About Me
By day, Paul Francois is a mild-mannered IT professional. He has been in the technology field for over 20 years. One day, in 2011, he started pondering story ideas until they leapt out of his brain and onto paper…onto the computer to be precise.
Join him as he discovers which genre suits his writing style best. Fantasy, Sci Fi, Thriller, or perhaps…all of the afore mentioned. The road is dreary and his journey long, sit back and enjoy a tale as we travel it together.
Want to know more about me?
Here is an interview by another author…enjoy!
Hola! Welcome to Interview FoxSeat featuring author Paul Francois
By day, Paul Francois is a mild-mannered IT professional. He has been in the technology field for over 20 years. One day, in 2011, he started pondering story ideas until they leapt out of his brain and onto paper…onto the computer to be precise.
Join him as he discovers which genre suits his writing style best. Fantasy, Sci Fi, Thriller, or perhaps…all of the afore mentioned. The road is dreary and his journey long, sit back and enjoy a tale as we travel it together.
Book sample: Shadowbane: Age of Aelfborn
(Epic Fantasy)
During a time of strife, Megildur must traverse Aerynth to rescue his sister and fulfill a destiny ordained by the All-Father. Finding Shadowbane, the mighty but cursed sword, will be challenging enough for this young Aelfborn. In a world torn apart by treachery and conflict, it is every being, or creature, for themselves.
This novel combines qualities from Lord of the Rings© and Greek mythology, with a few twists on some new races. This is the first novel to reveal the lore behind the epic player versus player game, Shadowbane.
Aerynth exists within a shroud of betrayal and deceit for over 100 years. In this realm of chaos, Megildur finds help from an unlikely pair…a sneaky Shade and a nomadic Nephilim. Can this unique trio bring peace and order to Aerynth, or fall prey to the Terror of Terrors?
Why do you write? Because I must! Honestly, I was horrible in high school English classes. I wanted to write creatively,
but the teachers wanted uniformity, conformity, and structure. I felt as if they were drowning me with rules and restrictions.
When did you decide to become a writer? To quiet the voices in my head! 🙂 Ok, seriously…I always felt I had better ideas for stories and movies than most. It was sometime in 2011 that I kept getting ideas waking me in my sleep and disrupting my day-to-day activities. Finally, I had to write. It was the only action that helped calm the voices.
How long does it usually take you to complete a book? A long time. Between my day job, personal life, family responsibilities, and medical issues it takes me at least 2 years…at my current speed at least. 🙂
What made you decide to sit down and actually start something? As mentioned above, I needed to quiet the voices and ideas. Writing was the only way.
Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured? LOL, when I finish all my other responsibilities.
How do you think you’ve evolved creatively? When I first started, I thought the only way to write was the proper way we were taught in school. Then my wife helped nurture my creativity and showed me a world where writers could create new worlds, new words, and wild characters. She showed me a world without limits!
Do you listen to music or watch TV/movie while you write? Music sometimes, but it needs to fit the mood and genre of my writing at the time.
What have you written? The Gatherer and Shadowbane: Age of Aelfborn so far.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just seeing where an idea takes you? When I first started, I just kept it in my head. When too many stories and ideas filled my noggin, I had to write them down on a simple text file. I recently started using storyboard style software to plot out characters, storylines, and wordly environments.
Do you design your own book covers or have someone else? If you use someone else would you tell us who/website? My first one, The Gatherer, I did on my own. For Shadowbane: Age of Aelfborn my friend, and Art Professor at the college I work for, digitally painted the awesome dragon and cover art for the novel. His name if Jeffrey Kimbler http://jeffreykimbler.com/
Is there any marketing technique you used that had an immediate impact on your sales figures? Giving away my book for free on instaFreebie promos I found though Facebook groups in my genre helped build my email subscribers to over 1500. As for book sales, I think I have sold about 25…when I reduce it to .99 cents.
Any advice for aspiring authors? Decide if you want to keep control as a self-published author or follow the traditional published path and go for it. Both sides have their pros and cons but you should not let that discourage you. However, I would not quit your day job…at least not until someone wants to offer you a big payout contract.
Give us an insight into your main character. What does he do that is so special? Megildur is a boy forced to become a man and fulfill a destiny laid out before him. The marking of the All-Father helps Megildur obtain assistance along the way, but his courage and drive are the attributes that pull him though the painstaking quests before him.
Where do your ideas come from? I do not know. Some are from intriguing lore I have discovered before, as in the Shadowbane, and others come to me while I am showering or asleep.
What is the hardest thing about writing? First, finding the time and second, finding the right place. Once I can sit alone and focus, I can write for hours.
What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book? The re-writes. It was only my second book and I still had a lot to learn.
Which writers inspire you? Tolkien and R.A. Salvatore. As a kid I could not put down Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain series.
Do you have any fur babies to brag about? I have a cat named Maximus. He is almost 2 years old and I rescued him
from kitty prison (SPCA) last Christmas.
What is one great lesson you have learned as a writer? You can never learn enough and you can never stop. Writing has to be your passion or you will never survive. Oh, and I learned to never quit your day job. You do not get rich writing. 🙂
Do you ever feel self-conscious when writing love/sex scenes? Not really self-conscious but writing romance into Fantasy is just not my thing. Romance has its place, and many really desire it, but it does not flow through my writing craft.
Would you say there is a stigma to being self-published? We are excluded from most book awards and those traditionally published tend to turn a nose to use. It does not bother me. I never attempted to obtain an agent nor have I pursued a tradition publishing house. I prefer to write what I want, when I want. No leashes on this author.
What do your readers mean to you? They mean the world to me, as they do any author. I have a great respect for them. Personally, I can’t sit down and reader a novel in a day, as many of them can. I am a hypocrite as an author, I prefer to write than read. 🙂
How can readers discover more about you and you work? My website, which is going to be revamped soon, is the best way to reach me through social media and newsletters.
*Original interview here* https://mercedesfoxbooks.com/meet-author-paul-francois/
