16 Things We Learned About The Vampire Academy Series From Author Richelle Mead

How did you get the idea for this story, and what was the inspiration?

Richelle Mead: There's no one real source for it, it was kind of a coming together of a lot of different elements. I had taken Eastern European mythology classes in college and there were a lot of great Russian/Romanian vampire stories. That was kind of where I found the Moroi and Strigoi story and then I turned that into my own world. That was one element of it. Another is that I had just really wanted to write a young heroine like Rose who was so funky and in your face and fearless. Sometimes too fearless, but who had the potential to transform throughout the series. So I've always wanted to tell a story like that, and when I decided to pick up on the Romanian vampire myth, it just seemed like a natural idea to merge the two and make that the backdrop of the story.

Where did the character Rose come from? Was she based on anyone?

RM: Nope, she was just someone I wanted to write. You know, people say, "Oh, are you like Rose?" and if anything, I'm the opposite of Rose; I'm a much more cautious thinking person. Whereas Rose, you know, she'll act first, ask questions later, and I just really wanted to write someone like that who was so spunky and bold and brave and follow her transformation. Despite her being so outgoing and fearless, it can sometimes get her into trouble and so throughout the series she needs to learn how to temper that and mature, and that's a fun journey to do.

How about Lissa? Is she based on anyone?

RM: Nope. I don't base my characters off of anyone, I'm pretty sure you'll lose friends that way because they're never going to be happy with what you do to their characters. Lissa is from my head as well, she's kind of a counterbalance to Rose, a calming influence, and I was really fascinated by the whole bodyguard thing combined with the bond and how it can enhance their friendship, and that helps me create their characters.

Were you on set for the movie at all?

RM: I was on set for about two days. They filmed it in London and I live in Seattle with small children, so I couldn't spend a lot of time over there, but I did go for a couple of days and see some scenes with the cast and it was definitely a lot of fun.

What scenes did you see?

RM: I saw Christian using fire magic in class, although of course there was no fire because they add that with CGI after, but it was a lot of fun to see the person he set on fire pretending to be on fire when there was no actual flames. The other scene I saw was an early scene where Rose and Dimitri have their first confrontation, so that was a big action sub-sequence I actually got to witness, which was pretty cool. They were in full stunt mode with harnesses and gear and all kinds of things there.

That must be so fun to watch everything come to life.

RM: Yeah, definitely. They do so many takes and there's so much detail into it when they're filming, and it's amazing to see what took three hours of filming pushed down into one minute of a scene, but that's what it takes — you have to put a lot of time into it.

Did anyone reach out to you to get more info and fact-check for the movie?

RM: Yeah, Mark Waters, the director, would fact check with me. If he needed more clarification about somebody in the world he would ask me. Also occasionally there would be a question like, if they did "x, y, or z," would that affect some future book I wrote, and that was a nice courtesy for them to do that and check in with things. For the most part, though, they did their movie; I didn't screen write or produce or anything like that, which is totally fine by me. It's a daunting business, so I would just let them do it.

Are there any big changes, or is it pretty true to the book?

RM: I think it's pretty true to the book. There are changes, of course, which happens with book/film transition because they're different mediums. And also, when you're trying to make a story that will read well on screen to new viewers, you have to change some things. So yeah, they changed some things, but there was nothing major. They didn't alter a critical plotline or something that people are expecting to happen from the books that isn't going to happen; all the big points are there, and every change they did make was smart and they had a reason. It wasn't just like, "Let's mess with this story." There was always a reason for why they changed something, and I really appreciated that.

Vampire Academy seems to have a pretty dedicated fan base, but looking through internet comments about the trailer, it seems like people are pretty split on the comedy angle and worried that it's just a Mean Girls with vampires. Do you feel it's like that? Do you think it's still serious?

RM: Yeah, it's just like the books as far as being mostly serious with a good, healthy sense of humor. I've tried to reassure people that it's not a comedy, it's not a parody, but I know people are still worried. It was a marketing decision to play up the humor because there's a lot of very serious paranormal YA books that have not done well, and if those weren't pulling in a new audience there wouldn't be a reason to think we would as well, and so this was their approach to get people outside of the readership. I mean, the books themselves have more humor than some of our other series that are out there in this genre, and so they really played that up in the previews. Also, they certainly cited the Waters brothers' credits a lot to try and draw in their fan base. It actually worked, and it scares the fans because they know it's a serious story, and they're worried — but they shouldn't, and it's pulled in new viewers and I think that's great. So I think when fans get to the theaters to see it, they'll understand that it was just a marketing angle; they [the trailers] were highly edited commercials and previews and there's still plenty serious and plenty dark and they don't need to worry.

