The Mythic Mic Podcast

S.2 Ep. 75: Vikings, Pirates, Bone Magic, and Plot Twists No One Sees Coming: LJ Andrews on Broken Souls and Bones

• Season 2 • Episode 75

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0:00 | 34:27

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where Vikings meet pirates, found family can save you, and some magic systems are stitched together bone by bone.

This week, host Bethany Amanda sits down with bestselling fantasy romance author LJ Andrews for a conversation about writing, resilience, mythology, special editions, and her dark romantasy duology, Broken Souls and Bones.

LJ shares her long road to becoming a full-time author, from writing as a way to escape postpartum depression to publishing her first book in 2016, reaching her first 50 readers, taking a pandemic-era step back, and finally finding the series and strategy that helped her career take off. She opens up about learning reader expectations, studying the market, embracing romantasy, and building the kind of worlds readers now see everywhere from bookstores to BookTok.

The conversation also dives into Broken Souls and Bones, LJ’s dark, Norse-inspired romantasy world filled with soul magic, blood magic, bone magic, a hidden Melder, a silent warrior who communicates through sign language, bodyguard tension, found family, and three major twists that readers still have not fully guessed.

🦴 What happens when the king wants to use your magic to build an unbeatable army?
🖤 Can forced proximity work when the person protecting you is also the one who stole you from your life?
⚔️ And what if the magic that makes you powerful also pulls you into the shadow world?

Whether you love Norse mythology, morally gray characters, dark magic, bodyguard romance, found family, special editions, or complete duologies with high stakes and no cliffhanger, this episode is packed with inspiration, honesty, and so much bookish chaos.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ LJ’s journey from early writing dreams to becoming a full-time author.
✨ Writing through postpartum depression and using stories as an escape.
✨ Why LJ was not an overnight success and what changed in her career.
✨ Going from 50 readers to bookshelves, special editions, and a thriving reader community.
✨ How studying genre, covers, reader expectations, and the market helped shift her author path.
✨ Norse mythology, fairy tale inspiration, pirates, Vikings, and the worlds behind LJ’s books.
✨ The Broken Kingdoms, The Ever Seas, and the darker magic of Broken Souls and Bones.
✨ A mute bodyguard, sign language representation, and writing banter without spoken dialogue.
✨ Found family, forced proximity, bodyguard tension, and characters who refuse to stay side characters.
✨ The challenge of marketing book two when book one has major spoilers.
✨ The completed Broken Souls and Bones duology and the possibility of future spin-offs.
✨ Special editions, book boxes, direct stores, warehouses, and the behind-the-scenes side of being an author.
✨ LJ’s upcoming dystopian project and why dystopian romance may be making a major comeback.
✨ Imposter syndrome, comparison, and why the story inside you may be exactly what someone else needs.

🐔 Plus: chickens, warehouses, elder millennial marketing struggles, Holly Black love, spicy book two scenes, and why sometimes the characters start telling the author what the story really is.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
📚 LJ Andrews – @AuthorLJAndrews

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the Mythic Mike Podcast, where myths, magic, and legendary stories come to life. Join your hosts, Bethany Amanda and Sarah Santillon, passionate authors, book collectors, and lovers of all things fantasy and romantic. As they dive into epic worlds, enchanting tropes, and the books that leave us breathless. The Mythic Mike is your getaway to the magic of fantasy fiction. So grab your favorite bookish beverage, settle in, and let's step into the extraordinary. Now, here are your hosts.

SPEAKER_02

Hi everyone, welcome to the Mythic Mike Podcast. This is an episode you do not want to miss because I have with me today the incredible LJ Andrews, whose books are everywhere. When I say that, I truly mean that. You probably have not been to a bookstore without seeing LJ's books or been on BookTalk or in, you know, Bookstagram. She's everywhere. So welcome, LJ. I am so excited for this conversation.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you for having me. It's so fun to be here.

SPEAKER_02

I am thrilled, and I promise, listeners, we will get into the books very soon. But LJ, I want to start first by just talking about you, who you are, what you love doing outside of writing, if there's even a life outside of writing.

