LiteraryHype Podcast

49. JAYCI LEE RETURNS: Publishing two books in one week & venturing into a new genre

• Stephanie the LiteraryHypewoman / Jayci Lee • Season 1 • Episode 49

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00:00:00:02 - 00:00:27:04
Speaker 1
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie Ears literary hype woman and today's author conversation is a guest that is returning because you know Jaycee Lee keeps herself quite busy and this is taking it to the extreme of putting out two books in one week and she did it my birthday week. So it felt like a present to me personally which thank you, Jaycee, for your gift of two books for my birthday.

00:00:27:20 - 00:00:43:26
Speaker 1
But those two books are that Prince is mine, which is her I'm a retelling or she calls it fan fiction, as well as her romantic debut with nine veiled. So we have a lot to talk about. So without any further ado, here's my conversation with Jaycee Lee.

00:00:48:26 - 00:00:58:16
Speaker 1
Well, welcome back to Literary Hype. I think you're going to be the first one to be on the podcast twice, because since I saw you last, I started the podcast and it took me forever to edit the first one.

00:00:58:16 - 00:01:02:19
Speaker 2
Yes, because we had technical issues.

00:01:02:19 - 00:01:07:09
Speaker 1
Yeah. Which made me not want to touch it, but I got it done and it came out in the New.

00:01:07:09 - 00:01:07:21
Speaker 2
Year in the.

00:01:07:21 - 00:01:11:09
Speaker 1
Podcast era. So you're going to be probably the first one to be on podcast wise.

00:01:13:12 - 00:01:16:19
Speaker 1
So it's been almost exactly a year since that first interview.

00:01:17:02 - 00:01:19:27
Speaker 2
Yeah. Oh my gosh. Exactly. Yeah. OK, what.

00:01:19:27 - 00:01:21:10
Speaker 1
Have you been up to in the last year?

00:01:21:17 - 00:01:33:21
Speaker 2
Oh, I don't know. I just published two books this week and I'm working on the next to two books at the same time. So utter craziness so.

00:01:33:26 - 00:01:36:27
Speaker 1
How are you handling putting out two books in one week?

00:01:37:02 - 00:01:48:25
Speaker 2
I am not. I am so overwhelmed and frazzled. I am not all here. I'm sorry, guys. I'll try to be funny and witty, but I'm mostly like dull.

00:01:49:21 - 00:02:02:25
Speaker 1
I mean, that's how I feel after a week at San Diego Comic-Con getting up early for this so we can be done together. I know. So it'll be fun. Yeah. So which book do you want to start with? Because you have two in one week.

00:02:02:29 - 00:02:16:14
Speaker 2
We'll go and order Tuesday. That Princess Mein, my rom com came out and then Thursdays with Nine Tail, it came out. So I like going in order. Chronological, linear, you know, make sense.

00:02:16:28 - 00:02:23:24
Speaker 1
So for anyone who hasn't seen that Prince is mine. Talk a little bit about what it's about because you gave us hints before and now it's here.

00:02:23:24 - 00:02:50:02
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's here. I can't believe it. It's a royal foodie romcom, so it's about a Royal Court cuisine instructor. Emma, who thinks she has life all figured out and about a prince in disguise. He is the prince of a small fictional European country who is kind of sort of based on Chris Pine. He looks like Chris Pine in my head.

00:02:50:25 - 00:02:52:23
Speaker 1
So Princess Diaries vibes.

00:02:52:23 - 00:03:13:27
Speaker 2
Princess Iris to Italy. She is set on having an arranged marriage, and he has kind of run away to avoid an arranged marriage. And he's looking for a soulmate, hopeless, romantic, super pragmatic and opposites ultimately attract.

00:03:14:07 - 00:03:23:10
Speaker 1
So Emma is a royal court cuisine instructor. Yes. So for anyone who hasn't heard of that, what does that job entail and what is Royal Court.

00:03:23:10 - 00:04:25:11
Speaker 2
Cuisine Chosen Dynasty, which was the, I guess, last monarchy and Korean culture about like a thing ended in 1905 or so. But that era, they had this expansive call in their culture that they serve the king and queen and all of the effort that went into making that food and those foods kind of live on and they're very different from the Korean food that you know, like the spicy duck folky like the Korean Royal Court cuisine version is like soy sauce lighter, more delicate, harmonious so Emma is all about harmony and beauty and just putting her heart into cooking for others, her family, and teaching others to create joy with every dish.

00:04:25:21 - 00:04:29:28
Speaker 1
This is an AMA retelling sort of it's fanfic.

00:04:29:28 - 00:04:30:29
Speaker 2
I like to say.

