Interview with author Mark Del Franco at RT
My friend, Theresa, and I got to sit down with Mark Del Franco to discuss his Connor Gray books. Here is part of that conversation:
RT: The concept of these books is that Connor is a druid, arrogant and all powerful, who suffers and accident that changes things. In this third book, UNFALLED DEAD, he is a little more humble. Where do you see things going from here?
Mark Del Franco: Well, he is evolving. In one of the things that I find interesting when I finish a book is that is reflects what’s going in my own life that I always notice. When I finished it, and my beta readers will often say, “Oh, this is when you were upset about this…” And the interesting thing about UNSHAPELY THINGS, the first book, is that, as you said, is this guy who is at the top of his game, and he loses everything. I wrote that book right after I had been downsized from a fun job – I was a contracts director for Little Brown & Co., where I got to negotiate contracts; I was sort of the opposite of an agent. I was essentially an agent for a publisher. It’s really fascinating when you have this job that you think is important and then you walk in one day and are told it doesn’t exist anymore. And then I spent the next month watching Good Morning, America and taking naps and I realized that I was kind of just not doing anything and I thought, I don’t know how to do anything else. After looking back, I realized that’s what Connor is doing. And he is trying to figure out where he fits in this world. He will figure out where he fits in the world, and some of it will be his choice and some of it won’t.
RT: How did you develop the Weird?
MDF: It’s kind of interesting – I always tell people, cause it’s true, I have lived in the same neighborhood in Boston for 25 years. When I first moved in there as a young student and it was not a nice neighborhood. It was a blast to live there. It’s more gentrified now. There is an area with a lot of warehouses and artists who live there and…
RT: And that’s kind of like the fairies and the others in the book.
MDF: Exactly. It’s like, where do you go when you have no place left to go? There’s always a place like that in the city.
RT: And how about our friendly neighborhood cop, Murdock?
MDF: One of the things that I decided would be important for Connor is relationships and friendships in particular. When he was at the top of his game, he took friendships for granted because he didn’t really understand what friendships were. He’s learning to connect with people in ways he didn’t before. Meryl, he knew beforehand and he didn’t get along with before…
RT: Love Meryl. She’s a great character.
MDF: I know people like Meryl. I know people like Meryl who have attitudes towards people like Connor used to be. They are a fun relationship to write because he has no idea where he stands with her. One of the frustrations of writing a first person narrative is that you can’t always get into other people’s heads unless they actually say something. And she is all about not saying something.
RT: Do have an idea of how long the series is going to continue?
MDF: I just finished book 4. And as you write, it seems the world gets a bit bigger. I am writing a major story arc, and I think it will be evident to the reader that something is going on here.
When you write villains, it’s interesting, but I don’t think people wake up in the morning and think, “okay, today I want to be a villain.” But I think most people have motivations that we just don’t get and it’s all about perception of what those things are. It will become clear what Bergen does as time goes on. I am looking to see this arc conclude probably within 7 books. At that point, I envision another story arc starting that is very clear in my head and I hope I get to write it.
RT: What brings you to RT?
MDF: Well, RT has been very supportive of Connor and I got such a kick out of it. And I actually am a romance reader. I have moved away from romance the past couple of years but really my formative reading experiences have been romance novels, historicals in particular. I am a very eclectic reader. So I got a big kick that RT readers were really into Connor. And at first, I didn’t get it and then I started reading other reader reviews as well, and it kind of clicked in my head. Women are very much a part of what I am doing. And I think that’s where the romance reader came in to my series.
RT: Where can you be found online?
MDF: I actually have a web site, www.markdelfranco.com and you can find info about the books that have been published. I have a new series starting in July. The first book is called SKIN DEEP. It’s set in the same world. Laura is an undercover agent, living 3 lives. The next Connor will be out next February. I am also part of an online community called fangs_fur_fey with Jeaniene Frost and Melissa Marr and it’s open to a lot of authors. We are not strictly books, we have graphic novelists agents and we talk about writing. Livejournal blog, too, markdf.livejournal.com.
