The American author talks about her inspirations, writing process, self-publishing experience, and future projects.

King Arthur doesn’t only reign over Camelot, but over pop culture as well. We’ve all watched or read a piece of media based on his legends or, at the very least, heard about the stories in the Arthurian cycle. Who isn’t familiar with the old mage Merlin? Or the young one in the 2008 Merlin TV series? Who doesn’t know about the Holy Grail? Or Monty Python’s 1975 involvement with it?

Paula Lafferty offers a modern take on these stories in La Vie de Guinevere. The protagonist, Vera, is a normal girl from 21st-century Glastonbury when she meets Merlin, who tells her she’s actually Queen Guinevere, and needs to regain her memories and travel back in time to save magic.

This fantasy novel reimagines legendary Arthurian characters and their world creating a high-stakes plot wrapped in a cosy atmosphere. Lafferty offers us a narrative as intriguing as it is heart-warming, a mix unsurprising when we learn about her first encounters with Arthurian stories.

The author reveals that her first exposure to the Arthurian legend was the Disney cartoon The Sword in the Stone, inspired by the first novel of the tetralogy, The Once and Future King, whose author, T.H. White, based on the medieval work Le Morte d’Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory.

However, Lafferty confesses it was something else that made her fall in love with the legends of Camelot. ‘This is hilarious and almost a little embarrassing to admit, but the thing that really got me into King Arthur and the whole legend of it was A Kid in King Arthur’s Court.’ Lafferty tells us that the 1995 comedy fantasy film drew inspiration from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and depicts an American teenager who, after an earthquake, falls back in time and lands in Camelot. She goes on to say: ‘The idea of Arthurian story and time travel, the seed of that was planted a very long time ago, in this very campy movie that I just loved as a kid.’

Nonetheless, these weren’t her only contact with the legendary stories. Lafferty explains that, as she got older, she discovered more about Arthurian-inspired literature. ‘The Mists of Avalon was the one that broadened my knowledge of the legend, and then after reading that was when I sort of got started getting into the classics.’

As for her own novel, when asked whether she preferred retelling well-known Arthurian stories, less popular ones, or simply creating new stories preserving only the fabled setting, she answered: ‘It’s a little bit of a blend of everything honestly, [...] Merlin very early on says “Nothing about the legend is as you expect it to be”, and he’s saying that to Vera before she travels back in time and the truth of it is a lot more complicated than that. So, a lot of Vera’s journey is figuring out what of Arthurian lore and legend has ‘happened’, is true, and what is just story.’

The reason for that choice is woven into her creative nature. ‘There’s some fun there as somebody telling a story that we get to do both: we get to honour legend and have little call-outs to it, and we get to have something that’s totally different and totally new and not hinging upon some of the classic tropes of Arthurian lore [...]. Part of the joy and part of the fun to me is in wondering what is going to come next [...] just as Vera in the book is wondering what’s real and what’s not, we’re as an audience, as readers, hopefully wondering, ‘Oh, what parts of the legend are going to happen, and which aren’t?’. Yeah, I think the mystery is some of the fun of it, and, hopefully, by the end of the trilogy, people will really feel like those questions were answered for them.’

On the other hand, regarding Arthurian characters’ portrayals, Lafferty is subversive, yet more faithful than most people would argue. While it’s true that she reimagines Guinevere’s traditional, villainous, side character into a moral, fleshed-out protagonist and changes Merlin’s classic personality and physical appearance, we need to keep in mind that intertextuality permeates Arthurian stories, both modern, as we’ve seen in her childhood inspirations, and old ones, as she points out. ‘I have gotten some feedback where people have said ‘Well, I don’t like the way you changed the archetypes of these characters’, but the truth is that the archetypes of the characters developed way later than they would’ve existed. So, the earliest mentions of Guinevere were, I think, around the tenth/eleventh centuries and she’s just mentioned as King Arthur’s devoted wife and the line is ‘his most prized possession’, which is...to a modern era is like [sarcastically] ‘Great, cool’.’

Lafferty describes how, over time, Guinevere’s character evolved into ‘the plot device that moves Arthur towards his demise’. Hence, the author believes that even though her version of the character is different from the most well-known one, it’s not out of line with the Arthurian tradition, rather just a lesser-told story.

Nevertheless, there’s no denying that La Vie de Guinevere holds many surprises in store for those expecting conventional representations of the mythical characters since its author wanted to create something new. ‘I have read a lot of Arthurian stories that I really, really enjoy. But one thing that has always disappointed me a little bit is that you do see characters typically portrayed in very similiar ways and I wanted to see something different.’

