GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Anyone who happens to be walking past the door in the early-morning hours as Gregory Funaro begins work might be surprised to hear what sounds like a cast of characters carrying on a conversation.
The voices of a British gentleman, a Scotsman, a crusty old housekeeper and a boy age 12 (or thereabouts) emanate from a room where Funaro sits alone. This occurrence may not seem at all odd, considering that Funaro works in the theater department. But he is not rehearsing a scene or preparing a lecture for his acting students at East Carolina University. He is crafting dialogue for what has become his real-life supporting role as a writer.
Funaro, 46, is the author of “Alistair Grim’s Odditorium,” published earlier this year by Disney Hyperion. The book, Funaro’s first for young readers, is an imaginative story of a 19th-century chimney sweep who accidentally ends up in a world of wonder. Released in January and selected as that month’s Amazon editor’s pick for Best Children’s Books, it has been called a “frenetic, entertaining romp,” by Publishers Weekly.
Not bad for an author who, after having a third book published, still considers himself an amateur.
“I sort of got published by accident,” Funaro said in a recent interview at ECU’s McGinnis Theatre. “I wasn’t really intending to become an author. … It really started as something to pass the time.”
A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Funaro started writing screenplays in a notebook in the 1990s when he was on tour with a Boston-based theater company. He found an agent (though never a publisher) for the screenplays, but, in the meantime, Funaro became sold on writing. After receiving advanced degrees from Brown University and Florida State, he had two thrillers published - “The Sculptor” and “The Impaler.”
But the arrival of his daughter birthed in Funaro a desire to move to a gentler genre.
“You sit here and you’re writing about these horrible people,” he said of the time he spent researching the science and the psychology of serial killings for the books. “Then you go play with your kid. It just felt weird. It just felt wrong.”
Although he was under contract for two more thrillers, Funaro began writing “Alistair Grim’s Odditorium,” a story of fairies and goblins and dragons, of a magic broom and a talking pocket watch. But when the book was complete, Funaro found he had been typecast by his publisher, and neither the company nor his agent wanted anything to do with his new children’s book.
“I was devastated,” Funaro recalled. “It sat on my computer for a year.”
To make matters worse, Funaro’s agent announced that he was going to retire, leaving Funaro with no book deal, no one to represent him and an unpublished children’s book that no one seemed to like.
Well, almost no one. The same day he heard the bad news from his agent Funaro also heard from Jessica Purdy, a New Hampshire writer who had read advance copies of his earlier books. Purdy had not even finished reading “Alistair Grim’s Odditorium,” but she had great things to say about it. The rave reviews were courtesy of Purdy’s then-11-year-old son, Jack Schneider, who is named in the book’s dedication as its first fan.
“(My son) gobbled the book up and said that he loved it and wanted to read more if there was a sequel,” Purdy said. “Jack’s response was the day his agent had dropped him, so it was kind of a good moment for Greg to say, ’Even though my agent dropped me, I think I have to believe in this book.’”
It turned out that the adolescent appraisal was spot-on. Following revisions, Funaro ended up with half a dozen offers from agents who wanted to represent him.
Within a few months, Bill Contardi of Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents had sold “Alistair Grim’s Auditorium” to Disney, which outbid another publisher for the rights. The author with two volumes on serial killers still on the shelves now had a home in the children’s section.
“Of all places you would think Disney would be the most sensitive to that,” Contardi said. “But they didn’t even insist on him changing his name, which is a way some people would go to create a new author identity.”
Funaro certainly is not the only author to jump to the flourishing genre of middle grade fiction. Suspense-thriller writer James Patterson, who holds the Guinness record for the most No. 1 New York Times bestsellers, is also now a best-selling author in young adult and middle grades fiction.
Contardi sees a number of motivating factors for authors who cross over.
“(It’s) what’s important in life and what you want to leave as your legacy,” he said. “If it’s a choice between five seconds of thrills with a cabin in the woods or maybe opening up a kid’s mind and heart to a wonderful new world, I think I’d go for the latter.
“There’s no reason you can’t do a thriller (first),” he said. “Suspense and tension are certainly welcome ingredients in the young adult area.”
So are imagination and energy, which Contardi said helped Funaro create the magical world of the Odditorium. His agent believes Funaro’s theatrical expertise gives him an advantage in character development and making his writing visually oriented.
It probably comes as no surprise that dialogue comes easily to Funaro, who already has completed a sequel, “Alistair Grim’s Odd Aquaticum,” which is due out next year. But description and dramatics elements can be drudgery.
“It really is work. I’m not somebody who has a muse,” Funaro said.
“For me it’s just more about discipline than anything. … More often than not, it’s just a matter of sitting down and doing it.”
In the years since he took up writing to pass the time, Funaro has become a husband, father and full-time associate professor of acting. These days he has to find the time to write, often waking before 4 a.m. to try to complete 1,500 words or so before it is time to help his daughter get ready for school and head off to work at ECU.
“Being a writer is secondary. I’m still not really comfortable with it,” said Funaro, who prefers to introduce himself as an educator, seldom mentioning that he also is an author.
He has introduced his work to his acting classes. Funaro said his students’ input actually has helped him develop his voice as a writer. That voice also is formed as Funaro speaks to himself in character as he writes.
“I see them. I talk like them,” he said, laughing. “You kind of cast them off of actors.
“It’s almost surreal. It’s a different kind of experience than anything I’ve experienced in theater.”
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Information from: The Daily Reflector, https://www.reflector.com
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