Francis Powell is a writer who lives near Paris.  His latest work is a book of twenty-two short stories entitled Flight of Destiny. He writes, produces graphic art and creates music. He’s a Renaissance guy. Please take a look his interview it’s very interesting.

 

Wally: Did your schooling/educations prepare you to be a writer?

 

Yes but in a very negative way. I still have nightmares about my schooling, some of the teachers were psychopathic and the students odious. Rest assured some of this angst can be found in some of my short stories.

 

Wally:  Does where you live now influence your writing.

A little bit, I live near Paris and Paris features in a couple of stories, a character gets pushed onto the metro, there is a womanizing Parisian waiter in the same story.

 

Wally:  Who are your favorite authors and what are you reading now?

I really like Rupert Thompson’s stories, Roald Dahl was a big influence on the short stories, because he put a twist at the end of his stories and this is an important element in my writing style. I am not reading anything specific at the moment.

 

Wally:  Why do you write?

I like to create vile despicable characters and bizarre stories, to exorcise many of my demons. I want people to enjoy my short stories and learn from them the messages that hidden within.  I write about the outsiders, underdogs and oddballs of this world.  My work is very visual, I originally trained as an artist and this impacts my stories. There are illustrations in my book.  I love the richness of language.

 

Wally:  How do you come up with story ideas?

Some ideas just pop into my head. Sometimes it could be the name of a character, for example one of the stories is called “Bugeyes” . It is the story about a person who is totally victimized and rejected from birth, due to his physical appearance and unnaturally large eyes.

 

Wally:  When you develop characters do you ever draw from famous people of the past or present?

Maybe, but not directly, there is a character in one of my stories, called “Slashed” whose name is “Maestro” who I perceive as a kind of Leonardo De Vinci.

 

Wally:  When you write do you listen to music? Who’s music?

Not specially.  I love music however, I really like Phillip Glass, but I don’t put on music to enhance my writing.

 

Wally:  When you start to write a story do you write your initial thoughts on paper first or go directly to your computer?

Sometimes, but I don’t write an outline. I generally write things in a little black book  I have or on any scraps of paper I have to hand, mostly because I don’t want to forget, details that have popped into my mind.

 

Wally:  Do you ever read your work to someone? Do you have an editor?

I have an editor in Hawaii. I sent various drafts by e mail. It was a kind ping pong process. It took  a long time to reach the final edit.

 

Wally:  Thanks for doing this interview.

 

Information about Francis’ book, Flight of Destiny can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/flightofdestinyshortstories?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwNl0F6095Q

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00WSWYVNK

PRESS RELEASE

http://www.prlog.org/12443660