SPEAKER_01

Well, um, I have four kids who are still at home. My oldest is 17, so we're inching toward the 18-year-old, and it's sad. But um, so that's life outside of writing. They are not massive readers, so I don't know where what I've done in my life. So I'm the book fanatic in the house. Um none of them are massive readers. Well, they actually my younger two will, but yeah, my older, my oldest, um, I think she would do well with audiobooks. She has some tracking issues with her, so she struggles with like, you know, reading the audiobook in the reading. It is, I will die on that hill. I'm just saying, you know, visually reading. Yeah. And so that's live. I we live in the mountains, so I like to be outside. I have chickens that light up my mornings when they run. Like that is my favorite thing to wake up and see these chickens running. So that sounds weird, but that lights up my morning. That is how I start my morning.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh. I have I have never dreamed of having chickens. Like some people have that dream, and I'm just like, I don't know if I can. I didn't either.

SPEAKER_01

I got them when I bought my house. I inherited them, and now I'm like, they are hilarious and probably the favorite part of my morning. So they run really funny.

SPEAKER_02

And so when you open their coop door and they're like, I always have this nightmare that like I would be trying to chase them and they would be too fast for me. I would never get them back in.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they're they're weird little creatures. I had knew nothing about chickens, but they give me eggs. So that's all I know. That is so cool. And egg prices were so high, bro. My sisters would always send me gifts, like of, you know, like the Twilight Vampires, and they're like, How do you feel? I'm like, that I have eggs? I know. My goodness, I love that.

SPEAKER_02

So, as much as I would love to keep talking about chickens because that is amazing. Can you take us back to the beginning? So, like, what first inspired you to be a writer? Was there a specific moment you knew that this was gonna be a full-time career for you?

SPEAKER_01

Well, you never know when you start writing if it's gonna actually become a full-time career. Mine took a long time to get there. I will just say that for any aspiring writers, I was not an overnight look, I can quit my day job. So I've always been a reader. I definitely was that kid where my mom would be like, turn off your light and go to bed. Like, so I was that kid. I used to write in middle school, high school, but it was basically, let's be real, like plagiarized uh 90s movies, like 10 things I hate about you. I was like, this is so original, or what is it? Um, she's all that or something like that. I thought of this idea. So we scrapped those because they basically were just 90s movies. And then I took, I kind of stopped reading a little bit in college, how sad. Well, I actually had like a more I read anything I could. It didn't matter what genre. I remember like I was reading all sorts of genres, just whatever book I could squeeze in, like through finals and things like that. And then once I got married and started having kids, I had really bad postpartum depression. Um, and so after my third child was born, I was really stuck in it. And so instead of I used to read to get out of it, and then I was like, you know, I have this idea. What if I tried writing like to help me escape a little bit? And that's where it started. So that was clear back in 2012. Wow. And took me till 2016 to finish that first book, and I put it out there, and you know, I I got about 50 readers, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And so I just tried for years and years to make it a living. Um, I didn't love my day job particularly, but yeah, it wasn't until I took a little break because it wasn't working. I was not not doing well. I was probably losing money. Um, and so I was like, all right, this is what has to happen. Either I make books, make money for me to so I can do this, or I just do it as a hobby and I go back to school and change my job. So it was kind of during the pandemic. It was like 2020 when I was doing that. And that's where everyone was kind of like soul searching, I feel like. A lot of us were like, what do we want to do with our life?

SPEAKER_02

And then there were many days I was on the couch just eating Oreos.

SPEAKER_01

No, I was just like, what do I do? Yeah. So, you know, where a lot of us, if we have kids, we were like in the middle of, you know, homeschooling when I was not a teacher by any means. So by 2021, I released Curse of Shadows and Thorns, which was The Broken Kingdoms. It started, it took another two months or so to like gain traction and then it started taking off. And here we are. It's my full-time job now, and I'm super, super blessed and grateful to have so many amazing readers.

SPEAKER_02

So don't quit. That's that's amazing. You know, and we do have a lot of aspiring authors who tune into the show. And so I think what you said there about you were not an overnight success because now, right? Like I see you on Instagram and everything. I'm like, she has made it, right? Like, but for us, it's so hard, right? Because we think, okay, her career must have been very easy to get here. And and it's interesting to hear the behind the scenes part of it and hear how difficult it was. Like I at first you said you you hit maybe 50 readers. Yeah. And that was that was okay. Like that was great.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they were awesome. Uh, I still have some that are like my original. I call it old LJ because I've unpublished a lot of my old stuff. And I've I've got some that are still there, like I've been here from the beginning. So that was just a decade because it's 2020, it's 2026. So yeah, 2016 is when I released my first book. So wow.

