“I wanted to create a character who had real-world problems in a paranormal world.” -MaryJanice Davidson

DarkMedia Interviews MaryJanice Davidson:

It’s no secret why MaryJanice Davidson, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Undead (aka Betsy the Vampire) Series, is a success.  Not only does she write fresh, smart, innovative stories featuring characters that never cease to entertain, she herself is all of those things.  She not only pioneered a genre of mythological creatures in everyday (often hilarious) situations, but has continued to remain a significance force in that genre.  DarkMedia was thrilled to sit down with MaryJanice to talk about the secret to her success, her suggestions for a Betsy dream cast, and how she reacts when someone says ‘a vampire wouldn’t do that’.

Your success as a writer is such a testament to the old adage, “Never give up on your dreams.”  

It is, isn’t it?  You have to admit: a lot about me is pretty great.

Where did you find your incredible motivation to keep going, and what would your best advice be to someone who’s on the brink of giving up?

Never never never never never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever quit.  I can’t emphasize that enough.  Don’t make me cut and paste more nevers or evers into this interview.  I’ll do it!   Don’t push me!

I started writing when I was 13. I started submitting for publication in my early twenties.  UNDEAD AND UNWED was published when I was 34.  I had over a decade of rejection slips, and if I had quit any time in my 20s, I’d still be stuck in various SDJs (Stupid Day Jobs). I didn’t go to college and my folks didn’t have much money when I was a kid. There’s nothing especially special about me, and if I can do it, a writer who won’t quit can, too.

As far as motivation goes, I’d walk into a Barnes and Noble and eyeball a particular book I didn’t think was great, or even literate, and I’d tell myself if that person can get published, I can get published. I’m going to date myself, but a huge motivator was when I’d walk into a store in the mid-90s and see yet another O.J. book and think, “Arrrggghhh!  I can do this, I can get published, oh my God how many books on the man does the world even need…?  I WILL GET PUBLISHED!”  Huge motivator for me: envy and disgust.  😉

With your character Betsy Taylor, the Vampire Queen, you invented what’s fondly referred to as the “vampire chick” genre. 

No you don’t! I’m not taking the fall for this one.  Not alone, anyway. TWILIGHT came out after UNDEAD AND UNW—oh.  Wait.  Um…guilty?

As you work towards the release of your eleventh book in The Undead Series, do you hope to one day see Betsy on the big, or small, screen?  Are there any plans currently in the works for a Hollywood adaptation?

Okay, I’m really sorry, but “towards” makes me nuts.  Toward. Not towards. It’s toward!  Correcting interviewers is not a good way to persuade the interviewer I’m a swell gal with no hang-ups of any kind.  But it’s toward, dammit!

Uh, what was the question?

As you work TOWARDS the release of your eleventh book…

Now you’re just being mean.

…in the Undead Series, do you hope to one day see Betsy on the big, or small, screen?  Are there any plans currently in the works for a Hollywood adaptation?

It looks like Betsy will be a TV show…in Germany! The plan is a pilot episode followed by six episodes. Contracts are signed…cross your fingers!  As for Hollywood, my agent is shopping the series around, and we’ve gotten offers that I had to unfortunately turn down for one reason or another. But the dream will never die!

Do you have a “dream cast” in mind?  If you could have any actors you wanted, who would they be?

Oh, sure: Rachael McAdams for Betsy, the manicurist from Legally Blonde (Jennifer Coolidge) for the Ant, Queen Latifah or Zoe Saldana for Jessica, Patton Oswold for Marc (it’s not so much about looks as it is about attitude, and Patton and Latifah OWN attitude<g>), the cute thief from White Collar (and Chuck’s pilot epi) for Sinclair, Emily Blount for Tina…my wish list is extensive and unrealistic, like all good fantasies.

You’ve said in a previous interview that you occasionally get emails that say “a vampire wouldn’t do that”.

When I was watching the first Underworld movie the woman in front of me turned to her date and snorted, “Real werewolves couldn’t run up walls.”  I had to leave the theater before I passed out from lack of oxygen from laughing so hard.

How do you respond to that kind of criticism, and, more importantly, what defined your personal image of what a vampire “would do”?

First I go into gales of humiliating laughter. When I’ve gotten myself under control, I crack up all over again because it’s so silly. As for what defined my image, I wanted to create a character who had real-world problems in a paranormal world. Someone worried about paying the utility bills, and pissed about rising gas prices. And so Betsy was born. And she can (and does) break a lot of vampire “rules”.  Which she does because of my knee-jerk reaction to what my personal image of a vampire is.  I know…real mature, huh?

As a writer, who’s been your greatest inspiration and why?

