Sheer Creativity
Step into the chill vibes of Sheer Creativity, your go-to laid-back podcast about creatives for creatives! Immerse yourself in dynamic conversations, insightful interviews, and performances, all centered around the creative experience. With me, Laraya, as your guide, we'll blend special guests, personal development nuggets, and engaging creative content to inspire and motivate you on your artistic journey.
Sheer Creativity
Frances Marie: The Visionary Children's Author
Frances Marie is an author dedicated to Black representation in children's books. Her debut book, Spending Time with Mommy, is available now on Amazon! The book follows Skye's fun adventures with her mom while learning lessons about natural hair care, plants, and healthy living. Follow Frances Marie on Instagram @authorfrancesmarie.
SHEER CREATIVITY LINKS
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Welcome to the Sheer Creativity podcast, the podcast about creatives for creatives. Our Sheer Creator on today's episode is Frances Marie. Frances is a children's book author whose book Spending the Day with Mommy is coming soon. Francis, welcome to the show.
Frances:Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.
Raya:I'm glad you're here too. So let's start off with telling us more about yourself, like your age, where you're from.
Frances:Yes. So I'm 23 years old and I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina.
Raya:Oh, I'm 23 too. Oh, I, and I have family in Greensboro. Look at US
Frances:Yes.
Raya:So how long have you been writing?
Frances:So, I've been writing, I wanna say, since 2018, but I really took it seriously in 2020.
Raya:Okay.
Frances:Yeah.
Raya:Was it like a, a pandemic type of um, activity that you did?
Frances:Yeah, so I graduated in 2020 from college and then it just sparked my interest right there. I was doing an internship at the time at the Greensboro Farmer's Market, and I majored in public health and I was just thinking about, um, children and access and healthy living. I'm like, you know what? I have a book idea right here, and that's where it really started.
Raya:Oh, I love that. When you are sitting down getting ready to go into your writing process, what would you say are the most, like, the easier parts of it and also the most difficult parts of that process?
Frances:So I would say the easiest part of it is just really being able to take my imagination to places that I wanted to go. You know, just thinking about the plot, the characters, that's the easy part. But the hard part is it's like, okay, now how am I gonna bring this all in conjunction to make a story that makes sense, but something that is readable for young children and that'll make them laugh or that'll have a lesson in it. So I would say that's the hardest part, just really bringing all together into one piece.
Raya:Oh yeah, that makes sense. So what comes first for you? Is it the plot or the characters? Mm-hmm. And why?
Frances:So I would say it's definitely the plot, because I think the plot is the juiciness of the story because you have that main idea, the summary, and you want to highlight that throughout the book. And then I would say the characters, because that's, you know, the fun part when you can really see the details and what do you want the characters to look like, or what do you want the characters to represent. But I think the plot is very important because the details around it can come later.
Raya:So have you always been like passionate about children's writing or, well, not children's writing, but children's art and kind of like catering to children in a way?
Frances:So that's funny that you asked that because when I started writing, um, in 2018, I was really in the prospects of young adult novels, romance novels to be specific. And I was writing a long novel at that time, which I paused on and then it just hit me in 2020, like children's books. And before that I was never ever looking to write children's book actually. I was like, I would never. Write a children's book at all. But something just sparked in me and it just made sense to do it. And then once I committed to it and listened to my intuition, more ideas kept coming. Like, this is really your calling, like children's books is your calling.
Raya:Oh wow. That's so interesting. Let's talk more about spending time with Mommy. First of all, I saw the illustrations. Those are so cute. I love Little Skye in her Afro puffs. It's, I love it. So what was the inspiration behind Spending Time with Mommy?
Frances:Yeah. Thank you for asking that, and thank you for your compliment. Um, Sophia, shout out to her. That's my illustrator. She does such an amazing job, but I would say the inspiration behind it is just, you know, me and my mom, like when I was younger, we had some days where we did Saturday adventures and not all the time, but I feel like nowadays since social media is so big and you, you can see mothers and daughters spending time with each other, and I just wanted to write the book to encourage that. Within mothers and daughters, let's say there's a new mom and she doesn't know how to connect with her daughter, or she's finding or trying to find new ways to connect with her daughter. It's like a bonding book. It's a bonding moment. And with that also, it also throws little hints of healthy living within it as well and active activities, and I just think it's a really sweet book for mothers and daughters to bond over and plants. Of course, that's one of the things throughout the book that's featured, they go to a plant nursery. And lovers of plants. You know, I love plants. And I was like, this would be great. So it definitely just came from inspiration of me spending time with my mom, but also wanting to provide a book to mothers who have daughters, um, that they're trying to connect with and maybe wanna see some ideas of like, you see how Skye and her mommy connects? We could do this too. And I think it's a really sweet book. Yeah. I love that.
Raya:I love that it's not, like it's for children, but also it's giving mothers ideas of what they can do with their child. That's amazing. I love that. How did you meet your illustrator?