SPEAKER_02

So you mentioned right kind of sitting down and you're saying, I gotta make this work. Like, you know, it's either gonna work or I'm going back to college.

SPEAKER_01

I just I was gonna go back to business school and like get a new degree because I just didn't love my day job. And I am of the belief, like, if you can, if you're able, like try to do something you love. I don't know. If you can't, I get it. I get it. Um just like I was like, okay, I'm gonna be working until I'm retired, so I better try to do something that I love.

SPEAKER_02

So what changes did you make then, uh, you know, between like my book hit 50 people, right? Versus like this book has kind of exploded now. When you said you sat down, right? And you're like, I gotta make this work. What did you do different?

SPEAKER_01

So, what I did during my little hiatus in the pandemic, when I started studying my old books, they were what I loved, and there's nothing wrong with this. I want to be really careful when I say you can write your passion projects by all means. I love it. And I'm not saying I don't love my books. Oh my gosh, this gets construed so many times. They just didn't fit a genre. That is literally what I'm trying to say, is they didn't fit anywhere. They were a mishmash of a lot of things. And sometimes those work. Mine didn't. Mine didn't work. So I started studying like what books do I love? What do I how do I want to present my books? What kind of worlds do I want to build? How can I make it fit more into a market of a certain genre instead of five different genres in one book? That's when I was like, I love fantasy, I love romance, I love fantasy romance. And so I took The Broken Kingdoms as actually kind of based on one of my old series. I unpublished that one and kind of rewrote it to have Faye. And we're Scandinavian. So I was like, I'm gonna do Norse mythology based and things like that. Cause I love myths, I love uh retellings and mythology in all books. And no matter like what type of mythology, I think it's fascinating. I've loved it since school, like when we did like the ancient history. Oh, I'm a nerd about it.

SPEAKER_02

I was obsessed with the Greek mythology whenever we did it. I loved it.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I had read one, it was African mic mythology. It's called Rage of Dragons. You guys like it. I loved it, and I was like, ooh, I just love these mythology books. Anyway, so I started changing that original book to fit more romanticy. And yeah, I just started studying, like, I started studying covers. You know, what's working? I started clicking to me that there's a slight formula when you're releasing books, whether you're trad or indie, like you kind of gotta fit reader expectations. I know some authors figured that out really fast. For me, it took forever. And yeah, and there's nothing wrong with doing whatever you want to do. Whatever success looks like to each individual person, do you. Like some people are like, no, I love my cover, I'm keeping it, and I know it doesn't fit the market. Do you? I say, you know, do it. Because I've seen some people who like take off and I'm like, that didn't fit the market, but look at them. Like, you know what I mean? So you never know. But that's what I started doing. I just started studying it a little bit different and realizing the market behind it, instead of just being like, I'm gonna mishmash YA, new adult, mystery, portal fantasy, dystopian, and make it a crazy how you know, like the most creative ideas, right?

SPEAKER_02

Of like mishmash mishmashing all of that together. It's like the industry doesn't want, but it's so creative. Like whenever I think about it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I had a lot of readers like, I love your little weird books. And and like I said, I have friends who they're like, I wrote a weird book and it took off. So I mean, you never know. So please don't take that as like, oh, I can't write what I want, because that is not true. I write what I want. I just make sure I know what my readers like I beat my reader expectations. That's all. That's I definitely love what I write.

SPEAKER_02

It's just or you change your expectations, right? That this probably isn't gonna be something that's gonna go viral because it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01

I'm like, yeah, if I wanted to write my mishmashes again, I'd just be, hey guys, this is gonna be weird. Get ready for it.

SPEAKER_02

So, you know, I love that. And so for listeners who might be newer to your work, how do you describe the type of stories that you love to write in this different series that you have out there?

SPEAKER_01

So I say I'm the worst at describing. I do not sell my books well, like my own.

SPEAKER_02

Somebody will ask me, like, describe yourself, and I'm like, who am I? Like, I don't know anymore. Like, I can't tell you.