00:04:31:10 - 00:04:38:25
Speaker 1
That's that's a good way to put it. So when you were writing this, what kind of research and reference did you put into Jane Austen's?

00:04:38:25 - 00:05:22:24
Speaker 2
Emma, of course, I reread Jane Austen's Emma, and I watched like two different versions on, you know, on Netflix and whatnot. But I've already watched it like 20 times. I love the Gwyneth Paltrow one and Jeremy Northam. Mr. Knightley is Mr. Knightley to me. And I just kind of took the, the essence of the characters that I, I believe were the essence of the characters where Mr. Knightley is essentially very polite and well mannered but opinionated, like he's strong and stern but also very kind.

00:05:22:29 - 00:06:03:18
Speaker 2
And he loves very deeply, even though it's in secret for a long time, and Emma, she's yeah. She thinks she has everything. Figure it out, doesn't she? And she wants everything around her to be perfect as well. She metals in people's business, especially love lives. And she's very certain of herself. And I like how insert in Michelle Michelle Chevalier Chevalier means night and French so so Michelle teaches her that she has not figured everything out.

00:06:03:25 - 00:06:11:08
Speaker 1
What is it about Jane Austin's work that is inspiring you and is still inspiring people to do retellings of her stories hundreds of years later.

00:06:11:16 - 00:06:39:14
Speaker 2
I feel like she's the original rom com author the tropes that she's created so Emma is a friends to lovers it's Pride and Prejudice is enemies to lovers persuasion, a second chance romance. I mean, she started it all. So I just lovers. She's my favorite author so I could go on and on. It was terrifying writing this, even though it's more of a fanfic and not a exactly telling.

00:06:39:25 - 00:06:53:01
Speaker 2
I'm like, Oh my gosh, am I going to do her justice and are people going to, like, kill me because I got something wrong? But when I say it's offense that makes it takes the pressure off a little, you.

00:06:53:01 - 00:06:58:29
Speaker 1
Know, I mean, there's got to be a lot of pressure with the retelling, like retellings are so popular and people want to see it done.

00:06:58:29 - 00:07:02:25
Speaker 2
Right? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Done right. That's a scary phrase.

00:07:02:29 - 00:07:26:04
Speaker 1
It is. But, you know, I think it did. I think you do a good job with this, but that's just my opinion. But whatever both of these characters, Michelle and Emma, they're both dealing with the inner turmoil of battling for duty or love and which one comes first. How did you balance the same inner turmoil with two different characters?

00:07:26:10 - 00:08:04:11
Speaker 2
I feel that I do that often in my books because in some ways I think everybody is going through that because there's always going to be things to balance priorities and the pragmatic and romantic, and it's always a struggle and for them it's slightly different because where they're coming from, right? Their outlook, it's the same in some ways it's the same, but they approach us so differently that I enjoyed kind of unfolding that through their two POVs.

00:08:04:22 - 00:08:09:01
Speaker 1
And I'm probably going to butcher this word, but I'm gonna try Johnson.

00:08:09:13 - 00:08:11:27
Speaker 2
That's very good. I'm so excited.

00:08:11:29 - 00:08:14:04
Speaker 1
Yeah, my listening to hip hop is helping.

00:08:14:08 - 00:08:16:10
Speaker 2
Oh yes, definitely. So it's.

00:08:16:10 - 00:08:30:05
Speaker 1
Jang Song. It's this concept of working hard with a generous heart and they talk about at the very beginning that this is something that Emma really believes in. Yes. So kind of talk about what that means in the context of being a creative for me.

00:08:30:06 - 00:09:03:24
Speaker 2
I definitely write every word, every scene, every book with tongues on which means I ultimately think about who I will be giving this book to, presenting this book to, and in some ways it's the opposite of careless. It's like putting all your care and love and effort into it. It's carefully finely crafted to the best of my abilities because it's a show of respect and love.

00:09:04:06 - 00:09:10:02
Speaker 2
When you put Hong Song into something and present it to someone, it is a gift from the heart.

00:09:10:09 - 00:09:22:11
Speaker 1
It's such a sweet concept, especially like the way she talks about it and with the terms of cooking, like you think of made with Love and putting that into a slightly different cultural context, it's really interesting to see.

00:09:22:17 - 00:09:46:22
Speaker 2
Oh, I'm glad. I just wanted to share that because it's such a strong running theme in my upbringing and we're taught to do things with tongues on when we're like cooking for a family or when something is very special to us, we have to just treat it with care and respect.

00:09:47:04 - 00:09:56:03
Speaker 1
So Michelle is from a fake country in Europe. Why did you decide to do a fictional country instead of picking a real country for him to come from?

