In March of 2023, one of my sons gave me a book about Youngstown, Crimetown USA: the History of the Mahoning Valley Mafia. As I was reading it, I saw a lot of names I recognized, including people I met personally dozens of times. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and that got me thinking and plotting out a story about mob conflicts in Youngstown during the time I was growing up.
Daniele Willard – 12January 2025
The Back Flap
On the first day of his senior year of high school in the fall of 1977, Danny Flanigan meets a new student, Carly Pirelli. They’re instantly attracted to one another, even though they don’t have a lot in common. Danny is quiet; Carly can’t stop talking. Danny loves science and math; Carly is terrified of them. Danny reads science fiction; Carly reads Harlequin romances. Danny’s favorite band is Pink Floyd; Carly has never even heard of Pink Floyd. There are also more than a few hints that there’s something dark in Carly’s past, but Danny shrugs them off.
Then Danny learns that Carly’s (absentee) father is a Mafia boss. That makes things really complicated, because Danny’s father is an FBI agent.
About the book
When did you start writing the book?
November 2023
How long did it take you to write it?
Almost exactly a year.
Where did you get the idea from?
I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, which at the time (1960s-80s) had an unfortunately well-deserved reputation for political corruption and organized crime. They called it “Little Chicago” for a reason! My father was an elected official, so I had a front-row seat to a lot of the “excitement.”
In March of 2023, one of my sons gave me a book about Youngstown, Crimetown USA: the History of the Mahoning Valley Mafia. As I was reading it, I saw a lot of names I recognized, including people I met personally dozens of times. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and that got me thinking and plotting out a story about mob conflicts in Youngstown during the time I was growing up. I started putting together my plot timeline in May ‘23, and wrote a couple of chapters about the same time, as much to establish my narrative style as anything.
One of the first scenes I came up with had a mob boss stopping in at a high school and arm-twisting the principal into making his illegitimate daughter the homecoming queen. As I kept working on it, I realized that I was enjoying the subplot involving the daughter and her boyfriend, whose father is an FBI agent, more than the main story, and that it could be a novel all by itself—and so I turned that subplot into The Mobster’s Daughter.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
There’s a chapter about two thirds of the way through where Danny finally learns the full story about Carly’s past. It was really difficult to get it so that when Carly finally tells her story, doing so feels consistent with her character as established up to that point, but I’m pretty sure I pulled it off
What came easily?
There’s a scene early on in the book where Danny’s mother invites Carly over for dinner. Danny is, of course, nervous about her meeting the family, his mother is going whole hog on an elaborate meal, his little sisters are amused by the fact that their brother has a girlfriend and can’t wait to meet her—and in the middle of it all, his father figures out who her father is. This part was fun to write.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
There are some minor characters—TV news people, a radio talk show host—who are historic people. Some of the main adult characters are based on real Youngstowners I knew when growing up—if you’re from Youngstown and around my age, you should be able to figure out who some of them are. A few of the teenage characters (though not Danny or Carly) are patterned on some of my high school classmates. The rest are figments of my imagination.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
There’s too many to list, but the two writers who’ve given me the most inspiration are novelist Tom Clancy and naval historian Jonathan Parshall. Both were successful in other careers and took up writing as a hobby, did it well enough to quit their day jobs and become full-time authors, and turned out two of the best books I have ever read: The Hunt for Red October and Shattered Sword: the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, respectively.
Do you have a target reader?
I wrote The Mobster’s Daughter with the idea of it being for people who, like me, were old enough to remember 1977. After I got it done, I realized it’s also “historical fiction” for young people who want to experience what life was like for their parents and grandparents.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
Nothing really structured.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I’ve tried writing stories before without having a roadmap, and it never worked out. This time, I had a timeline and a destination mapped out, and that helped me persist until I had a finished product.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I am almost continually editing as I write—I have to force myself to declare something is finished so I don’t keep going back and revising it endlessly.
Did you hire a professional editor?
Not exactly. I sent an early darft to my good friend Chris Hafner and asked him to read it and tell me if he thought it was good enough to publish. (Chris is an amazing writer himself; his Facebook posts are better than most magazine articles!) All I was expecting was a yes or no answer, but I got about a 3,500 word detailed analysis, and following it made the story much much better. So I guess you could say Chris was my volunteer editor.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
Usually something instrumental, classical or “planetarium music” (Vangelis, Kitaro, Tangerine Dream, that sort of stuff).
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
No.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
It’s faster. Going the traditional publishing route would mean first (maybe) convincing an agent that my book is good enough to shop around to publishers, then waiting for the agent to (maybe) convince a publisher that it’s good enough to spend money printing up a bunch of copies and trying to sell it. By self-publishing, I could get it out into the world faster.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
The cover illustration is Carly’s self-portrait. I used an AI art program and kept feeding it prompts until it gave me something that looked like how I pictured her.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
Marketing? What’s that? 🙂
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Approach writing your story systematically—know where it’s going and how it’s going to get there—but remain open to discovering things along the way.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Youngstown, Ohio
Where do you live now?
Medina, Ohio
What would you like readers to know about you?
I’m married, with two adult children and one baby granddaughter. I’m on my third career: I started out as a schoolteacher, went to law school and was in private practice for 25 years, and for the last six years I’ve been an in-house lawyer and executive for a software company. Writing stories is something I’ve always wanted to do, but I’m not looking to quit my day job . . . just yet.
What are you working on now?
I still have the outline and parts of the larger mob war story, so I’m thinking of finishing that. The title will be Youngstown Tune-Up. It wouldn’t be a sequel as such, though much of it would be taking place at the same time as The Mobster’s Daughter and have a fair bit of overlap.
I also, for no particular reason, decided at the outset that Danny’s youngest sister was adopted, and it also occurred to me that the story of her adoption and how the Flanigan family adapted to her, and she to them, might be worth writing about. I’m not sure right now which one I’ll attempt first.
End of Interview:
Get your copy of The Mobster’s Daughter from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
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