Coming your way with another interview this evening, this time with sapphic fiction author Sam Ledel, whose most recent book, Adrift, came out just a couple of months ago and which you can get it here! But first, put your feet up, and get reading!
And don’t forget, you can also keep up with Sam on instagram.
Have you always known you wanted to be a writer? How old were you when you wrote your first story?
Writing is the one thing I’ve always enjoyed the most. Years ago, my mom found one of those “About Me” forms from my early elementary school days. It had the obligatory, “When I grow up, I want to be…” I put “a writer.” I think it’s safe to say that’s what I’ve always wanted to do.
I wrote a lot of silly little poems when I was growing up. Shel Silverstein was popular at the time, so my poetry pulled a lot of inspiration from works like A Light in the Attic and Falling Up. I read a lot of the Wayside Stories, too, and I’m sure those had a hand in the type of things I crafted. I got more into reading and writing short stories in high school and college, then drafted my first novel when I was about twenty-two.
What pieces of media would you say were formative for you? Do you see any of their features in your own writing?
I consumed a lot of TV growing up. It was the 90s and early 2000s, which was a wonderful time for female-led action and adventure shows. Xena, Buffy, La Femme Nikita, The X-files, Alias, Charmed…there were so many women kicking butt! Women on these shows took matters into their own hands and were their own heroes. This absolutely shaped my perspective and has influenced the type of stories I tell. In my fantasy novels, it’s the princess fighting to save the kingdom. My historical works are for the women of those times who may not have been able to save themselves from the circumstances or constraints the world had on them. I like to think about it as reaching through time and giving the narrative back to them so they can live out their truths on the page.
When you close your eyes and imagine an apple, what do you see? An actual apple, a sketch of one, a blackness? Do you think that impacts your writing process?
Interesting question. I see a few different apples. They’re all “fully fleshed,” so to speak. I see it as if it’s in front of me, three-dimensional. That’s how I see what I write, like a movie playing out in my head. I’m watching the characters do their thing, and I’m following them with my pen and paper trying to catch everything they say and do. When I first started writing, this resulted in my getting the action down, but nothing else. This is where my fabulous editor comes in and reminds me that we must be in these characters’ heads, too. Emotions are hard to write, but they’re essential.
If you wanted to learn about craft, which three authors would you suggest reading?
Another good question. For craft, in general, I’d suggest certain works rather than specific authors. The Nutshell Technique by Jill Chamberlain is geared toward screen writing, but I found it incredibly helpful for the pacing and dialogue aspects of a novel. The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker is another one. It’s a hefty read but does well to analyze the types of stories we tell as humans. Understanding that every story has a kernel of these foundational plots helps me keep perspective. It’s about how we tell these stories that makes things fresh and interesting for readers. And okay, I’ll throw an author name in here. For queer historical fiction, I’d recommend Sarah Waters. Her detailed writing is impeccable and drops you right into the time she’s writing about. You can hear and smell — for better or worse — Victorian London coming off the pages.
When you’re building your world, what do you focus on? How do you try to make it come to life?
I think it’s a fine line between letting your imagination run when it comes to world-building and honoring what makes sense for a particular setting within a genre. My fantasy novels take place in a completely fictional realm, but it is based in the Iron Age. I pull from Irish and Gaelic mythologies, too, so it’s fun to see how those aspects can be combined with what pops out of my brain.
Historical fiction can be tricky. It requires a lot of research. I typically write about actual places, but with a fictional twist. The town in Wildflower Words, for instance, isn’t real but the county and surrounding areas are. The same goes for my latest novel, Adrift. I want to be sure to get certain aspects of the region correct, since readers are often looking for those details. But I am fictionalizing these places, which allows some freedom when it comes to businesses and street names. It’s important not to get bogged down by details, too, with historical fiction. I may have researched everything there is to know about stoves in the 1920s, but that doesn’t mean the reader needs or wants to know about that. They’re picking up a romance novel, after all. Including just enough detail to make the era come alive is all about that balancing act.
What projects are you currently working on? Can you share any details yet?
My current work in progress is another historical sapphic romance. This one takes place in a small mining town in Colorado. I don’t think I can share much else now, but I’m excited about this one.
Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with?
That’s a great question. I mean, it seems unfair that my fantasy characters have a leg up since they use elemental magic. I would probably choose Princess Aurelia Diarmaid from my series The Odium Trilogy first. She is possibly the feistiest character I’ve written thus far and would do everything she could to keep zombies out of her kingdom. There’s a hedgewitch named Eegit in that series, too, and she may be as old as time itself, but she can take on anyone, any day. I’ll throw Princess Keeva Glantor in there from Heart of Stone to team up with her neighboring kingdom’s monarch. She’s a warrior and would gladly grab her arrows and quiver for a shot at some zombies.
You’re stuck on a desert island and you’re allowed only three (LGBT) books. What are you taking?
I would take Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, Starting from Scratch by Georgia Beers, and A Knight to Remember by Bridget Essex. These were some of the first queer books I ever read. If I’m stranded on a desert island, I think I’d want familiar comfort reads.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sam Ledel is the author of eight novels with Bold Strokes Books. Her debut, Rocks and Stars, was a 2019 Goldie Finalist for Young Adult fiction. Her historical romance, Wildflower Words, was a finalist in the LGBTQ+ category for the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Ledel enjoys being able to write in her free time, usually with her Jack Russell terrier snuggled close by. She is currently working on her next novel.
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