And with altering tropes and characters comes the modification of their relationships, which is also the element of the book Lafferty cannot wait for people to read. ‘They feel different to me than they felt in other stories. So, I’m really excited to see how people feel about those relationships.’

The American author yields that her two favourite relationships to write were Vera and Arthur, and Vera and Lancelot. She tells us that she had written down several scenes between Vera and Arthur since the book’s idea first came to her in 2009. So, writing about these characters wasn’t exactly uncharted territory for her. Nonetheless, the same cannot be said about her experience creating Vera’s and Lancelot’s relationship. The only thing Lafferty was sure about their bond at first was that it wasn’t romantic, yet she describes developing their friendship during the writing stage as a quick, powerful, and organic process.

Moving onto her self-publishing journey, it’s safe to say that Paula Lafferty is a force of nature, just like many others who choose this path and have to deal with every aspect of it alone. Lafferty had to find an editor and an artist for the book’s cover, and pay for everything to be expected in the publication process of a novel. However, she did choose a less common path to fund the special edition of her debut novel; a Kickstarter campaign.

On the platform where people start campaigns to fund their creative projects, Lafferty’s was incredibly successful. It landed her several foreign publishing deals after bringing attention to her book, a feat also achieved by her social media presence. Now, La Vie de Guinevere is even available as an audiobook, and Lafferty has a launch team for the novel’s marketing, as well as a community supporting her online.

But how did all this happen? ‘It’s been really wild and so and so much of it has been unexpected in tremendously great ways,’ she says. The author admits that she was set on traditional publishing after writing the first draft of her novel; her reasoning being she didn’t know anything about ‘the mechanics of publishing a book and getting it distributed’, as well as lacking an audience and the credibility of a big publisher.

That soon changed. ‘Over time as I was getting the book ready to go to agents, I learned a lot of those things. I learned how to find an editor, how to find the cover artist, and I learned about the distribution of self-published books [...] also some things about the publishing industry, and some of the stigmas that people have against self-published books.’

However, that wasn’t all: social media also played a role. She described how her view changed after a video she posted went viral in January. ‘I’d learned all of these things, granted I wasn’t a professional in any of them, but I’d learned, and then I had an audience, and the only reason I had left that I was really seeking traditional publishing was: one, distribution, which is certainly an issue, and two, the clout and credibility piece [...]. After some self-reflection there, I really decided that I had an opportunity to be a part of trying something really exciting, involving readers in the process, of creating the book exactly how I wanted to make it, and that I thought it would be a really great adventure to self-publish and also [...] to try to help keep shifting that perception of self-publishing.’

But she’s trying to change more than that. The author says she’s doing some things differently from most indie authors, and exemplifies it by stating: ‘I’m printing and distributing to just see what we can accomplish in self-publishing that people have said you can’t do.’

This determination also applies to her self-marketing process. Many independent authors cannot afford PR professionals at the beginning of their careers, so promote their books online on their own. That’s exactly what Lafferty did in spite of it not being easy. Yet she is clear. ‘I just really love this book, which makes it easy to stand behind.’

It’s also not a guaranteed ticket to fame. ‘There’s certainly some luck involved. But I think all of the luck starts with vulnerability, of being willing to put yourself out there, potentially be embarrassed [...]. I got a lot of videos, before the one that went viral, that I’ve crushed and burned, also that other people might find embarrassing or cringy.’ But she wasn’t deterred by this; she had a clear goal. ‘I want authentic; I want to be present, and I want to put myself out there and give it everything I’ve got.’ And so, Lafferty feels she has to try, whatever the outcome. ‘I don’t think that whether a video goes viral or not, I don’t think you can ever go wrong.’ She insists, ‘I don’t think you can ever go wrong by putting yourself out there and giving something everything you’ve got.’ Because she doesn’t want to regret a thing. ‘At the end of the day or when I get to the end of my days, hopefully, many years from now, I would never regret trying my hardest and even failing [...] then I’ll know I can sleep at night. I’ll know I gave it everything I had.’

Now, Lafferty is in a much different position thanks to her Kickstarter success. She gives us more insight into how it went down. ‘They were external goals, which everyone knew about, which was ‘If we raised enough money, then the project is funded and everybody who’s ordered, get’s these beautiful books’, and then, there were stretch goals of like ‘Okay, if we get to this point, we’re going to add some sprayed edges on the paperback, and if we get to this point we’re going to add a couple illustrations’, so there were all of these bonuses that kept happening.’

