An Interview with Declan Connor
It's been a while since I posted the last author interview. Hopefully I'll have the time to do a few more over the coming months... 
And so, on with the rest of the post. Today, I am talking to Declan Connor, author of Earth's Fury: Our Last Thanksgiving and Secession: Last Fourth of July.
Hello, and thank you for talking to me across the Atlantic. First of all, which writers inspire you?
I have many writers that have inspired me both in the thriller and sci-fi genres, but above all for inspiration, any of the Ancient Alien authors inspire me, but Eric von Daniken is the king for me.
He inspired me to write a 5,000-word short story, the End, or a New Dawn that I have published in Lunch Break Thrillers, and which made the finals of a competition judged by Harper Collins’ editors and authors. It’s a sort of Groundhog Day for creation, though with millions of years apart from the biblical creation.
Where do your ideas come from?
Most of my ideas come from news articles and little-known scientific facts that I find on the way that are stranger than fiction. One such was the kernel of the idea for my thriller, The Killer Amongst Us, when I discovered that there are only two known cases of people born with two sets of DNA in their body in the US. Taking it to its extremes, as it is something not tested for in populations, then it provided fodder for the story of connections to ancient aliens, and ancient Egypt, set in the here and now.
As for my new trilogy, it started with an extreme flood map I came across of the US territory that divided the land. Having been battered with political division, and upheaval in US news this past four years, with the country seemingly on a precipice, I put the two together. Story and plot aside aside, that translated into three books along the lines of: The destruction - The division – and the rebirth of governance and society in the US as separate nations, in the form of thrillers.
You mentioned finding cool sciwentific facts. How much research do you do? How do you do it?
Normally, I only do what is required as I write, but for the trilogy I had to do a tremendous amount of research, all on the internet. Most Post-Apocalyptic - Dystopian books, which fit firmly in the sci-fi genre, center around one type of disaster in something of the characters’ bubble, with most changes in society set in a futuristic setting. I wanted to set in a world that everyone would recognize and so set it in the US in the near future, and with a scientifically plausible disaster of immense magnitude that would alter the landscape and governance of nations around the world and the US forever.
In doing so, I had to research the effects of rising sea levels and the possibility of subductions and new mountain ranges caused by movement in the tectonic plates to produce a map of the altered territory that would form the basis for the division in society along factions of, religious, racial, and political ideologies. I also trawled NASA and found recent reports of the eleven-year solar cycle of flares and their effect on the mantle through the discharge of positive charged particles that cause not only EMPs, but that they now say cause earthquakes and volcanic activity that we experience.
Then I had to research prepper sites on methods of survival. Added to that, I researched the current political and population demographics in the US, together with government planning for such disasters. Learning the intricacies of the US Constitution was the hardest part. I also looked closely at scientific developments of weapons in space for use by Space Force for the third book in the trilogy. In all, it was very exhaustive research.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just to see where an idea takes you?
I've done both in my writing, but for the trilogy it wouldn’t have been possible to write something of such complexity without outlining. The world was there to imagine in its altered state and maps to draw. I had to know the census statistics of different states, along political and the differing racial demographics. The stories have differing points of view of various factions, so there were character-arc outlines, backgrounds, and traits to develop that I couldn’t lose sight of that I and needed for reference.
Each character needed a plot arc that include facing their misbeliefs, fears, and their truths, for them to pop on the page. Then each of the books in the trilogy needed its own three-act structure to a conclusion of the individual plot of each. And finally, the trilogy needed its own three-act structure with an overall plot to come to a satisfactory conclusion. It was quite a task and took two weeks writing full time to complete the outline, but then that enabled me to power through writing the 300,000 words or so in 5 months, without writer’s block, whereas I’m usually write one book per year. Outlines are great, but it doesn't mean you can't deviate.
It must have worked to outline, because the development editor was impressed, but even then, her suggestions took it to a whole new level.
And finally, where do you see publishing going in the future?
Where I see publishing going in the future is one of my greatest fears. Since self-publishing and Amazon disrupted the publishing industry model, trad-publishers have gone from working against it, to now working hand in glove with Amazon, having resources for marketing not available to us lessor mortals as self-publishers, and though we still have an edge on price, visibility trumps price. Without luck, it is already hard to get visibility without lining Amazon’s pockets with ad revenue.
But more than that, AI is a bigger fear if it ever comes to the stage where publishers can tap into it, feed in a plot, and out pops an amalgam of all the bestseller books in the genre as a story, fully edited and ready to go. That really would be sick and would probably be the death of the author. Now there’s an idea for a story? That might just be my next book.
That is, of course, one of the big reasons for going wide and not just publishing with Amazon. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
Declan Conner is something of a nomad, living between Brazil, the UK, and Portugal. Writing thrillers this past 10 years set in the US, he's now turned to the Post-Apocalyptic - Dystopian genre, though crafted as thrillers. His trilogy, The Prepper's Son series is on pre-order as e-books and is to be published 7th March 2021 as both e-books and in print and available on Amazon. Besides writing, his other passion is music, and during his downtime, he relaxes by playing guitar.
