An Interview with Frankie Rose

 

The Reading Cafe is happy to have Frankie Rose as our guest today.

Frankie recently released her debut novel Sovereign Hope, which we did a review on earlier this month. 

Let’s meet Frankie, and share in her excitement in promoting her new novel.

 

 

 

Hi Frankie and welcome to The Reading Café.  We would like to start with a short bio about you.

Frankie Rose is a freelance YA writer and poet from the UK, recently relocated to Australia.  She lives there with her unceasingly optimistic, wonderful husband, who often uses cookies and treats to lure her away from her computer when he wants to remind himself what she looks like.

TRC: Please tell us something about yourself?

Frankie: Oooh, this is like one of those, stand up and tell us two pieces of information about yourself things. Okay, well here are two of the most bizarre things about me, just to keep things interesting. Firstly, I love sushi but I refuse to eat the rice. Secondly, I have the loudest hiccups known to man, and I get them for hours. They’ve been known to end conversations on other tables in restaurants.

TRC:  LOL

TRC: Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

Frankie: When I was a kid back in the UK, I lived with my grandparents, and my nana has always had this thing for silly limericks. She used to write them all the time, about anything and everything, and she often got me in on the game. Mine were never as good as hers unfortunately, but that’s the first time I remember writing something and it being extremely fun.

After that, Creative Writing was my favourite subject in school. I remember having an assignment to complete where the goal was to write a short piece that created a suspenseful atmosphere. I can’t even recall what I wrote now, but my teacher liked it so much she embarrassed me by reading it out to everyone. I think that was the first moment where I really considered writing as a profession. The feeling I got from having her say she enjoyed my story was huge, and I still get that now. Whenever anyone tells me they’ve loved something I’ve written, it’s such a gift.

TRC: Is there anything (in general) you find particularly challenging about writing?

Frankie: Well, I’ve been writing poetry for a long time, but I was always incredibly daunted by the concept of writing a book. I always knew I was going to do it one day, but the reality of the idea was so huge that I kept putting it off. And then one day I sat down and started writing. It was only after a week of staring at my laptop and feeling the story flow out of me that I realized I was actually writing a book and not just typing out random thoughts.

That’s how Sovereign Hope began its life. I’d say the most challenging thing about this process was the fact that I didn’t plan the story. I kinda just knew where I wanted to go and I let myself meander through for a long time. It was only when I finished the book, and after I’d spent a couple of days walking around in this euphoric bubble, that I realized it was less than perfect, and this was because I hadn’t done the planning.

I had to go back and start over, and that was the most challenging part for me. Because I felt like the hard yards were done when I typed the last word, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Plotting a book before you even write the first word is crucial to the flow of a story. I’ve already written the second book in this series, and it was a hundred times easier to do, because I sat down and spent a solid couple of days figuring out exactly what was going to happen and when. It’s not enough to have a great idea. You have to imagine everything well in advance. So I think planning is the most challenging aspect of writing for me, and that’s mainly due to the fact that I’m not a very patient person, and when I have an idea I’m excited about I want to run with it straight away.

TRC: SOVEREIGN HOPE is your first book in the YA (Young Adult) HOPE series? Would you please tell us something about the premise?

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Frankie: Sovereign Hope is centered around Farley Hope, an eighteen-year-old girl, who has a few problems. For starters, she suffers from these horrific, vivid hallucinations that are pretty graphic and frightening. Not only that but her mom has been missing for six months, disappeared without a trace. We meet Farley as she encounters Daniel for the very first time, and learns that everything she’d been told growing up was a lie.

Daniel introduces her to Agatha, who explains that Farley comes from a bloodline of Reavers- men who steal the souls of the living to increase their own power. Hundreds of years previously, Farley was prophesied to be born and put an end to the Reavers, but things are complicated where the prophecy is concerned, and Daniel and his friends are keeping some pretty big secrets.

As the story develops, Farley becomes increasingly attracted to Daniel, and he becomes more and more belligerent. He’s hurtful and cruel, and this is just another burden on Farley’s shoulders as she learns that, not only is she in danger, but her friends are too.

Without giving anything way, Sovereign Hope is about Farley’s struggle against the destiny that has been mapped out for her, while fighting her feelings for Daniel, and the fact that he seems set on getting himself killed in order to keep everyone safe.

