Author interview with Francesco Parisi

/ dragonqueen3

Dragon Soul Press had an opportunity to interview Francesco Parisi, an author featured in Dragons and Heroes.

  1. Introduce yourself.
    • Hello! My name is Francesco Parisi, longtime writer and newly published author from central California. Stories have enthralled me from a very young age, and I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to share one with the DSP community! When I’m not writing or working my day job as an office assistant, you’ll find me reading, playing video games, or watching YouTube.
  2. What prompted you to begin writing?
    • I’ve been drawn to telling stories for as long as I can remember. Before I could read, I spent hours coming up with random scenarios, and my grandma was patient enough to listen to my toddler self ramble on for hours—and even contributed her own scenes as I went along! As soon as I learned the alphabet, I began writing whatever adventures sprang to mind in crayon or marker, and I have a box full of those childhood stories to this day. As I got older and fell in love with reading, I knew I wanted to write my own books. I suppose I’ve always found creating my own characters, worlds, and adventures inherently fulfilling.
  3. Do you have a favorite story or poem you’ve written? What’s it about?
    • Out of my published works, my favorite is my teen action novel, Alex McKellan: Mind vs. Matter. It’s about a boy who grows up in a family of superheroes but lacks his own power, and he has to rely on his own talents when evil scientists try to capture and experiment on the family. If I’m counting currently unpublished writing, then the Y.A. heroic fantasy novel I wrote for my master’s program is my favorite, but I can’t say too much about that one yet!
  4. How many projects do you have planned over the next few years? Tell us about one.
    • I have six or seven projects planned for the next few years. I’m drafting book 2 of my indie teen action series, The McKellans; planning final revisions on my thesis novel before I begin querying it; and developing a few ideas for stand-alones. I’m particularly excited about my thesis novel, which involves a sword that exposes its wielders to their own inner darkness and a young villager learning to confront what he discovers within himself. Fantasy is my favorite genre, and the story combines everything I love about it: adventure, magic, emotional arcs, and themes about good and evil (but hopefully presented in a fresh way).
  5. What is your writing process like?
    • My process has changed a lot over the years. Prior to college, I wrote whatever came to mind without any planning and filled in the gaps as I went, which led to my early drafts feeling unfocused and messy, if they got finished at all. Thankfully, my undergraduate English studies and my M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction forced me to learn how to plan ahead and outline. Nowadays, my process begins with a raw idea, which I let simmer in my brain for a while until I’m confident it has potential. Then I decide what the purpose/overall theme are and outline the plot, characters, and setting as thoroughly as I can. After doing a little research, I start drafting. Inevitably, though, I always hit a plot point I didn’t realize needed to be there or something I didn’t think to research, so I have to adapt as I go.
  6. Where do you draw inspiration from?
    • For me, a story idea can materialize from anywhere. Rough ideas form in my mind from the most random things as I go through my day, and sometimes multiple things combine into one big burst of inspiration. Alex McKellan, for example, came to me when I was a teenager, when my sense of isolation in my family converged with my growing interest in superheroes and my desire to explore interesting locales across the U.S. In general, inspiration comes from anything that intrigues me, makes me think, or stirs my emotions.
  7. Who is your favorite author / what is your favorite book?
    • Such a hard question, since there are so many great ones to choose from! I feel like my answer changes all the time, but since I’ve been a little obsessed with Brandon Sanderson’s work lately, I’ll go with him. My favorite book of his is Words of Radiance, book 2 of The Stormlight Archive.
  8. What is one goal you have for your writing future?
    • My biggest goal currently is to get an agent for my Y.A. fantasy novel after one more round of editing.
  9. What do you hope readers enjoy most from your work?
    • It’s a toss-up between characters and plot. Character is probably the more “literary” answer—at least according to my college professors—but making the plot engaging and memorable has always been a priority. I want people to have fun reading my stories! However, characters give stories their emotional core and tend to get readers more invested in the plot, and crafting layered, dynamic characters with rich backstories and intricate relationships is fulfilling to me. I’d be happy knowing readers enjoyed either one of these aspects most.
  10. Where can readers learn more about you?

Leave a Reply