Chatting with Andrew Neiderman. . .carrying on the Legacy of VC Andrews

I must have been in the fifth grade when I discovered Flowers in The Attic by V.C. Andrews. It was a haunting story that had me wondering how could a mother and grandmother be so cruel. With each book, Petals on The Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday and Garden of Shadows, I fell deeper in love with this author and the world she created.

My favorite V.C. Andrews book has to be My Sweet Audrina. I'm thankful that Andrews legacy has been continued by writer, Andrew Neiderman.
Neiderman, author of one of my favorite books, The Devil's Advocate, joins me today to talk about the upcoming Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth and some exciting news about the Landry series.

What was the first full series you wrote as VC Andrews? 

Neiderman: I completed the Dollanganger series by writing Garden of Shadows and completed the Heaven series and everything since.

 

Tell the readers about the upcoming Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth (Dollanganger). What other secrets are left in the Foxworth Family? 

I can't reveal the secrets. That's for the readers to delightfully discover. They will enjoy some of the new twists and revelations and the new characters who are involved with the discovery of the diary. It's the first of a three book series.

What is your favorite part about carrying on the VC Andrews legacy? 

Meeting the fans worldwide and having the satisfaction of satisfying them.  Under my work, we have built the books from just under 30 million worldwide to now over 106 million in 95 countries.

 

 How has writing as VC Andrews changed Andrew Neiderman's writing?

 I taught creative writing for 20 years and was familiar with style and voice.  It has helped me build my own novels by building characters.  The next Neiderman novel is The Terrorist's Holiday out March 10.

 

What are your favorite VC Andrews books? 

Probably Ruby, the whole Landry series because of the research  involved. I spent time in the Cajun world to do it. Fascinating.  Now it will be developed as a television series.

 

 What's next on the horizon for you? 

 I  have written the stage play of Flowers in the Attic. It will be produced in England first next year. I am developing The Devil's Advocate as a stage musical in London as well. I just finished a new Neiderman novel, The Incident and we're now working on V.C. Andrews novels for 2016.

 

How can readers keep up with you online?  

The best way is the Official V.C. Andrews page right now on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialVCAndrews

 

 

A message from Andrew: 

Why Did I Write Christopher’s Diary? By Andrew Neiderman  After writing V.C. Andrews novels now for over 27 years and developing a Facebook page for the fans that Facebook itself called the 7^th most explosive in terms of its growth, I realized that
Flowers in the Attic and indeed the entire Dollanganger series has been and continues to be a phenomenon in the publishing world. If any title deserved a retrospect and revisit, it was surely this one. But it was important not to simply retell the story developed in Flowers in the Attic. Christopher’s Diary does give another prospective to the events. Christopher, as a character, has been seen only through Cathy’s eyes, and basically she assumes and interprets as would anyone, through her own perspective and subjective feelings about what’s happening to them throughout the series. Virginia Andrews did a wonderful job of fleshing out Cathy’s character and although limited obviously by her point of view, Christopher’s and Corrine’s characters especially. It was time to delve deeper into Christopher’s motivations. He is, we quickly see, an extraordinarily intelligent boy, far more mature than most his age. Like any child, he is not objective about his parents, but in Christopher’s Diary we see that he can be when it is necessary to be. His disappointments in his father and his mother become clearer and understandable for us. Most important, perhaps, we see more motivation for why and how he put up with his mother’s obvious lies. He battles the child in himself constantly, the urge to be optimistic and naïve, and eventually he faces the truths about his parents and most importantly, about himself. What a wonder all this can be when it is brought together with some of the mysteries not really solved in the Dollanganger series. Christopher’s Diary provides that. The second major reason for the novel is to develop the A-story, the story of the high school senior girl whose father while evaluating the ruins of Foxworth Hall discovers the diary. Couched now in what would be closer to reality if such an event as depicted in Flowers in the Attic really happened, Christopher’s Diary is full of discoveries for any reader. What the novel examines and personifies through the main character, Kristin Masterwood, is how readers through the decades reacted to reading Flowers in the Attic. The way the diary affects her is the way the novel affected the millions of readers who experienced it. There will be a great deal of understanding and the resurrection of feelings that were experienced. Christopher’s Diary reinforces therefore why Flowers in the Attic is a publishing phenomenon and will help it live on for decades to come.

Christopher's Diary now available to preorder.

Be the first to read it in print or e-book:
Amazon : http://amzn.to/1jXG90C BN: http://bit.ly/1ns9z9B Apple: http://bit.ly/1rd0qD7