The crimes that Blue Jeans solved on Sant Jordi's Day

His favorite author is Agatha Christie, and although he doesn't give up "covers with little hearts," as he says, he's now more inclined to delve into plots where suspense, mystery, and detective stories take center stage. "I needed a change, new challenges, to get out of my comfort zone," explains the author, who has sold more than two million books. So from young adult romance, he turned to young adult thrillers, a path he began pursuing in 2018 with The Invisible Girl and which, after eight books, he continues to explore with his latest title: The Last Time I Think of You (Planeta). Blue Jeans, the pseudonym of Francisco de Paula (Seville, 1978), not only dedicates himself to killing young female writers in the days leading up to Sant Jordi Day in Barcelona, ​​but also takes advantage of it to show the less friendly side of a publishing world he knows well. Cameo appearances with current young adult authors are guaranteed.

Who is Angela Fletcher?

The name is taken from a Valencian reader I met at the Valencia fair. When she told me the name, I couldn't believe it. I said, "You're named after the actress Angela Lansbury and the surname of her popular character, Jessica Fletcher, from Murder, She Wrote."

My Ángela is a 19-year-old girl whose dream in life is to be a writer. She left Córdoba and her parents to go to Barcelona to pursue that dream. She has just published her first novel, *The Last Time I Think of You*, and at her first festival, she experiences the bitterness that writers generally face: she's sitting next to a best-selling author who's signing a ton of books, and she's alone; hardly any readers approach her, except for the occasional guy who wants to flirt. One of them, Arán, falls head over heels, but that same day, Ángela mysteriously disappears.

Is it also a criticism of the current publishing world?

From the moment my publisher started reading the first chapters, they'd ask me: "But Paco, do you really see us like that?" I mean, this is fiction, everything is taken to the extreme, but there's a real undercurrent: the rivalry, the promotional strategies, the treatment of new authors... I know the industry well; I've been in this business for 15 or 16 years, and I was interested in covering the less pleasant side of it as well. There are publishers who try to take advantage of young authors, offering them things that shouldn't be valid. In the novel, there's a girl who works at a small publishing house and does everything, another reflection of this reality.

It also addresses the current boom in young adult romance, where many young female authors are succeeding in writing for young readers.

I wanted to write a novel about the industry, which I'm passionate about and had never touched directly before. And I try to make my books real, to be true. And obviously, not just romance books. I believe the world of books, and specifically the world of young adult books, is a world for girls: writers, readers, influencers, booksellers, many cultural journalists... At events like Crush Fest in Barcelona, ​​which inspires the beginning of the book, there were three of us last year, or about 50 authors. It's reality, and I think it's great. And I also allow myself the luxury of talking about colleagues I admire and hold in high regard, like Alice Kellen, Inma Rubiales, Támara Molina, and Joana Marcús, because they're doing great work.

But he kills two and makes another disappear. That sounds a little vindictive.

No, on the contrary. When you kill someone, you're paying homage to them, because the reader remembers who died. I also use the surname Lejardi in honor of Myriam Lejardi, who is a great writer and friend. I changed the j to a y, and she took it with humor. It's not that I have anything against Miriam, on the contrary. I'm paying a small homage to her because people have remembered the Leyardi incident. Someone had to die, and it was that person.

We said The Last Time I Think of You is your snapshot of the literary world. How do you think this whole landscape has changed, basically, with the emergence of the Wattpad platform?

It's changed a lot. I also started online, with Fotolog, which is now like prehistory. I began publishing Canciones para Paula chapter-by-chapter online, and thanks to the community I created, Everest came along and published me in print. But Wattpad has been a paradigm shift. The internet has made us all somewhat equal, and those who have managed to reach the most people are the ones who are succeeding now: authors with millions of online readers are now bestsellers in print. They talk about mental health, equality, solidarity... Their stories connect with current events, with what moves young people today. And when they're also well-promoted, they're a hit. Their books compete head-to-head with the biggest hits for adults.

And yet, many were rejected at first. Even you. What does that tell you?

You can't always blame someone else: at first, we often don't have the necessary skills. My first manuscript is the one I spent the most time on, two years of research and writing, but it lacked experience. And publishing houses are, after all, companies, and while it's true they're also finding and publishing new authors, they play it safe and rely heavily on acquaintances or people who already have a resume on social media or the internet. Sometimes that initial "no" helps you improve, even if it sinks you at first. But in the long run, it's not so bad. It made me appreciate what I have today more.

Since you published Songs for Paul until now, how has your writing evolved?

Now I have more confidence and patience. I know a book isn't written in two days, although some authors take two weeks. I try to do things well. I started Canciones para Paula by writing a chapter or half a chapter every day and uploading it online in a hurry. Now I spend eight hours a day writing; everything is more deliberate. When I started writing mysteries, I bought a whiteboard to analyze the timelines: what time the victim died, where the characters were... I even make diagrams with the relationships between the characters. With this book, I even asked the Mossos d'Esquadra where I could leave a body in Barcelona. Canciones para Paula was a bit of an improvisation, letting myself go. With the heart books, I also did it that way, writing on impulse. Now everything is much more elaborate.

What do you think about literary influencers?

I'm very grateful. These are young men and women doing great work. When I started, there were blogs, then came YouTube channels, Instagram, and now TikTok. BookTok is amazing: there are thousands of young people talking about books with creativity and professionalism. They help us authors a lot.

Pseudonym taken from a song Who's going to buy a book from a guy named Blue Jeans? I thought. But they got it right.

Until when will Blue Jeans be Blue Jeans?

Until that guy in the cap has some ink left... (laughs). When I started writing online, I had just been rejected by every publishing house. I didn't want to be judged on anything other than my writing style, on anyone judging me for being from Seville, or for my name. No one knew I was writing online, not my friends, not my family. I took the name from a really bad Squeezer song; it talks about how jeans look on you in the summer, but I liked it. When Everest published me, they wanted me to keep the name, although I thought: who's going to buy a book from a guy named Blue Jeans? But they got it right. Then Planeta also decided to keep it. Now it's an established brand, even a veteran (smiles).

Good Morning, Princess is your best-selling book to date and the one that made the leap to the big screen. How was your experience? Would you repeat it?

There are authors who don't want their novels to be made into films. For example, Laura Gallego or Joana Marcús. Others do. Take Alice Kellen, who just released The Map of Longings on Netflix. I like it. I mean, I know things are going to change for me, because I've already experienced it. I know that in the end I'm going to have to defend the production to readers, because readers always want things just as they appear in the book. But audiovisual and written language are different. There's a team of screenwriters, a director, actors, production companies, and now even a platform that has its say. As they said on TikTok: "At least they got the characters' names right." I don't know if that's right or wrong, but that's how it works. And the book gives me an extra life, and maybe people who didn't know you will get to know you. For me, that's positive.

After The Last Time I Think of You , what's next?

In a month and a half, I'll sit down with my wife, Esther, and we'll talk about what might be next. And when I'm more or less clear on that, I'll talk to my editors. It's true that I do what I want, but I always consult and like to listen to the people who work with me. And well, we'll see what I choose: if it's a young adult novel, a mystery, if there's more heart than crime... The only thing I know is that I'm going to give it my all again, I'll be excited again, I'll be at my best again, and well, we'll see what happens.

Read also

What role does your wife play in all this?

I always said she's half of Blue Jeans. Now she likes me to say she's the 'e' in Blue and Jeans. She's fundamental, not just to the person who's with me. We talk about everything. She also comes up with ideas; she writes very well, she's very imaginative, and she's very intelligent. She's a key, fundamental person in this whole story.