SPEAKER_01

I'm very Norse mythology heavy, like I said. We are Swedish, so we make it our whole personality in my family, even though we've lived in the United States for two generations. Um, it's still our whole personality. Um so I'm very I have a lot of Norse mythology in throughout my books. I they're very Faye or magic system heavy. I I love creating magic systems, even though it's super hard for like it's hard to kind of get creative with magic systems sometimes. Yes. So, but I love it when it clicks. I'm like, oh, that's cool. So very much the morally gray found family. I don't don't do a lot with like the heroes. I've definitely like lean more toward the darker themes and stuff like that. I I love that, like exploring that a little bit, you know, how what lines will people cross for people that they love? So that's where they tend to go. I let the Everseas is very pirate Viking. So like it's pirates versus Vikings. That's kind of what I say, because I love pirates of the Caribbean. So that's where that one came from. I'm like, I'm gonna mix both of them. See, you can mishmash, you can mishmash. So I did my Vikings on one side and the pirates on the other side, and that became the Everseas. The uh Broken Kingdoms is kind of Vikings Meets Fairy Tales. So each kingdom is kind of based on a fairy tale. The first one's like Beauty and the Beast, next one's Cinderella, then we do like Phantom of the Operas in there, and uh Swan Princess, but like with ravens and I like my Broken Souls of Wrong. It's probably my first, it's the first non-fey or magical creature book that I've done on what, but it's still Vikings, and they still have magic. It's probably my grittiest magic system. Super dark and gruesome. But next year I am stepping out of my norm. So prepare. The old LJ is coming back, I think. No, I am doing uh dystopian. It is making a comeback right now. Yeah, I it's been in the works for a while, but I finally am releasing it next year. So it kind of has a magic system in it, though. I just call it evolution. So it still has like a magic in a way. But yeah, very dystopian, which is which was weird. I'm like, oh my gosh, there's trucks and cars.

SPEAKER_02

It's a perfect time to release it. I know you said you've been working on it for a few years, but like right now. I know.

SPEAKER_01

I that's what I told my editor. I was just like, I feel like it was a good thing to start switching because I feel like I'm starting to see a lot more dystopians popping up, which is epic. I love dystopian. I don't know, it's nostalgic, I guess. Like the Hunger Games. Right?

SPEAKER_02

And it was crazy because it went out of style for so long. I just, you know, kind of didn't think we were gonna see it back anytime.

SPEAKER_01

And you know, I think books cycle. Do you feel like that? Like vampires went out and now they're coming back too, like, you know, so yeah, yeah, werewolves as well.

SPEAKER_02

Totally.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I feel like we kind of cycle, so it's dystopian's time to shut. It's I feel like it's all of us that like the tweens and the teenagers that grew up in the dystopian YA era, we're like, so we're writing them now, except they're adults. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

That's exactly right. Oh my gosh. No, it's I I'm working on my debut novel for next year, and I feel like by the time I finally get this out, I've been working on it for like 10 years. It'll be like, and that's out of cycle now. Like, see you again in 2020.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it'll be great. I feel like some things are evergreen, like thrillers and romanticies been around forever. It's just kind of having its moment.

SPEAKER_02

So true. So besides having to, you know, really kind of hone in and select genre, what are some of the other biggest challenges that you've had in your writing career?

SPEAKER_01

I think as an author, no matter how long you've done it, it's the comparison or the imposter.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So it doesn't go away. I wish it did. At least it hasn't for me. If someone has figured it out, please let me know. But that's been really hard. Uh and it just does, it's you have to realize like, you're never gonna please everybody with your books. Um, even though I do have 100% five-star ratings. Like, I don't, I don't have an imperfect rating anywhere. My books are all five. I'm just teasing you, right? Like, I know they are not. But like you're not gonna please everybody, okay? If my book could be someone's favorite, and then someone else to be like, hate this. This sucks. Like, why is she even writing? I think I think you just need to realize that you're if you feel a story inside you, it's maybe meant for someone. Like someone needs that story in their life. And so I really encourage people if they do they can't let the thought go, maybe that's your gut, the universe, whatever you believe in, like telling you to someone needs this. And so to get it out and write it and and just know that you're not an imposter if you're trying and you're doing it. Like if you're there, you're not an imposter. So that's just your mind trying to keep you safe, I think. And it's okay. It's okay if you can't please everybody. The stories matter though, no matter what they are.