00:09:56:13 - 00:10:33:04
Speaker 2
Because it gives me more freedom. I can make the country what I hope that some country can be like. Some monarchies, some monarchies to be like because this is a multicultural relationship and ultimately multicultural role marriage. And I needed a country, I needed a leader. And people who were progressive and open minded, open hearted who will allow me to have a happily ever after rather than heartbreak after heartbreak.

00:10:33:07 - 00:10:50:17
Speaker 1
So now we got to switch gears and talk about nine tails, OK? Which there is one thing that these two books have in common, and it's that they both have a pronunciation guide at the beginning. Yes. And like notes on romanization. Why was it important to you to include that and include the Korean words throughout your story?

00:10:50:24 - 00:11:27:18
Speaker 2
The stories I was telling required for me to use Korean words. Otherwise, describing an English every time is going to get tedious for the readers. It's going to throw the pacing off and I found it difficult to romanized Korean words. I'm fluent in Korean, but Korean alphabet is completely different. And I had to learn how to romanized Korean words and I'm like, this is not intuitive and I can't expect my readers to just intuitively know how to pronounce these things.

00:11:27:29 - 00:11:45:13
Speaker 2
But with like a little guidance, they are totally capable of pronouncing it correctly in their head. Right? So why not give them the power to do that instead of backing away? Oh, it's too hard. It's too confusing. No, you know how to do it. You got this.

00:11:45:24 - 00:11:55:27
Speaker 1
So nine tailed is very Korean folklore inspired. What was it about the nine tailed fox that made you want to dove into this world and bring it into our modern world?

00:11:56:05 - 00:12:28:20
Speaker 2
When I was a little girl, I was very precocious and never heard well, I look so innocent, but the grown ups, like, saw past that and nickname me Camille, which is nine. Tell Fox and I was just up one night. Everyone was asleep, the house was quiet. And I'm thinking so here I am in the U.S. I hardly remember, you know, my early childhood in Korea.

00:12:28:20 - 00:13:05:09
Speaker 2
And this is my home and I'm like, what if a Camille actually Camille had to come to the US, make it her home and adjust so it's it was about me thinking and daydreaming about how I came to the US and the two identity identities I had to straddle. I felt like it was multifold because I was Korean and American, but then in terms of friendship, I was in Korea nice enough to be friends with the Korean nice people.

00:13:05:15 - 00:13:37:21
Speaker 2
I wasn't Americanized enough for the second generation Korean-Americans and so it was. And then, you know, there's the whole, you know, majority minority issue. So I felt like I didn't quite belong anywhere. And I wanted Sunny to experience that or to express that. For me, for me to figure it out, I tend to think out loud or writing things, telling stories help me like figure myself out my life out.

00:13:37:21 - 00:13:43:14
Speaker 2
And I just put a lot of my experiences into books, and this was just one of one of them.

00:13:43:23 - 00:13:48:19
Speaker 1
So for anyone who hasn't seen this book online, tell us a little bit about the plot of Nine Tailed.

00:13:49:01 - 00:14:21:02
Speaker 2
OK, so Sunny is a 132 year old Fox. She came to the US when she was 18 and she doesn't age so she could only stay in one city for a few years at a time. So she's been journeying and roaming the US, you know, living this nomadic life for over a hundred years and she is running away from a bloody traumatic past and the loss of a loved one.

00:14:21:12 - 00:14:49:09
Speaker 2
So her ultimate goal is to work that in jobs, make no friends, make no attachments and she got close to caring too much about these two brothers eight years ago, and she abandoned them in the middle of the night and he suddenly shows up. She's like, she lives in Las Vegas. She's a she sells like cigarets and stuff at a crappy little casino and a crappy little dress.

00:14:49:22 - 00:15:22:15
Speaker 2
And she's perfectly happy with that. But then her friend shows up and tells her his older brother was murdered and he needs her help to find the killer. And the older brother was like one of her closest friends. And over a hundred years, someone who got almost too close to us. She got scared and ran away. And so they travel from Las Vegas to Korea and on to the realm of Four Kingdoms on a quest to find the killer.

00:15:22:15 - 00:15:35:11
Speaker 2
But it turns out this quest is so much more than just vengeance. It's about saving the world from annihilation, all complete darkness.

00:15:35:20 - 00:15:52:19
Speaker 1
Before we get on to the plot some more I do want to touch on some of the thing that I love about this is in so many fantasy books, it's the man in the male character is like the one that's so old and magical. I know. And they're like chasing after the younger, having the romance with the younger girl.

