Author Interview – Francis H Powell

Thinking back to when you started writing, what are common mistakes new writers make?

Leaping too quickly, imagining a book will suddenly arrive. You need to find your style, develop your craft. There is much to learn, things will evolve with practice, learning from mistakes.

Do you believe in writer’s block and if so, what do you do about it?

I am sure it exists, you need to find a way out of it. Do some research, maybe work on a different project. Approach the piece that is blocking you in a different way.

Do you write to please your readers or to please yourself?

I imagine a mix of the two, but certainly primarily for myself.

What do you think about the many social media groups (such as Facebook), and do you think it’s important for writers to subscribe to them?

These days for sure, unless you are an established famous author, you have to do the spade work.

Authors Mark Dawson and Joanna Penn produce useful books, podcasts and videos for indie authors. Have you taken any free of paid courses to help with the writing process, or the many technical aspects of being an author?

No I have not.

Have you ever used real people or real experiences to create characters/plots?

Of course, we draw from our experiences. I had a difficult childhood and I am sure this is reflected in my writing, directly or indirectly.

In terms of your writing, how is your latest book (Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation) different from the others (I’m thinking about the Covid 19 pandemic)?

There are elements of Fantasy and Science Fiction, it is a mish mash. Ironically it does have a story about a pandemic, which is spread by flies…how was I to know that in the year that proceeded its publication we all would be beset by a pandemic.

Do you have many unpublished novels/stories?

I do have three books almost ready to be published, I would love to send them out to various publishers, but this is not really the right moment. In the meantime I am polishing them and trying to get them as sharp as I can.

How many hours a day do you write, and do you stick to a set schedule?

At the moment, being confined at home, quite a lot, when I have a moment of peace.

I saw an interview with a US author recently who knocks out anything up to 16,000 words per day. Enid Blyton used to write 10,000 words per day. Do you have a daily wordcount target for your own writing?

Not really, there are some days when I am more productive than other days.

How much of yourself do you put into your books?

I would say a lot, there is a lot of my anguish, self-doubts, my humour, my sense of the bizarre.

What can we expect form you in the future?

As I said I have some works in progress. I have a children’s story, which I have written for my seven year old son…he asked me why I wasn’t writing for him. I found a story which I wrote a long time ago, I updated and built on it and have added some other stories to go with it. I have also written a political spoof and a horror story.

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