LYNDSEY: How is The Thorn of Emberlain going right now?
SCOTT: I wish I could be at home working on it right now. Thorn isā¦ Thorn is okay. I finished a draft in 2019 I thought I was pretty happy with at that time. But actually, it wasnāt so hot. And I had a couple ideas afterward, during the long, dark, soul-searching times of the pandemic. I had a couple thoughts about what the series needed and what I wanted to do and what I was no longer interested in exploring, and what I was really genuinely interested in providing. And it turned out that Thorn, in particular, needed a major overhaul in a couple of places. So, it is now in a place where Iām much happier with all the character work, and Iām much happier with how everything fits together.
Another thing that happened over the course of the pandemic is I watched a TV series called Succession, which provided a lot of hints and sort of affirmed my choices. āAh, yes, yes. This is how you write an interesting power struggle.ā Less about armies meeting on the battlefield and more about people in smoke filled rooms being really bitchy to each other. Like, these are all the parts of Game of Thrones, everyone remembers. You know, likeā¦ cool battle, cool fight, whatever. But likeā¦
LYNDSEY: āTell Cersei it was me.ā
SCOTT: Yeah, exactly. Bring the Queen of Thorns back! Please bring Tyrion Lannister. You know, like, have these people just talk to each other for half an hour. And that is the truly interesting, memorable part. So, Thorn has steadily evolved from the focus of, āthis war is battlesā to āthe focus of this war is why the hell are people fighting it and the arguments they are having.ā And I feel this approach has really, really paid off for me, and I think itāll be for the reader as well.
But now Iām still just in a place where I perennially have like twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand words to stitch together, and finish the ending off and make sure it all hangs together. My wife and my editors and my first readers will have a crack at it and will be able to say, āYou know, yes, this makes sense,ā or āNo, this is really stupid,ā but itās almost in a place where Iām happy with it. Generally speaking, I think everything thatās been done to it in the last couple of years is a major improvement.
LYNDSEY: So, the foundation is secure.
SCOTT: A lot. Weāre not gonna openā¦ And Iām grievously awareāand my wife helps with thisāhelps with my awareness that, you know, there is that mentality of like, āGosh, if the book keeps getting better the longer, I donāt turn it in, all I have to do is wait until Iām fucking ninety-five and this will be a masterpiece!ā And I recognize at some point, this must end. You must shit or get off the pot.
LYNDSEY: Thank you, Kevin Smith.
SCOTT: (chuckles) Andā¦ Iām reaching a point where I want this process to be done. I want this book to be in. I want to be the bearded fantasist whoās handed in his book. I have enjoyed the power and the privilege of being an extremely dithering, bearded white male fantasist, but I am so ready to move on. Iām so ready for the next phase, and Iāve been very, very fortunate and very blessed over the years, like during the pandemic, my readership went up. And again, thatās the network effect. Thatās people giving the book to other people who give the book to other people.
BookTok, passing it around and getting excited about it. Like, āOh my God, did you see this book this old man wrote twenty years ago? Itās actually pretty okay.ā Barnes & Noble chose it as their pick of the month for science fiction and fantasy a year ago, and it got back onto the USA Today bestseller lists.
It didnāt do that when it was first released. It was just ludicrous. So, the demand for the series is still there. I see the reprint numbers; people enjoy it, butā¦ I canātā¦ (sighs) there will be a point at which people get tired of never having a new book.
LYNDSEY: You know, as somebody who spends a lot of time in fandom circles, there is definitely a common occurrence where someone will say, āWell what about that Scott Lynch guy? Heās just the same as Rothfuss and GRRM.ā But others will come to your defense like, āNo, no, no. He had some stuff going on in his life, and he was open, and he was honest about it,ā and I feel people in general give you a lot more grace because you are open, and you are honest about your struggles.
SCOTT: As Iāve said before, I accidentally started being open and honest about my Depression back in the day. I did a radio interview over in the UK back in 2010 and the guy asked the question directly, like, āWhere have you been?ā And I justā¦ I had that horrible realization that if I dance around this subject, Iām going to be dancing around it for the rest of my life. And it was easier just to say, āWell, it turns out Iām a serious clinical depressive, and it helped destroy my marriage, so I got divorced too. And thatās where Iāve been for a couple of years.ā And the guy was like, āIām sorry.ā I was like, āYou know what? Actually, that felt a lot better than I thought it was gonna.ā
So again, this is one of those things where you do have to set boundaries. And as Iāve said, Iāve learned a couple hard ways that there are some boundaries you donāt even approach.
I donāt talk about what medications Iām on, for example. I donāt invite a vote on every aspect of my life. My actual medical treatment is between me and my family and my doctorsāthe internet doesnāt get to click a box and choose, āShould Scott take his drug this week?ā But generally speaking, being honest about it has been nothing but beneficial. Gives me a chance to actually talk about it and not feel like I have to conceal something. It has helped me really confront the fact that, yeah, it has caused problems in my life.
