Q&A With Marc Watson 

Mickey Mikkelson connected me with Marc Watson who is the author of Death Dresses Poorly & its sequel Death At A Wedding. 

Q: Marc would you please give a brief description of your books Death Dresses Poorly & Death At A Wedding? 

A: I would love to and thank you for having me! Death Dresses Poorly is an urban fantasy/dark comedy about Ethan, a young man who has just escaped the home of his emotionally abusive, drug addicted mother, and is looking to finally break out on his own and find himself.

When he’s flying back from his mother’s funeral (which isn’t a spoiler, since it happens right in the first chapter), he survives a terrible accident and is then approached by a man in black claiming to be Death, who wants Ethan to become the new Death. Ethan, who was meant to die but didn’t, wants nothing to do with this scam artist, and Death, who isn’t used to being refused, must try to convince Ethan using something he isn’t particularly strong at: interpersonal relationships.

In Death at a Wedding, the (completely unexpected, at least by me, and I wrote the thing!) urban fantasy/dark romantic comedy follow-up, after receiving a wedding invitation, as well as an unexpected introduction, Ethan is forced into facing the three things he’s worked hard at avoiding all his life: family, social situations, and love of any kind, all while struggling to get his own life together, as well as trying to stop the fabric of reality from ripping itself apart.

Q: I read in your bio that you’ve been writing since you were fifteen years old! That’s impressive! Did you come up with ideas for both books when you were fifteen or when you became an adult?

A: I have been writing that long! At least in some form. Back then it was all with a pen and paper. The idea of the adventures of Death didn’t come to me until much later in life, though, after I had lived a little bit, been hurt, been loved, and tried to find myself (an ongoing mission). At that young age I was very much influenced by the media and entertainment I was consuming at the time, like movies and anime. That’s when I started writing in what would eventually become my Ryuujin World, the world my other books, Catching Hell: Journey, Catching Hell: Destination, and Between Conversations: Tales From the World of Ryuujin all take place there, and 15 year old me is very proud of myself, I must say.

I can confirm that the very first chapter of Death Dresses Poorly is an almost exact recreation of an interaction I had with a man in black at O’Hare airport when I was 18 or 19, and that sowed the seeds of the book, but I didn’t end up writing it until 2016.

Q: What lessons and emotions do you hope readers feel after reading your books? 

A: I really hope people can empathize with the situations my main characters are in. I don’t want to make worlds and characters that are so outlandish that a reader can’t imagine themselves and how they would react in similar situations. I want the reader to feel it was real, even if that reality isn’t necessarily a pleasant one. Life doesn’t always have happy endings.

Ethan in particular is a character I want readers to either relate to (thanks to the pain he’s suffered and how he has learned to deal with it), or actively dislike (because at the end of the day, despite how well meaning he is, he’s just an ass), but regardless of how you feel about him you at least understand where he’s coming from and why, and how he’s chosen to deal with it.

Q: Is book 3 a sequel to Death Dresses Poorly & Death At A Wedding? Or will book 3 be a standalone with a different plot and characters?

A: Well, this is a loaded question! I’m so gun-shy about discussing ‘Death’ sequels. For literally years, to friends and family, to radio and podcast interviews, or to written ones like this, I swore up and down that DDP was it. No more. It was a pure standalone story, because that’s what I envisioned it being. Its roots as a real-life situation that happened to me told me that I couldn’t write another because it wasn’t going to come up like that again.

Then it came up like that again.

Artists are weird. We say things and do things so impulsively sometimes, but I found myself with a story suddenly appearing in my head, and I had to write it. I wrote DDP in six weeks, including edits. I wrote DaaW in four weeks, and it’s a longer book. That’s how bad I had to write it.

So, have I left it open for more? Sorta. You’ll have to read the book to see exactly how things shake down. If I did, would it involve the same characters? Absolutely. Ethan is too much fun, and way too personal for me to just abandon.

Q: Would you say the main character of Ethan in both books is loosely based off you?

A: Loosely? No. No, not at all. I would say Ethan is 100% completely based on me. There is no grey area. Ethan is me, or at least the me I would be if I’d gone through his life and been through the things he’d been through, at the same age.

Death Dresses Poorly is me as a 20-something meeting a version of me as a 50-something, and how those two versions of myself would relate to one another. I think we could all agree that if a 20-year-old met a 50-year-old me  and had to have a conversation, we wouldn’t get along. That was the joy of the story for me. It was amazing self-exploration.

It’s also the main reason I insisted on doing the audiobook for DDP myself. There are amazing voice talents out in the world, but no one I would trust to make the characters come to life.

Q: If Hollywood were to get the rights to Death Dresses Poorly & its sequel Death At A Wedding, who would be your dream cast to play all the characters?

A: Death in Death Dresses Poorly is a bit easier. As much as he’s based on me (in a weird way), he’s also inspired by the character of Lucifer in the movie Constantine, played by amazing actor Petr Stormare. He brought a snark and comedic charm to the Devil, and I felt that was important. He’s a bit older for the role these days, so I would look at another 50-ish actor. Michael Sheen or Clive Owen would be amazing! Actors with class but can show a seething rage under their skin. Ewen McGregor would be great, and he’s my favorite actor, but I’m not sure he’d have the ‘presence’ for it. 

Ethan is a lot harder, partially because I’m so attached to him. Perhaps someone like Justice Smith, who’s got a dark comedy edge. You know what? I’m going to throw a curveball. I don’t think anything about Ethan specifically ties him to being male, so let’s think outside the box and say Elle Fanning. Young enough, has the range. Looks both innocent and world weary at the same time. Yeah, I like that answer.