, friendship, love, revenge, optimism, and fighting for
what’s right—well, that’s because each book is just a disguise so that I can
get in a bunch of preaching about how everyone can make a difference if they
will work together and how strong young women are better than weak ones.
As to why
use vampires to talk about human feelings—well, I can’t speak about anything
besides the books, but in the books the vampires were all once human (in The
Vampire Diaries) and they have feelings about family (like Stefan and Damon’s
connection as brothers); friendship (as in the way Stefan is friends with Matt,
Bonnie, and Meredith); love (obviously!); revenge (obviously!) and so on. The vampires are just metaphors for humans
who deal with all these themes.
Luana: You're became a famous writer for your books
"The Vampire Diaries", "The Secret Circle" and "NightWorld". Do you have another book coming out soon? If so, can you give us a
little taste of it?
Lisa: Are TheForbidden Game trilogy and the Dark Visions trilogy not available in
Brazil? How sad. I will have to speak to my agent about this
and see if maybe they can be released there.
A lot of people pick The Forbidden Game as their favorite of all my
works, and I will do a sequel to it when I have time. Meanwhile,
I am working on three new works. One is
Strange Fate, the last book in the Night World series. Another is
The Last Lullaby, which sold a year ago to Farrar Straus and Giroux in the USA,
and to many foreign publishers (maybe even to a Brazilian publisher—I don’t
remember). It will come out in the fall
of 2014. The third
is . . .
a secret project. I think many people
will be surprised when I unveil it. I
hope they will be excited. I can’t give
an exact date right now as for when it will come out, but it will be sooner
than next fall! As for a
little taste, below is a short explanation of what The Last Lullaby is about
and I will attach the first chapter of Strange Fate (I doubt you’ll want to
translate it all, but I’ll give it to you anyway).
Luana: Your books are a huge success in Brazil. The
TV show is a hit there too. Would you like to send your Brazilian fans a message?
Lisa: Yes!
I’d like to say to them that I love all the readers from Brazil who
write to me (info@ljanesmith.net ) or visit my new Facebook Page:
(https://www.facebook.com/ljsmithauthorofvampirediaries). I cherish all my Brazilian fans and hope that
I can come to see them for a book signing when I am not writing three books at
once! I thank them for their support and
loyalty, and I send them the best of wishes for the future.
Luana: I would like to thank you for responding all
these questions.
I wish you
all the best, on behalf of all your Brazilian Fans.
Lisa's social networks:
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