Meet Brooke French

We were lucky to catch up with Brooke French recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Brooke, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

It took fourteen years in the wrong career and a traffic jam for me to find it. At the time, I was a litigator in a big Atlanta law firm. Not to sound egotistical, but I was good at it, and I had accomplished all the goals I set out for myself — getting a job a great firm, becoming a shareholder, finding the financial security that led me to law school to begin with. But my day-to-day life was miserable. I commuted to my office forty-five minutes each way, sometimes an hour and a half with traffic. Which, if you know Atlanta, is pretty much constant. The job itself was high stress and, worse, almost every person I interacted with each day was unhappy. Clients have either been wronged or are accused of wrongdoing. Opposing counsel are, literally, out to get you. Judges are frequently frustrated by the antics of the people appearing before them. And you spend each day tracking your time in six minute increments so it can be billed.

So, it was not unusual that day, seven years ago, for me to be exhausted and disillusioned as I drove home from work. What changed everything was a sudden realization — practicing law was never going to make me happy. And, more importantly, I knew what would. I wanted to write.

I had always loved books. I wanted to live in libraries and bookstores. I had no real reason to think I could be a successful writer, but there was no doubt in my mind, it was what I was meant to do.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m an author, recovering lawyer, and boy mom. I write thrillers and suspense novels. So, when I’m not running kids between sports practices, you can usually find me researching or writing about some form of murder or mayhem.

I am definitely on numerous watchlists.

My third book, Unnatural Intent, comes out this October 24th, and it is the second in the Letty Duquesne series, which began with my debut novel, Inhuman Acts. I also have a separate thriller that launched last year, The Carolina Variant, and I am writing my fourth thriller now. All of my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

A legal career may have been a poor fit for me, but it taught me two of the three skills I’d say are most responsible for my success as a writer. First, in both legal writing and fiction, research is critical. If you’re writing about anything you haven’t personally experienced — and as someone who frequently writes about murder, I can happily say I fall into this camp — you have to put in the hours to get the details right. Readers will catch you if you get them wrong.

Second, to build a good story, you have to understand story structure, how the pieces of your plot can best come together, and how your characters should evolve over the course of a book. Getting all of that right involves a lot of critical thinking, albeit in a much more satisfying way than drafting legal briefs ever did.

The third skill I most rely on I definitely did not develop in law practice. I’m not sure how emotional intelligence is formed, but I have to think the love, kindness, and humor my parents raised me with had everything to do with it. And I couldn’t write the things I want to write without it. A lot of creative writing is disappearing into conversations imaginary people are having in your head. You conjure up a new reality, then put that on a page. The trick is to make those imaginary people feel so real your reader believes in them and cares about them. As a writer, you have to be able to put yourself in those characters’ shoes, in whatever situation you’ve created, so that the reader can experience your story as if they’re actually a part of it. It’s very much like empathy.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I love working with other authors. I would never have gotten where I am now without their help. My plate gets a little full — in addition to my own projects, I’m in several critique groups and am often doing beta reads for other writers — but I’m always happy to help with anything from editing to navigating the publication process, when I can.

And, of course, I’m beyond grateful when readers or other authors are willing to help me. This can be anything from grabbing a copy of one of my books, following along with me on social media, or leaving reviews for anything of mine you’ve read (this last bit is essential to the success of the book). And I am currently putting together the launch team for my next book, Unnatural Intent, and would love it if any of your readers would like to join. Here’s a link to my website, where you can reach out to me and sign up: www.brookelfrench.com.

You can also find me on social media at: https://www.instagram.com/brookelewisfrench/ and
https://www.facebook.com/brooke.l.french. And you can find all of my books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Here’s a link to my author page on Amazon, so you can check them out: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Brooke-L-French/author/B0B2C13NGM?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brookelfrench.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookelewisfrench/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brooke.l.french

Image Credits

MossMedia, Alli Wood