The Scottish novelist Joan Fallon, currently lives and works in the south of Spain. She started writing thirteen years ago. She had wanted to write fiction for many years, but day to day life, bringing up a family and earning a living first as a teacher, and later a management consultant, had always got in the way. It wasn’t until she moved to Spain to live that she found she had the time to concentrate on what she really wanted to do. Seeing the advertisement for an OU course in Creative Writing seemed like an omen to her; she has an OU honours degree in History and English and has always had a high regard for the establishment. Doing the course gave her the confidence she needed to get started and she soon began her first novel. But it wasn't long before she realised that she had started her new career at the wrong time --publishing was changing. After a few years of rejections and a mountain of “We enjoyed your work but …” letters, she decided to self-publish. To date she has self-published fourteen books, including one of non-fiction.
Because her working life, during the 1970s and through to the 1990s, was always that of a woman struggling for recognition in a man’s world, almost all her books have a strong female protagonist. She writes mainly about women and the challenges they have to face, because she feels she understand them best. The second influence on her writing is the fact that she has lived in Spain, on and off, for the last thirty years. Spanish history and culture fascinate her and have provided some of the most exotic settings in her historical novels.
A natural storyteller, her novels, almost invariably, centre on a strong female character and explore the emotions and relationships of her protagonist. Many of her books are set in periods of recent history, such as the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, and are meticulously researched. Lately she has been looking further back in time, to the period of the Moorish occupation of Spain, particularly the 10th and 11th centuries.
Joan has also written “Daughters of Spain”, a non-fiction work based on a collection of authentic interviews with a number of Spanish women of all ages and from all walks of life; this was first published in 2009 and a revised edition came out in 2014.
Joan is still passionate about both the language and history of her adopted home and this is reflected in the books she writes.
Many of her books have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
Because her working life, during the 1970s and through to the 1990s, was always that of a woman struggling for recognition in a man’s world, almost all her books have a strong female protagonist. She writes mainly about women and the challenges they have to face, because she feels she understand them best. The second influence on her writing is the fact that she has lived in Spain, on and off, for the last thirty years. Spanish history and culture fascinate her and have provided some of the most exotic settings in her historical novels.
A natural storyteller, her novels, almost invariably, centre on a strong female character and explore the emotions and relationships of her protagonist. Many of her books are set in periods of recent history, such as the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, and are meticulously researched. Lately she has been looking further back in time, to the period of the Moorish occupation of Spain, particularly the 10th and 11th centuries.
Joan has also written “Daughters of Spain”, a non-fiction work based on a collection of authentic interviews with a number of Spanish women of all ages and from all walks of life; this was first published in 2009 and a revised edition came out in 2014.
Joan is still passionate about both the language and history of her adopted home and this is reflected in the books she writes.
Many of her books have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
Joan is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and The Society of Authors
Here is her Affiliate link if you are interested in joining the Alliance of Independent Authors. |
INGRAM SPARK AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Click above to watch my interview at the first Indie Book Fair in Chorleywood, England in November 2014, with one of the sponsors, INGRAM SPARK. |
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She is also listed on www.ascribeme.com a website for independent authors who have a recommendation from either a traditionally published author, a literary agent, a literary consultant or a professional editor working primarily with fiction. In short, a website where you can find quality books.
@joan_fallon @notesonspain |