SPEAKER_02

I feel like um Yeah, I think that's beautiful, right? That like somebody might need this, right? Somebody might be going through the exact theme, right, that you're exploring in your book. I mean, I mean, I needed um, you know, The Sun and the Star Maker when that came out, because you know, my my parents are aging, right? And so one of the themes there was like, how does it feel whenever you outlive somebody? Like I needed that. So I love the idea that somebody else could need our books too.

SPEAKER_01

I think it and yeah, like that's been that's what gets me through sometimes is the emails or the DMs that you get of people being like, this just healed me in a way, or something like that. And so and if you're nervous about something, I had this experience with one of my Broken Kingdoms books where I was a little nervous to put like a theme in there, but I kept feeling like I needed to. And it's it's around sexual assault and stuff like that. So it's a heavy subject. And I got so many emails from survivors after that, and I was like, what if I would have chickened out and like not address this and stuff? But they're like, they literally said, like, it's so healing how this was written. And so you never know who needs it.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my goodness, I love that. So, what is your favorite part of the writing process? I'm sure it's the marketing aspect, right? Love it.

SPEAKER_01

I love trying my vase on social media. I'm such an elder millennial. Oh my gosh, I do need like a younger person to come do it for me. Um my favorite part is actually right after you're done writing. I love the writing, don't be wrong, but it's a lot of brain work. And so I love the first read-through. It's my favorite part because that's where I can like tear it apart and it's already written, so I don't need to think quite as much, but then I'm like, ooh, I don't like that. And that's where I can add scenes, cut scenes. It's not everyone's favorite part, but I love it. I love having it done. And it's like that relief of being like, okay, at least it's done. It's a vomit draft, but like let's fix it now, you know, like let's smooth it out. I love the smoothing out editing side of it.

SPEAKER_02

I love hearing that, you know, because I think for so many of us, right, like getting that first draft on the paper is the hardest thing ever.

SPEAKER_01

A lot of brain power.

SPEAKER_02

So much, right? And but then as you mentioned, like once it's there, you do not have to start from scratch ever again.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I mean, I like I just did the revisions, one the first revisions on the dystopian. And I mean, I cut 50,000 words. So it's still like a lot of work, but it was, I'm like, it's out. It's at least out.

SPEAKER_02

I love that. Unless you're me, right? And I like spend all this time, right? I got my first draft, and I'm like, well, that's going in the trash and start it over. Starting over.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. It it gets easier, but that's my favorite part. Some people are like, oh, I hate the editing process. I'm like, oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_02

So one of the things that that our listeners wanted us to ask as well is how did your special editions come about? And what was it like working on those because they're gorgeous? And also, when can we get more? Which I have a lot.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not sure which ones. I know. And now, if okay, I'll just do both. If we're talking book box companies that have done amazing special editions of I feel like I own, okay, I'm not, okay.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not, I swear I'm not stalker-ish, but I own like every Everking edition. There's migration. I have I I'll sh I'll share this with you afterwards, but I have like a photo of just shelves of Everking.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. Well, there's been so many amazing book box companies that have done my special editions. So what happens with the book boxes, usually they'll reach out to you. Like they would always reach out to me. Uh, I didn't even know, like I was I like would manifest them, I think, because when I when the Ever King started taking off as when it was first indie, I would see my friends like doing these special editions, and I was like, How do you do it? How do you get it? And then, you know, I think Arcane was the very first one they reached out to me, and I was like, oh my gosh, it's happening. And uh, that's how that happened. But they they're amazing. It's a little harder to ever seize now because it's gone trad. So they have to negotiate with the publisher now instead of me. Um, but my Bookish and Spice from Australia just did Curse of Shadows and Thorns. Yes. It is my the artist. Oh gosh, it was beautiful. The books for Days Crate is doing the whole series of Broken Kingdoms and they're stunning. So they mostly would reach out to me for those book box ones and we would just negotiate. I'm terrible at time frames I've learned. I'm so sorry to all the book boxes. I did not like I'm I had to have someone actually come in and help me with contracts because I'm so bad at like being like, yeah, you can do it and you can do it the next month. And they're like, no, no, no. It works, girl. You need to give us some time. And I was like, sorry. So I'm pretty bad at that. So forgive me for everyone. Now, my personal special editions that I've done for like my website, which is more mostly the Broken Kingdoms, my novellas, my standalones, I just design those with artists. So I'll get printed edges done on them through an artist and the end pages and things like that. Sometimes cover designers give you packages so that you already have the end pages and the edges that go with it. And I use right now, they're they're pricey, but their customer service is by far the best for me. I use 48 hours right now. So if anyone they're they're a little pricey, but they're seriously super responsive customer service. So that's how I do it. And then I because I have a direct store where people can shop, and um, my warehouse will ship the books to them. So that's how I do it.

