Leonora Francis is a name you will recognise if you are a reader of women's magazines. She started writing the year before me and we have followed similar paths - from short stories to serials. I though it would be interesting to find out more about this magazine writer's writing life.
How long have you been writing and what made
you start?
This is a true
story. I wrote a book in my late twenties and received a lovely rejection letter
from a publisher, with feedback, and they asked me to write another one. I
should have, but didn’t. If only I knew then what I know now.
I didn’t put pen to
paper again until four years ago. I was helping my daughter with an essay and
it kick-started my love of writing. My son encouraged me to send my stories out
to publishers. I did. And here I am.
Can you remember the first magazine story you
sold and has your style changed since then?
I will never forget
it. It was a humorous story about a granddaughter encouraging her granddad to
give up smoking in exchange for removing her navel ring, which he hated. An
acceptance was waiting for me from Shirley Blair at The People’s Friend when I
returned home from work one day. That was in early 2011 but I didn’t really get
to grips with writing until 2012. I learnt so much in those early days and I
never gave up.
And yes, my writing style
has changed. After that first acceptance, which I put down to the quirkiness of
the story itself and not my style, I wrote many, many stories. They were all
rejected. That is, until a kind editor at the People’s Friend personally contacted
me by email. It was from him that I learnt about ‘voice’, which in turn helped
me to engage with my characters. There are only so many themes that you can
write about and I believe the story is almost secondary to characterisation. I
thank my editor for bringing this to my attention.
How do you keep track of all your
submissions, rejections and acceptances?
I have a lovely
spreadsheet and use pretty colours for acceptances and rejections. More
importantly, there’s also a short section to add a few words as to why the story
was rejected. In the early days I used that section as a learning tool. I still
do!
Briefly describe a typical writing day?
I’m brightest in the
morning and write in bed. Yes, in bed, with my laptop on my knees! I exit my
bed at about mid-day to start editing. I don’t edit in bed. I find some other
room in the house and always edit on a paper copy. Don’t ask me why. I try to
finish at about 3 o’clock, but if a story has gripped me, I can write into the
early hours of the morning, which drives my husband mad.
What made you move from short stories to
writing serials?
My stories were
getting longer and developing into these huge dramas, especially the period
ones. In late 2013 I received emails from both PF and WW asking if I would like
to attempt a serial for them. I was excited and rushed into it without thinking.
Fortunately, my first serial for Woman’s Weekly, Amos Browne, made the grade. My attempt for PF was a disaster.
Do you have any bad writing habits?
I don’t plan, so I
have no idea what’s going to happen in any of my stories until just before I
type, ‘The End’. It can be costly. More than once I’ve reached part 3 of a
serial and got stuck. I’ve had to abandon a few because of it. I also have an
obsession with commas and exclamation marks, but I don’t think I’m alone in
that!
If you could write in only one genre what
would it be?
It would have to be Sci-Fi
or Fantasy. Andre Norton books were my first love and I’m just about to finish
reading book 3 in the Tawny Man Trilogy by
Robin Hobb. The only downside with writing Sci-Fi or Fantasy is that your memory
has to be pretty good otherwise you’d have to constantly check your notes.
You’d also have to have a fairly good understanding of all the technical/science
stuff. I’m not sure I can write one until I try.
Do you write in the same genre that you enjoy
reading?
Before I started writing
seriously I didn’t read much in the way of crime or romance. When I think of an
idea for a story I rarely have romance in mind. My stories seem to turn into
romances as soon as a strong male character walks on stage. As for crime
serials, I concentrate less on the actual crime and more on character
development. One day someone is going to clock that the crime itself doesn’t quite
ring true or that it would have been impossible for the perpetrator to have ‘done
it’! Seriously though, writing outside your comfort zone can be so much fun.
What are your future writing plans?
I won’t give up
trying to write a serial for The People’s Friend. (My mother would be
overjoyed! So would I!) After that, I’d like to attempt that Sci-Fi novel. I’ve
got an idea forming, but it needs a lot more development before I crawl into
bed, open my laptop and start typing. Saying that, I’m not sure I’ll ever
abandon short stories because adore writing them.
Leonora Francis was
born in Leicester and now lives in South London. She’s had over a hundred and
twenty stories published in women’s magazines, and is currently writing her
sixth serial for Woman’s Weekly. Leonora thinks she’s normal but her friends
say she’s eccentric. Sometimes she has to agree with them.
