We had the pleasure of chatting to Francesca Flores and we talk all about her recently published debut novel, Diamond City, from the inspiration behind the story, to her journey as a debut author!
Your debut novel, Diamond City, is now out in the world! Can you tell us about it and why everyone should include this book in their reading list?
Diamond City is about a young assassin named Aina trying to survive and open her own crime empire in the dangerous, industrializing city of Kosín. It’s full of action, gritty and brutal, and very morally gray, yet at the heart of it is a girl who’s just trying to sculpt a future for herself out of a changing, war-torn, and difficult place.
As a debut author, it can be an extremely long and tiring process to finally get published. Can you share about your very own writing and publishing story?
It was certainly long, but honestly, looking back, I just feel happy to see how far I’ve come. I’ve been writing since I was a child and completed my first novel about ten years ago, in my first year at university. That was also a young adult fantasy, as were most of my projects, and it came to me in a dream! I wrote quite a few manuscripts before trying to publish, somewhere between 10-15. Publishing just wasn’t on my mind and I just kept writing as a hobby. But then my writing friends started to look at publishing opportunities and so I finally considered it myself in early 2017, which is also when I first started drafting Diamond City. I drafted quickly and did one major revision before querying that summer (I recommend doing more revisions before querying; I had no idea how to revise back then so I thought I was good-to-go!). But I did get an agent that same summer, the wonderful Peter Knapp. There were many revisions ahead before going on submission, though, and I’m glad I had them because they helped make the book much stronger and taught me a lot about craft. We went on submission the following summer, in 2018, and the book sold quickly to my amazing editor, Eileen Rothschild. I’m excited to finally share my writing and to keep writing more fantasy.
Now, let’s talk about the characters in your debut, starting with Aina! Being such a fierce and strong heroine, can you tell us about your writing process of her? Were there any changes made to her character that you’d like to share with us?
Aina, along with the setting, were the first two things that came to mind when I started brainstorming Diamond City. At first, I just kept hearing bits of dialogue in her voice where she was making witty remarks or expressing her opinion. I really liked her voice and wanted to get to know her more, and she developed really naturally for me. One thing that changed is that, in the first couple of drafts, she used magic herself. Around the third draft, I think, I changed that because I wanted a main character who could see the situation between magic users and the people who are prejudiced against them while sort of being on the outside of the conflict. And even though she’s on the outside of it, it still affects her life, and that’s something I wanted to explore—how technology and conflict and general change in society affect the people in it. I also just wanted her to be a regular girl as much as possible, so I took away her use of magic and instead had her power come from the skills she’s learned over the years.
And were there any struggles that you faced when you wrote the dynamic between Aina and Kohl?
Yes, so many! It was so important to me to get it right. As Aina’s boss and someone who saved her life when she was a child, Kohl holds a lot of power over her, and it’s often overwhelming. But that doesn’t mean she’s powerless, and it doesn’t mean she’s unable to learn how to stand up for herself. I had to present it in a way that readers could see how it’s hurting her but still understand why she feels so indebted to him, why she doesn’t understand that their dynamic is harmful, and why being his star employee is so important to her that she’ll keep working for it even when he uses his power against her. I wanted to show a character who doesn’t start the book in the strongest position, who doesn’t always have the best idea of what’s right or wrong for her, and has a misconstrued sense of trust and love, because the circumstances she grew up in didn’t really permit her to learn any of that. While I think it’s great to have books where the main character is emotionally strong from the beginning and would never let anyone take advantage of them, I think it’s equally important to show characters who are still working through these difficult relationships and figuring out what to do. It’s based on my own experience, so I hope that people who read it and are going through something similar might gain hope that they can pull through it, too, by watching how Aina navigates it all.
We simply couldn’t do this interview without asking about the scene-stealing prologue in Diamond City. It was absolutely thrilling! What inspired you to write this particular scene?
