Laura Frances Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. I’m a thirty-something, stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. I’ve been married twelve years, and we now live in sunny Japan, where we teach English and explore our surroundings as much as possible. I write in the evening hours usually, once the kids are in bed. It’s a busy life!

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. In first grade, my teacher had us create stories, and then proceeded to ‘publish’ them, making covers from cardboard and wallpaper. This never left me, and I’ve been scratching with a pencil ever since. I think, though, high school was the real eye-opener for me. I loved creative writing assignments. However, I was terrified of going to college. I suffered a lot of anxiety socially, and worried I’d never become a writer if I couldn’t get myself to go. In the end, I married young, had children soon after, and never did attend college. Still, writing was as vital to me as breathing.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
My career consists of a lot of risk taking. I never attempted to find an agent. I wrote my dystopian novel just as the genre market was fully saturated, and I kept hearing that publishers weren’t accepting more dystopian. So, I decided to self-publish. With little to no budget to work with, I opted to tackle as much of it as possible on my own. Cover, editing, formatting… I suppose my big break was finally releasing the first book in the series, and watching the ranking climb and reviews come in. I was floored. At one point, Slave bounced around in the top ten of the dystopian romance category on Amazon, next to books like Divergent, The Selection, and The Hunger Games. I couldn’t believe it! Then, in May 2018, I was invited to co-teach at a novel writing conference in Chengdu, China. Though I was completely out of my depth, that experience was one of the most validating of my career so far.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release REMNANT?
A: Remnant is the last book in The Slave Series. The entire series follows a twenty-year-old woman named Hannah as she struggles toward freedom, both emotionally and physically. The stakes are at their highest in this final installment. The Council, a heartless panel of leaders who run the valley of slaves, are bent on burying the remaining slaves before help arrives. It’s a race to survive and to remain loyal to the revolution in the face of defeat. And it’s a look at the aftermath, how the remnants will move forward after trauma.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for The Slave Series?
A: Many places. It’s hard to pinpoint just one. As I’ve mentioned, I have struggled with fear and anxiety most of my life. In many ways, Hannah’s fight for freedom mirrors my own, and in writing this series, I have found courage I didn’t see in myself before. Another inspiration was a video I watched in which a former agent who interviewed radical terrorists expressed that so many of them, especially those in lower ranks, are simply trying to survive and make a future for their own children. While their actions are wrong, in their hearts, they believe they are doing right. It got me thinking: how many members of gangs, terrorist groups, and the like hate what they’re doing, but don’t see a way out? How many are forced to continue because of fear…fear of what will happen to their families. Fear of the unknown. The Watchers in The Slave Series are shaped from this thought process.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: That we are responsible for our own choices. We can be better, if we try. And there is always hope, as long as we live.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. I express myself more clearly in writing. More specifically, in telling stories. I feel a lot of big things, and I can’t always express them well in conversation. Also, I find so much inspiration from other creators. When I listen to a song that moves me, I immediately begin forming a story. Music more than any other art, stirs up my creativity.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I’m working on a brand-new story in the realm of fantasy! I’m very excited. I can’t say much…these are still early days. But it will involve danger, drama, romance, battles, and warring kingdoms. The idea came when I listened to a new song by a favorite artist. I’m thrilled to share it later this year!

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. If the weather is nice, I love to open the windows of our very brown, very Japanese home, and clean! Lol I also love to work in the yard. Throughout the year, we enjoy jumping on the train and riding to a random station, where we explore the surroundings until our feet hurt. And I love movies!