Interview With Author Francene Carroll

The prolific Francene Carroll can take us to a world full of romance mixed with power player vampires, like her "Eternal Hunger" series or brighten our day with a clever rom com, such as "Prude & Prejudice". No matter what she writes, one thing's clear, Carroll has an enviable imagination.

Let's hear what Francene Carroll has to say about the wide variety of books she's authored.

Q: Your romantic comedy Prude & Prejudice” deals with mistaken first impressions. Do you think first impressions are usually accurate?

A: I think first impressions are very important, but not necessarily accurate. The funny thing about first impressions is that they often tell us a lot more about ourselves than they do about the person we have just met. Most of us, I believe, are quick to judge others, and sometimes write people off without bothering to look beyond surfaces. First impressions provide great insights into our own prejudices, as Jane Austen showed so well in Pride & Prejudice. I really love it when someone turns out to be completely different to how I thought they would be based on first impressions, and it’s always a great reminder to take them time to get to know people properly before forming an opinion about them. In my novella, the main character Prue misunderstands something she overhears and forms a very negative opinion of Mr Darling. She finds it easy to think badly of him because he insulted her earlier within earshot, and this just confirms her low opinion of the man. It takes a few encounters with him and some more misunderstandings before she realizes her mistake. Mr Darling, on the other hand, can’t work Prue out but he finds her strangely intriguing and he is determined to get to know her better.

Q: Which of your characters do you identify with the most, and in what ways?

A: That’s actually a hard question to answer! There’s a little bit of me in every one of my characters, but they are also completely different to me in other ways. I can’t narrow it down to just one so I’ll have to pick three. Allie from Pleasure Island, Lucia from Eternal Hunger and Prue from Prude & Prejudice are all similar to me in that they feel very strongly about certain causes and they like to stand up for what they believe in. On the other hand I wish I could be a super-organised fitness fanatic like Allie. I can’t even keep a plant alive in a pot, let alone run my own organic farm like Prue, and Lucia is far more courageous than I could ever be. I guess these characters are in some ways projections of my ideal self, but they have their own flaws too which make them individuals.

Q: In “Hunger of the Wolf” Amber’s plans to take a break from her painful divorce by going to an isolated spot in the mountains are ruined when she is drawn into a frightening local mystery. Instead of relaxing she puts herself in a very dangerous position. Did she choose to get involved in the investigation because she needed to feel empowered during this chapter in her life?

A: That’s a very interesting question. Amber thinks she is drawn into the missing-persons investigation against her will. She really just wants to be alone in the mountains, but her encounters with her neighbour Jesse Davidson make this impossible. She always has the option of leaving but she chooses to stay, and subconsciously this could be because she needs to prove she can stand on her own two feet. At the beginning of the novella she is lost and confused, but the events of the book force her to assert her strength and independence.

Q: Is there a genre you haven’t yet explored but would like to?
There are some many genres I’d like to explore!

A: At the moment I’m still finding my feet as a writer and trying out different things and I really don’t know where I’ll end up. I have many different ideas for books, including sci-fi, historical romance, creative non-fiction and l might even try my hand at literary fiction one of these days.

Q: Do you have a main source of inspiration?

A: My main source of inspiration is my belief that writers can change the world!

Q: What are your future writing plans?

A: At the moment I’m working on another thriller novella called Colton Manor, and then I plan to finish a book called What Women Don’t Want which I started a while ago in the genre of women’s fiction. After that I can’t really say what my plans are. I have some ideas for another Eternal Hunger series, but it’s very vague at the moment and I think I’ve had enough of vampires for a while. All I can really say is watch this space, there will be more books from me, but I can’t tell you what they will be about or even what genre they’ll be in. As a writer, I find this very exciting!