The Bride of Casa Dracula

by Marta Acosta

  If this was a math problem, you could see the overlap between these genres: young, naive person goes off to an isolated country estate and encounters wealthy snobs. In a gothic novel, there’s romance and danger. In a comedy, romance and mayhem ensue. I threw everything in the blender and hit the “frappe” button.

  The vampires in my books are also a metaphor for being “other” in society. They feel as if they’re outside, looking in, just as Milagro does. She feels outside for a few reasons. She’s seen as “other” by virtue of her ethnicity, but she also grew up without a real family, so she doesn’t understand how families relate. She was an outsider among the wealthy students at her Fancy University.

  There is a subtext to the story, and I hope that readers will empathize with the characters and perhaps re-think their ideas about identity and what is normal.

  Why did you decide to write the story as a first-person narrative? Isn’t first-person overdone?

  Since first-person narrative is a natural story-telling voice, it’s true that novice writers often feel most comfortable writing in first-person. However, the device also offers a wealth of possibilities within its restrictions. Think of the story as a panorama, but the first-person narrator can only describe the view seen out of a narrow window. The reader must ascertain whether the narrator’s description accurately reflects the whole. (Hint: the answer is always “no.”)

  It’s also really fun to write in first-person when one has an eccentric character with a peculiar interior monologue. The narrator’s skewed perception reveals his own character, experiences, and motivations.

  Some of my favorite first-person narratives include Lolita, Jane Eyre, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Innocents Abroad.

  What is the central challenge for Milagro in each of the three Casa Dracula novels?

  In the first novel, Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, Milagro isn’t grounded because she doesn’t have the stability and love that a home and a family can provide. She thinks she’s looking for romantic love, but what she truly desires is a family and a maternal figure. Her relationship with Oswald’s grandmother, Edna, may be the most important one in the novel.

  The second, Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula, follows Milagro’s efforts to learn more of the vampires’ secrets and also to pursue her writing career. Oswald believes that she will be safer if she is kept uninformed, but knowledge is power, and Milagro insists on learning more about the clandestine vamps and their history.

  The Bride of Casa Dracula finds Milagro resisting the Vampire Council’s efforts to make her conform. Although she wanted to be a part of the clan, she will not give up her own identity. She’s learning to trust her instincts even when everyone else thinks she’s crazy.

  What are you writing now? Will there be more adventures for Milagro?

  I’ve always found it great fun to write about Nancy, Milagro’s frivolous and very chic friend from F.U., so I’m writing a novel based on her quest to establish an all-encompassing theory of style. What I love about Nancy is her crazy use, misuse, and abuse of language. You’re never quite sure how serious she is. Nancy is separated from her prig of a husband and is trying to start an event-planning business. She even hires a dream assistant, a too-polished young man with his own agenda. Naturally, all her plans come crashing down.

  Milagro makes an appearance in this book, but I’m saving her adventures for the fourth Casa Dracula novel. Milagro will emerge as someone who is more secure in her abilities and judgment. However, since she’s still a freak magnet, unexpected craziness will come her way.