Author Interview: Chelsea Falin

About the author:
Chelsea Falin is the independent author of 26 titles in the young adult, romance, and nonfiction genres. She studied towards her bachelors in English with a minor in media analysis at Arizona State University. Chelsea works as a freelance content marketing specialist during the day, and writes obsessively at any given chance. A single mother of two, Chelsea's hobbies include reading, writing, hiking, cooking, and photography.

What inspires you to write romantic fiction?
I really love the idea of a happily ever after, despite some bumps along the way. Honestly, I used to fight the whole reading/writing romance thing. Being a tomboy country girl, I was like "that's sissy stuff!" (lol) Then, I realized that romance was actually beautiful and started reading romantic fiction. I think it was Sarah Storme who really pulled me into the genre, and then I also fell in love with Lindsey Buroker's fantasy romance. Now, all the stories who pop into my head are romance! I'm head over heels for the stuff!

Tell us about how you write.
I'll be walking along in my day-to-day life and a story will suddenly spring to life in my head. I'll write up the rough draft obsessively. I literally forget to eat and fail to sleep in order to get the story to paper. On average, a first rough draft will take me between six days and three weeks to finish, depending on how insane the desire to get it on paper is. My latest book, "A Fresh Restart" took eight days. I already have a second romance, "Grown Enough for Love" that took ten.

Do you listen to or talk to to your characters?
Yes! I do a lot of dialogue in my head and sometimes forget that I'm in public. I've gotten a few strange stares as my characters hold full conversations in my voice. Seriously, I'm not insane, but voicing the thoughts aloud helps me put everything together. I'd also just like to say that I'd LOVE to pull my heroes right out of my books so I can keep them for myself, but I'm being nice and sharing them with you!

What advice would you give other romance writers?
Just go for it. Keep writing. Keep dreaming. The best thing I've learned is something called "dream planning." I get lost in a daydream for a while before I write any big scenes so I know how it's going to play itself out in my head.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I started out using CreateSpace. Many, many years ago my mother found it when it was in it's infancy. I was sixteen at the time, and had begun writing my first real novel. When I published at age eighteen, I just naturally used it. Now, I use KDP since it's merge with CreateSpace. It just kind of happened, and I like the process because it's familiar to me now.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think we're going to see a lot of digital-only publishing moving forward. I also think that people are generally becoming more accepting of Indie authors, whereas there was a lot of hate when I first started the indie journey.

Which romance sub-genere(s) fit your stories best?
contemporary, definitely. I utilize a lot of friends-to-lovers, best friend's older brother, and second chance at love tropes.

My books are available in the following formats:
eBook, Print