One of these objectives was to hire marketing professionals. ‘They have been at the helm of making sure we have a launch team, which was so exciting,’ Lafferty shares. She reveals the organisational aspects are the ones that overwhelm her the most and so, she’s happy that professionals are taking care of them. She also gets to live what authors fantasise about. ‘I’m so excited to have a launch group and to have people to talk to and share about the book with.’ But it did take a lot of effort to reach that dream. ‘If I had known when I first started the process of writing the book how much work it was going to be, I would’ve been so overwhelmed.’ Hence, the author says that the key to making it despite the stress has been to take it one step at a time.

So how is it that, as Lafferty attested, many people are judgmental of indie authors and their work? She believes that it’s just stigma. ‘There have been instances where people have read my book without knowing it was self-published and talked about how well edited it is.’ On the contrary, she remembers times when some people read her book being aware it’s self-published and have given her more negative feedback, which she admits she respects. ‘I have no problem with people not liking the book. Not every book should be for every person. But it is interesting that gets kind of turned into, ‘Oh, this book really needed an editor’, when in actuality, it did have an editor, who did multiple rounds. And it was an editor who’s worked for major publishing companies.’

Lafferty also mentions the proofreading of her book in an attempt to shed some light on how much care goes into publishing. ‘There were four different sets of eyes on it: a professional proofer, a librarian, an avid reader, and myself, and of course, the editor before that.’ The author recalls: ‘So, we did, ultimately, twelve passes of reading the book and then there were still some errors that slipped through, some typos that slipped through for the first print run.’

She highlighted the absurdity of the prejudice in question if we take into account the amount of time, energy, and resources that authors invest in their books and states: ‘It’s a complicated, complicated process and I have so much more appreciation for it now than I ever did before.’ Lafferty explains how much has changed in her attitude. ‘If I read a book and found a typo in it, I would think, ‘Oh, goodness, how unprofessional’, but now I know also that pretty much every traditionally published book that comes out has at least one typo in the first edition.’

Nevertheless, there’s no war between the two discussed types of publishing. Both are valid; both have their benefits and difficulties. When surveying the pros and cons of her self-publishing and marketing journeys, Lafferty lists many downsides, but stands firm in her decision, maintaining that if she had to go back and redo everything over again, she wouldn’t do it any differently. She also backs her opinion up. ‘This adventure of publishing this way has been such a joy and I have learned so much. I feel like I am a more thoughtful human. I feel like I’m a better author. I’m a better storyteller, and I just have a lot more knowledge than I ever would have had otherwise, and a lot more connection to so many readers.’

Yet, she admits that publishing and marketing are getting all of her creative energy at the moment, which makes it harder for her to work on her second book at the same time. And as the scales don’t tilt toward just one direction, Lafferty weights down many factors, such as having to deal with a printing delay for the Kickstarter deluxe edition, and a printing issue that affected the first 3,500 printed copies, though she clarifies, ‘If you’re not me, you’re probably not going to notice the error because it looks great. It’s just not the way I. intended it to be.’ And of course, there’s the financial side to it all. When self-publishing, it’s the author forking out for everything.

So, what again were the advantages she found in self-publishing? Well, aside from the fact that the author gets a larger share of royalties, Lafferty noted: ‘The pros of self-publishing have been innumerable.’ She explains how the route has allowed her to centre the experience around the readers, how she has had the opportunity to learn so much, and how she had total control over the artistry of the book and the choice regarding what made it in and what didn’t. And even though she remarks that being in control of artistry can also take up a lot of creative energy, she concludes: ‘Again, I wouldn’t change it for anything.’

Moreover, she reminds anyone who might feel discouraged by her story that she put a lot on her shoulders, even when she didn’t need to. ‘I didn’t have to act like I was a traditional publisher doing all of these innumerable roles for myself. I think there are ways that it can be simpler and super effective as well.’

Lafferty felt strongly about not wanting to tear down anyone’s motivation. ‘I don’t ever want to discourage anybody from doing it, because I think every story that we pour ourselves into is worthy of being out in the world.’ She reasoned that not every story is going to be picked up by traditional publishers, and rejection is inevitable in that path, but also that people have every right not to want to deal with it.

