Interview with Fran Louise

Published 2013-09-16.
What do you read for pleasure?
I'm a big fan of Robyn Carr, Linda Lael Miller, and I tend to read a slew of current Mills & Boon, Harlequin and Entangled authors. Though I admit this is partly work, I do thoroughly enjoy them. When I'm not in the mood for romance, I tend to steal my better-half's bedside reading. From his side of the bed in the last few months I've borrowed (and re-read) a John Irving novel and a beautiful book called The Immigrant by Manju Kapur.
What is your e-reading device of choice?
I use a Kindle.
What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?
Smashwords does some great promotions that really increase visibility (I wasn't paid to say that, it's true).
Describe your desk
I have two - my kitchen table during inclement weather, and my balcony table when it's fine out.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up moving around. I think it's had a big influence on my writing, in that my characters are very often searching for a home, a place to put down roots.
When did you first start writing?
When I was thirteen, during the summer holidays I was given an assignment by a brilliantly motivating English teacher to write a novel. Any subject, any genre. My friend and I were avid readers of her mother’s Mill & Boon books at that stage – we would steal them and read them aloud in a whisper to each other at night to much giggling and gasping at the chaste love scenes – and so she and I embarked on our first romance novels. I think we wrote ten thousand words, so it was more of a novella, but I realised at that stage I could write a book. I never looked back.
What's the story behind your latest book?
Chloe Stewart is on the fast-track to a long-awaited partnership in her law firm when, one very brief peccadillo later, she discovers she’s pregnant. Suddenly all of her plans are derailed.

Nathan Black’s carefree approach to life was always the draw for Chloe. In this new context of potential fatherhood, that devil-may-care attitude may be a liability. His once-convenient absences in her life start to seem like disinterest; his unconventional lifestyle – no matter how successful – just isn’t compatible with commitment.

With time tearing past, Chloe’s first decision is to make her casual relationship with Nathan a no-sex zone. That’s when the fireworks really start! In an effort to keep a clear head she’s just lit the fuse that ends up blowing them into alien territory.

Will they keep this baby? With everything she knows on the line, Chloe has to look carefully at how she truly feels about Nathan. What she finds is a revelation. She embarks on a tumultuous journey to answer some difficult questions. Ultimately how can she keep her identity, pursue her dreams, and still be the best mother to this baby? And, most crucially, can she risk taking a chance on Nathan to create the kind of family this child deserves?
What motivated you to become an indie author?
Rejection ;)
How has Smashwords contributed to your success?
Smashwords allows you to reach a wider audience in one simple submission process - it caters for a large number of e-book formats. It's a one-stop shop to showcase an author's work.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
It's a revelation. A lot of authors I've spoken to agree that it isn't until many years after a book's completed that you really understand what was going on in your mind when you wrote it. The mind is a wonderfully complex instrument. It creates dreams and fantasies as a way of working through issues. Writing is a way to share these experiences with other people. It's a wonderful notion that someone might connect with a story or a character in an emotional way, even when the author might not truly understand how. In this way the writing transcends the author and really becomes part of the reader; it becomes their story.
Smashwords Interviews are created by the profiled author or publisher.