Lucy A. McLaren

Lucy: Hello Linda! Thank you for joining me today for a chat about your journey to publication as a debut author.

First up, tell us a bit about yourself.

Linda: Hey Lucy, thank you so much for having me on!

I wish I could still be considered a debut author, because then that could excuse the mistakes I still make on this rollercoaster journey of publishing. For better or worse though, I’ve been publishing for the past two years and it’s been a wild ride!

My first book baby is a children’s book called The Adventures of Tree Fairy, written under the name Tina Ong. I just checked Amazon and it has a 4.9 star rating there!

My 4 other books are all part of a fantasy series – the original trilogy and a standalone prequel novel that was published in July 2023. Don’t tell the others in the trilogy, but the prequel is my favorite. 😜

A little more about myself. Well, I’m a psychiatrist and wife and momma to 4 kids and 3 pets by day, and to stay sane from the chaos of my life, I write and read. Writing is my therapy. I wholly recommend it.

Lu: Wow, so you’re, in fact, far from a debut author with five books and counting. May I just say, doing ALL that alongside being a mum to 4 kids and psychiatrist is fantastic. I struggle with my one child!! I applaud you. I completely agree about writing being therapeutic. There’s something very cathartic about making up stories and characters. 

Your first book was a children’s one—The Adventures of Tree Fairy. That sounds wonderful. What was the inspiration behind it? What drew you to wanting to write a children’s book?

Li: Thank you, Lucy. I’m just doing what I can. In fact, you might say if I didn’t do this (writing the stories burning within me and honing my craft), I’d be worse off.

So Tree Fairy started out as just one story, which is the first one in the book. I told this story a long time ago to my eldest daughter to entertain her back when she was in pre-school. Then, during the pandemic’s lockdowns, I re-told this story again to my kids as they were all bored out of their skulls. They begged for more. And more. One became two, then became seven stories, all with a different “learning point” or “moral”. I eventually wrote them all down into a notebook complete with simple drawings from my eldest, who is now a teenager. I showed this notebook to my friend and we discussed getting it properly published so I wouldn’t have to worry about losing that notebook ever. I found an illustrator, published it in September 2021, and there you go. That’s the story behind Tree Fairy. 

I wasn’t intending to write a children’s book. I’d only ever written novels and short stories before that. But I thank my kids and their silly cartoons for inspiration. For Tree Fairy I drew inspiration from Disney’s Tinkerbell and the UK show Ben & Holly (which I honestly think was written for the poor parents who had to watch the show with their kids and found Peppa Pig too silly. I wish they’d make more episodes!). 

To answer your potential follow up question, I don’t think I’ll ever write another children’s book. Tree Fairy is a tribute to my kids, and it was also more of a test to see if I could, indeed, do this thing called publishing. Turns out, I can. It didn’t teach me a thing about marketing. That’s a whole ‘nother topic.

Lu: I love that you told this story for your children first and foremost. That’s lovely.  How did you find writing children’s stories compared to your novels and short stories?

Ahh, yes, the marketing monster is, indeed, a whole other topic!! We’ll come on to that, because it’s an area that (as we both know) cannot be avoided by authors.

But first, tell us about your fantasy series. You’ve written a trilogy and a prequel novel in the same world. Where did the idea for that series come from?

I wonder how you found the process of publishing your fantasy series in comparison to publishing children’s books? Were there any glaring similarities or differences in the process?

Li: I wouldn’t say I know how children’s stories are compared to novels, because I’ve only ever done these 7 short ones that eventually became Tree Fairy’s adventures. All I can tell you is that it wasn’t difficult to come up with these stories, because I was telling them to my own kids. But if you asked me to write any more children’s stories, I think I’d have a hard time! 

As for short stories…I’ve implied I write them. I have. I’m just awful at them because I don’t practice enough. The stories I have in my heart come out more in the form of novellas and novels. 

So for the origin of my fantasy series, let me start with the first book of the trilogy, Sundered. It started out as a dream I had over a decade ago. In this dream, a king and queen were separated by a vast desert over some dispute or miscommunication. And the premise of the book is that their daughter, a princess, sets out to find her mother and reunite her family. Along the way she gets up to some (mis)adventures, and kickstarts a series of events that fulfills a prophecy and ends with the last book in the trilogy, Renewed. 

