Interview With Marlene Perez

by Debbi Michiko Florence

Marlene Perez is an author of fiction for young adults. Her debut novel UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT was published by Roaring Brook Press in 2004.

She has four new teen novels. LOVE IN THE CORNER POCKET, published by Scholastic/Point is now available. Marlene's new paranormal teen trilogy, starting with DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK, will be published by Harcourt Children’s Books in the fall of 2008. Look for DEAD IS A STATE OF MIND and DEAD IS SO LAST YEAR to follow.

For more about Marlene Perez, see her website.

Have you always wanted to write for children? Tell us about your journey to published author.

I’ve wanted to be an author since my teacher Mrs. Phillips gave us journals back in second grade, but didn’t pursue publication until I was a lot older. I eventually found out about SCBWI and then saw Norma Fox Mazer speak at the national conference. She talked about how to quiet that internal editor. When the conference was over, I went home and started Unexpected Development. I finished it in six months, but it took a lot longer to revise and sell it.

Your debut novel, Unexpected Development, is about a teen who has to deal with hurtful comments and unwanted attention due to her large chest. It’s an honest story about a teen with self-image issues. What was it like to have your first novel published?

It was a thrill, honestly, especially since Unexpected Development was inspired by my own teen experience. Not to say that Megan is me, but I knew that world. As a teen, I lived in a small town in Iowa and worked at a pancake house.

You have two novels this year: Love In the Corner Pocket (Scholastic) and Dead is the New Black (Harcourt). Did you work on both novels at the same time? What was the timeline for writing these?

I had already completed Love in the Corner Pocket when my agent sold the DEAD IS series on proposal to Harcourt in 2006. Dead Is the New Black is the first book in that series and it sold in early October of 2006 and then Scholastic/Point bought Love in the Corner Pocket a month later. I did end up working on revisions of Love in the Corner Pocket while drafting Dead Is the New Black, but there was only a little crossover.

I read Dead is the New Black and devoured it! It has everything I love about a story: mystery, humor, romance, and “not normal” beings in the town of Nightshade. In the first installment of this trilogy, Daisy and her hunky best friend, Ryan, try to solve the town’s mystery of disappearing girls. She’s the only one in her family without psychic powers. How did you come up with this story?

Thanks! I’m glad to hear that you liked it. I came up with the storyline in bits and pieces. I love stories of the supernatural, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, etc. and then somewhere I read that a real-life psychic investigator had daughters who were psychic, too. The first thought that popped into my mind was that I’d hate to be the only non-psychic in a family of psychics and the story just grew from there. I wanted to write about a family of women. I have seven sisters (and four brothers) and I really related to Daisy’s feeling different from the rest of her family.

And what about Nightshade? Did you have fun creating this fictional town? Were there any challenges to using a fictional setting?

It was really fun to create a fictional town, especially one with so many secrets. The challenge to using a fictional setting is to remember where you put everything. I am directionally challenged (as anyone who has ever driven anywhere with me will attest) but I was at a writing retreat where the instructor suggested drawing a map of our fictional towns. It was a great idea and I refer to my map of Nightshade often.

How was writing Dead is the New Black different from writing your first novel?

Dead is the New Black is a paranormal mystery and I’d never plotted so much in my life! I love to read mysteries, but learning to keep all those balls in the air was a challenge. And since there are three books in the series, I also had to consider the plot arc for the series, not just the one book.

I found the books Blockbuster Plots by Martha Alderson and First Draft in 30 Days by Karen Wiesner to be very helpful. I also created a series “bible” so that I could keep track of information about my characters, plot notes, etc. and referred back to it when needed. It saved me time from searching through the manuscript. Although the challenge was to remember to update the bible when things were changed during revision. My editor has a sharp eye, though, and she was great about remembering those kinds of changes.

Can you give us a little hint about the next two novels – Dead is a State of Mind and Dead is So Last Year? I’m really looking forward to reading them!

Dead is a State of Mind is the second book in the series and it has a gorgeous new guy, who claims he’s descended from a family of Gypsy fortune-tellers, a murder, and more of Nightshade’s supernatural residents.

Dead is So Last Year is the third book in the series and this book has Daisy seeing double.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

Everything! But if I had to pick one thing, I’d say hearing that I made someone laugh.

What’s the most challenging thing about being a writer?

Keeping that internal editor/critic at bay. And writing despite distractions.

Tell us a little about your writing schedule. Do you write at a specific time and place?

I tend to procrastinate, but I do manage to write almost every day. I think it’s important to take breaks when you need them. I have an office, but I write everywhere I go. I always carry a notebook and pen with me and most of the time, I have a manuscript, too. I have a laptop, but for some reason, for first drafts, I like to write in long-hand and then type it up.

What can fans expect next?

After Dead is a State of Mind and Dead is So Last Year, I have a stand-alone contemporary teen novel coming out with Scholastic Point. It’s called The Comeback, and is the story of a girl ousted from the popular clique in her high school who plots her way back to the top, coming out in late 2009.

How can fans/teachers contact you?

I can be reached via my website, www.marleneperez.com, at my MySpace page at www.myspace.com/marleneperez or at my blog at http://marperez.livejournal.com