Frances:Thank you for asking that. So I would say I met her. How did I meet her? So one of my friends, Niasia, shout out to her. She's an author as well. I think we followed each other on Instagram at one time, and she and I connected and I was going through her page and then I was just like, you know what? Her book has some dope illustrations and. Um, I was just, it just went through my mind, you know? And then one day I just downloaded Fiverr and I was looking for illustrators. I believe I downloaded another app, and it was either on Fiverr or the other app, which I forget the name of. I found Sophia. I'm like, oh my goodness, your illustrations are so nice. And then I connected with Niasia's. I'm like, these are like the same, um, drawing styles or illustration style as Niasia's. And so that's how I found her. And then Niasia and I was able to connect once we realized like we had the same illustrator. So I used her through one of those apps where illustrators, um, show their work.
Raya:Oh yeah, that's great. I always like to highlight how like creatives can network and get to know other people. So Fiverr is definitely a great place to look for illustrations. When I wrote my book, my book, um, illustration came from Fiber as well. So it's an excellent way to find people that you wanna work with and like pick out the style that you want and talk to them about it. So I highly recommend as well. What method of publishing did you use for Spending Time with Mommy? Did you self-publish? Is it traditionally published?
Frances:Yeah, so spending time with mommy is gonna be self-published now. It was down the route of becoming traditionally published, which is a whole story, but, um, came to find out that would be best to be self-published, especially being my first book and wanting it to release as soon as I could do so. So that's the route that I chose. And also self-publishing. You can choose so many little details. You can choose the title, you can choose what the illustrations look like. The wording, so many things, but with traditionally publishing, sometimes the publishing company wants to change, let's say maybe the storyline, the title of the book, or maybe get rid of some of the pages or illustrations. So I really just wanted to name it and have it as my own, especially for my first book, and just the storyline being so, so special to me.
Raya:Yeah, I love that. I think, um, traditional publishing. They take away your, your creative ability at times. Cause even though they're like, yeah, we wanna support you, support your book and everything like that, it's also, but I have to hit this bottom line though.
Frances:Mm-hmm.
Raya:It's such a, a hard publishing world out there.
Frances:Yeah.
Raya:Which is why I like your page so much because you give authors a lot of encouragement and tell them to keep going. This is your first book, don't give up on it and I would like to know what drives your passion behind supporting authors through that publication process.
Frances:Yes. So my motivation is just community, you know, network. You know, you don't, I don't wanna support just to get something out of a next person, but because we genuinely are here for each other and I wanna be here for you, and just understanding and knowing that person may not know, you know, what they're doing, but they know they have that gift, you know? And so just being vulnerable and being open and just saying things that are on my mind and even things that I post on my Instagram, it's like things that I'm going through as well. Like, you know, sometimes I don't feel like publishing this book. Sometimes I'm too afraid. Like, what if no one likes it. You know those thoughts, but those are normal thoughts and I just want other people to know like you are not alone. We are in the same boat. And what motivates me is that if I'm a motivation to other people, I know that they'll be more open to share their journey with other people and also vice versa, and just what all comes together at the end of the day.
Raya:Yeah, I feel like creatives because. A lot of what we put out there is like we're bearing our soul so it's like, this is like what's in my heart and then I put it out there for public consumption. And sometimes you never really know what's gonna happen when it's out there in the public. So it's so important for creatives to support each other and to, um, like buy each other's work or support each other's work in that way. And. I think especially as Black creators, we have to do that cause we are just working twice as hard, which kind of leads into my next question, I was looking at your website and you were talking about the negative connotations that you would like to deconstruct within the children's book industry that you wanna go into. So what are those negative connotations that you believe are important to deconstruct within your books?
Frances:Yes. So within my book specifically, um, when I write my children's books, I want people to know that the black community, the Afro diaspora, we have so much within Us. You know, a lot of people may look at black people on the surface and think, oh, they just, stereotypically the black men play basketball and those are the children's books that are gonna be just published and the black girls just talk about natural hair and those are the books that are gonna be published, you know? But it's so much more that we have in our community. Like for instance, we know how to garden, we know how to grow our own fruits and vegetables. We are plant parents. We are interested in science, we are innovative. We do purchase land, and those things are topics that we speak about as adults, but we can sprinkle that into children's books. We can talk about why it's important to have land or why I love that my dad or mother purchased land cuz I can run through the fields. Like that's just something I came up with in my mind just now. But, you know, just really breaking down those stereotypes and showing it in our children's books. Like there's so much we have in our community and pushing those books out there, um, on the shelves so people can see.
Raya:I love that answer. I think a lot of the times, like people see black people as kind of like a monolith where we only do one thing, or we're only like, good at one thing, but mm-hmm. we're all cross the board, we're all different. We're all into different things. The example that popped in my head was like Black Panther.
Frances:Yeah.
Raya:Like, um, like Shuri is very into science. She's basically running Wakanda. So it's, it's so important for people to see stuff like that and realize like, we are into STEM, we are into plants. Yeah. We're into so many different things because we are whole human beings. That was the best answer ever. Thank you. So as a writer, who are some authors that you aspire to emulate or admire through your work?
