Author Bio:
Books have always been a huge part of my life. Sometimes when I visit my parents I nab an old Sweet Pickles, Sweet Valley High or V.C. Andrews book just to stir up memories or to share them with my kids.
I fell in love with the art of writing and story telling when I took an introduction to English lit. class my freshman year of college and realized how moving and life changing words can be. Really, it was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman that changed my path in life. I promptly became a double major, adding Literature to my art degree.
After graduation I took a great job restoring art, but I eventually found my way into the world of professional writing. I was very fortunate to be able to travel the world forecasting trends in the home furnishing industry as a staff writer for a prominent industry periodical.
When my first child was born, I took my maternity leave and when it was time to return to work, I just couldn’t do it. All of my creative outlets we’re put on the back burner for several years and then one day… I started writing again. It was exhilarating to write my first book (that I hope to publish one day if I can ever whittle it down to an acceptable length!). That book was the first of many. Some are unedited, some are far too long, some are only half finished, one is lost completely!
My first release, Love Is Relative, is by far my most fun, steamy, fast-paced romance. I’m looking forward to my other stories finding their way onto book shelves in the near future!
What inspires you to write?
From a young age I was always writing; jotting in my journals. During my high school and college years I had plenty to write about: I was not a good girl! But every time I tried to write fiction based on my own experiences, I didn’t get very far. Then, several years later, after leaving my writing career to be home with my children, I had a dream. It was just an image really, but it was powerful so I typed it out and then I just kept expanding on it and before I knew it, I had written a book. A very long book in need of serious editing which is why that first book is still sitting on my computer. After that, I couldn’t stop. All of my books stem from my dreams. My other huge influence is music. If I am stuck during the writing process I often obsess over one song that makes me feel the way I need to feel to write as one of my characters.
Tell us about your writing process.
Like I mentioned in my inspirations, by books almost always start from a dream I have and then just keep growing from there. I have tried outline my work but once I know how my story is going to end it becomes difficult for me to remain motivated. I write like I am reading – my characters drive my stories and I usually have no idea what’s going to happen until it happens. Often in the editing process things get changed or rearranged (it generally takes me about the same time to edit a book as it did to write it!) but once I am in the “grove” I just go with it.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I don’t actually! But I do find myself thinking about them all day long, wondering what is going to happen next and when something does happen, I run quickly to my computer and get it written down. Conversations between my characters often spring up in my thoughts.
What advice would you give other writers?
Don’t stress to much about the details (at first) just let your self get lost in your story like you do when you are reading someone else’s story.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I found myself reading all kinds of books that I was falling in love with and it took me a while to realize that they were all self-published. I started to educate my self on the pros and cons of the self-publishing industry and I knew that it was the route I would take with Love Is Relative and that it would be the book that I would release first in order to get a feel for the process. I made this decision because it was the one novel that had both feet firmly planted in the New Adult genre which seemed to be a heavily self-published genre. I am considering going the traditional route with some of my other books so we’ll see if and how that pans out!
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Obviously, there are more people writing and publishing books than ever because of the very accessible world of self-publishing and digital books. As a writer and reader there are pros and cons as far as the overwhelming number of books available. As an author who’s only support comes from strangers who decided to pick up my book and share and review it, as a reader I sometimes feel deceived when I pick up a book that has great reviews only to find out that it does not at all live up to the hype. That would be a con. But on the other hand, I’ve read so many great books that real readers loved and managed to turn into best sellers, that would not be available without self-publishing, and that is a pro.
What genres do you write?
Romance, Young Adult romance, Contemporary romance, New Adult romance
What formats are your books in?
eBook
Website(s)
Haven Francis Home Page Link
Link To Haven Francis Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7339229.Haven_Francis
https://twitter.com/haven_francis