Thank you!! That’s one of my favorite parts of the book and it really hasn’t changed much since the beginning. The first line, most of the dialogue, and the events of the prologue are the same as in the first draft. I wanted to show who Aina was before she became an assassin, so that right in the next chapter, you can see how much she’s changed six years later. I also wanted to show how she and Kohl met, since their relationship is extremely important to the book. They meet when he saves her life, and the opening line is “Do you want to know the secret to survival?” so I think that encapsulates a major question for Aina throughout her years as an assassin: how far will she go to survive? And what does she owe, or not owe, someone who saved her? As far as the original inspiration, it came from conversations I’ve had over the years about little ways to stay safe, to survive. I have OCD and sometimes the way for me to feel safe is to count things, people or time, and that’s something the characters do in the prologue. They count how many people are in the room and they count the seconds before a bomb goes off. The “counting” aspect also correlates to the importance of “time” as a whole in the novel, especially seen through the setting and how the changing times of industrialization can have such a big effect on people’s lives.
The magical yet vicious world of Kosín was remarkable. How long did it take for you to develop this universe and were there any challenges that you faced along the way?
I absolutely love making settings for my book. I’ve always considered places to have their own souls, and that they’re as much characters in the book as the actual characters. I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to be set during a period of industrialization with around late 1800s technology. There’s so much change and shifting of ideas in this time period that greatly affect the characters, their experiences and beliefs, and I wanted to play with it. Research was a challenge at times. Another challenge was making the city seem dynamic, which was important because the characters don’t leave the city. So every time that they go back to the same place, I tried to show it shifting and changing somehow along with the character so that it would still be interesting. It was also an intriguing challenge to create a world that would allow people like Aina and the other tradehouse employees to exist. There has to be the right social climate for the crimes they commit to be common yet still shocking even in their world, and it had to be done in a way that made Aina’s path in life, and her choice to become an assassin, more viable and realistic.
Time for a fun question! If the casts of Diamond City took a Pottermore quiz, what would their Hogwarts’ houses be?
I always love this question! Aina and Kohl would definitely be Slytherins. They’re both way too ambitious not to be. But as long as you’re not getting in their way, they’ll also be loyal to you. Teo is a pure Hufflepuff, so it’s always fun to write his scenes with Aina. Although he’s had to do difficult and dangerous things as part of his job, at the core he’s kind and caring and never really wants to hurt anyone. He’s an extremely loyal friend, too. Raurie is a Ravenclaw. She’s had to figure out lots of savvy ways to stay safe and earn money for her family over the years, and she loves learning new things. And then I have two Gryffindors: Ryuu and Tannis. I’m a Slytherin myself so I’m surprised that I allowed there to be two whole Gryffindors in my cast, but that’s just who they are. Ryuu isn’t used to Aina’s dangerous lifestyle, but he jumps into it and isn’t afraid to do difficult things. Tannis is a mysterious character, so I won’t reveal too much, but she’s a brave, sometimes headstrong, Gryffindor as well.
If this story was to be adapted for the big screen, are there any actors that you think would bring these characters to life?
Some of the characters are pretty easy to choose for this. Teo, for example, would be Luke Pasqualino. Luke looks exactly like how I imagine Teo, and he played in The Musketeers, so he has experience in action roles! Ryuu would be Tomohisa Yamashita. I could easily see Kat Graham, who was on The Vampire Diaries, playing Raurie. For Aina, I think the actress Bianca Santos looks most similar to her, but she’s mostly played in more contemporary things, so sometimes it’s hard to fully picture her as Aina. Adria Arjona, on the other hand, played in Emerald City, and while she doesn’t look exactly like Aina in my head, there are a lot of shots from that show that look like they could be Aina. Kohl is also hard to choose, but there’s a model, Leo Mangieri, who looks very similar to him!
We’re incredibly excited for this book, as it’s in our list for most anticipated 2020 releases. For you, what’s your most anticipated titles for this year?
Thank you so much!! There are so many good books coming out this year, it’s hard to choose. Some YA fantasies I’m excited for are A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, Heart of Flames by Nicki Pau Preto, Red Tigress by Amélie Wen Zhao, Fable by Adrienne Young, Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova, and All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace.
Lastly, what’s next for you?
Right now I’m revising the sequel to Diamond City! It’s a lot of fun, though definitely a challenge. I love being back with these characters and in this world, and I’m really excited to wrap up Aina’s story in the way she deserves.