As for my prequel novel, All That Glitters Is Not Gold, the idea for that has a completely different basis. If you ask me, it’s primarily the backstory for why the world of Sundered starts off the way it is. Yet it’s also the main villain’s origin story. There is a lot more intrigue and harshness in this setting, and because it’s set 1500 years ahead of Sundered, it really feels like a different world entirely. But one thing stays the same – there’s magic. It wouldn’t be fantasy if there weren’t magic.

Lu: Well, it’s still wonderful that those stories for your children came to you so easily and that you published them. It’s a lovely thing for you all to look back on.

Yes, I know what you mean about short stories—they are a completely different art to novellas or novels and can be quite a challenge.

Oh wow, I love that the idea for Sundered came from a dream. How did you find writing a book based off a dream? It sounds as though that gave you a good foundation, but I wonder how you went about padding out the idea your dream provided?

Li: Writing a book based on a dream is NOT EASY. I have NOTHING to work with and had to come up with everything else the same way each of us pads up our stories when all we have is an idea. It’s kinda like how our minds give us snippets of scenes and character faces, emotions, and then the rest is up to us to fill in the blanks. I will admit I didn’t pad up my world as much as I liked in my main series. I had very specific goals to achieve in my trilogy which involved bringing together separate threads of storylines into the epic finale in book 3. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for exploring my world. 

Thankfully, my fantasy world wasn’t done with me when I put THE END on the third book in my trilogy. I’ve actually started working on a sequel series set in the same world. Which means that I have the chance to go back to all the wonderful places and kingdoms I’ve created and put in many more details I didn’t get to add in my original series. It also means I get to expand some more, focus on more characters who didn’t get much of a chance in the original trilogy, and introduce new kingdoms and cultures.

Lu: I can imagine it was a challenge! Dreams can be so vague and, like you said, padding out our characters and worlds takes time. But it sounds as though your dream led you down a specific part with the story you wanted to tell, and that was very clear in your mind from the outset. You also wrote a prequel to that initial trilogy—I wonder how you found it writing that standalone novel compared to a trilogy? As someone who has recently completed a standalone book and is soon to be diving into the third book of my trilogy, I’ve certainly noticed big differences myself!

And I love that your new trilogy will be set in the same world as your first. That’s one of the reasons I love Robin Hobb’s books so much—she expands upon pre-existing stories and builds upon her own world, expanding it to meet new characters and places. It seems that you’ll be heading that way too, which is exciting! Are you working on that trilogy now?

Li: Writing a standalone prequel novel was relatively easier in some senses. I already knew the ending. I just had to figure out how my characters get to that ending. But I was also constrained by things like prophecies, events that had already happened in my main trilogy, and having to come up with a sensible explanation for them in my prequel novel. What I can tell you is that I used my prequel novel to build my world and make it even deeper and richer than what readers have seen in the trilogy. Hopefully some of that has come through!

I’m working on my sequel series now, yes. Unfortunately things have gotten bigger than I expected and it’s probably gonna be longer than a trilogy. I have no idea how I’m gonna squeeze everything into 3 books! Practically speaking though, I’m aware that readers these days don’t really have the time and patience for reading a long-drawn series, so for the sake of drawing in my audience, I need to be mindful of that. I might have to scrape quite a few ideas. Who knows. 

I’ve heard of Robin Hobb but never read any of her books, but yes, she comes from an era where writers just built and built from their worlds and readers didn’t mind following them. Again, I just have a sense that these days, people don’t really have as much patience for that anymore.

Lu: Yeah, so in a way, despite it being a standalone novel, you had to be mindful of what came in your trilogy series in order to tie this in with your prequel novel. But it sounds as though you enjoyed writing it, especially being able to explore the world in more depth.

Well, my personal viewpoint is that, yes, some readers are drawn to quicker reads and aren’t so into the huge series. BUT I also think there are readers for those fantasy epics. Look at writers like Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, George R. R. Martin. They write long series and people love them. I would say it’s about finding the balance for you and your writing, isn’t it? Writing the story that you want to.

