Interview With Author Emery Lee

Does anything sound more fun than a book with a sexy Totoro drag queen? I think not! Add to that figuring one’s queer identity in their twenties, side characters getting their own book, and launching during Pride, and you have Emery Lee’s Don’t Drag This Out. Sascha and I not only got to attend Emery’s book launch, but I recently interviewed em on what it was like to write this story. (Want more of Emery Lee? Check out this interview I did with em when Meet Cute Diary came out.)

Pup Sascha paying close attention to the Q&A of Emery Lee with Edward Underhill

Can you tell us a bit about Don’t Drag This Out and what inspired it?

Don't Drag This Out is a bisexual awakening romcom about a guy who realizes he might be bisexual when he falls in love with Sexy Totoro at a drag show. It's all about queer community and discovering your identity and falling in love in your early twenties. And the whole idea originally spawned as a joke--which is actually becoming increasingly common for me--where I was talking to my group chat and said, "Wouldn't it be funny if the brothers from my two YA books fell in love in an adult book?" and everyone actually loved the idea, so I just kind of went with it. 

Your main characters, Brian Ramirez (Meet Cute Diary) and Thomas Mori (Café Con Lychee), come from your previous books. What was it like to bring them back?

It was actually really cool and very fun! Both characters were originally designed around their relationships with their little brothers, so a lot of what I explored on-page was really steeped in how their brothers saw them. This time around, I got to delve into who they really are, ignoring anyone else's perceptions or expectations, and it was really interesting to see how different that was from what we see in the other two books. 

You ran a Kickstarter to create this book. What was that process like?

Kickstarter is both exhilarating and terrifying haha. It's AMAZING to see people coming together to support your book, to see all the interest and get that dopamine hit every time a new pledge comes in, but it's also a lot of work, and where most indie books slowly build hype over time through word of mouth and reviews, you're now looking at convincing people to buy this book before it's fully complete, and you only have thirty days to do so. It was a really great learning experience, and definitely something I'm interested in doing again in the future, especially with a better idea of how to deploy even cooler rewards to backers, but it's not for the faint of heart and definitely takes way more prep than I originally expected. 

Emery Lee, Brandie June & Sascha at the launch event for Don't Drag This Out at The Ripped Bodice

Something I really love about your books is how they focus on queer joy and community. What do you hope your readers take away from this book?

Something that I hear a lot as a YA writer of queer books is that people are really chasing YA books because they offer this exploration of queerness and falling in love that they didn't get in high school because being queer meant taking longer to discover themselves. I totally get the sentiment, but I hate the idea that those types of fun, happy, queer stories only happen to teens. I want readers to see that these stories can still happen in college and beyond. It doesn't matter when you come out or when you start discovering your true self. You can always have a swoony, fun, and joyful love story, whatever that looks like for you. 

What do you think is a critical element to a great dual perspective book?

I think the biggest thing people overlook is that both perspectives need to be distinct. Not just in that they should be showing different parts of the world, but they should have different goals--preferably goals that still interconnect with each other--and different voices. This was a big thing I got coached on working with agents and editors on different dual POV books, but you really want to feel like each character is their own, full person, taking you along on this journey, and if they start to bleed together too much, you'll never get there.

Where can people order Don’t Drag This Out?

Ebooks are available across all ebook retailers, but you'll get the best deal if you buy it direct from me at EmeryLee.Itchi.io. Print copies are only available through The Ripped Bodice (online or in store) while supplies last!

Where’s the best place to follow you?

Either on my Patreon (Patreon.com/emerylee) or by subscribing to my newsletter, which you can find on the contact page on my website (emeryleebooks.com). 

Sascha getting ready to read Don't Drag This Out by Emery Lee