TRC: Would you please tell us how you came up with the concept of the SOUL REAVERS?

Frankie: I love YA fiction, and I wanted to write something that hadn’t been done before. I’ve read so many vampire/werewolf novels (which have all been excellent and wonderfully written) but I wanted to take a giant step away from that. The idea of the Soul Reavers came to me when I was thinking about how I’d make the danger in Sovereign Hope seem a little more realistic. I got to thinking about vampires and how their immortality is pinned on them drinking human blood, and I thought, hang on… when you think about it, a person’s blood is just another part of their body. What is it that truly makes up a person? And the answer was incredibly obvious to me. It came to me immediately- the soul is what makes us who we are. Gives us life.

The idea of someone stealing souls isn’t really a new one, of course, but I wanted to put a different spin on it and see what I came up with. That’s where the Hope Series concept came from. I wanted to put a different twist on other major topics too, like heaven and hell and where we go after we die. In the series, the Quorum are a big part of that, but this is more tied into the second book.

TRC: Book 2 and 3 in the series-ETERNAL HOPE and LAST HOPE- would you please tell us something about the premises and do you have an expected date for release?

Frankie: I’ve already completed Eternal Hope, and I’m really excited to share this book with everyone. Farley and Daniel’s relationship has changed dramatically in this next installment, because the limitations that restricted them in Sovereign Hope are no longer relevant. They are kind of getting to know each other properly and learning how to be in a relationship without making stupid mistakes. Daniel is a lot more sensitive in Eternal Hope, which I love because he’s got a lot of pain in his past, and he had to be harsher than he really is in the first book. Now, he gets to relax a little and open up.

There are still a lot of problems plaguing their group, however, and a new threat emerges in the form of a really ancient Reaver who is set on kidnapping Farley. Kayden, who appears in Sovereign Hope, plays a much bigger role, and we get to find out a lot more about the tension between him and Daniel. They have been warring with one another for decades and in Eternal Hope we eventually find out why.

At the end of the book, some of the issues Farley and Daniel have been dealing with have been resolved, however there are many more things to overcome before they could ever consider living a normal life together.

As for a release date, I’m just going through editing now with Eternal Hope. I’m hoping to put this out in around three or four months, but this is all dependent on how organized I am. My life is pretty crazy right now, and I’m just getting to grips with the fact that I have a hundred emails in my inbox every time I go to check it. Finding the time to write is pretty hard sometimes!

Last Hope is in the later stages of planning. Frankly, I’m torn over the title. I’ve been tossing up between Last Hope and Lost Hope, and this is mainly because I haven’t fully decided whether there will be more than three books in this series. I originally went with Last Hope because I was going to bring things to a close, but now… I’m not so sure. I think I’ll just have to see where I go with planning. There are some really important things that happen in the third book, and I’m so excited to write it. Farley and Daniel’s relationship will be put to the test by the events at the end of Eternal Hope, and the dynamics of their group of friends has changed so dramatically. I hope to be able to release the third in the series by the end of the year, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the series?

Frankie: Like I was just saying, I’d originally planned for three, but now, having immersed myself in their world, I have so many ideas for my characters that I’m excited about. I could write and write forever, but there’s definitely a place to draw the line. If people love the series (which I truly hope they do!) then I may consider making it four or maybe even five. It’s hard to say goodbye to something sometimes. I know as a reader when a series comes to an end it seems like someone I love has just died. It’s a horrible feeling because you’re so invested in the characters and what happens to them. As an author it’s going to be ten times harder because these people you’ve created are a real part of you, and you’re having to let them go.

TRC: What challenges have you faced getting your novel and series to publication?

Frankie: Wow *blows out cheeks*
Where. To.  Begin.

When I finished the book I was so thrilled, and I was blown away by how supportive people were being and saying how much they loved it. Everyone was so sure I’d get a publishing deal straight away, and so when it didn’t happen I was, well, kinda devastated. It definitely knocked my confidence in my writing abilities, and that sucked because it almost dampened the sense of accomplishment I felt when I finished Sovereign Hope.

