TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After publishing her first novel in English at the age of 16, Hermione Lee, born and raised in Taiwan, has added seven more books to her list of published works.

In an exclusive interview with Taiwan News, Lee said she had already finished writing the two sequels to “In the Name of the Otherworld” by the time it was published. Since then, she has worked on companion novels that fit in with the series’ stories such as “Helen’s Tale,” which will be published early next year as well as new stories such as “Once Upon an Enchantress” and “The First Buds of Spring.”

In these new stories, Lee explores unfamiliar territory, branching out into realms beyond fantasy. “The First Buds of Spring,” on top of being a young adult fantasy novel, is also a romantic story, while “Helen’s Tale” is a psychological thriller and horror novel.

“I think it’s important for me to branch out into new genres,” Lee said. “There’s only [so] many tropes in fantasy novels. I think diversity is an important thing when it comes to writing.”

She plans to write science fiction, “literary,” and mystery novels in the future.

She added that sometimes when she finds that she is unable to keep herself interested in her own stories, she puts them on hold and starts working on a new project. “I have 80-something ideas in my head, so I’m not afraid of switching projects, because sooner or later, I’ll have to finish them all.”

Additionally, she has also taken on designing covers for her own novels when she does not have the motivation to write. “It’s actually quite fun, and it doesn’t take me a long time,” she said.

(Hermione Lee image)

Lee’s most recent releases include “Once Upon an Enchantress” and “The Lost Siren.”

She finished the manuscript for “Once Upon an Enchantress” in eighth grade, and originally intended for it to be a class assignment. She drew inspiration from her English teacher named Sharon and created the story’s protagonist based on her.

When asked if her teacher was aware she inspired a character, Lee said she did show her a draft. “She thought it was pretty cool, said nice stuff about it,” Lee added, saying she was thankful the teacher did not look down on it as it was a “really rough and awkward first manuscript.”

By the time the book was published, however, Lee had already left school and did not get a chance to present her teacher with the polished story, which had gone through many rounds of editing.

Meanwhile, “The Lost Siren” follows the story of a siren, like those from Greek mythology, who loses her memory. “I decided it would be really interesting if the protagonist wakes up and discovers (she) cannot remember anything. So that became the idea, the basic idea for ‘The Lost Siren.’”

Lee (second from right) attends the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards ceremony. (Hermione Lee photo)

In addition to writing new books, Lee also received a “Moonbeam Children’s Book Award” this year. She received the gold medal in the young adult fiction category.

“One of my favorite authors, Katherine Paterson, who wrote ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ [won] the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award in 2020,” Lee said.

For the award ceremony, Lee flew to Traverse City, Michigan, where she sold her books at the local book festival. It was her first time traveling to the U.S.

Lee was invited to speak at the Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages and share her experience in October. “Professor Ken Smith, he saw the (Taiwan News article) about me and decided to invite me there to give a little talk to the students about writing and my journey.”

“A lot of people asked questions… the students there are very active.” Lee said her two-hour speech covered her writing career, her English education, and how to assess and write good books.

Lee at the Traverse City Book Festival. (Hermione Lee photo)

Lee believes that in the age of “fast media,” people do not read enough books. She said, “I figure that it’s a universal problem — as a writer, I have that problem too! I can’t really focus on a book because there are too many distractions.”

“There are too many exciting and thrilling things and things that (give you) results very fast” she added, using recent events such as elections and the World Cup as examples. “With a book, you have to read it slowly, page to page, word for word, sentence to sentence. It would take a long time to reach a satisfying part. So, I think that’s why many people cannot focus on reading, myself included.”

Lee said absorbing fast media is not beneficial to people’s mental health, because “If we want results faster and faster, we will ignore that the process is just as important… It wears down your patience.”

“And let’s just be honest, social media isn’t full of good stuff, right?” she added.

She admitted that she herself is addicted to social media, especially YouTube. “The videos, they come one after another…”

In October, Lee was invited to speak at the Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. (Hermione Lee photo)

Nonetheless, Lee is an extremely efficient writer. In 2022, she started a race against herself.

The “Writing Relay Race” began unofficially when she finished writing “The First Buds of Spring” in 36 days in January. Then, she finished writing “Eric’s Tale” in 24 days.

“I thought, hey, this is amazing! I can have a race with myself,” she said. “I was like, why don’t I just write a book every month this year, hence the Writing Relay Race… It’s a book a month, one month after another, one book after another.”

She added that she was about to finish her 11th book of the year, which would also be the 16th book in her career, on the day of the interview. Earlier that morning, she had just passed the 1-million-word milestone for the total words she has written in her career as a novelist.

When asked how she ensures the quality of her writing while writing so quickly, Lee said, “Time isn’t always related to quality.” Her book, “Where the Magic Lies,” which won her the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, was written in 14 days, whereas some of her less recognized works took longer.

The key, according to Lee, lies in the story idea. “The idea itself has to be rich enough, fat enough… If your idea is really flat, and you can’t think of anything new, any twists and turns to add to the story idea… you may not be able to make it a meaningful story.”

A "stolen" hollowed log inspired the story of "Where the Magic Lies." (Hermione Lee image)

Lee draws her inspiration from everywhere in life. She said she got the idea to write “Where the Magic Lies” when her mother picked up and brought home a random, hollowed log from the side of a road: “When I saw my mom carry the log home, I was like, ‘But what if it belongs to some mysterious creature? What if it came back and found the log gone?’”

Aside from winning awards, Lee’s works have gained popularity on Amazon as well. The ebook and Kindle versions of “The First Buds of Spring,” “Where the Magic Lies,” and “The Lost Siren” all topped the platform’s “Teen and Young Adult Fiction” bestsellers list in various subcategories.

For next year, Lee plans to take on the difficult task of finding an agent so she can get into bigger publishers. “Finding an agent is really grueling. I have friends who have been looking for two or three years, and no progress,” she said.

In June, she sent “The First Buds of Spring” to several agents and got a dozen rejections. While she did feel dejected initially, she reminded herself, “These agents are only reading the first three chapters of my book, because agents are busy people, they don’t have the time to read every little bit of the novel.”