Some Thoughts with ... L.R. Lam

1.- Could you introduce yourself to Jamreads’ readers?
Hello! I’m L.R. Lam. I’m a former Californian who has lived in Scotland since 2009. I’m a fantasy and science fiction writer who has been releasing books since 2013 across the genre spectrum.

2.- When did you start creating stories?
Like many, since I was a child. I loved reading, I loved daydreaming, and I loved fantasy. I was that annoyingly precocious child that read Lord of the Rings at nine and then wrote diary entries in Elvish. At university, I threw myself into reading as much as I could, and then I started getting into writing more when I was about 19 or 20. 

3.- You debuted with your Micah Grey trilogy. How was the experience?
My career began with Pantomime, and at present, it’s been bookended by these re-released versions 13 years on. The first time around was a slightly atypical experience. I was 22 and submitted it through an open door month at a publisher. It made it to the top 6 out of over 1000 entries, and I ended up getting a revise & resubmit. I edited it, and had an agent offer on Tuesday and a publishing offer on Thursday, which is again, not the usual process. 
Overall, it was wonderful to get the books out there, but it was a slightly up and down experience. I loved my editor (shoutout to Amanda Reybold, now at Solaris), but it was a bit daunting to release a book with a trans, intersex character before We Need Diverse Books even began. It was a smaller publisher, and the series was cancelled partway through because the industry shut. I later had a second chance with another publisher and then, impossibly, this third chance. 

4.- Micah Grey is a character that reflects how identity can be a more complicated thing than just white or black. What was on your mind while creating him?
Yes, the name was very intentional! He’s nonbinary (transmasc), and also intersex. He was raised as the daughter of a noble family and then chooses a new identity and becomes an aerialist’s apprentice. He’s living his life balancing on a tightrope between many identities: male and female, rich and poor, accepted and rejected, loved and feared. Eventually, he finds his place. 

5.- How did the idea for this L.R. Lam’s version of the trilogy comes to you? How substantial are the changes presented in those new versions?
When I realized that I could actually re-sell them a third time, I wanted to take a leaf out of Samantha Shannon and Elizabeth May’s book. All three of us debuted in 2013, and they significantly revised their debut series too. I was very cocky and declared I would only make minor edits. I really thought I’d be able to. 
I have a hilarious screenshot of the edits of book 1 that show just how badly I failed:

I didn’t do the track chances comparison for books 2 and 3, but I assume it’s almost the same–especially the back half of Masquerade.
Once I actually got stuck in, I couldn’t see how to make lighter changes. I had a list of changes I knew I wanted to make, and my editor had other astute ones. But if I wrote a new scene, my writing style had changed so much that it stuck out like a sore thumb unless I…rewrote every single scene. The vibe is similar, and if you’re someone who read the old editions and the new ones back to back, you’d definitely see the similarities. These new versions are a much better reflection of my current writing style though, and so I prefer people read these. 

6.- If readers have to keep one thing from this trilogy, what would you like it to be?
That we all deserve to fly, me lovelies. 

7.- Is there a particular tidbit of lore from the world of this trilogy that you would like to share?
A long time ago, advanced beings called the Alder created magical technology that could spark wonder. They also created Chimaera, mythical beings that could look either fully human or partly animal. Yet the Alder left, taking their knowledge with them. The Vestige they left behind were used by the current inhabitants, but as they run out of power, no one knows how to kindle them again. Alder and Chimaera, though, are long gone.
…Aren’t they?

8.- Apart from the Micah Grey trilogy, your most recent works were the Dragon Scales duology. How would you pitch it?
Weird, queer dragons. 
Similarly to Micah Grey’s world, dragons were once part of the world, but they disappeared, yet the current inhabitants now worship them as gods. The idea was sparked by the question “what if your ‘gods’ hated you?” The last male dragon falls into the human world, accidentally bonds with a human thief and is big mad about it. He has to convince the human to fall in love with him so he can kill them and use their combined magic to rip a hole in the Veil and bring dragons back. What happens if he realizes there’s one human, in particular, that he doesn’t hate at all? 

9.- What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Keep the faith. Read a lot, write a lot. Approach a book with curiosity and joy. Always strive to improve, but also recognise what you’re already good at. Trust that others will love what you love. 

10.- What can we expect from L.R. Lam in the future?
Hopefully a few fantasy romance standalones. I’m currently slowly editing one that’s inspired by the English/Scottish Border Wars but with necromancers.