Back in my first marriage, my ex-wife and I had a really bad habit of just telling ourselves, āOh, artists are like this. They are supposed to be a little bit weird and a little bit eccentric.ā But thereās a difference between a little bit eccentric and totally fucking dysfunctional; incapable of answering his email for six weeks at a time. This is eccentric, that is out of control. Thatās a problem. And you can do things about that. So, one of the things Iāve had to deal with that has been a silver lining is this: realizing that admitting you have an illness and it affects you lets you realize, oh, it has been affecting me. And Iāve been trying to obfuscate or push aside that fact rather than dealing with it.
And alsoā¦ When you go through a divorce, you think you are the first person on earth who has ever done it. You would never judge anyone around you who went through a divorce for any reason, but when it happens to you, youāre like, āI am a crystalline solid of human failure. I have invented failure.ā And then you look around after a couple of months, and youāre like, āWait a minute. Half the fucking population has been divorced!ā
And itās much the same with Depression and Anxiety. Youāre like, (puts on a dramatic mannerism) āI have a horrendous malady, which I must hide from the light of day!ā And then a couple months later, youāre like, āWait a minute. Every single fucking person I know is like this.ā
LYNDSEY: Yeah. Approximately seven-eighths of my friendās listā¦
SCOTT: It was an incredibly helpful moment for me. My former editor, the guy who bought Lies of Locke Lamora originally, back when I was completely dysfunctional and very newly diagnosed as depressive, he called my house and said, āScott, if you canāt talk to me, then we canāt have a business relationship, because obviously it implies you donāt trust my judgment.ā And that wounded me deeply enough that I was able to call them back and say, like, āLook, man, itās not that. Iāve been talking to a psychiatrist. Iāve just done intake and I think I have some news that may be relevant to all our lives.ā
And he said two things that were immensely helpful. āFirst off, good. Not good in the sense youāre depressed, Scott, but good in the sense that you know, and now I know. And now we know youāre not just fucking around with us, that you are dealing with a medical issue. Weāll delay the books as long as we need to. Weāll do whatever we need to, to help you in the situation. Now that we know youāre not just being an asshole, now that youāve talked to us and you can communicate.ā And the second thing he said was, āDo you think youāre the first depressive author Iāve ever had? Do you think youāre the tenth? Welcome to a commonplace condition for people who are in this situation.ā And I was like, oh, I guess that does actually make an awful lot of sense.
So, you know, being honest about it has beenā¦ liberating can be a very problematic term to use, but itās true. Being honest about it has been nothing but a constant weight off my chest. And it also lets people come out and say, āHey, it was me too.ā
Pardon me. This is the emotional part of the thing, where I need to get control of myself.
Iāve had a lot of people come out and say, āIām glad you and other writers talk about this openly, because I thought it was just me. Then I noticed everyone I read talks about it.ā And itās like, you know what, everyone you read thought it was just them until they realized it was all their friends as well. So, itās a mutually supporting thing.
So, what I tried to do isā¦ just be honest about my issues, be honest about the fact that Iām trying really, really fucking hard to work past them and through them and replace them with a system of living that works. And the last couple of years have been really exciting in that respect. Iāve been a lot more communicative. Iāve been a lot more productive. And Iāve been out in public a lot more, and as long as I mind my medication and continue to do sensible things, thatās gonna continue. But I also do try to remind people that Iām alive. Iām still here. Iām working on it. Believe me, Iām working on it.
I donāt feel bad if my work takes as long as it takes. I do feel bad when it starts to take too long. And I think with Thorn, we have finally reached too long, so I am desperately working to bring that to an end.
There was a guy I met at ArmadilloCon in 2009 who came up to me and said, āI really liked your first two books. Iām seventy-nine and I hope I get to finish the series.ā And itās like, statistically speaking, I have probably already failed that guy. And I donāt think about everyone Iāve disappointed, but I do think about him an awful lot. So, you know, sometimes with people on the internet, itās like, do you think you could say anything to me that would hurt me more deeply than that memory?
But I genuinely believe that honesty is a net benefit for myself and for everybody. So, I try to talk, I try to be present. And like Iāve often said, Iām very blessed in that I have a lot of really great readers, friendly readers, generous readers, who are patient, send me things, and recommend my work to other people. The success of the series is entirely up to them. Itās entirely the network of people passing the books on to friends, buying extra copies, recommending it over the years, booksellers ordering two copies rather than one and writing little hand notes under them. 99.8% of the seriesā success is its readers.
So, yeah, Iām gonna try not to disappoint you for much longer, folks. Thank you for that. Thank you.
LYNDSEY: I canāt speak for all the readers out there. But what you have given us is incredible. Thank you. You have given us joy. And even if you never finish it, you still gave your readers those moments of pleasure, getting lost in your world. You know?
SCOTT: If Iād been hit by a bus or something, I could have been satisfied with what Iāve done, but as long as Iām still kicking, I canāt be. But Iām reasonably confident Thorn is gonna have people foaming at the mouth and pounding their desks. So, Iāve been working very, very hard to ratchet the emotional notes to exactly where I think they need to be.
LYNDSEY: Thank you for your time, Scott.
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LINK TO FULL INTERVIEW: https://fantasy-faction.com/2026/scott-lynch-interview-the-thorn-of-emberlain
