Finnian Burnett

Welcome to the 5 Minutes Series. Each week, I’ll ask five questions of some of my favorite authors, editors, publishers, and other industry professionals. This week, I got to talk to the delightful writer, Frankie Fyre.

You write the cutest, funniest scenes! Truthfully, how hard is it to be funny in writing?

Thank you for the kind words! It’s a difficult question to answer. Funnily enough, when I started, A Flight to Love, I intended to write something sexy and kinky with a brooding ice queen—think Anna Stone and when I was finished, I turned my manuscript upside down wondering how in the world did I get a spicy rom-com! And where did this adorable emu come from?!

In all seriousness, I had no idea what sapphic romance niche I was writing, only that I’m having TONS of fun and I love spice. A big part of why I write is to put more joy and diverse casts of characters into the world. Our hearts need it, especially during these trying times.  Joy shows up in a number of ways and I suppose that, for me, includes making people laugh from time to time.

Do you have a writing process? A special place where you work?

With a day job, my writing time mainly includes lunch hour, evenings and weekends. My schedule isn’t too rigid as I have found that being overly structured doesn’t work for me. Sustaining rhythm and having an immersive writing experience is ideal for this pantser (~90%). Regarding any special place I work. Usually, coffee shops! I love to find a cozy spot (outside weather permitting), grab a latte, some food and start typing. Is eating food a warm-up? That is what I find happens! While eating, I’ll daydream and think about what my characters are up to. Sometimes I do writing sprints, other times, I’ll dictate. I know a lot of folks track word count. As for me, I’ll track chapters with a weekly goal of 2 or 3 chapters, depending on my schedule.

What are you working on right now?

I recently published my first novel, a fake relationship sapphic romance, The Honeymoon Mix-Up! This is book one of my Sapphire Isle Series. I’m so grateful and pleased to see that the launch is going well and readers are enjoying the story. It’s set on a fictional sapphic island and the book is packed with delicious romantic tension, conflict and fun. There’s even the Sapphic Olympics and a hedgehog named Quilliam 🙂

I have a couple of projects in mind for my next book, however I’m leaning toward giving my side characters from A Flight to Love their enemies-to-lovers story. Readers have been letting me know that they would love to see a book with those two and I happen to agree!

One of your books is about an emu farmer. Can you tell us about that book and also, did you spend time on a farm researching?

For A Flight to Love, I’m almost ashamed to admit how much time I spent researching emus (A.K.A. laughing), especially emu chicks. They are such fascinating animals and it’s almost impossible not to fall in love with their quirky personalities and habits. I did visit the city the book is set in, Asheville, NC. That place is beautiful and wonderfully queer. Sadly, I didn’t make it to an emu farm—still in the works! However, I was adopted and was raised with plenty of exposure to farms since I was young. Some animals include: horses, chickens, cows, pigs, sheep, and donkeys. Fun fact: One summer, I walked a dairy feeder at a fair for competition.

If you could give one piece of advice to emerging writers, what would it be?

Trust your intuition—whether with people, writing advice, or next steps. It was such a hard lesson for me to learn (sometimes I still struggle). I’m not sure if anyone else experiences this, but when I don’t trust mine, I only end up taking a big detour to where my intuition was taking me in the first place. Trust yourself. I’m not saying it will be easy, but I’m saying it will be worth it.

And as cliché as it sounds, NEVER give up because someone needs your story, like you needed someone else’s.

Frankie can be found on the web on her Linktree – where you can also buy her books (and get a free book!) All that information can be found here. If you want to go right to buying The Honeymoon Mix-Up, you can do that here.

Thank you, Frankie! I hope you get that visit to an Emu farm soon.