Behind The Scenes With An Author — Frank Deford Discusses Writing His New Novel

By Andy Hutchison

FAIRFIELD — Author Frank Deford’s work may be read in his books, as well as in Sports Illustrated, and his voice heard during his Wednesday morning commentary on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition.

On July 7, loyal listeners and readers got to hear Deford dissect much of the process of writing his latest book — the novel Bliss, Remembered, a love story set at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and America during World War II — during WSHU Public Radio’s Join The Conversation lecture series at Sacred Heart University’s Schine Auditorium.

Deford, who lives in Westport, and shares his witty sports and current events perspectives with radio listeners, spoke about the new novel in his always upbeat and attention-grabbing tone.

The book’s fictional main character is Sydney Stringfellow, an Olympic swimmer who began a love affair with the son of a Nazi diplomat. The affair abruptly ends when political forces tear them apart. Deford went into some detail about why he chose the Berlin Olympics as his backdrop. The author said he wanted to use an Olympic setting. “You want that canvas behind you that’s bright and spectacular,” he explained to the audience.

But the 1936 Olympics might not have been the best choice he thought. “That’s so trite — everybody knows about it. ... I can’t do that,” Deford recalled of his thoughts at the time.

But there was so much going on, with the Depression, and war threats, making the time period that much more interesting, and Deford determined that this was the route to go. “Sometimes what’s obvious is best,” he said.

“Now that I have written it, I don’t have any doubt in my mind that I picked the best time to tell the story,” Deford told his listeners.

He read from the book, providing tastes of his gritty details and an overall flavor of the novel, while leaving the audience in some suspense and, he hoped, craving more information to a point they would dig into Bliss, Remembered.

“It’s more than a love story. There are some shocking surprises,” said Deford, adding that he would not share — on this night — if the love story has a happy ending.

In Deford’s research he came across people who were at the ’36 Olympics and interviewed them for anecdotes to sprinkle throughout the book. He also learned a little about women’s competition bathing suits in the 1930s, and described them as being surprisingly seductive for that period.

He explained that time-sensitive details are important. Deford pointed out that people had to go to movie theaters to find air-conditioning in the 30s. Everyday tidbits such as this are used to keep the reader in the right time period mind frame.

“You can’t live on love alone and neither can a novel live on love alone,” Deford noted.

The secondary main character in the book is German and Deford did not want to get involved with the German language being used in the book — “For one thing, German is a funny language,” Deford said — so “I had to construct a history for him so he spoke perfect English.”

After his talk, Deford fielded questions, and one audience member wondered how long it took Deford to write the novel. The author said it took about a year to research and write, and added that the hardest part of writing the book was the initial stage — determining that setting.

“It was an easy book to write,” said Deford, adding that he got into the flow of his main character telling the story. “Twists and turns were tough,” he added.

One of the audience members asked Deford how he compared writing in first person versus in the third person.

“You don’t have to pay quite as much attention when you’re writing in dialogue because you can be more casual. You can’t be sloppy and get carried away,” Deford said.

Another attendee asked about the challenges of writing from the perspective of a female. Deford noted that he is quite familiar with females, which helped in his writing. “I’ve been married to one for an awfully long time, I had a mother, I’ve had daughters ... I’ve had female bosses.”

Deford, however, did say there was one challenging part of the book to write caused by his character’s gender. This was when he took the story into the locker room. “I’ve never been in a ladies’ locker room — certainly never in one when they were taking their clothes off,” he said, sparking some laugher in the crowd.

Following the presentation, Deford autographed copies of Bliss, Remembered for many of the attendees. Deford is the author of 16 books. He is a member of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, as well as a six-time winner of the Sportswriter of the Year Award.