00:15:52:20 - 00:16:03:29
Speaker 1
Yeah, I really love that. This flips it on its head, and it's the magical being is the woman. And she's older and then it's the younger guy, and she's like, I can't because you're so much younger. I love that you flip.

00:16:03:29 - 00:16:13:09
Speaker 2
That I had so much fun I'm like, she's, you know, the woman and he's a hot younger guy, you know, get used to it.

00:16:14:01 - 00:16:15:02
Speaker 1
It's about dang time.

00:16:15:14 - 00:16:16:11
Speaker 2
Yes.

00:16:16:26 - 00:16:25:12
Speaker 1
But plot wise. So not only do we have the reality version of the world that they're in, but also the magical realms and this mystery.

00:16:25:12 - 00:16:25:25
Speaker 2
Yes.

00:16:25:25 - 00:16:32:02
Speaker 1
So how did you approach balancing each of those elements and weaving the mystery through the plot?

00:16:32:04 - 00:17:16:21
Speaker 2
So sometimes my mind can be a little chaotic ultimately everything comes together and makes sense. But I loved reading fantasy. I love reading romance. I love reading urban fantasy. So my mind is made up this story where I'm like less. We've all of that. And together so there are lots of different strands running through it. And I am a Panther or Discovery writer where I learn things as I write them as like just like a reader reading my book, I write linearly and I surprise myself.

00:17:16:21 - 00:17:42:18
Speaker 2
I'm like, Oh my God, that's what happened and what's going on here? And I it adds like excitement to writing, and I'm just so excited to find out the story with you guys. So the mystery and all of that just sort of happened as it tends to for my books. Things are going to happen, but subconsciously they're very well thought through, I promise.

00:17:43:07 - 00:17:56:04
Speaker 1
So with nine tailed, that's a romantic scene, and that Princess Nine is just a regular rom com that's more normal contemporary yeah. Did you have find you needed to take a different approach when you were handling the two different genres?

00:17:56:20 - 00:18:14:06
Speaker 2
You would think, right, you would think, I would like outline a little and be more organized in writing the fantasy romance because there are so many threads to keep track of. But I decided to do it all in my head because I like the challenge.

00:18:14:16 - 00:18:15:18
Speaker 1
It's the lawyer in, you.

00:18:16:27 - 00:18:48:02
Speaker 2
Know, the lawyer me was more organized, but the when I'm in my creative mode, I can't I can't stop. I'm just so eager to write the story that I can't stop to organize my thoughts I wish I had. I wish I can sometimes because it's hard to keep track of everything for the moment to see but you know, you got to some you got to just accept who you are and you have to accept your method.

00:18:48:02 - 00:18:54:22
Speaker 2
And mine is just doing it all in my head and just, you know, like busting through it.

00:18:54:28 - 00:19:02:29
Speaker 1
We got to talk a little bit about nine tails cover because it's so pretty how did you get to that point with that cover and that cover artist?

00:19:03:08 - 00:19:53:25
Speaker 2
She it's it's all her. It's all her. And my acquiring editor had a vision of all these colors coming through. And those colors are significant and important because the realm of four kingdoms represents four elements, four life forces and each of them. So I'm going to say water, sky underworld and mountains. And each of them have a specific color associated with their life force, their key and the tails that are just like bursting with color represent the the life forces and it's significant as more significant when you get to book two that I'm writing.

00:19:53:25 - 00:19:56:08
Speaker 2
It's very important. OK.

00:19:56:29 - 00:20:02:00
Speaker 1
Very excited. The amount of comments that I've seen of Where's Book do.

00:20:03:08 - 00:20:04:11
Speaker 2
I know.

00:20:05:03 - 00:20:06:02
Speaker 1
When spoke to coming.

00:20:07:20 - 00:20:21:11
Speaker 2
So I am working very hard on that. I'm going to say fingers crossed, I will not be late. I'll get it. And on time and we're probably looking at summer 2025.

00:20:21:28 - 00:20:24:02
Speaker 1
I had a feeling it was going to be a full year.

00:20:24:16 - 00:20:40:09
Speaker 2
I know. Gosh I'm ready to books. You're getting my persuasion retelling which is an actual retelling and oh my God, they're going to be so close together again. I just realized OK, all right. I'm OK.

00:20:40:14 - 00:20:42:05
Speaker 1
Let's everything. Let's do this. I mean, are you.

00:20:42:06 - 00:20:43:02
Speaker 2
Going to give you this?

00:20:43:02 - 00:20:46:25
Speaker 1
Is this just makes it easier on us because then we can talk about those books at one time, OK?

00:20:47:03 - 00:20:47:12
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:20:47:23 - 00:20:50:07
Speaker 1
And just we do one patient.

