Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Falencia Jean-Francois. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Falencia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I have a very complicated relationship with my biological mother. She died when I was thirteen years old and, when she was alive, she made almost every moment of my life a living hell. But, like a lot of children and their abusive parents, I loved her. I was obsessed. My greatest wish was to become her. Yes, she scared the bejeezus out of me, but she was also beautiful and strong and so talented! She was an artist, a singer, a baker, a chef, a seamstress, and an amazing hostess. She also pushed me to excel artistically as much as academically. Whether she meant to or not, she instilled in me a deep sense of my identity as creative, an identity I have never lost sight of, regardless of the phase of life I am in.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a proud indie author! I have one novel published under my own name (Devil of the Deep) and two novellas published under my penname, Mireille De Maupassant. I started writing when I was twelve years old as a way to escape the turbulence of my everyday life. My first story was a self-insert NSYNC fanfiction that I wrote before I even knew what fanfiction was! I, eventually, made my way to original fiction, but it took an embarrassingly long time!

I write about queer people of color, unapologetically. As a queer person of color myself, I almost never got to see myself represented leading the stories I loved when I was younger and rarely get to see myself represented now. I am also of Caribbean descent so I come from a place where there are few safe places for queer folks. My debut novel, Devil of the Deep, features queer Caribbean characters in a queer normative world. This was my gift to myself and all of the other queer Caribbean folks out there still waiting to see themselves in stories about our home.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I’m not writing, I’m working as an elementary school instructional coach. Last year was one of the toughest years of my career. Professionally, my job took a hard left turn and, rather than coaching teachers, I ended up back in the classroom, “subbing” while our school tried desperately to hire during one of the worst teacher shortages our area had ever experienced. That was also the year I decided to write my first novel and try, in earnest, to gain a following as an indie author on Tik Tok. I could have given up on the book because teaching is hard and time-consuming, but something inside me said “I know it feels impossible. Do it anyway!” So, I developed a system: during school hours, I would make lesson plans, support my class of first graders in every way you could think of, communicate with their families, and attend meetings. Then, once the proverbial school bell rang, I would rush home and write, edit, make videos, do Lives, and respond to comments. It was SO hard, but worth it because I had a completed novel and a strong following by the end of that school year. As I look back on that experience, I think it speaks more to the resilience of all indie authors than just my own. Most of us work demanding day jobs and have to spend our nights, weekends, and last bits of energy making our dreams come true.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

One of the achievements that I’m most proud of is having written the entire first draft of Devil of the Deep in a month. What a lot of people–especially non-creatives–don’t know is that it took me over 20 years of trying and failing and learning from my mistakes. It may seem simple and straightforward from the outside, but writing a book can be a brutal and unforgiving process. So, when someone in your life has written a book, see it as for the monumental achievement that it is and celebrate them!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.falenciajf.com
• Instagram: @falenciatheestoryteller
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/falenciajf
• Other: Tik Tok: @falenciatheestoryteller