Indie Support Sunday: Frances M. Thompson

Before this interview, I’d seen many of Frances M. Thompson’s gorgeous book covers floating around on Instagram. So when I sent her these question, I knew I was going to be absolutely obsessed with everything she has to say. I request you to sit back and take your time reading through the responses, because Frances’s answers are fantastic! One of the things I definitely admire about her is that she reads in all genres and different formats, and gets through anywhere between 100 and 150 books a year. Which, let’s be honest, is sometimes hard for an author when our schedules are so confusing.

As a bisexual author, Frances writes contemporary queer romances that are perfect for every kind of reader. She dives into different relationship dynamics and journeys for her characters that I believe would be quite relatable for many readers. So if you’re looking to expand on your queer TBR, I think any and all of Frances’s books are a good choice for you. Bonus, she’s offering a free copy of her book Three Bisexuals Walk Into A Bar to get you started!

And if you’re new to the author business, Frances has some really great tips for you. While you’ve probably heard them before, it’s in the way she puts it down for you that makes all the difference. 

Some of Frances’s books are in Kindle Unlimited, while others are available wide.  

BEING AN AUTHOR

Who or what inspired you to write?

I’ve been writing all my life in one form or another. As an avid reader, I think stories in general, inspired me to write. I love the feeling of getting lost in a good book, and for as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to create stories that give others that same magical feeling. Selfishly, I also enjoy experiencing that feeling as I work on the story too.

What’s the best and worst part about being an indie author? 

Conversely, I think the best and worst thing about being an indie author is the same thing. You get to be in complete control of your books, but this also means you have to do it all yourself. Especially in the beginning when budgets are (very!) tight and you haven’t yet built a network of editors, proofreaders, beta readers, cover artists, illustrators etc that you can trust. 

But as a bisexual author with ADHD, being an indie author is absolutely the right choice for me because I am terrible at sticking to one genre or gender-pairing, and I am a mood writer as well as a mood reader. Also, because I’m chronically ill, the thought of having deadlines that I can’t change to suit my current state of health is honestly terrifying.

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?

I think again, it’s about creative control and also having a lot of flexibility in the way I work because my chronic illness has periods of remission and then quite serious flare-ups that take me away from work for weeks or even months at a time.

I also feel like traditional publishing is essentially gate-keeping and considering how white the industry is (authors and behind the scenes) it’s not necessarily something I want to be part of. As a white author, I would much rather publishing deals go to authors of colour. Furthermore, I think the last few years have shown that indie publishing is changing traditional publishing considerably, especially in romance. Publishing houses are looking at what indie books are already doing well and how big of a following an author has on social media and those are the books and people who get the deals. Traditional publishing is relying more on “sure-things” than taking risks with underrepresented voices and again, that’s not appealing to me.

When you’re not writing, what do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

I read! A lot! I try to read between 100-150 books a year—across all genres—and that includes audiobooks which I listen to nearly every day on walks or pottering around the house. That said, I think the best thing any author can do is live life. Go on adventures, spend time with people you love (and also hate!), experience the highs and lows of life, the challenges and the joys. I find a lot of inspiration in that and also people-watching, just observing the world around me. I’m very lucky that I don’t struggle with my creative juices. In fact, I have the opposite problem. I have too many books I want to write and not enough time!

If you were to recommend books to me (in any genre), what would they be?

For the last four years or so, I have read almost exclusively queer books and that will always be my top recommendation to anyone. There are queer books in all genres and because I try to mostly read books that focus on queer joy, it’s become my happy place. As for specific books, I always recommend Sierra Simone’s Thornchapel series (where all six main characters are bisexual!), Kelechi Okafor’s collection of short stories, Edge of Here, is incredible, especially if you love sci-fi/futuristic stories, I’ve read everything Andrew Joseph White has written and it’s all fantastic, particularly if you like queer horror, and I love everything Yrsa Daley-Ward writes.

What are your top 5 tips or pieces of advice for aspiring authors?

1. Give yourself permission. Get out of your own way. 

2. Mindset is everything. Don’t think you can do it? Then that’s the story your brain will keep telling you. 

3. Be realistic. Very few authors make enough money from one, two or even ten books to give up full-time work. Indeed many traditionally published authors still have day jobs. I’m fifteen books in on this journey and I am yet to make enough money to support my family single-handedly, but I am growing and I am committed to the long-haul.

4. I would figure out when is your best writing time and protect that like your life depends on it. For me, it’s in the morning when my brain is (somewhat!) fresh. 

