The Creative Conversations with Patrice Francis Part One

Interview with Patrice Francis Bahamian author, playwright and friend.

This interview is divided in three parts. The conversation we had on a December afternoon went a bit longer than either of us expected. The interview must be enjoyed like a good meal, not devoured like fast food.

So here we are, part one of The Creative Conversations.

Patrice Francis

I decided to do a series of interviews on creativity after taking an appreciative inventory of my circle of friends. I found that I am surrounded by amazing, creative people.

The questions started coming…

Where do they come up with these absolutely incredible stories?

What inspired this piece of art?

How did they find their creative passion?

I’m a creative. I have always had a desire to create and share beauty.

My first love was drawing. My parents and friends thought I was pretty good, and I enjoyed sketching for them. (I hated coloring in the lines!)

Once I started adulting, the day jobs made me long for a form of creative release. I started painting. It didn’t take much time to create a final product I liked living with.

Then over the last decade, I was drawn deep into the world of photography. I’ll share more about my own story as we take this journey together.

Right now, it’s time to brew something cozy and settle in for an incredible interview with a dear friend, Patrice Francis. She is a Bahamian born creative writer and playwright.

We spoke on a cool December afternoon in Nassau, at a lovely outdoor cafe. I had a mimosa. She sipped a lovely cup of tea. The conversation and the tea flowed. Before we knew it a few hours passed. As I began writing this conversation on my laptop, I soon realized this interview would have to be shared into three parts. There is so much to just take in and savor.

Here's what she shared.

When did you first realize you were a creative person?

I have always known that about myself.

I grew up in a storytelling family. I listened and told those tales over and over, giving them my own spin. I have always been a story teller. Though many have gone on, my father, the ultimate story teller continues to regale and instruct me with his colorful stories.

As a child, I had over 50 dolls, almost a kingdom. Each doll and stuffed animal had a name, I was big on that. Sometimes, during a storm, I would shelter all of them on my bed. My mother would ask where I would sleep, because they took up so much space. For me, they had to be safe from the storm.

I was always at home with my creativity.

I don’t know when I decided that I was a writer. It wasn’t as a child.

I wrote my first play at 16. It was a one act play called “Mommy The Virgin” written in my last year at St. Anne’s School, here in Nassau, Bahamas.

Patrice and her mom circa 1988

One day, I was waiting for my mother to pick me up from school. I wandered through the church graveyard next to my school.

What if the Virgin Mary was Bahamian? What would that scenario be like?

Those questions birthed a play that I wrote over several months.

The play was performed at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, where I worshiped at the time.

I began to entertain the idea of becoming a playwright.

What is creativity to you? How do you define it?

For me, creativity is authentic risk.

It is taking the risk to make something out of seemingly nothing, and to do it in a way that feels organic, natural and real.

I have never been a person who believed in, or tolerated, pretense.

As a child I got in trouble because I was interested in telling the truth. I signed up to tell the truth when it needed to be told, but I lived in a world of adults who found that was not always appropriate.

Creativity is also about bringing forth something that is beautiful, that inspires joy, and that makes a positive difference in the lives of people.

The essence of creativity is transformative living.

What inspires you?

I am a person of wonder and awe...and I am in awe of many, many things.

Little things, like a flower pushing its way from the ground in conditions that don’t seem favorable, that inspires me.

My mother puts it like this.

When I was little, I was so easy to please, easily contented, not materialistic. She didn’t have to buy me things to make me happy.

I could walk out and see a rainbow, and that would make my day.

I’m inspired by the resilience of people, by how nature and individuals push through.

I am inspired by a lovely meal, a conversation, a photograph. It’s not one thing. When I am reading or studying The Bible, I get inspiration. When I hear a sermon, I don't just hear the message, I hear it as a play.

Do you picture it or hear it?

I hear conversations. I hear dialogues. That’s why dialogue comes very easily to me.

At the core, I’m a playwright. I dabble in other genres, like short stories, but essentially, I hear the world around me.

Can you think of a sermon you heard that inspired a play?

Yes! Recently, my pastor friend was speaking about the song, “Mary, did you know?” She shared that Mary knew, but she only knew in part.

There is something really special about Mary's obedience to God, and the supernatural experience of carrying Jesus.

But Mary didn’t have the full picture.

Jesus went missing for a few days at 12 years old, completely absorbed in the temple, learning and teaching. When his parents found him, Mary asked Jesus whether he wasn't aware of their concern for them.

He responded, “Don't you know that I had to be about my Father’s business?”

She was aware of certain things, but not fully knowledgeable.

As I heard the sermon, I immediately thought, I want to write a play about multiple, modern day Marys who have given birth to children meant to change the world.

I want to talk about their sacrifice, but also show how their ‘yes’ doesn't mean they fully understand everything to which they have been called.