SPEAKER_02

I don't think you have a warehouse. You have a warehouse and chickens. I love this.

SPEAKER_01

I do have a warehouse and chickens. Yes, I do. Well, we did have it, we were doing it in my sister-in-law's house, but maybe a lot of you guys saw. Aubrey's house burned down. Oh don't worry, she's super dark about it. I love it. Like in a good way. She has like the darkest humor. So she's doing really good. They're gonna hopefully get back in it in a few months. But yeah, so we actually got a warehouse and we all feel very, we feel very professional for the workouts now.

SPEAKER_02

Cool. Oh my gosh. Okay. Life goal is to be get my books to the point where I can get a warehouse one day. Oh my gosh. Okay, I know we've been teasing our readers for a long time, so we'll get into it. Can you give us a quick overview of what broken souls and bones is about?

SPEAKER_01

Broken souls and bones? Yeah, okay. I'm not the best at selling it again. So broken souls and bones is the world, it is probably my deepest dive into world building, but it's about a girl who has been hiding her magic. There's one born every generation, they're called a meld. There's different types of magic in this world. There's soul magic, blood magic, and bone magic. And then one melder, which kind of does all of them. So you can notice them through silver scars in the eyes. And so she's been hiding in this little village for her whole life, basically, and she doesn't really remember the past too much. And then the king's silent top guard kind of guy, so he does not speak, he's uses sign language. He finds her, hunts her down, takes her, and they don't like each other very much, except maybe they do. I know. So then he takes her there and they start to realize that they keep having like similar memories. So odd. And they're it's in, but then she's whenever she starts to meld, which is was The most fun I've had creating a magic, it's almost like she's stitching bones to bone because that's what she does. She puts the bones of the dead on to the living and they can absorb the soul and they become stronger. So the king wants her to build his like unbeatable army. Yeah. I mean, I get that. When she goes there though, when she melts, she kind of goes into like this trance or this shadow world and she sees this creepy guy in the shadows that we don't know if he's good or bad. So that's it. It's like one of my you I did love writing broken souls and bones. Cause so far, it's been out for a year now. I have not had someone who has figured out all three pot twists. So I have three major points. They think they figure out one and then I'm like, boom, and then I boom. So I've had someone figure out two, and she's like, oh, I missed that. I didn't see that last one coming. So I was like, Nice. Oh my gosh. It's just like a mic drop moment there. Yes. Well, and it is complete now. So don't worry, you don't have the cliffhanger. There, the duology is complete at this time.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh. Yeah. We've had we've had a lot of authors on here that are just loving cliffhangers. And I'm over here crying my eyes out, and it's tearing me apart. So thank you, LJ. Thank you. Yeah, it's done. Oh my gosh. So we also really loved your inclusion and the representation of you know being mute in the sign language to communicate. And I'm I'm so curious, what inspired you to write that? Was that something you had to like go and research and learn about?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. My day job that I talk, no, I loved it, but I didn't love it at the same time. Yeah. I used to do occupational therapy. So I loved the people, loved clients. I did not love the bureaucracy of insurance. That is the worst. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

I'm a lawyer, so I understand. Oh, so you're like it's the that's a whole other podcast.

SPEAKER_01

Anyway. Um, loved working with people. So I I worked with kids for a while who were on spectrum disorders, and a lot of them did do signs, even though they weren't necessarily like they didn't have hearing impairment, they were just more vocally impaired. And so it kind of started there. But originally I was Rourke was going to have more of a speech impediment, and so he would sign because he didn't want to talk. Um, and then as I was writing him, like my original pitch to Penguin was was that. And so I remember emailing them, emailing them as I started writing, and I was like, so I think he doesn't talk at all. Um, because it's just like he started telling me, he's like, Well, do you write me correctly? Like, this is not it. Um, I don't know where it came from. It just was this original idea that I wanted him to maybe I explore speech impediment with a male main character. And then it turned into I was like, no, he signs because he has an injury and so he doesn't speak. And so to research that, since I did occupational therapy, I'm not that. I I have I interviewed audiologists and speech therapists to kind of hopefully address it in a way that's inclusive while also being sensitive to that community and being realistic instead of just like you know doing it incorrectly, I guess, and like being offensive. So hopefully it's represented well. Um, I love Rourke. I cannot see him any other way, truly, at this point. I don't, I love what I was most worried about was probably the banter because that romantic requires some banter. And it just came. He was actually like his little snarky sign language was like, it just popped out. I don't know. He was as soon as I started writing him correctly, he was like, Yeah, I got this.