Is there a character you wish you had or hadn't killed?

RM: No, I stand by all my decisions. I think there's a lot of readers who want me to have a lot of remorse for some of the characters, or they want me to cry. They ask me a lot, "Did you cry over that?" and I'm just like, "No, I really didn't," and they're like, "Ah, you're so heartless." But you know, I don't kill people arbitrarily; there's a reason. It moves the series along or affects someone's character development, so, for that reason I don't feel so bad if it's serving a greater good and wasn't put there to traumatize fans. I feel bad more for the fans actually than I do the characters. I get a lot of fan emails from people, especially when they read Frostbite and Shadow Kiss. So to them, I am sorry, but hopefully they felt better by the end of the series.

Yeah, I was really torn about Mason, but I eventually understood and came to terms with it.

RM: Yeah, it's tough. It was really hard meeting Cameron Monaghan knowing what happens to Mason. Cameron is such a nice guy, and so the whole time I was on set ,I kept thinking, Oh, poor Cameron.

Does he know?

RM: Yeah, he knows.

Is there anything you would change about any of the books?

RM: No, I'm happy with the characters and plot. I think as a writer there's always a part of me that's like, I could have revised that or hammered out the writing a little, and things like that, but there's no choice or storyline I wish I had altered; I like how it all turned out.

So in the first book, there's a scene where Rose and Dimitri are in the car and he explains that if he were turned Strigoi, he would want to be killed. Did you always have his fate in mind for Shadow Kiss?

RM: Yeah, I had the series planned out when I wrote the first book. I knew that was going to happen and how things were going to resolve, so that was definitely seeded early on.

Was it the same for Sonya Karp? Did you always know she would be turned back [to a Moroi]?

RM: Yep, I knew we would revisit Sonya a lot.

Was it fun to write Dimitri's evil demeanor in Blood Promise?

RM: It was hard, actually! It was one of the most difficult writing paths, I'd say, having to write evil Dimitri. And he has quite a following — like, there are people who wish he stayed evil, which surprises me. But yeah, that was especially difficult because I needed him to still be compelling and eventually be likable when he was restored. It was a really tricky balancing act to do that to someone, and to show that side of them.

Besides writing about Dimitri's Strigoi phase, was there any scene or book that was particularly hard to write?

The first book in any series is difficult to write because you have to get to know a new character, so I think as far as the next most difficult thing that I had to write, [it] was Bloodlines, the first book in the spin-off series of Vampire Academy, just because it was a transition for me to be writing about the same world but to be writing from a different character's point of view — because I was so used to doing Rose's voice when talking about Moroi and Strigoi, and so that required a whole new mind-set for me, and you really have to get to know that new character in that book. By the second book it was easy again since we were in our groove, but that was probably my next most challenging thing.

Does Dimitri end up reconnecting with his family later on?

RM: That is a question I'm asked so much. And I'm surprised because I never thought that much about it, I guess, when I finished the series, but people are so excited to know if he did. There is actually just a short story out in an anthology called Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction and it's got a bunch of stories by a bunch of different authors and I have one in there called Homecoming and it actually is about Dimitri and Rose going back to Russia after Last Sacrifice and seeing his family.

Is there anything else you can tell us that happens to the characters beyond the books? Like things you imagined?

RM: No, I can't tell you because maybe I'll write some more books about them! I have to keep that under wraps, but I've definitely thought about what would happen to the characters after the fact. And then in Bloodlines we touch base with them, we find out what's going on with Rose and Lissa and all that, so we don't quite leave them as it is, but I've definitely thought about other things in the world.

So for the other books, should they continue being adapted to film, whose character are you most excited to see on screen?

RM: Adrian, since he's the next big one that's introduced. I'm looking forward to that but I'm sure it will be controversial no matter who's picked because that's how it goes. People will always have their favorites and they may or may not get chosen, but I'm excited to see what happens with that.

Do you have a dream casting for him?

RM: Nope, I've never had a cast in mind and I think it makes it easier on me, and I'm pretty flexible on who ends up there.