Anyone who was able to break into publishing who wasn’t a) a celebrity, b) a serial killer, or c) a celebrity.  I’d read everything I could about writers who’d broken through in the genres I wanted to write in: Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Mercedes Lackey, Christine Feehan, J.K. Rowling, Carl Hiaason, Andrew Vachss…like that.  I’d just keep telling myself that once up on a time, nobody knew who Harris/Lackey/Rowling was.  I reminded myself that they had to break through on their own, they had to get the attention of overworked underpaid editors…and maybe I could, too.

What can you tell us about “Undead and Unstable”?

It’s the book where pretty much all the issues from UNFINISHED and UNDERMINED are resolved, one way or another.  There’s nothing coy about it: does Betsy fix this and if so, how, is definitively answered.  It’s out this June (6/12) and I can’t wait for it to hit shelves!

What’s the greatest challenge in writing a long series?  The greatest joy?

Keeping it fresh, not just for readers but for myself. I love writing the UNDEAD books, but after 9 books in 8 years (and that’s just the UNDEAD series; it doesn’t include the Alaskan Royals trilogy, the Fred the mermaid trilogy, the Jennifer Scales series, the YOURS MINE AND OURS books, etc., all written while I was also writing Betsy books) I was getting a little stale.  To keep my interest in the books I had to shake things up, which some readers loved and some hated. But as much as I love Betsy, there were only so many shoe sales I could write about!

The joy, of course, is creating these situations and then getting the characters out of them!

You’re such a successful author in so many genres.  How does this kind of diversity challenge and/or inspire you as a writer?  Is there one you prefer over all the rest?

I think it challenges me in that it keeps me from getting (too) stale, and it inspires me because if I write across genres, it’s harder for me to get bogged down. But I have to say, I like writing the FBI series (which hasn’t so much as a drop of paranormal) and the Betsy books (which ooze with paranormal) the best.

From Betsy to Fred, your heroines are so dynamic, engaging and unconventional.  What sources do you draw from to write such amazing characters?  And how much of MaryJanice can we find in your books?

Whenever one of my characters is being vain, short-sighted, willfully ignorant, grumpy, pressed for time, stressed, or chronically bitchy, you’ll find me.  I have a weakness for characters who are larger than life but also must deal with real-world problems.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a hot-shit FBI agent with plenty of notches on your butt (gun butt, you pervs!); you’ve still got to go to the store when there’s no milk in the house.  Sure, you’re the queen of the undead married to a scrumptious billionaire, but those midnight smoothies aren’t gonna make themselves.  That’s the dichotomy I try to present.

What’s the last book you read?  What did you think of it?

To Die For, by Joyce Maynard.  Re-read, actually, but I do that a lot.  There are books in my home that I’ve read hundreds of times (The Other Boleyn Girl, IT, Small Sacrifices, Gone with the Wind, Double Whammy, Hard Candy, etc.).  And I love how Maynard makes fun of our TV culture and the cult of celebrity.  Nicole Kidman was great in the movie, too, playing the charming sociopath who conspires to kill her clueless hubby: gorgeous, not especially bright, but feeling thoroughly entitled.  And each chapter was told in first person from the point of view of the heroine/villain, their parents, family members, the kids who killed the husband…wonderful, wonderful book.

Can you tell us something your readers would be shocked to know?

I’m not into designer shoes.  At all.  I proudly shop at Payless and Target for my footgear needs.  My winter boots are three years old and have a two inch hole in them!  Which I only remember when it snows and I’m out running errands. “Why are my socks so…dammit!”  But because Betsy the vampire loves designer shoes, lots of readers assume I do, too.  I’ve had readers actually take their shoes off and show them to me: “Look!  Look at this great deal I got, eighty bucks at a sample sale!  Loooook!”  I’m all, “Um, I’ll sign anything you want.  Just…you know.  Get dressed now.”

Finally, thank you so much for taking the time to interview with us.  What can we look forward to from you in the near future?  Where can your fans, and future fans, learn more about you and you?

I’m pretty ubiquitous…my website is www.maryjanicedavidson.net.  There you can read my blog, follow me on Facebook (and Twitter, soon), get sample chapters, find out about upcoming books and my backlist…the fun never stops!

Thanks for the interview and your patience…great questions!

MaryJanice Davidson is featured on DarkMediaCity, a free social network for those who like it Dark.  Whether it be literature or film, music or art, horror or sci-fi, paranormal romance or paranormal investigation, we’ve got something for you.  www.DarkMediaCity.com

Please visit MaryJanice on her website, and stay tuned for the release of her newest book in the “Betsy the Vampire” series, UNDEAD AND UNSTABLE, in June of this year.

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