She mentioned another, usually forgotten reason authors might not want to take the traditional route: time. Things move at a glacial pace in traditional publishing, and some authors don’t want to have to wait years to see their work on shelves. ‘There are just so many reasons to value your artistry in the way that you choose to self-publish,’ Lafferty tells us.

Fortunately for La Vie de Guinevere fans, they won’t have to wait years for its sequel. Lafferty categorises the book series as a trilogy during the interview, and gives us some details about the dates. ‘The current plan is for Book Two to come out in early 2026.’ She also reveals that her goal is to have the first draft by the end of December. As for the third book, she says: ‘Book Three will come out a year after Book Two. So, I’m going to close the gap a little bit. But now that I know the process of how everything works, I’m hoping that it won’t take me as long.’

In fact, she compares her writing experience to building a whole new muscle, as she had to learn the intricacies of writing a novel and editing it. She also comments on when she was finalising self-edits, saying that seeing things coming together and taking shape was one of the most fulfilling experiences she’s ever had. Thus, it’s probable that Lafferty will take less time to write her next novels given she’s more experienced now. Let’s hope she’ll enjoy it as much as writing the first one, though the satisfaction of finishing a novel for the very first time is hard to surpass, according to her.

Despite this, these dates might change in the future. As of now, Lafferty defines herself as a plotter more than a pantser, so in theory, the creative process should flow quickly. Later, Lafferty added that she, very much like George R.R Martin, actually considers herself a gardener. ‘Sometimes there’s petunias that just started to pop out of the ground or tomato plants that just popped out of the ground, and if you’re willing to cultivate them, rather than just pulling them out because they don’t fit there, sometimes something really cool happens.’

Another determinant of estimated publication dates of Lafferty’s future books is traditional publishing. We asked whether she would choose to change course with the rest of the trilogy in the U.S. as she now has foreign publishing deals. She told us that she’s thought about it, but doesn’t want to make assumptions about anyone else’s interest level and that despite not being opposed to traditional publishing, she would need to retain her audio rights as well as some control over creative and marketing decisions, all of which is a dealbreaker for a number of publishers.

Still, she declares she’s open-minded to either self-publishing or being picked up by a publisher, and that her biggest drive for why she would lean toward the latter would be so she could take some pieces off her plate and be able to spend more time writing.

But against the better judgement of many bookaholics, publication dates aren’t all that matters when announcing books. Titles can tell a great deal about a novel or book series’ content. We remembered that much when Lafferty opened up about the reason behind her debut novel’s French title. She explains that it’s a reference to the version of the Arthurian story that might be most broadly known amongst the classic ones, Le Morte d’Arthur.

When first written, back in the fifteenth century, it was the first time somebody had put together all of the Arthurian characters, and various Arthurian legends, in one volume. So, in La Vie de Guinevere, that is the version of the stories the protagonist is familiar with. Therefore, Lafferty asserts that her book is not so much an answer to Le Morte d’Arthur as it is a different side of the same coin. She notes, ‘That one is called The Death of Arthur, and this one is called ‘The Life of Guinevere’. And it’s in French because Le Morte d’Arthur’s title was.’

In response to the discordance between the language of the book’s title and the one of the book’s narrative, Lafferty says people have contended that Le Morte d’Arthur was written in French, while her book is not, rendering her homage inadequate. But both Lafferty and history books refute this notion. ‘It was always in English and titled in French. So, I got my permission to do that from Thomas Malory [Le Morte d’Arthur’s author].’

About the remaining books’ titles, Lafferty reveals, ‘The series title will also be La Vie de Guinevere, and Book One shares the title with the series. So, Book Two will be La Vie de Guinevere: (insert title here). I don’t anticipate titling books two and three individual titles in French. Those will be in English.’

Paula Lafferty has gone from learning the difficulties of writing and publishing on her own, to becoming a professional author discussing future novels. So, we asked: what advice does she have for people writing their first book? ‘I’ve been where you are right now, and I know how you feel like you should be doing something that you’re made to do, and not having done it yet.’ But she urges aspiring authors to ‘just stay with it’. Lafferty assures writers that their debut novel doesn’t need to be perfect, or even good, to be worthy of existing. ‘The fact that your heart and soul and your brain want to tell this story, makes it worthy.’ Lafferty lays out her own heart explaining that there’s nothing like the feeling of having finished your first novel: ‘Just keep going, and get it on paper, broken, imperfect, terrible, great, all of the in-between...just do it.’

Find Paula on Instagram at @paulalafferty_writes, and on TikTok at @paulalafferty