C.F. Kreitzer Talks Blood Numbers

What inspired you to write Blood Numbers?

I’ve always had a fascination with blood and donations, since it’s something I have no experience in. But the idea for this specific story started when my husband decided to donate plasma one year in order to have a little extra Christmas money.

He saw other fellow teachers there, and it made me a little sad that they were making so little that they had to risk their health in order to afford things for their families. And then he got sick, and my husband never gets sick. Anyone who’s ever been in a plasma facility knows what I’m talking about when I say they’re a little trippy. Poster children on every wall and weird messages talking about how your donations save people are all over the place. The idea of a society separated by the need for blood formed, and the donors were patterned off my poor husband who gave so much for us to have a great Christmas one year.

I was born with a blood disorder called polycythemia which means my blood is too thick. It’s possibly why I’m so fascinated by blood. I’ve never been able to donate blood or plasma.

I found out recently I also have a blood disorder called Von Willebrands, which means I bleed easily so maybe that balances out the thick blood, I don’t know. When I was born doctors wanted to do a complete blood transfusion. My dad refused, and a team of nurses stayed with me overnight. Somehow things worked out, and now here I am writing books about donors and blood banks.

**Can you tell us about the characters in Blood Numbers?**

Oh man, I really got to know and love these characters. It’s weird when critique partners would give suggestions, and I knew my fake people so well I could say “nah, they would never say that.”

My main character is Aston. She’s a 16-year-old donor who, as the fourth daughter of a man who wanted sons, was raised with strong opinions about their government. She is an artist.

She’s impulsive and very naive. She’s a bit selfish but has good intentions which is part of her story arc. She doesn’t want to admit it but she has a thing for her technician, Gannet. He’s got a pretty face but is clearly a robot to the system because of the drugs given to donors.

When Aston finds a way to avoid the drugs, she doesn’t think she could ever be with someone so robotically happy all the time. Which is what makes Marcus so appealing even if a bit annoying.

He’s rugged and sickly but free to do as he pleases. His determination and zeal draws her in even though her parents would never approve of a low-numbered sickly donor.

How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?

I knew I wanted a society divided by blood, the infected on one side of the wall that bid on healthy donors’ blood in order to be cured, and donors on the other side who are so poor they’re willing to donate themselves to death. But the idea for the characters came actually from watching Aladdin with my kids. Telling too much about that though would give too much away so you’ll have to just read the book:) * wink wink*

Where did you come up with the names in the story?

My husband is a birder. I think without realizing it I patterned Aston’s father after my husband. I love the kind of Dad he is and he loves birds, so I put a lot of the names of birds that we joked about naming our kids.

Gannets are sea birds; Lazuli Buntings are beautiful blue birds, and Aston- well that’s not a bird. I actually took a job working at an apartment complex called “The Aston” the day I started plotting the concept in my head. It only seemed fitting.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

The surprises. I always knew the basic skeleton of the story. I knew I needed to get from one plot point to the next, but the way I would get there sometimes was so exciting. “Yes, a ball! And at the ball there will be this crazy awesome thing that happens that leads us right to this ridiculous conflict!”

About C.F. Kreitzer

I grew up with a pretty normal childhood, running barefoot in the Appalachian mountains, playing with turtles and innocently killing them by leaving them on their backs so I could play house with them again the next day.

I don’t think I always dreamed of being an author. It was just something I did. I made up stories about my dead turtles. I named my fingers and let them battle out family feuds.

I wrote about myself in my journal when what I wished would happen was better than what actually did (sorry, Mom for the scare. I still promise I never really snuck over to a party and kissed my brothers friend).

What a wonderful surprise when something “I just did” suddenly became something others enjoyed. I’m so forever grateful to my publisher for giving me a chance to share my not-so-normal stories with the whole world.

About Blood Numbers

Blood Numbers by C.F. Kreitzer
Genre: YA Dystopian

Synopsis

There are only two kinds of people left on the earth: Donors and Recipients.

Sixteen-year-old Aston Vazeto hates the idea of selling her blood for money and is determined to be the first Donor in New World history to never donate.

But after a suspicious accident at her father’s power plant leaves her family diving deeper into poverty, Aston has no other choice except to enter the annual blood auctions, where Recipients bid on the richest blood. With the highest test results ever seen, Aston’s blood becomes the most sought-after in history, and will likely bring a large price at auctions.

When her friends are caught tampering with their donations, they are arrested and tortured. Knowing she puts her family’s safety and income at risk Aston takes advantage of an opportunity to escape donation facility drugs meant to keep Donors complacent. Free to feel and free to love she is caught between Gannet, a kind facility technician, and Marcus, a sarcastic rebel like herself. Dancing at Blood Auction Balls and kissing a donor in coat closets under the stairs has Aston confused between joining the uprising she hears rumors about or merely following the life her blood was meant to lead.

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