Thank you, Mark!
RT: The concept of these books is that Connor is a druid, arrogant and all powerful, who suffers and accident that changes things. In this third book, UNFALLED DEAD, he is a little more humble. Where do you see things going from here?
Mark Del Franco: Well, he is evolving. In one of the things that I find interesting when I finish a book is that is reflects what’s going in my own life that I always notice. When I finished it, and my beta readers will often say, “Oh, this is when you were upset about this…” And the interesting thing about UNSHAPELY THINGS, the first book, is that, as you said, is this guy who is at the top of his game, and he loses everything. I wrote that book right after I had been downsized from a fun job – I was a contracts director for Little Brown & Co., where I got to negotiate contracts; I was sort of the opposite of an agent. I was essentially an agent for a publisher. It’s really fascinating when you have this job that you think is important and then you walk in one day and are told it doesn’t exist anymore. And then I spent the next month watching Good Morning, America and taking naps and I realized that I was kind of just not doing anything and I thought, I don’t know how to do anything else. After looking back, I realized that’s what Connor is doing. And he is trying to figure out where he fits in this world. He will figure out where he fits in the world, and some of it will be his choice and some of it won’t.
RT: How did you develop the Weird?
MDF: It’s kind of interesting – I always tell people, cause it’s true, I have lived in the same neighborhood in Boston for 25 years. When I first moved in there as a young student and it was not a nice neighborhood. It was a blast to live there. It’s more gentrified now. There is an area with a lot of warehouses and artists who live there and…
RT: And that’s kind of like the fairies and the others in the book.
MDF: Exactly. It’s like, where do you go when you have no place left to go? There’s always a place like that in the city.
RT: And how about our friendly neighborhood cop, Murdock?
MDF: One of the things that I decided would be important for Connor is relationships and friendships in particular. When he was at the top of his game, he took friendships for granted because he didn’t really understand what friendships were. He’s learning to connect with people in ways he didn’t before. Meryl, he knew beforehand and he didn’t get along with before…
RT: Love Meryl. She’s a great character.
MDF: I know people like Meryl. I know people like Meryl who have attitudes towards people like Connor used to be. They are a fun relationship to write because he has no idea where he stands with her. One of the frustrations of writing a first person narrative is that you can’t always get into other people’s heads unless they actually say something. And she is all about not saying something.
RT: Do have an idea of how long the series is going to continue?
MDF: I just finished book 4. And as you write, it seems the world gets a bit bigger. I am writing a major story arc, and I think it will be evident to the reader that something is going on here.
When you write villains, it’s interesting, but I don’t think people wake up in the morning and think, “okay, today I want to be a villain.” But I think most people have motivations that we just don’t get and it’s all about perception of what those things are. It will become clear what Bergen does as time goes on. I am looking to see this arc conclude probably within 7 books. At that point, I envision another story arc starting that is very clear in my head and I hope I get to write it.
RT: What brings you to RT?
MDF: Well, RT has been very supportive of Connor and I got such a kick out of it. And I actually am a romance reader. I have moved away from romance the past couple of years but really my formative reading experiences have been romance novels, historicals in particular. I am a very eclectic reader. So I got a big kick that RT readers were really into Connor. And at first, I didn’t get it and then I started reading other reader reviews as well, and it kind of clicked in my head. Women are very much a part of what I am doing. And I think that’s where the romance reader came in to my series.
RT: Where can you be found online?
MDF: I actually have a web site, www.markdelfranco.com and you can find info about the books that have been published. I have a new series starting in July. The first book is called SKIN DEEP. It’s set in the same world. Laura is an undercover agent, living 3 lives. The next Connor will be out next February. I am also part of an online community called fangs_fur_fey with Jeaniene Frost and Melissa Marr and it’s open to a lot of authors. We are not strictly books, we have graphic novelists agents and we talk about writing. Livejournal blog, too, markdf.livejournal.com.
Thank you, Mark!
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