This is an example of how I think in connections, weaving stories out of seemingly nothing.

I believe we have a conviction about who we are, and what we are not. For me, I always knew that it was stories, even before I could write.

Curiosity is as important as talent.

We return to what makes us curious, what delights and interests us.

Interest speaks to what delights the soul.

For me, that has always been storytelling, because stories are always about people. People are important.

I write about people's lives, how they overcome, and how they connect with one another. Those themes permeate my writing, regardless of the genre I am using.

My writing is lyrical, but I do not think that I am a poet. I am not succinct.

I write fables and short stories with a lyrical bent. I am a playwright,

A photo of Patrice Francis at age 4.

Are people born with creativity, or do they learn it?

Everyone is creative to varying degrees.

I believe that creativity is innate.

You don't teach creativity, but you can extract it, and help someone accept their creative value.

Accepting our creative parts allows us to see them manifest.

As a teacher, I’m convinced that primary school art and music classes are not merely didactic.

They are essential, because they encourage children to explore.

They tickle the creative elements. They say to a child, come out and play.

I think that all of us are born creative. Some people express this potential in technical and professional arenas, and we must not box them in. Even if you are an accountant, you can find a creative way to do something. It is not the same as a painting or poem. It goes back to risk taking.

There’s a passage in John that says when Jesus came, He lit everybody who came into the world. Not everyone is ready to embrace that truth. Some people don’t know what that means. It is easier to do what society says you should do rather than something that feels right in your own soul.

What do you do to get into your creative zone?

More often than not, I live there, though there are times when I need to be intentional. I am an adult living in a fantastical, whimsical world, yet I live in a world where there are real challenges with regard to work and money.

The real world is full of people I love and care about, with challenges and issues that need attention. Most of the time, this world is a very distracting place.

It is important for me to get into a mood where I can create with reckless abandonment. The secret is timing. I find that very early in the morning the environment is less distracting. The world around me is quiet.

If I have to write later in the day or in the evening, I find a cafe and order a matcha latte.

Matcha latte - Patrice's power punch drink

Something about the antioxidants and caffeine in the green tea awakens my brain. I don’t always need to be still. I can work with ambient noise around me.

Lately I’ve found that driving helps. We live on an island, where there is always some beautiful scene just around the bend.

I think driving works because I’m not stagnant, I’m moving. So many things come to me on the road. Using the voice note app on my phone lets me record ideas and listen to my thoughts. I literally capture creative nuances and flesh out stories by hearing myself think.

Recording the material allows me to edit as a separate process.

On a recent drive, I was thinking about a character in the book I’m writing. He is a brother who sells the family home to buy something for himself, without asking anyone’s permission.

I started thinking, why would he do that? As I drove, the answer came: …because he is that kind of person who would prefer to ask forgiveness rather than permission.

How do you feel when you are creating something.

Euphoric. I feel euphoric when I am creating something, because this is what I’m meant to do.

It’s a zone where I can take risks without hurting anyone or waiting for their opinions or permission. This belongs to me, my story, my abstract painting.

These are my characters. I decide where they live--in Kumtasi, a place of my invention. The lady’s name is Zaki. She lives in a greenhouse. She is surrounded by herbs. I own these characters.

It is a happy place for me, free of judgment. I am creating, but I haven't released it yet.

While I am creating, I feel as free as a bird. Maybe that is why I like to be in cafes, where birds feel at home.

I may be having a difficult day, then an idea occurs to me and I start weaving a story. Before I know it, I’m caught up in the narrative. I find writing and weaving stories deeply healing.

I got instruction from the Holy Spirit to write everyday.

For me, writing is a balm. It is not an act, or an exercise, or something I do for others, though they may benefit from it.

Creating is almost an other worldly experience.

Do you always like the end result of your creative process?

No, I don’t.

It doesn’t bother me, because I know I can change the end, unless my material is already published or produced.

The interesting thing about me is that I’m able to leave my writing and keep moving.

It’s part of who I am. At times, I have been criticized as a playwright, for not caring enough about my scripts.

Once I have poured everything I have into a manuscript, I hand it off to be produced. I’m not one of those playwrights who needs to micromanage the director. Sometimes I don’t have to be there at all, because I have moved on to something else.

I have millions of stories within me.

What I like on a Tuesday in 2015, I may hate on a Thursday in 2021, because I’m not the same person. I have grown.

I am a process person more than a destination person.

What’s important for me is to enjoy the process of creating. I believe in the principle of abundance. There will always be more ideas, so I don’t have to lament if something doesn’t turn out the way I want. I don’t feel like it speaks to who I am as a person.

The process of creation is subjective, and so is the experience of reading or attending a play I’ve written.

I may think a script is not so good, when other people are deeply moved by it.

What keeps me creating is writing from a place of joy.

Stay tuned for Part Two of my interview with Patrice Francis.