AMoRaR Interview – Lilly Lockwood

A Month of Rain and Reads Interviews6 months ago9 min readAdd comment

Welcome to A Month of Rain and Reads, a celebration of self-published and indie SFF throughout the entire month of November. To find out how you can take part and view the whole list of content, visit our introduction post.

Today, we interview Lilly Lockwood, author of the recently (October 17) released novel Songs of Broken Bells.

Describe yourself like you would a character in one of your books.

Lilly sat at their desk, hunched over much like an old crone would over a burbling pot full of some kind of noxious potion. A large cat draped over their feet purred loudly, sending vibrations tingling up their leg. After a few minutes of frantic typing, they leaned back and stretched, their spine popping far more than it should for a twenty-something year old. They scanned over the words one last time before closing the writing program, satisfied with the three-hundred new words filling the page. It only took them three hours this time, and that is certainly cause for a little treat.

Our theme for November is A Month of Rain & Reads. Do you subscribe to the idea of curling up with a good book while the rain pours down outside? What book would you read? Would you bring tea and a blanket? What would make the moment perfect?

Curling up under a plush blanket with my latest read and some tea is my ideal way to spend a rainy day. I’m usually joined by one of my cats (who finds it quite rude that my attention is on a book and not them).

What else do you want our readers to know about you?

Outside of writing, I’m a veterinary student just a few months away from going into my clinical rotation year! Writing has been an excellent escape from the stress of school, and I hope I’m able to keep up with it while on clinics. I’m also an avid TTRPG player, which you may see the inspiration from in my writing.

Why did you decide to self-publish, and what has been your biggest success so far?

I don’t quite have the mental fortitude for the query trenches. I commend the authors that are able to withstand the deluge of rejections! I primarily write for myself but wanted to be able to share my stories with others, so self publishing seemed like the next logical step. I’ve only got one novel out right now (and a smattering of short stories) but I’d say the fact that I’ve even sold one copy of Songs of Broken Bells is a huge success for me.

What is your favourite thing about being an indie author?

I love the freedom it provides. I don’t have to worry about writing to the market or staying up to date on the most popular tropes and themes. Instead I can write about my silly little queer characters that are all accidentally or blatantly neurodivergent.

You’re taking part in the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championships AKA SFINCS as a judge in its third year. What do you like about novellas, and what’s it like being a judge?

Being a judge has been a great experience! We’ve gotten some really wonderful submissions this year and it’s exposed me to so many stories that I otherwise might not have picked up (mostly because I didn’t know about them! I love that this competition gives exposure to underrated stories that really deserve more hype). For me, novellas are like a sweet treat. I’m able to read most in a day or two, so they provide that nice dopamine hit that scrolling on my phone does but with a much more satisfied feeling afterward.

In your bio, you state that you play Pathfinder and that your fantasy worlds were inspired by it. What elements from Pathfinder have formed your writing?

I think the overall vibe of the world and types of stories I tell are very reminiscent of TTRPGs like Pathfinder. Most of the world of Val’hoon was built specifically for running Pathfinder games in, so a lot of that worldbuilding was shaped by my players and the kinds of things they wanted to know about the world. I’ve been told by several readers that reading Songs of Broken Bells felt like they were reading a TTRPG campaign. Many of the sapient species of Val’hoon were inspired by the numerous playable ancestries in Pathfinder 2e (though I’ve of course changed them enough to make them unique). And while the way magic of my world works is rather unique, the types of spells magic users cast certainly draw inspiration from Pathfinder and other fantasy RPGs.

You’ve recently released Songs of Broken Bells, which has a beautiful cover! Tell us more about what makes Songs of Broken Bells and its world unique.

Saint Eustice, the Val’hoon saint of magic. *Art by Jasmine Faye Freitas*

I think the most unique thing about Val’hoon is a combination of its magic and the pantheon. Val’hoon’s pantheon is made up of saints rather than gods, as the gods left the cosmos centuries ago to go and build another world. Most magic users are followers of a specific saint, and their patronage to that saint allows them to access the Maelstrom (a giant storm of entropy at the center of the world that bleeds threads of magic) without being corrupted by it. It’s also a queernormative world!

SoBB focuses a lot on the relationship between mortals (or kith, as they’re called in my world) and the saints and what happens when saints try to encroach more on kith lives than they’re supposed to. Each character has a very different view of and relationship to the pantheon, and each one of them goes through a significant journey with regards to their faith or lack thereof. Throughout the book you’ll find footnotes and excerpts from in world books that expand upon the worldbuilding in an attempt to make the world feel very lived in.

What themes are important to you, and how are they reflected in your writing?

Found family is a huge theme that ends up in a lot of my writing. I think this is a really common theme for queer stories as so often we have to forge our own families. I also enjoy exploring power dynamics and the ways in which those in power so often fail us.

What are you working on next? Can you tease us?

My current work in progress is a chivalric fantasy about a transfem squire about to complete her last quest before being knighted. Things go horribly wrong on this final quest, however, when her knight, Ser Kit, is turned into a cat and their quarry escapes. She thinks all hope is lost and her chances of ever joining the Order of the Edelweiss are over, until she comes up with a hairbrained plan that might just work.

And a few quick questions. What’s your favourite…

…book, in recent times?

I’ll give you two because it’s so hard to choose. Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers and Imbued by Helena L. Clove

…game, in recent times?

Avowed

…writing advice?

Most writing ‘rules’ are arbitrary. Take the advice that works for you, leave the rest at the door.

…advice for someone who wants to publish their own book?

Find a good editor that vibes with your writing style! An editor that understands what kind of story you’re trying to tell is integral to making your book as good as it can be.

…source of inspiration?

Music. So many of my stories were inspired by a song (SoBB was inspired by Broken Bells by Greta Van Fleet!)

…way to clear your mind when everything gets a bit much?

Hiking and birding

Do you have any last words? Any shoutouts to authors who have supported you or whose books have inspired you?

I gotta give a huge shoutout to the indie writing community of bluesky for cheering me on through the writing process. And a very big thank you to my editor Charlie Knight and all of my beta and ARC readers, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.

Some indie authors who have inspired me and who you should definitely check out (not a definitive list): Aud Connely, Helyna L Clove, Alex Larkspur, Erika McCorkle, and Helen Whistberry

Lilly Lockwood

Lilly Lockwood is an autistic, nonbinary veterinary student who writes high fantasy in what little free time they can scrounge together. They have spent six years building the world of Val’hoon and running TTRPG games in it. When the spark to write reignited within them, they decided there would be no better place to set those stories than in the world they’ve spent so much time immersed in.

When not writing or studying for exams they can be found birding, playing TTRPGs, reading, or watching movies with their fiance, three cats, and jumping spider.