SPEAKER_02

That is disturbing. I love whenever characters just come into their own and they're you know, they just take over when it happens.

SPEAKER_01

Well, they certainly do. It's a real thing where they're just like once you get to know them enough. I think that's why I like the second, like the editing, because I already know them now, and I can go back and be like, that's not real, that's not real, that's not, yeah. So they just they start to talk very loud.

SPEAKER_02

So they do. Now I, you know, in my novel, I had one character who was originally just a side character, and then he was like, Well, I could be in this scene. I'm like, You're not in this scene. Get out. It's like, no, no, no, here I am.

SPEAKER_01

I'm ready. Yeah, one of my side characters told me he was a main character and he became a main character in in later books.

SPEAKER_02

So it's so funny how we kid ourselves that we have any control over the narrative. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So, what are some of your favorite tropes in the series?

SPEAKER_01

In in Broken Souls and Bones series. Um, I love the found family. That's my favorite trope across all my books. I love them. And so that was really fun to create them with Zane and Emmy and Ursa, and then in Arab Twisted Lies, which is book two, it grows, of course. I love Kale. Like, so that was my favorite part to write. But then I also, gosh, I just love the tension of I wouldn't really call Rourke and Lyra enemies to lovers. They just don't like each other at first. Like they're sworn enemies. Um, so I don't know what you call that. Rivals, I don't know, annoyance to lovers.

unknown

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and so I love that aspect, like their push and pull where they're just like, because he ends up as her bodyguard. So that's the other trope I do love, but that forced proximity where he's the one who stole her from her life, basically. And then the king's like, so you're gonna protect her. And she's like, Are you kidding me? So I loved that aspect of them. The the forced proximity probably led to some fun stuff.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and and the bodyguard trope is so popular right now.

SPEAKER_01

I love bodyguard trope. Yeah, that is like especially if they don't get along at first. Like that's my favorite. I love when they're just like, Yeah, I don't know if I like you.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe I'll let you die. Oh my gosh, I love that so much. And so you mentioned, right, that the second book is out as well. How does that up the stakes for the main characters, or do we get to meet any new characters in book two?

SPEAKER_01

There's a loss. So in book two, I'm trying to do it. If you haven't read book one, there's a lot of spoilers. Gosh, also lesson to authors if you have plot twists that are major spoilers, it makes marketing book two really hard. Just so you know. Because you can't say anything. So just keep that in mind. Holy cow. Um, so yes, you meet a whole new set of characters that come into the scene because of events that happen in book one. The stakes are very high. It's like basically everyone's coming for. And they're like, we gotta figure out what to do. And you don't really know who to trust at first, and then we also explore a lot more of the world. So in book one, it's mostly at Stone Gate, which is the Jorvendal Royal Keep. And then Rourke is Draven, so he's from the enemy kingdom. We see more of Dravenmoor, and then we also see over these mountains where there's like just wild clans over there. So you kind of go explore them and figure out how everything's coming together. You explore a lot more of the myths of the world. That was one of my favorite parts of the book. It was creating their own lore that they've basically created all their kingdoms around. Because I feel like that's very Norse. A lot of their worlds were, you know, were based on their myths and their lore and their gods. So that's kind of how that world's set up. So yeah, you you go a lot deeper into the world and how everything ties together. I do have probably my spiciest scene I've ever written in book two. So if you like spice, I definitely have the spice, like one of my spiciest I've ever written.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh, I love that. And we have heard from some of our listeners that they are already obsessed with this story. Any possibility for some spinoffs there? I know it's a duology, but are we are we saying goodbye to this world for goodness?

