"I STARTED PLANNING THIS STORY AT EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD..."
Failing to find the sort of stories she wanted to read on the shelves, and then failing to find them online, LJR Skylerman decided to start writing her own. Beginning with fanfiction, she published her nonsense on several websites such as 'Archive of Our Own' and 'Wattpad' in the off chance that someone might stumble upon it—and perhaps even like it. ​
"YOU CAN IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN MY AUDIENE STARTED RACKING UP IN THE HUNDREDS A DAY..."
Skylerman soon settled into her own little corner of the internet and even began cultivating a following of loyal, like-minded people hungry for her words.
By her late teens, she had gained enough popularity for readers to start requesting plotlines, and it was then that 'The Blue Blood Trilogy' was born---although, at the time, it was going by a completely different name. ​
What began as the ramblings of a teenager knocking out a 3,500-word chapter of fanfiction each week soon grew into its own universe, complete with unique characters, lore, and even the occasional fanart shyly emailed by one of her readers.
Finally, after some persistent pestering, she decided to the first part into a fully fledged, original work.​
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"I WASN'T AN EMPLOYEE OF WATTPAD, BUT READERS STILL EXPECT A CERTAIN PUNCTUALITY AND FREQUENCY WHEN IT COMES TO POSTING CHAPTERS, AND I FOUND IT HARD TO KEEP UP..."
Skylerman enjoys posting on Wattpad and will continue to do so, but she does find the mass-production style it demands taxing.
"'What Lorkan Is' took around four years and four drafts to perfect," she says, "which is typical of a paperback novel, but unusual in the fast-paced world of online self-publishing. Wattpad is full of very understanding and patient readers, but you do struggle to stay relevant if you don't publish a chapter a week. As a perfectionist, I found that difficult, especially as my chapters tended to be much longer and detail-orientated than what's typical of that kind of site.
I hope my readers will join me as I branch out into the paperback world, and I hope my brilliant online audience will remain patient when it comes to my sparse update schedule. Your continuous love and support has meant everything to me and, without you, I would never have had the confidence to do any of this."