Can you tell us anything about what you have planned for your sequel series so far—a little snippet, perhaps?

Li: That’s encouraging to hear, Lucy! You’re right, there are readers who want epic series. But you’re also right that it’s finding the story that I want to write, that wants to come out of me, and presenting it in a way that enables my readers to get it.

For my sequel series, it’s going to have a completely different series name. Some familiar characters from my trilogy will make a reappearance. Those who didn’t get the spotlight will find themselves going through some tough times (we writers are awful, aren’t we, because giving our characters a chance to shine means putting them through trials). I’m also featuring a brand-new kingdom (or queendom, in this case) which is going to have more representation from the culture and place I grew up in and am familiar with. That was always something I felt was lacking in my original trilogy. Thankfully, with my new vampire series, which is in an urban contemporary setting, I definitely get to infuse my culture and heritage into my characters and stories!

My sequel series is essentially about two main things. One, I imagined “what would happen if these creatures go to war with these creatures?”. Two, if I’m being honest with myself, this series has evolved to become the story of one particular character (as I was planning the books and writing the initial drafts). Funny how these things pan out because I certainly wasn’t planning it that way, it just HAPPENED. In any case, that character doesn’t make an appearance for a long time, it’s a slow build up until we meet this special someone and even then, this person comes in disguise! But once the big reveal happens, things get pretty epic.

Am I being too vague and mysterious? I don’t wanna spoil things. 

Lu: Yes, our poor characters are truly put through the ringer, aren’t they?! All in the name of character development!

I love that you’re looking to infuse your own culture and heritage, both in this sequel series and your new vampire series. How have you found that as an author? It’s certainly something that deserves to be explored and should be represented in the stories put out into the world.

Haha don’t worry! Vague and mysterious is all good. It sounds really interesting. Ultimately, I love the idea of the cross-over characters you have between the two series. Which leads me to an aside question—how do you find writing multi-POVs? Do you enjoy getting into different character headspaces, or find it a struggle? Is that your preferred way of writing?

Li: I love being able to infuse my own culture and heritage into my books. Once I started doing that, I kept asking myself why I didn’t do it sooner! 

That’s a good question about multi-POVs. By virtue of being an epic fantasy writer (whether it’s the books set in my fantasy world or my urban fantasy stuff), I find that multi-POV is my preferred way of telling my stories. Mostly because my stories tend to be large and…well, epic. The trick is not allowing my cast to get too unwieldy, and it’s a struggle, but it’s a challenge I’m happy to try to overcome. I love exploring different characters and finding out what makes them tick. It’s not easy, but once I overcome the initial hurdle, I find I know them so well that it’s like befriending or finding your own family because you GET them and they, oddly enough, get ME as the chroniclers of their adventures. 

Lu: I can imagine! It sounds like it’s been a wonderful experience for you in being able to infuse your own culture and heritage into your stories.

Yes, I agree with not letting your cast get too unwieldy! I think there’s often a sweet spot for the ideal number of POVs to tell a story. I love that idea of you and your characters *getting* each other, I’d never thought of it like that. With that in mind, do you have a favourite character whose POV you particularly enjoy writing in?

Li: Wow, that is such a tough question to answer, because it’s not quite the same as asking “who is your most favorite character you’ve written?”

So at the moment, the answer to your question is a vampire named Pei Ling. She appears in A Midflight Vampire’s Tale and is a side character in this story. But (spoiler alert) I’ve given her a bigger voice in subsequent novels and I love the way she talks. She’s slightly irreverent, a big flirt, but also has a huge capacity to love.

Lu: Pei Ling sounds awesome. I look forward to meeting her in your vampire books.

Well, it’s been wonderful chatting about your stories and characters, Linda. As a final point, please let us know where we can keep up to date with you and your upcoming releases!

Li: Thank you so much for the opportunity, Lucy! It’s been so chill and so fun too! 

My upcoming book, A Midflight Vampire’s Tale, will release on 5th March 2024 on Amazon. I don’t have a newsletter, and am generally most active on IG and Threads @lindalingwrites. I have an author page on Goodreads and you can also find me @lindashuoshu on TikTok.