A sea change occurred in about 2012 . Amazon was coming on strong , Borders collapsed , and Diana decided to go with self-publishing . “ I had more control over the content .” This was her driving reason for the change . Her book “ Putting the Fun in Funeral ” probably would have been deemed inappropriate by a traditional publisher . Still , it was what she wanted to write .
“ You have to be willing to cut what needs to be cut and to invest in making it the best it can be . Publishers don ’ t want to take the risk , but selfpublishing lets a writer do that .” A self-published writer can take a risk on the content or the cover , and if it doesn ’ t work , they can revise it .
Diana also likes an ensemble cast of characters . She says it ’ s so much fun to read and to write . In one book , she had a character whom she visualized wearing a red shirt . In other words , he was like the Star Trek character who gets killed before the first commercial . She had in mind that he was going to die so that her main character would have a challenge dealing with the death of a friend . She said he turned out to be such a vital part of the story that she couldn ’ t kill him , so she just decided she would have to treat him very badly . She did , but it turned out that his energy and personality came through , and her readers liked him . He stayed right to the end of the trilogy .
Diana has a website full of information on her books , her biography , and more . She has given back to writers and aspiring writers by sharing her knowledge and experience . A final word from Diana , “ It takes both creativity and discipline to write a novel . And don ’ t forget that daydreaming is writing , too .”
Scan the QR Code to visit diana francis ’ website
60 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE