About Lucy May Lennox:
Lucy May Lennox is a connoisseur of novels featuring men with physical disabilities. After growing frustrated with all the cliches, ignorance and stereotypes, she decided to write her own positive take on disability. She also loves immersing herself in earlier historical periods and imagining the lives of people who don't usually make it into the history books. She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest USA with her husband and children.
What inspires you to write?
I've always known I wanted to be a writer, since I was very young. Ideas pop into my head all the time. My characters just sort of arrive on their own. I'm often inspired by what I find lacking in classic literature of earlier ages, and the kinds of people and events which were ignored or viewed with prejudice.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
I love well-researched, densely written historical fiction: Patrick O'Brian, Susannah Clarke, Georgette Heyer. My favourite classic novels are Vanity Fair, Tom Jones, Tristram Shandy, Jane Eyre, and Moll Flanders. I prefer to read slowly so I don't keep up with a lot of recent novels. But I read lots of comics, especially web comics. My favourite historical fiction set in Japan are all manga: Ooku the Inner Chambers by Yoshinaga Fumi, Vagabond by Inoue Takehiko, Sakuran by Anno Moyoco, Momo and Manji by Sakura Sawa.
Tell us about your writing process.
I have young children so my only time to write is at night after they go to bed. I try write consistently every day but it doesn't always happen. I don't use any apps or software, just standard word processing. I usually have a basic outline written out in the same document, then slowly fill it in. I take a pretty straightforward approach. I try to visualise each scene in my head as I go, like a movie. And I do many, many revisions and edits. I try to get as many beta readers as I can. Giving feedback to other writer friends has helped me a lot in revising my own work.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Not exactly, but I do feel like they have an independent existence. I think it's easier to write a character who is not me by imagining them as another person and thinking about what they might feel or want.
What advice would you give other writers?
Just write! Do it every single day, and keep going. Find people who can give you good feedback–don't harass your friends, but find a group of writers to exchange honest critiques and advice. Anyone who says no editing is needed is lying or not bothering to read carefully.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I majored in creative writing in college, but became discouraged and disillusioned with professional publishing, so I gave it up for a long time. I got back into writing through fan fiction much later, which was tremendously freeing. Once I warmed up on some fanfic, I moved on to my original ideas. I was fortunate enough to fall in with a group of friends who started self-publishing their work around ten years ago, and they showed me how to do it. They have also been a great resource for critiques and advice.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
There is always going to be a push and pull between original or marginalised voices trying to break through, and big corporate consolidators who want to maximise profits by only catering to the middle of the road and ignoring everything else. I feel lucky to get in at a moment when it's possible to reach an audience even with stories that are out of the ordinary or that don't fit neatly into genre expectations. Hopefully that can continue or even increase, but it's always a challenge.
What genres do you write?: historical fiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
Link To Lucy May Lennox Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
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