SPEAKER_01

No right now. Well, for for now, just but I've left okay. How I do it, this is how I do it. I don't know if I can stop myself. I will wrap up a love story and like a couple story, right? And then I'll always leave like little things open in the world so I can go back for new couples. And I did that in Era to Supplies. It's not a cliffhanger, just left the world open. Um, I had to get my brain baby out, which is why the dystopian's coming out. It was just pounding in my head, and so I had to get that out. If I go back, um, I have two characters. I'm not gonna say one because he's in book two and is not in book one. So I don't want to spoil anything, but it would either be Thane, Prince Thane, who had to explore with him, or this character from Erab Twisted Vice that is not in book one, so I don't want to say his name.

SPEAKER_02

It's exciting. Oh my gosh. Okay, I love that. That that makes me feel better that we get more in this world. So, what do you hope that readers take away from your books, whether you know it's this series or any of your other series?

SPEAKER_01

What I hope first and foremost is that they feel entertained and lighter than they went in, hopefully. I definitely want, since that's how I began my writing career, was to escape reality. I hope it gives people a little bit of respite from the world. And I also hope that they can find a family in there and like characters who they could resonate with. Maybe they see themselves in it, maybe they see something, maybe they can solve a problem that they're having in their own life because the characters are dealing with it, like we talked about earlier. I think that's so amazing in books. I do it myself as a reader where I'm just like, oh, she did it. I got this. You know what I mean? So I hope they leave feeling better than they went in. That's even no matter how dark it gets, because the worlds do get dark, but I do hope they leave the worlds feeling better than they went in.

SPEAKER_02

And now that, you know, you're a seasoned pro here with all these amazing series out there, and all these book boxes are coming to you. What are you looking forward to next in your writing career? I think there's so much.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I would love, I would love to hit New York. That would be cool. Um that would be amazing. I I would love to tour more countries and meet some readers. I'm going to do it and I'm going to UK uh next year. So I get to go see some of my European fans. That would be awesome. I would love so many things. It's mostly just growing. I just, I just hope to always find new readers every day. That's my goal. So I just look forward to meeting new fans and new readers and and exploring new worlds. I, you know, I think it's always a practice. There's, you know, we hope we improve with each series. So I just hope to continue to be a better writer and maybe New York Times someday. So we'll see. Fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh. This this dystopian might be the one to hit it. Maybe.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe we'll try our best, but if not, it's hoking.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh. LJ, this has been so fun. We'll end with some fun rapid fire questions. Are you ready? If you could wield any magic, what would you choose?

SPEAKER_01

I think I would they do things like they can manipulate the mind. I felt it would be that. I'm kind of twisty. I'd like to get people to do what I wanted. I'm like a tyrant in the making.

SPEAKER_02

I love it. If you could fall into another fictional world, where would you go?

SPEAKER_01

Outside of my own, because I don't know if I'd live, I would love to go into the folk of the air in El Fame with Holly Black series. I love her books. So brilliant choice. I wouldn't survive there either, but my goodness.

SPEAKER_02

And what is one book that you could read over and over again?

SPEAKER_01

Lots. I could, again, I love Holly Black. I love The Cruel Prince and stuff. I know I don't write YA, but man, I love that book. I'll just read that over and over again. It's my comfort series. So my gosh. I do love The Spell Shop too. I just read that. And that's a really good. It's like a cozy fantasy. I love it. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love that.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my goodness. LJ, this has been so fun. We could talk to you forever, but I promise I'll let you get back to your real life and things that matter more. For having me.

SPEAKER_01

I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02

Where can our listeners find you if they want to pick up your books or follow you on social media?

SPEAKER_01

So I have my website, which is just ljandrews.net. Um, and then I'm on Instagram at author LJ Andrews or TikTok. Um I'm uh you can join my Wicked Darlings Facebook group, which that's the band group. It's private group, but that's we're pretty active in there. So that's kind of where we hang out. And we're always around, definitely accessible. I have a big staff that's awesome. So yeah. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02

Someone will be talking to chickens. I'll be with my chickens. Help you out with the chickens. Oh, LJ, just thank you again for coming on the show. And yes. And to all of our listeners out there, thank you so much for tuning in. We hope to see you at the next episode.

SPEAKER_00

That's it for this chapter of the Mythic Mike Podcast. But the adventure doesn't end here. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow us on social media at Mythic Mike Pod for updates, giveaways, and all the bookish and writing fun. Want more? Join our newsletter at mythicmike.com for bonus tips, author insights, and behind the scenes magic. Until next time, stay mythical.