5. Finally, enjoy the journey. Fall in love with writing. Nurture this love always. If I didn’t love the act of writing so much, I wouldn’t and couldn’t do this job. It’s a slog. It’s hard work. It can be lonely and isolating. It’s unpredictable and you have to constantly be vulnerable and exposed to rejection and criticism. But I love creating people in my head, making them fall in love (or making them get into trouble, or both!) and exploring themes and topics that fascinate me in the process. I make writing my sanctuary, my safe place, and nobody can take that away from me. Always return to that place when things get hard.

ROMANCE AS A GENRE

Why did you choose romance as the genre to write in? What is your favorite thing about the genre?

It sounds strange but I didn’t choose romance, it chose me! I didn’t read any romance until 2020 when a friend suggested I did it for escapism. So I picked up a Talia Hibbert book and I had no idea how life changing that moment was. Reading that book, I couldn’t stop thinking how fun it was and how fun it would be to write a book like that. I’d always thought the very basic foundation of romance books—having a HEA—took all the magic out of the craft of writing a book. If you know the end, then why read it? But actually that’s where the magic comes in. You know the outcome already, so you can just focus on the journey. I started playing around with drafting a romance book and it was like opening a door to a new portal of fun, magic, joy and hope.

If not romance/subgenres of romance, what genre would you like to write in?

As I’ve hinted before, I don’t believe in self-censure or ‘staying in your lane’. I think that last phrase is something women and people of colour are told to control or manipulate them, and indeed I see traditional publishing doing it to authors all the time. I already write in different genres. I write queer romance that is contemporary and also modern historical. I write all gender combinations too. I also write suspense thrillers, poetry and have previously published short stories. I have plans to write paranormal romance, sci-fi romance and a YA novel (not romance), as well as a domestic thriller and more poetry.

What are your most and least favorite tropes?

I love any trope that has tension at its heart. So yes, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, opposites attract, friends to lovers, grumpy x sunshine (in queer romances only!), fake-dating or marriage of convenience are all super fun to read and write.

Personally, I’m not a fan of traditionally hetero tropes—grumpy/sunshine (when the man’s the grump), damsel in distress FMCs, possessive MMCs, OW drama, size difference (big men/small woman)—because I think they sometimes reinforce gender norms in a harmful way. That doesn’t mean they can’t be done well or that people shouldn’t enjoy them, I just personally don’t love them. 

What are some tropes you want to write in the future?

I still haven’t done a marriage of convenience which I want to (I have a plan for it already!). I’m working on a best friends to enemies to lovers which is SO fun (and SO hot!). And my first new release of 2026 will have an epistolary element which I’m excited about.

What are some topics (sensitive and otherwise) that you think should exist more in romance?

Needless to say, we need more queer books, especially trans, non-binary, intersex and a-spec stories. We need more books written by BIPOC authors. We need A LOT more books with disabled rep. We need more books with all kinds of marginalised rep. Personally, I will be writing more books with chronic illness or invisible disability rep because they are very close to my heart.

If you write open door romance, why did you choose that and what inspires your sex scenes?

I love reading open door romance, so for me it was never really a question of if I should or shouldn’t. Again, this goes back to the importance of giving yourself permission. I enjoy reading it, and I discovered I love writing it too. Because I also write books with a lot of diverse rep, it’s even more important to me that readers see diverse characters being intimate, being loved and being worshipped! 

The key for me, personally, is that the spice has to add to the plot. It has to be part of the character development. That’s what makes it add something to the book, and often means it’s a lot hotter too!

YOUR BOOKS

What inspired your published stories? How and when did you come up with these stories and plots?

Ideas for stories pop into my head all the time. When they stay there for more than a few minutes, or they keep returning again and again, then I know that they’re a story I want to explore more. Sometimes it’s a really simple concept—like I saw a TikTok with two gymbros working out together and kind of joke-flirting and bam, I want to write a gymbros to lovers romance so I did (Stuck in the Middle With You)—but other times, there’s a topic or theme I want to dig into and I build a story around that. For example, a few years ago, I read about the role lesbians and queer women played taking care of queer men during the AIDS crisis and I couldn’t understand why we didn’t talk more about this. I was desperate to know more and to put this important part of our queer history on the map—it’s apparently why we changed from the GLBT community to LGBT—and so I wrote a sapphic romance with this at the very heart of the story (Nightingale).

Can you briefly tell me about your books?

