About P.F. Roquelaure:
P.F. Roquelaure has a Ph.D. in Anatomical Sciences and Neuroscience, and this knowledge informs his writing, a unique blend of scientific knowledge with supernatural storytelling. He is currently an Associate Professor teaching human gross anatomy and neuroscience at a university in the Northeast United States. He has self-published a memoir of his childhood. His favorite authors are Anne Rice, Joe Hill, Deborah Harkness and Edgar Allen Poe.
What inspires you to write?
My writing is inspired by many things. Sometimes, there are societal issues I want to address. Sometimes, I base the beginning of a novel on real life events and then create a fantastical middle and ending. Sometimes, it is an homage to people in my life that I want to honor. Overall, my writing always belongs to the paranormal/ speculative genre with mostly LGBTQ+ characters as I am gay and feel that there are not enough LGBT protagonists in literature. Paranormal (fictional and non-fiction) literature is the genre I enjoy reading and in turn writing about.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Anne Rice is by far my favorite writer of all time. I have attended at least eight of her in person book signings/tours. I enjoy her fresh view of the mythical beings in her novels, especially the treatment of "children of the blood" in "The Vampire Chronicles." I have also enjoyed the novels by Joe Hill, Stephen King's son, especially "Horns." The metamorphosis of a human into a demon and the resulting disgust for mankind's hypocrisy is brilliant. I also enjoyed Deborah Harkness' "All Souls Trilogy" with her novel approach to the integration of witches, vampires and daemons.
Tell us about your writing process.
I start writing with initial ideas and then magically the novel takes over and I often wind up with a story in which the ending partially resembles the one I imagined when I started writing. That was the case for The Malevolent. The ending was not the ending I envisioned. My ideas for the story often come to me when I am walking my dog, when it is quiet and I can be alone with my thoughts.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Yes, I listen to my characters. My characters tell me how they are to interact in the plot and ultimately decide their fate based on the circumstances that I provide. Not always a "happy ending" but the most logical. This is the scientist in me.
What advice would you give other writers?
Go with your gut. Don't be influenced by wondering if your novel is going to be mainstream enough to sell or interest others. You write what you want to write!
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I went the rounds of submitting to literary agents/agencies (25-30) and publishing houses (20-25). But when you write something that crosses several genres and is not necessarily mainstream, you should expect rejection. Unfortunately, the pandemic shut down viable publishing houses for the genres I write within. I self-published after I exhausted all possibilities.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It is exciting that novice authors have other avenues to self-publish when the traditional publishing houses reject the work. It is also exciting that there are new and innovative publishing houses for independent authors without agents that accept unsolicited submissions. I would warn new authors about "vanity" publishing houses, firms that will publish and promote your book after you pay them to do so.
What genres do you write?: fiction, paranormal/speculative, LGBT, mystery, horror, erotica, romance
What formats are your books in?: Print
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