I’m not a very optimistic person by nature. People who know me often say I’m positively negative, which is sort of a good fit for me. So it took a little bit of encouragement for me to keep pushing towards my goals. After a while I realized that the rejection letters I was getting weren’t really reflecting on my writing, they were reflecting on the market at the current time, and how cautious agents were being. I wasn’t going to give up after that, and so I approached a few small publishing houses and was lucky enough to be offered a contract.

The decision to reject the contract was a tough one, and there were many reasons why I went down the self-publishing path. I realized that, although being signed would be great, I was still going to have to do so much of the work on my own. Publishers rarely help out with marketing on a grand scale these days, and I’d already had my book professionally edited by the wonderful Alexis Arendt, so I couldn’t really see that they were offering me that much. I have to say that marketing has been harder because some reviewers refuse to accept a book without the backing of a publisher, but I figure I’ve learned a lot through this whole process, and it’s helped me to understand the industry so much more. The people I’ve met on my journey have made all of the hard work worth it, and I would recommend going it alone to anyone considering getting their work published. It’s been a fulfilling experience, and I wouldn’t change that.

That said, I’m not one of these stoic, hardcore self-pubbers that get cut when people turn traitors and accept a publishing deal. I think authors should have their stories heard by whatever means possible, and if they have the support of a big name behind them, then all power to them.

TRC: Many authors bounce ideas and information between each other and their family and spouses.  With whom do you bounce ideas?

Frankie: This is really funny because I didn’t even tell anyone I was writing a book until I was finished. My husband obviously knew, but I didn’t tell him a thing about it. It was kind of a really personal journey for me, and I almost didn’t want to share it. I guess I wanted the story to have come solely from my imagination, and while I would have loved input from my friends about what they would have loved to see in a story, it wouldn’t have felt like it was mine then. That probably sounds really strange, but there you go.

I know that there are some fantastic YA authors out there who partner up with each other for critiquing, and I think in the future that would be an amazing idea. I just need to find someone to buddy up with now. I wonder if JK Rowling is free. I hear she’s moved on to adult books now, so I might be out of luck.

TRC: Have you learned anything from writing this book-good or bad?

Frankie: I have learned so much, I wouldn’t even be able to write it all down. I learned a lot about myself for starters. I already knew I was pretty impatient, but I learned I could persist at something and get it done when I pushed myself, which was really gratifying. I also learned that typing ten thousand words a day really takes its toll on your wrists and on your social life!

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Frankie: I’ve been working on a book called Stone for a while now. It’s been a little side project for about a year that I’ve been writing in between breaks with Sovereign and Eternal Hope. It’s only half way complete and it’ll probably take a while to finish up entirely, but I love the storyline and the characters are addictive to me. The female protagonist is a seventeen-year-old girl called Stone, and she is a survivor of a global event where the only people who live suffer from a common ailment- that they are all unable to dream.

The story is set in Alaska, a place that I have fallen so completely in love with. I recently went there with my husband, Nick, and I swear the place has this magnetic hold over me. I love writing about it.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Frankie: I want to say a big thank you to you guys at The Reading Café for letting me spout on about the things I love! It’s been awesome. I can’t wait to release Eternal Hope and come back, if you’ll have me!

TRC: Of course we want you to visit us again, and tell us about Eternal Hope, as well as what is new in the life of Frankie Rose..

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food:  This is weird, but Avocado! It’s true.

Favorite Dessert:  Sticky toffee pudding.

Favorite TV show:  Game of Thrones! Hot damn, Jon Snow. Ahem. I mean I really appreciate Kit Harington’s acting skills. (Please don’t tell my husband)

Favorite Movie:  Oooh, SO tough. It changes a lot, but right now I’d have to say it’s Tron. I loved the eighties original, and the remake was even better. That Daft Punk did the soundtrack just made it for me. I gotta get me a light cycle.

Dark or Milk Chocolate:  Milk, all the way.

Do you have any pets?  No. Maybe one day. I love traveling too much right now to get a pet.

TRC: Frankie, thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions.  We look forward to your next books in the HOPE series.  The Reading Café wishes you the best of luck with Sovereign Hope, and we look forward to working with you again.

If you would like to know more about Frankie, here are the links where you can find her:
Website: Frankierosewrites.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/frankie.rose101
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5834274.Frankie_Rose
Amazon Link to Sovereign Hope