As I’ve already touched on, the majority of my books are spicy queer romance. Most are contemporary but Nightingale is a modern historical romance (set in 1990) and I have plans for one set in 1979. I have two completed series; Sun, Moon & Stars is an interconnected series of standalones with MF, MM and FX pairings, and Birds and Butterflies is a series of four sapphic romances. Again, these sapphic books are standalones—I just wanted to group all my sapphic books together because sapphic romance is very special to me. I also have a handful of standalones and next year I will release a new series that is all about queer found family and each story is inspired by nature or plants. The one thing all my romance books have in common is that there’s at least one bi+ main character, and yes, I also like to feature other diverse rep.

Do you already have a favorite character from the stories you’ve written?

Gah, I’m bisexual! Don’t make me choose!!!!

I have a soft spot for all my characters, but honestly, the more complicated or ‘prickly’ characters are the ones that I think about most because often they have the hardest journeys. So that would be Lex in my new release, Monarch (FXX), Jake in The Moon Also Rises (MM), Kate in Nightingale (FF) and Giles in Stuck in the Middle With You (MM).

That said, I also adore the bi+ men characters I’ve written that are also soft-boy golden retrievers so shout out Marty from Five Sunsets (MF), Charlie from Let Love Rule (MF), Marcello from Stuck in the Middle With You (MM) and Joel in Three Bisexuals Walk into a Bar (MMF).

If you were to cast your book for a movie/television show, who would you cast in the lead roles?

I’ll answer this for my latest release, Monarch which is FXX, exes enemies to lovers and bi4bi4bi. So Hunter Schafer would 100% be Roos—I thought about her a lot as I wrote Roos’ story. Emma D’Arcy would be a good Mari although they would have to put on some weight. And as for the villain of the story, Lex, I think Asia Kate Dillon would absolutely work with their shaved head and moody expressions.

How much of yourself do you put into these characters?

There is a part of me in every single character I write. If that wasn’t the case, I don’t think they would seem as real to me and hopefully to the reader too. That said, there are obviously some that I relate to more than others. And I think it’s fair to say that I aspire to be some of my characters in some ways. Like Jenna in Five Sunsets is goals for me—she’s so put together and fun at the same time. And Mina in Let Love Rule is the grump I want to be during my luteal phase!

What is a story/stories that you really want to tell?

After tackling the AIDS epidemic in Nightingale and also releasing Monarch which had a character with CPTSD, I’m looking forward to working on some more light-hearted stories. There will still be depth, but I hope to also have a lot of lighter moments in my series that inspired by nature and plants.

Is there one common element that readers can find in all your stories?

Bi+ disasters, everywhere! And also strong character development. All my romances are as much (if not more!) about the main characters falling in love with themselves as they are about a connection between two people.

What’s next on the bookshelf for you? Anything you can tell us about a future project?

As I’ve hinted, my Love Grows series will start to release next year. Five interconnected standalones that give a queer found family/friendship group their HEAs, and each book is strongly influenced by plants and/or nature. I started drafting this series back in 2020 so I’m VERY excited to share these stories with readers. Also, I’m hoping to be published in two anthologies where I’m sharing spicy sapphic novellas. Aaaand, my teenage frenemies to 30-something lovers MM novella, Something About Us, will be released as a standalone.

When you write these stories, what are you hoping your readers will feel?

First and foremost, I hope my books read like a long, warm queer hug. I hope some readers feel seen. I hope other readers have their eyes open to others’ struggles. I hope all readers find joy and healing on the pages, and feel like they’ve been on a journey with my characters.

AUTHOR’S CHOICE

• Paperbacks, hardbacks, ebooks or audiobooks—Again, I’m an omnisexual-leaning bisexual. I can’t choose! I greedily and happily read all four!

• Contemporary, fantasy, historical or romantic suspense

• Single or Dual POV

• Standalones, series or standalones in a series—All the above!

• Open door, ajar door or closed door romances—Open door does it for me, but ALL are valid and wonderful.

• Music or silence when writing—I have playlists for each of my books. They are the first thing I make when I start to plan a new story.

• Plotter, pantser or plantser—I try SO HARD to be a plotter but ADHD makes me a plantser (but I’m not mad about it!)

• Water, tea, coffee or….wine?—As a Brit, I have to say tea.

• Cold or warm weather—For writing, cold weather when I’m cozy inside. For everything else, warm!

• Write better in the morning, afternoon or night?

• Illustrated or photo cover?

You can find Frances on Instagram, Threads, TikTok and her Facebook group. Make sure you sign up for her newsletter to stay updated on all future books!