It is necessary to do some editing as you go. If you don’t you find the guy you killed on page 74 turns up eating a sandwich on page 108. Don’t laugh, I did it!
Fran Connor – 7 November 2016
The Back Flap
A passionate, thought-provoking tale of love, jealousy and revenge set in nineteenth-century England. Follow the progress of a poor, orphan girl serendipitously elevated to High Society.
Her aim is to marry a rich man, regardless of love, so she will never be poor again; instead, she falls in love with a handsome, young landowner with whom she can have it all; love, security, and wealth.
As fate would have it, there are obstacles to their romance: her jealousy, his wife, an evil aristocrat, a beautiful gypsy, and Gallows Hill.
About the book
What is the book about?
The main theme is about how a woman overcomes the jealousy that is stopping her from marrying the man she loves.
When did you start writing the book?
I started writing this novel In October 2015
How long did it take you to write it?
From the first word to the edited end, six months though the embryo was milling about my head for some time before I started writing.
Where did you get the idea from?
My butterfly mind.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
Not really
What came easily?
Because I’d kicked the idea around in my head for some time, I found writing it quite easy as I knew the characters very well and the plot.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
Most are totally fictitious but some are composites of people I know. I enjoy building minor characters to the point I sometimes begin to feel I have to let them have their own story. In Honourable Lies, a minor but essential character “Rawnie” has wheedled her way into my brain and demanded her own novel. I will be writing her story in a series of three full-length novels next year. In the Devil’s Bridge, a minor but essential character “Elvira” haunted me into writing her own story which I have in draft and hope to publish next year.
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?
I enjoy Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series, Clive Cussler’s novels and James Patterson and it would be fair to say they have influenced my writing in the Thriller genre even though the first and the last authors would be classified in the Crime genre. Sometimes the genre police have to be ignored! I also write Historical Romance and one can not avoid the influence of Jane Austen. And why would one? She is the benchmark. Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series is another influence on my writing in this genre as is Georgette Heyer.
Do you have a target reader?
I know I should have. All the pundits and advice tells me that I should have a target reader. But I don’t really. I do aim most of my work at women, but that ranges from thrillers to historical fiction; young adult to septuagenarians; Brits, Americans and anyone who can read English.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I incubate stories in my head until I have the skeleton. I write my novels between two thirty and seven thirty most afternoons in my study at my desk on my PC. I have a laptop and could sit outside on the terrace or down by the pool and write but it just doesn’t work for me. I have to be at my desk surrounded by my posters/photos and books.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I outline the story but not in chapters, just a brainstorm. It gives me the beginning, the middle, and the end most of the time but sometimes I go off piste when my imagination takes me for a ride.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
It is necessary to do some editing as you go. If you don’t you find the guy you killed on page 74 turns up eating a sandwich on page 108. Don’t laugh, I did it! If my Grammarly picks up a spelling or grammar mistake, I’ll correct it but the real edits I leave until the end.
Did you hire a professional editor?
Some of my work is self-published and some is published by small press (never ones you have to pay!). For my self-published novels, I use a professional editor to critique the work for structure, characters, plot etc. After I have made the alterations that are necessary from this edit, I use a professional copy editor.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No, I never listen to music when I am writing. I don’t have any distracting sound to take me out of the ‘zone.’ When I’m researching on the net or doing the admin, I sometimes listen to music, usually opera and usually a female belting out an aria. Anna Netrebko is my favorite.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
I have in the past, and I have a drawer full of rejections to prove it!
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
The first novella I had published was with a small indie publisher. It had been rejected by Mills and Boon. I wasn’t happy about the publisher as they didn’t do any advertising and the sales were poor. At that stage, I didn’t know how to advertise myself. After my two year contract with this publisher was up, I re-released the novella myself after I had carried out a lot of research on advertising and it did reasonably well. I can’t put all the blame on the Indie publisher. I should have been doing some of the advertising from the start but in my ignorance thought they would do it all.
I then self-published two more full-length novels. Then I got a contract from an Indie publisher to write a series of Historical Novellas, we stopped at volume nine. And then I got a contract from a different Indie publisher to write a series of three full-length Thrillers. One is published. I’ve nearly finished number two.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
I started out with my self-published novels doing it myself. Frankly, it shows! Now I hire a professional. My Indie publishers do the cover work at their expense, of course.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I know I should have a marketing plan. I don’t have what one could call a real marketing plan, but I muddle through with social media and other outlets that are interested in books.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Read as many novels as you can whether they are by the great writers or other indies. You can learn from reading bad work not least because you see what to avoid.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Rochdale, Lancashire. A mill town in northwest England. I moved ‘down south’ in my twenties.
Where do you live now?
I live in South-West France among the vineyards, orchards and ancient hill top villages. It rains less here than in England.
What would you like readers to know about you?
I write because I enjoy the process. When I stop liking it, I shall stop doing it.
Most of my work has a woman protagonist. This is not an accident. I find women far more interesting and complex characters than men. Romance is at the core of my writing because I am a romantic at heart. Writing about women and romance may sound odd coming from a hetero male ex-police officer but it shouldn’t.
When I moved to France, I met up with some other oddballs, and we set up an English/French theatre group putting on traditional British pantos in dual languages for the ex-pats, French and on Friday afternoons a hundred and fifty school kids. I wrote the scripts and acted as the front end of the pantomime cow.
I wrote several screenplays and managed to get one accepted. It is currently in pre-production in the UK.
What are you working on now?
I have a contract to ghostwrite a novel for a client. It is a Historical Thriller/Romance
I have a contract to write three full-length Thrillers for an Indie publisher.
I have a contract to write a screenplay from a novel (not one of mine). It is a Contemporary/Romance/Comedy.
End of Interview:
For more from Fran visit his website or follow him on Twitter.
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