From Gritty Streets to Family Ties: A Conversation with François Béreaud

François Béreaud’s debut collection, San Diego Stories (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2024), offers a raw and unfiltered look at life in San Diego. His forthcoming novel, A Question of Family, set to be released in February 2026 via Stanchion Press, promises to delve deeper into the complexities of human relationships.

In this interview, Béreaud shares his journey from aspiring writer to published author, offering valuable insights into the writing process, the intricacies of the literary industry, and advice for emerging writers navigating their own paths.

Your debut collection, San Diego Stories, showcases a vivid tapestry of characters and experiences. What inspired you to set these stories in San Diego, and how did the city influence the narratives?

François Béreaud: “The simple answer is that I’ve lived in San Diego for 25 years and began my writing ‘career’ here. Some of my stories take pieces from my personal experience or those of friends and acquaintances. Others come from images or scenes I encounter around the city, which I then weave into fiction. A couple of examples include a graffiti-covered port-a-potty quite close to my house and the phrase ‘Jesus Christ Golden Boy Bail Bonds,’ which is the title of the novella in the collection.

“Perhaps a deeper reason is to showcase San Diego as a literary venue, which I think it lacks vis-à-vis many other places. When I came here, I knew the weather was great and there was an excellent zoo and many beaches. Those facts remain, but it’s also a border city where everyday people experience heartbreak, disappointment, and the occasional triumph. I hope to give readers a sense of the city through my characters and their stories.”

François Béreaud ‘San Diego Stories’ book cover

Many of your stories feature a diverse range of characters. How do you approach creating such multi-faceted individuals, and what challenges do you face in making them authentic and relatable?

“I often take components of characters from people I know. This isn’t to say the character is that person, but rather that I weave traits I observe into my characters. In addition to having a multiracial family, I’ve been an educator for 35 years, with the last 20 at the community college. Lastly, I’ve done service work for most of my adult life. As such, I’ve spent meaningful time with people of many different backgrounds. Of course, that doesn’t mean I always get it right. I’ve gotten some difficult feedback on stories where the reader thought I was being stereotypical. I’ve listened, learned, and adjusted just as in the other roles in my life.”

Your writing style has been noted for its seamless flow. Can you share your approach to writing dialogue and narrative to achieve this natural rhythm?

“That’s high praise, thank you. I worked with a mentor, Amy Wallen, a tremendous writer, who taught me so much. One of her chief lessons was to be more economical with dialogue. In real life, conversation is slow with much repetition and stammering. No one wants to read that way, so I’ve learned to make dialogue much snappier. Often, a description, ‘a character looked away and scratched their arm,’ can give more than dialogue. As to the narrative as a whole, that’s hard to say. I revise as I go along. Typically, with a story, I read all of it each time I sit down to write. I think that helps with flow.”

What central themes or motifs do you explore in San Diego Stories, and how do they reflect your personal experiences or observations?

“Many of my characters are searching. Searching for purpose, searching for happiness, searching to make a satisfactory life. In several stories, they are literally searching for other people. I think, as humans, that’s what we do. My life is quite stable, and every day I realize how fortunate I am to be in my position. But I think my quest to develop into a writer, which I didn’t start seriously writing until my mid-40s, was a search for some artistic fulfillment, a way to put some ideas in the world.”

François Béreaud, photo by Sarah Lee

Since its publication, how has the reception of San Diego Stories influenced your perspective on your own work and the literary community?

“San Diego Stories came out almost ten months ago, and it’s been so much fun. I had an amazing and emotional launch attended by lots of friends and family at my local wonderful bookstore, The Book Catapult. Since then, I’ve done 20 or so events across the country and have made connections in the local literary community in an effort to get the collection in independent book stores.

“The most gratifying experiences have been hearing from readers, whether friends, writers I know and respect, or strangers, as to how the stories have moved them. Literature has been a big part of my life forever, so it’s such a thrill to know my work may evoke strong feelings in others.”

As an aspiring author, understanding the publishing journey is crucial. Could you share your experiences with both traditional and self-publishing, and how these paths have shaped your career?

“Both of my manuscripts, San Diego Stories and the upcoming A Question of Family, are published through small presses, Cowboy Jamboree and Stanchion, respectively, so I do not have experience with self-publishing. I have nothing but positives to say about the indie lit community and both of my amazing publishers. In both cases, I’ve had a say on the book design, including the cover. Both publishers are caring and upstanding people who’ve shown tremendous respect for my work. Having a book in the world, and soon a second, has made my career. There’s no part of my publication journey that I would change.”

What advice would you offer to new writers about navigating the bureaucracy of the literary industry, particularly in terms of submissions, contracts, and working with publishers?

“I’m not sure I have much to contribute here. Working with a small press does not involve bureaucracy in my experience, just good people putting out amazing literature (I have read many books from my ‘press mates’ and liked them all). My only advice is to build relationships and promote others, whether through social media posts, book reviews, or personal messages to the authors. That gets noticed, and all presses, small ones in particular, need to build readership.”

Balancing writing with other professional responsibilities can be challenging. How do you manage your time between your role as a math professor, fiction editor, and your writing endeavours?

“I don’t sleep enough. I also go through periods where I’m not writing much, but I’m always engaged in literary pursuits, whether editing, reading indie work, or writing book reviews. And I have no schedule for writing, but to write when inspiration hits and I have time.”

For those considering an MFA program, what insights can you provide based on your experience at SDSU? How did it influence your writing and career trajectory?

“There’s a long debate in the writing community about the value of an MFA, which I hope has been put to rest. Writing which moves you can come from anywhere, MFA or no. For me, it was a great experience as it ‘forced’ me to write. I told myself going in that I’d quit if I didn’t enjoy it. That never happened. I also had a tremendous mentor, Stephen-Paul Martin, who was a huge source of wisdom and support.

“As someone with a full-time job, I only went to campus once a week and so probably didn’t benefit as much from the MFA writer community as other students who were there more often, but it was an excellent way to launch my writing career.”

Rejection is a part of every writer’s journey. How do you handle rejection, and what strategies do you employ to stay motivated and continue writing?

“In the beginning, rejection used to get to me. Now that I have 400 or more notches in that belt, I’m pretty unfazed by it. My first publication with Cowboy Jamboree was the story The Flag, which had garnered something like 35 rejections, yet I kept stubbornly sending it out. That publication led to my book publication with the press. It would be disingenuous to suggest that I’m completely indifferent to rejection; the flip side is that I’m thrilled by every publication, and each one does build some confidence. Ultimately, the person I write the most for is me. It makes me happy and helps me process my thoughts and feelings.”

In your opinion, what are the most common pitfalls that new writers fall into, and how can they avoid them?

“This one is tough. I guess my advice would be to write what you want and don’t obsess over publication. Also read a lot, not to mimic anyone else’s style but immerse yourself in great literature.”

Looking ahead, what projects or directions are you exploring in your writing, and what can readers expect from you in the future?

“In the immediate future, my first novel, A Question of Family, a manuscript I wrote during my MFA time, will be out from Stanchion Press in February 2026. Some of it has been published in different venues, but I’m incredibly excited to see it as a whole. There are different forms within the novel (including a play) as it follows the lives of four primary characters and jumps back and forth in time. I also have a surprise project from an editor’s point of view, which should release around the same time.

“Long term, I have an idea for a second collection of short stories and a non-fiction project. A dream would be to write a historical novel, but I need to retire first in order to have time for the research!”