00:20:50:15 - 00:20:52:03
Speaker 2
Yes, I to see.

00:20:52:11 - 00:20:59:22
Speaker 1
You just you put all your work into one point and then it's OK. Now I can enjoy and write again yeah.

00:20:59:22 - 00:21:00:16
Speaker 2
That.

00:21:01:02 - 00:21:05:21
Speaker 1
Does your persuasion retelling have a title yet? Then you can say yes.

00:21:05:29 - 00:21:17:28
Speaker 2
Yes. And so that princess mine as a play on the song The Boy Is Mine, and my persuasion retelling is give me a reason. Just give me a reason.

00:21:17:28 - 00:21:18:28
Speaker 1
Just like.

00:21:20:00 - 00:21:21:28
Speaker 2
It's giving you a reason and.

00:21:21:29 - 00:21:23:22
Speaker 1
Sorry. So just to hear me saying.

00:21:23:23 - 00:21:28:20
Speaker 2
No, I'm just getting chills. Oh my gosh, it's like pink.

00:21:30:04 - 00:21:31:05
Speaker 1
She's so good.

00:21:31:09 - 00:22:03:26
Speaker 2
She is so good. And the angst of that, it's a second chance romance and that song is so in tune with I think, and, and point of view. Suzanne and Frederick and and basically is just saying, give me a reason and I'll give you everything. Just give me a reason. And there are cover like things switching back and forth right now and I'm really excited.

00:22:04:05 - 00:22:10:16
Speaker 2
But it also is happening during release week. So so overwhelmed, but super excited.

00:22:11:26 - 00:22:17:23
Speaker 1
Well, talking about excitement, what was your reaction like finding out that nine Taylor was going to be one of Amazon's first reads?

00:22:17:27 - 00:22:47:27
Speaker 2
It was like, oh, you know that me? Oh, I was so, so excited. It's such an amazing opportunity marketing wise. I've always been published with a big five publishers and Amazon does things so differently and I'm glad that I am with my books pursuing these two different routes. I'm doing everything I can to get my books out to you guys, OK?

00:22:47:28 - 00:22:56:02
Speaker 2
It's, it's not hard. It's not easy for a bi POC author to have visibility. So I'm trying, guys.

00:22:56:13 - 00:23:02:21
Speaker 1
And we appreciate it. Are you still doing Harlequin still or have you let that go for the rest of this?

00:23:02:21 - 00:23:18:05
Speaker 2
Well, Harlequin desire no longer exists, and I am finding that writing to full length saying, you know, standalone books is occupying every moment of my life.

00:23:18:13 - 00:23:19:12
Speaker 1
Understandably.

00:23:20:18 - 00:23:29:24
Speaker 2
So yeah. Harlequin is on pause for now, but they've been amazing in supporting me, so they always will have a special place in my heart.

00:23:30:00 - 00:23:34:25
Speaker 1
OK, well, the last question we always ask, it's that time. So the last question.

00:23:34:25 - 00:23:35:16
Speaker 2
OK, it's.

00:23:35:16 - 00:23:37:29
Speaker 1
Is literary hype. So what books are you hyped about?

00:23:37:29 - 00:24:02:14
Speaker 2
What did I read? Cathy Yardley Do me a favor. That is a Gen X sweet, sexy rom com and I am just blown away. But by how well she did that. It is such a fun book. You guys have to check it out. What else have I read that I love? There are so many books, Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.

00:24:02:25 - 00:24:04:26
Speaker 1
I really Barnes and Noble book in the air.

00:24:05:03 - 00:24:09:23
Speaker 2
Oh, see, I pick. I pick good books to read.

00:24:10:02 - 00:24:10:18
Speaker 1
That's true.

00:24:10:27 - 00:24:39:13
Speaker 2
It it was beautifully written and I really enjoyed I felt more like a reader than like it was work because sometimes you know I'm blurb being or I'm researching and this was just oh beautiful. It was an escape. It was heart wrenching, but also an escape. It got me out of my head. So I really enjoyed that.

00:24:39:24 - 00:24:44:10
Speaker 1
Well, thank you so much for taking time to talk about both of your book, Babies Up for Literary Hype.

00:24:45:04 - 00:24:47:00
Speaker 3
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

00:24:49:27 - 00:25:06:07
Speaker 1
Thanks again to Jesse for taking time out of her steamy lit schedule to talk to me about her books That Princess Nine and Nine failed. If you'd like to get a hold of either of these or any of her past books, the links to do so are down in the description below. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to hit that like button.

00:25:06:15 - 00:25:13:05
Speaker 1
Subscribe to the literary channel if you haven't done so already and share this with a friend. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.