And so, on with the rest of the post. Today, I am talking to Declan Connor, author of Earth's Fury: Our Last Thanksgiving and Secession: Last Fourth of July.
Hello, and thank you for talking to me across the Atlantic. First of all, which writers inspire you?
I have many writers that have inspired me both in the thriller and sci-fi genres, but above all for inspiration, any of the Ancient Alien authors inspire me, but Eric von Daniken is the king for me.
He inspired me to write a 5,000-word short story, the End, or a New Dawn that I have published in Lunch Break Thrillers, and which made the finals of a competition judged by Harper Collins’ editors and authors. It’s a sort of Groundhog Day for creation, though with millions of years apart from the biblical creation.
Where do your ideas come from?
Most of my ideas come from news articles and little-known scientific facts that I find on the way that are stranger than fiction. One such was the kernel of the idea for my thriller, The Killer Amongst Us, when I discovered that there are only two known cases of people born with two sets of DNA in their body in the US. Taking it to its extremes, as it is something not tested for in populations, then it provided fodder for the story of connections to ancient aliens, and ancient Egypt, set in the here and now.
As for my new trilogy, it started with an extreme flood map I came across of the US territory that divided the land. Having been battered with political division, and upheaval in US news this past four years, with the country seemingly on a precipice, I put the two together. Story and plot aside aside, that translated into three books along the lines of: The destruction - The division – and the rebirth of governance and society in the US as separate nations, in the form of thrillers.
You mentioned finding cool sciwentific facts. How much research do you do? How do you do it?
Normally, I only do what is required as I write, but for the trilogy I had to do a tremendous amount of research, all on the internet. Most Post-Apocalyptic - Dystopian books, which fit firmly in the sci-fi genre, center around one type of disaster in something of the characters’ bubble, with most changes in society set in a futuristic setting. I wanted to set in a world that everyone would recognize and so set it in the US in the near future, and with a scientifically plausible disaster of immense magnitude that would alter the landscape and governance of nations around the world and the US forever.
In doing so, I had to research the effects of rising sea levels and the possibility of subductions and new mountain ranges caused by movement in the tectonic plates to produce a map of the altered territory that would form the basis for the division in society along factions of, religious, racial, and political ideologies. I also trawled NASA and found recent reports of the eleven-year solar cycle of flares and their effect on the mantle through the discharge of positive charged particles that cause not only EMPs, but that they now say cause earthquakes and volcanic activity that we experience.
Then I had to research prepper sites on methods of survival. Added to that, I researched the current political and population demographics in the US, together with government planning for such disasters. Learning the intricacies of the US Constitution was the hardest part. I also looked closely at scientific developments of weapons in space for use by Space Force for the third book in the trilogy. In all, it was very exhaustive research.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just to see where an idea takes you?
I've done both in my writing, but for the trilogy it wouldn’t have been possible to write something of such complexity without outlining. The world was there to imagine in its altered state and maps to draw. I had to know the census statistics of different states, along political and the differing racial demographics. The stories have differing points of view of various factions, so there were character-arc outlines, backgrounds, and traits to develop that I couldn’t lose sight of that I and needed for reference.
Each character needed a plot arc that include facing their misbeliefs, fears, and their truths, for them to pop on the page. Then each of the books in the trilogy needed its own three-act structure to a conclusion of the individual plot of each. And finally, the trilogy needed its own three-act structure with an overall plot to come to a satisfactory conclusion. It was quite a task and took two weeks writing full time to complete the outline, but then that enabled me to power through writing the 300,000 words or so in 5 months, without writer’s block, whereas I’m usually write one book per year. Outlines are great, but it doesn't mean you can't deviate.
It must have worked to outline, because the development editor was impressed, but even then, her suggestions took it to a whole new level.
And finally, where do you see publishing going in the future?
Where I see publishing going in the future is one of my greatest fears. Since self-publishing and Amazon disrupted the publishing industry model, trad-publishers have gone from working against it, to now working hand in glove with Amazon, having resources for marketing not available to us lessor mortals as self-publishers, and though we still have an edge on price, visibility trumps price. Without luck, it is already hard to get visibility without lining Amazon’s pockets with ad revenue.
But more than that, AI is a bigger fear if it ever comes to the stage where publishers can tap into it, feed in a plot, and out pops an amalgam of all the bestseller books in the genre as a story, fully edited and ready to go. That really would be sick and would probably be the death of the author. Now there’s an idea for a story? That might just be my next book.
That is, of course, one of the big reasons for going wide and not just publishing with Amazon. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
Declan Conner is something of a nomad, living between Brazil, the UK, and Portugal. Writing thrillers this past 10 years set in the US, he's now turned to the Post-Apocalyptic - Dystopian genre, though crafted as thrillers. His trilogy, The Prepper's Son series is on pre-order as e-books and is to be published 7th March 2021 as both e-books and in print and available on Amazon. Besides writing, his other passion is music, and during his downtime, he relaxes by playing guitar.
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