Laura Frantz
https://laurafrantz.net/
Author of Indigo Heiress, releasing January 2025
T4JYM: With the release of The Indigo Heiress quickly approaching (January 2025), please tell our readers a little about the book and what they can expect from reading it.
LF: This novel is a marriage of convenience historical romance set in 18th-century colonial America and Scotland. Expect an adventure as you travel between two very different countries!
T4JYM: How much time and research goes into a book? And how do you ensure they are accurate?
LF: I love research almost as much as writing. And solid research can take a year or more. I never start writing till I have period-appropriate names researched and the setting fleshed out. I often visit the places I write about which helps tremendously. Accuracy isn’t always possible since I’m writing centuries after the fact and fiction lets you fudge a little when necessary. The truth is we’ll never know what life was really like back then. We just try to write it as realistically as possible from a very flawed 21st-century perspective.
T4JYM: Besides writing books, tell our readers a little about you and the things that keep you busy.
LF: I love to take long walks, swim, garden, cook, and stay home. But I also love to travel, Scotland being my favorite destination.
T4JYM: Please tell us how you came to be a Christian and how this has influenced your writing.
LF: I was raised in a Christian home but it wasn’t till age 12 that I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. After that, my writing really accelerated. It seems I was always writing in the margins around school, work, other activities, etc. I believe God gifts each of us with certain gifts. I’m honestly not very good at much else or interested in much else. Writing remains my number one passion and has always held a sort of magic for me. That magic is hard to describe but when you use your gift I think that’s how you feel. A heavenly magic.
T4JYM: When did you begin writing? How has your writing changed from your first work to now?
LF: I realized there was something very special about writing when I was seven years old. I wrote my first story then and have never stopped. Our family would often visit historic sites which fueled my love of historical fiction which was the genre I loved best. But I have to chuckle when I look back at my first stories because I wrote every single detail about my characters, tracking their every move, not realizing you only tell the critical parts of the story and follow a plot. I just loved being with my characters back then and so I wanted to be with them 24/7.
T4JYM: Who are some of the authors you enjoy reading? What authors have inspired you as a writer?
LF: Lucy Maud Montgomery’s The Blue Castle has always been an inspiration along with Elizabeth Goudge’s novels, especially The Child from the Sea. Liz Curtis Higg’s novels set in Scotland are on my keeper shelf though there are many wonderful writers writing clean, edifying fiction out there now.
T4JYM: What comes next? Are you working on something new, whether book or podcast?
LF: I’m usually three books ahead of readers. When one novel is releasing I’ve just turned the next one in and am researching and starting a third. Expect a novella in July 2025, a full-length Revolutionary War novel in 2026 and then a Christmas novella in September 2027. More coming after those!
T4JYM: Who has been your biggest advocate and supporter in your journey to success?
LF: My brother, a pastor/missionary, challenged me to publish, God opened the door, and now my husband is hugely supportive, my patron of the arts so to speak😊
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing their work?
LF: Write the book you can’t find on the shelf. Write the genre you most enjoy reading. And then polish it till it shines and pray about the next step.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to the youth of this world?
LF: Make Christ your priority and everything else will fall into place.
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