Interview with Eve Francis

Welcome, today we are talking with Eve Francis! I would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy writing schedule to answer a few questions. 

First, I think it’s important for readers to get a little insight on an author that they don’t necessarily get from your professional bio. You’d be surprised at what readers connect to, and sometimes the simplest ‘I can relate to that’ grabs their interest where nothing else can. Don’t answer anything you feel uncomfortable with. 

**Can you share a little something about Eve Francis that’s not mentioned in your bio on your website? 

I’m pretty open on my website. I’m fairly young (27!), in school for a PhD, and write a lot. So the only thing I can think of mentioning, that may also be surprising, is that I speak Spanish. I should really say I read Spanish more than speak it now since there’s no one here to really talk to. I’m from Canada, and though we’re a bilingual country, most people are proficient in French. We don’t have a huge Latino community (at least, not in comparison to the States) so I rarely have opportunities to use Spanish. I’m a bit of an anomaly, too, because while I learned both French and Spanish in high school (and French since I was in grade four), I can’t think in French–while I can think in Spanish. I recently started to watch Law and Order: SVU with Spanish subs so I could practice again, and was shocked at how fast it all came back!   

** What are your favorite animal, food, movie, TV show, actor, singer, and author? 

Favourite animal–well, I’m going to be a cliché and say cat. Especially hairless cats. If I could afford one, I’d get one in a heartbeat.  

One of my favourite films is But I’m A Cheerleader. It’s a lesbian romantic comedy from the late 1990s/early 2000s with Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVal about a Gay Conversion camp. It sounds totally bleak and dark, but it’s an absolute riot. I adore it. I won it in a contest in high school at my GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) and easily watched it a dozen times within the first month. I’m pretty sure every single queer girl (or guy, or nonbinary person) knows this film, but if you haven’t seen it before–check it out. RuPaul is in it without drag, and plays a “reformed gay” who eventually falls in love with the son of the woman running the program. There are so many quotable lines that my friends and I still use in conversation to this day. It’s very Mean Girls in that way, and just talking about it now makes me want to watch it again! 

For TV, I’m utterly obsessed with Law and Order: SVU. I used to watch it when I was in high school, and then stopped for a long time, but now I’m enjoying the later seasons far more than the earlier ones. I’m a sucker for very procedural cop shows, and I especially love the focus on the law aspect in the Law and Order franchise. I also really dig The Blacklist right now, but I’m not even close to caught up with the third season.  

I don’t really have a favourite actor, but I’m pretty much in love with both Katherine Isabelle and Caroline Dhavernas from NBC’s Hannibal. In the third season (spoiler alert), their characters hook up and have a family. I loved that unexpected twist–especially since I was already a huge fan of Katherine Isabelle since Gingersnaps (a really cool werewolf horror film that people should check out if they haven’t seen!).  

Picking a favourite author is overwhelming, so I’m going to list my two favourite queer romance authors at the moment: J. Hepburn & K.M. Penemue.  

Picking a favourite single is equally overwhelming, so let me just say that the last CD I purchased is Honeymoon by Lana Del Rey and I’m still excited by it.  

And favourite food? Pizza. Always pizza… except for maybe sometimes mac and cheese. 🙂 

**Any bad habits? 

Sleeping in forever and drinking way too much coffee to compensate.  

Now that our readers know a little bit more about Eve Francis, let’s get down to the business of your up-coming March 2016 release, Fragile.

How long did it take you from beginning to end before your novel was completely finished, and how did you decide on the topic and title? 

Fragile is sort-of based on a true story. I used to work at a Marshall’s store (like Carly in the book) and I dated one of my coworkers there. We didn’t work out, but I remember it being one of the nicest break ups I had ever had and was utterly shocked by it. Part of the reason we broke up was that I had to move away for grad school, and I suppose part of me was always curious what would have happened if I hadn’t moved and done something completely different. So I wrote this in a month or so, and went back to revise it and added completely new characters, settings… The story took a while to come together, mostly because I wanted to be sure and fictionalize everything. So while Carly and Ashley are kind of like me and my old girlfriend, there are stark differences too.  

Please tell us a little bit about Fragile. 

I joke around that this is my feminist riot grrrl story because one of the characters (Cynthia, Carly’s half-sister) is obsessed with the 1990s riot grrl movement and actively tries out to be on the roller derby team. There’s also Landon, who’s a transgender man who works at a queer zine library. Carly’s a femme lesbian who is an active part of her sister’s life and one of her great aunt’s caretakers, while Ashley is a butch lesbian with an undiagnosed disability. I strove really, really hard to have a lot of diversity in this story–which was one of the main goals of the feminist riot grrl scene.  

In terms of plot, though, I’ll leave you with the blurb:

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What was your hardest challenge writing this book? 

One of the major issues in the book is disability and dealing with people’s perceptions of you when you’re disabled. Ashley is the main character who struggles with illness (undiagnosed seizures which cost her her career), but Carly also has some struggles with mental illness as well. There was a fine line to walk between giving these characters and their struggles enough context–while not making the story completely about their illnesses. You know? I needed there to be a balance. 

For instance, Carly and Ashley can’t drive in spite of being in their mid- to late twenties. Ashley’s license was taken away because of her seizures, and Carly’s never learned because she’s too anxious. So when they go on dates, they have to find other ways of getting around. It’s an issue in their relationship–they talk a lot about walking places, worry about buses, etc–but it’s not also *all* they talk about, either. As soon as they find accommodations, they can move past their difficulties and talk about other things–and fall in love, obviously.  

What in your opinion makes good chemistry between your leading characters? 

Humor. Carly takes herself a bit too seriously, and Ashley’s always there reminding her to relax and laugh for a little while.  

Any other works in progress?

Yes! I have an urban fantasy series I’m working on with Less Than Three Press, and a contemporary f/f novel about two artists living in Brooklyn. I’m very excited to see both of these come out. 🙂 

Any advice for aspiring authors? 

I think I’ll leave with Kathleen Hanna (the lead singer of Bikini Kill)’s advice for young girls who want to start bands: 

Find something you really love doing and mix it with something you really care about. That’s why I’ve had such longevity as an artist. I really, really care about ending violence against women, and I really, really love playing music. It’s super enjoyable!

 

Yeah, she’s talking about music, but I think any type of creative endeavor applies. Go and find something you like. Be proud of it. And good things will follow.

 

Thank you for having me.