Oh F*ck Yeah with Ruan Willow, Season 6, Episode 731: Romance, Fireballs, and the Stories We Deserve to Read with Indie Author Mellissa Lam! 

Official Bio: Melissa Lam loves reading and writing romance books that take the reader on an emotional roller coaster full of mystery, suspense, and heartache.

As an extroverted introvert who doesn't like to leave the house (because it requires wearing pants), Melissa enjoys playing strategic board games and taking long showers. When she does find the will to put pants on, she can be found traveling, enjoying bubble tea, or experiencing the world through food.

TL;DR I like to eat and write about heartbreaking shit.

Summary:

Rarely does a guest arrive with both a fireball-throwing biker and a passionate defense of honest storytelling, but Melissa Lam brings exactly that energy to this conversation. Melissa's contemporary fantasy romance series, set in modern-day Los Angeles, centers on a powerful biker who can throw fireballs trying to understand a woman immune to all powers Her trilogy, including "Ordinary Secrets", "Captured Immune", and "Scrubbed Mind", grew out of a first draft that ballooned to 225,000 words before becoming three separate books. 

On writing: What does it actually mean to write romance that feels real and complete? Melissa argues that including explicit scenes reflects genuine relationships rather than being gratuitous, and she pushes back hard against the "clean versus dirty" labels that unfairly judge authors who write open-door content. Relationships in the real world often have sex, so should fiction. It's authentic! She also opens up about publishing four books within ten months, managing every aspect of indie publishing while navigating postpartum exhaustion, and why she rejects AI shortcuts in favor of real human editors, cover artists, and beta readers.

Find Melissa at http://authormelissalam.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authormelissalam/ where she is most active.

Topic timeline:

From Reader to Romance Author

The Versatility and Power of Profanity

Understanding Romance Book Spice Levels

Cutting Scenes and Managing Word Count

Writing Dual POV with Male Perspective Focus

Male Perspective Storytelling in Romance Books

Reading Habits and Book Preferences Debate

Books That Tear Your Heart Apart

Motherhood and Writing: The Postpartum Challenge

Balancing Social Media Pressure and Creative Writing

Building a Loyal Fanbase Through Consistent Writing

Why Human Editors Beat AI Tools

Why Human Feedback Beats AI for Creative Work

The Value of Human-Made Creative Work Authenticity in Writing vs AI-Generated Books 

Key Takeaways:

• "Open door" spice levels aren't about purity—Melissa's first drafts contained five intimate scenes per book, but were edited down to one to meet publishing standards.

• Melissa chooses a male perspective during action sequences as a deliberate narrative choice, rather than defaulting to female POV as many contemporary romance series do, creating a distinct storytelling approach in her supernatural biker romance. 

• A 225,000-word manuscript becoming a trilogy required cutting plot, not just romance scenes, revealing that contemporary fantasy romance often demands aggressive editing beyond just adjusting spice levels to meet market expectations.

Melissa's Book Ordinary Secrets: (affiliate link) https://amzn.to/41a0LvB

Ruan's Book Beach House Views: https://books.ruanwillowauthor.com/beachhouseviewsbook https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243902433-beach-house-views

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