Author Interview: Salem T. Lynn
Tell me a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you write?
My name is Salem and I'm a queer transmasc living in Northern Nevada. I'm a single parent to some really amazing kids and I love them with everything I have. I've been writing since I could hold a pencil, and these days there isn't a genre I don't have my hands in, though I mostly lean to the fantastical with a dark, real twist on it.
What’s your favourite genre? Is it the same as the one you write in?
I've always been a huge fan of fantasy and it is my main genre, but I've found recently that I'm now writing in genres I sometimes find difficult for me to read in. I think that means I need to expand my horizons, ask myself why, and find more books I can connect with in those genres.
What do you do for inspiration?
Inspiration is everywhere for me. I love music, and that's a large part of my idea process, but I've been inspired by seemingly random things like two businesses with their signs too close together in a strip mall before.
How do you approach building your worlds?
I want them to feel real. I want my words to disappear off the page and be seen and experienced by my readers instead. So my approach is always to sort of meditate on a scene, to stand in it inside my mind, and ask myself… What do I smell? Hear? Feel? Is there a detail that stands out, and what gets washed away by the moment?
What comes first? Characters or plot?
My characters always come first. They walk up to me and say, “Hi, this is my story. Please tell it.” And it becomes a collaboration to figure out what happened and how best to relay those events.
What was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
I'd say the hardest thing to write has been committing quotes from an ex-partner of mine to paper, said by the villain in my dark romance, who was largely inspired by him. Things only he and I know he said to my face. Those things remain hard, even though it's been years since he said them and years since writing them down. I think it might always be hard, and it should be; I don’t ever want that to feel normal again.
What’s your favourite/least favourite thing about the writing process?
The first draft is always the hardest one. I can wax on and on about how much I don't like blurbs or synopsis or any of that, but the first draft is a test of the story and yourself as an author. It's raw, it's a gem stuck in a cave wall, and it comes out with too much rock still making it rough and hard to carry. Polishing it is one of my favourite parts, but you can't ever get there if you don't get it out of the wall first.
Are you able to share any short snippets from the cutting room floor?
There are two chapters from book two of my dark romantasy series that I desperately wanted to keep, but ultimately had to be cut. The story is fine without them, which means they weren’t going to add enough to fight for keeping them, but they're being repurposed for book three.
One was a chapter where some of the main cast with overlapping baggage have a group therapy session about it, and really open up to each other. It heals wounds and begins to repair relationships, and would have happened too late in book two to make a huge difference. Book three adds a character to this scene who has been hurt by multiple people in that room, and I think that dynamic is going to play a lot better.
The second chapter is likely getting cut altogether; a training scene that I'm finding it hard to place anywhere it could make a difference to the plot.
What is your absolute favourite piece of your own writing? Could be a short scene, a bit of dialogue, a character or even the tiniest piece of worldbuilding.
My first original character has a special place in my heart. I came up with her when I was seven years old, and she was the first story I ever wrote. She started as you'd expect for a seven-year-old: a pirate-assassin-alcoholic-princess-half god-half vampire-immortal-half demon. But she grew, she changed, and writing her story for the last twenty-five years has been a fantastic journey.
She's now what she believes to be the last of an alien race, an endling, and her story is told through the eyes of the people who love her.
The new world was built around her, and only three things have never changed since the very beginning:
Her name is Kimber Joule, the great love of her life is David McKinley, and her story has always ended the same way. For her, there is no other way the story can end.
What are you promoting at the moment?
I'm always shoving my romantasy at people, as its the only thing I have available at the moment with my sci-fi being sent to agents for traditional representation. So, anyone into a secular take on a xtian/xtholic afterlife inspired by my own mental health journey should check that out. Something So Lovely and Something So Vicious, both available in print and ebook pretty much anywhere online.
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