Frances:Yes, so, and that's a good question, and with that being stated, Honestly, I may need to do more research and I go to Barnes and Noble all the time. I look at children's books. Um, I forget that young lady, her name. She's a poet, and she performed, I think at the, I don't know if she performed at the President's inauguration. Um, I'm not,
Raya:I know who you're talking about. Um, oh my gosh, what is her name? Amanda.
Frances:Amanda, I think that's her first name. Yeah. And I read one of her books. Um, it's a children's books and I think it's a poetic book, and it was really good. So I definitely look up to her because she's a poet, but she also transformed it into her children's book. As far as adult novels, Terry McMillan, I really love her. I'm not good with author names, but honestly I seek inspiration from all authors that are out there, because I'll go to Barnes and Noble, I'll go to Target and I'll just sit there 30 minutes to an hour and I'll just look through and I'm just reading. I'm just like, you know what? They did so great with this book. Like it's so beautiful. And it's just like, I shout out all the Black authors, even non-Black authors out there, like for the work that they do and put in. Um, and sometimes I do step away. Specifically from children's books and not look at other people's work like into great detail, cause I wanna make sure the ideas that I come with, come up with in my mind are authentic and just genuine and pure and soulful. And, That may sound weird, but I love getting inspiration from other people's work in books, but it's something about having something unique and different. Um, but I honestly, I, I love all of them and I definitely will start knowing people's names by heart. Cause I know that's important. Mm-hmm. When people ask me that question, cuz I've gotten that question many times, like, I love everybody but
Raya:Yeah. Amanda Gorman, that's her name.
Frances:yes. Yes. Amanda Gorman.
Raya:But, Yeah. I actually really like that idea of going into Barnes and Noble and just kind of looking at similar work, but it also makes sense to like, to like step back from it after a while and be like, okay, but what is my authentic style? What is the the gift that I have? Because everybody's different and you do have something unique to share with the world in your own way. Has writing and publishing a book changed the way that you see yourself?
Frances:I would say so in a sense because when I was a little girl, I never envisioned myself to do this. But as I grow more into a lady, I'm like, your mind is so beautiful. You know, like you're so intelligent, you're such a creative. There's so much that God has instilled in you that you don't even know yet. And it just makes me look at myself like, don't give up on you cause you're talented. You know, people need to see what you have within yourself. And then it also makes myself proud and I look at my childhood self, just not knowing that this was inside of me. You know, to really share with the world and I definitely become more gentler with myself when I come to just judging myself with my work and all of that stuff. But I definitely look at myself now as that woman, like, you are that woman.
Raya:Yes. Period.
Frances:Yes like you have so much in store for you and continue to trust the process.
Raya:what do the words literary success mean to you and how do you picture it in your mind?
Frances:So literary success means to me impact, you know? Mm-hmm. impact to kids, impact to families, impact to communities, and that's important to me cause sometimes people may equate literary success to New York Times bestselling author or selling over a thousand books in a span of three months. But to me it's just seeing a child. Let's say if I were to go to a park and I randomly see a mother reading my book to her child, that's it. Mm-hmm. That's all I need to see, you know? Or maybe a child is having a bad day, but I know that my book is one of their favorite books to read, and their dad pulls it out and reads it to them. That's literary success to me because I've made an impact on that child and I've also made an impact on that parent. Um, and that's how I envision it in my mind.
Raya:Clap. I forgot that this is a podcast and people can't see me clapping, so I had to yes. Well, we've reached the end of our podcast here, and I usually end it off with Raya's top five. So it's five lightning round questions that I'll ask you, and you just gimme the first thing that pops into your head. Okay? All right. The first question is, are you a morning or an evening creator?
Frances:I am a morning creator.
Raya:Okay. Your favorite work that you've created thus far?
Frances:One book that I have not started, um, in the process. Um, Mommy and My Chocolate. I'll give you all the title.
Raya:Ooh, I like it. Are you introverted or extroverted?
Frances:I start off as an introvert, but if I'm comfortable around others, I quickly can become an extrovert.
Raya:That I'm the same way. That makes so much sense for me too. Your all time favorite album?
Frances:All time favorite album? That is a good question. Hmm. You know what? As soon as you asked that, Alicia Keys popped up and I forgot the name of this album as well, give me a song, um, diary. Old school Alicia, I love her.
Raya:Oh yes. Songs in A minor. That's what it is.
Frances:Love her.
Raya:Oh, nevermind. I lied. That was the wrong album. It's the Diary of Alicia Keys. Oh yeah. All right. The last question is your happiest moment. My happiest moment. My happiest moment, I would say is not just one moment.
Frances:How can I say this? My happiest moment is knowing my calling and when I. You know, even though it has, its up and downs with the process, but that's my happiest moment cause I know it's up to me now to fulfill it, you know?
Raya:I love that. Well, you guys, you can support Francis Marie by following her on her Instagram, which is@authorfrancismarie and look for her new children's book Spending Time with Mommy. I am going to buy a copy. I don't have a child yet, but I'm gonna read it to somebody.
Frances:Thank you so much for your support. I enjoyed this. This is my first podcast.
Raya:Oh, I'm so glad that you have allowed me to interview you. It's been so fun.
