I'm Laura Lam, or El, and I've just released my seventh book, aptly named Seven Devils (co-written with Elizabeth May). It's a far future space opera, like Star Wars or Guardians of the Galaxy but gayer, with a lot more women and more murder. It stars six women and one man determined to overthrow a fascist empire led by a corrupt leader...not sure where we got the inspiration. It's a mystery. It has a space princess assassin rebel, a mechanic from the slums with a grudge, a courtesan, a genius teenage hacker, a former royal guard, a pilot, and the leader of the resistance. 

My previous work includes Goldilocks, False Hearts, Shattered Minds, and the Micah Grey trilogy (Pantomime, Shadowplay, Masquerade). I write and lecture part-time on creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University. I've been one of Juliet's clients since 2012. 

What’s the first novel you remember completing?

The first one I actually got to the end of and made legible was indeed Pantomime, which was published in 2013 and then re-released in 2016. I have several others that sputtered out at the 20-30k mark, which is my make-it-or-break-it line (pretty much every book where I make it to 40k gets finished), and a sequel with Micah Grey 10 years older that I wrote most of before I got stuck and decided to write a 'short story' about Micah as a teenager. I obviously got carried away. 

It's uncommon for the first book you finish to sell - lots of my writer friends got their agent or first deal with subsequent books. It's worth pointing out I've written a book since that didn't end up getting picked up, though I hope I can eventually reimagine it into something that sells since I still like the concept. 

What’s one piece of advice you have from your own experience submitting to agents?

Actually make sure you're ready to query. I slightly rushed things and burned through a few agents because my query letter was a 600 word monstrosity and the book itself needed more work. It worked out in the end, but I slightly stacked the cards against myself. Do your research and try to be patient. Also start working on another book while you're querying, since the words on the page are the only thing you can actually control. 

What has been a highlight of the publishing process so far?

My top moment remains a reader writing to tell me they chose the name Micah as part of their transition as a result of Pantomime, which has a genderfluid, intersex protagonist. While it's easy to get distracted by the money or the sales, and while I still hope to be successful in that regard, I have to remember it's not my primary motivator for writing. I write to connect with people and share the worlds and characters I've created to entertain them and hopefully make them think about what it means to be human on this weird little rock hurtling through space. 

What are you writing next?

I'm currently working on the sequel to Seven Devils with Elizabeth, as well as a first draft of a book loosely based on my family history, which strangely isn't SFF at all! So it feels like a big risk, but it's a story I've been wanting to tell since I was fifteen. I also have an epic fantasy with dragons on the backburner, which I hope to get back to after I finish the first draft of the family book. I'm someone constantly bouncing between projects, which I'm still not sure is a good thing or not, but it does mean I'm never bored!  

Seven Devils was published August 6th and is a Sunday Times Bestseller.