Following the sumptuous success of recent GLs like “Gap The Series” & “23.5”, Girls’ Love genre seems to be trending. As such, famous GL novels are being adapted as original sources and are in demand. Recently, popular Thai GL author Salmon Writing announced adaptation of her novels, “Built in Love” and “Queendom”. One of the forerunners in an industry that is still trying to catch up with its male counterpart (Boys’ Love), Salmon Writing has penned a dozen of love stories spanning from fantasy, action thrillers to historicals. We sat down for a brief conversation with the mindful author to gather her thoughts about the said genre and her books!

1) Thai GL is slowly becoming a popular genre these days. Given your repertoire that consists of dozens of novels, what made you choose this genre as a premise for your stories?

I think a romance that tells a love story between women is tender, alluring, and unique. That’s why I fell in love with WLW novels and chose to portray different kinds of love stories that I want to present and tell stories through various plots. There are still so many works that I intend to create and show them to everyone in the future.

2) Let’s begin this interview talking about the trio books in “The Salmon Series” [“The Swan”, “The Tiger” and “The Dragon”]. Three different plot lines based on a fantasy action genre with an added flavor of mafia romance. Share your insights about this book series?

“Salmon The Series” is a trilogy in which I got to explore a new genre of writing. I wanted to do something different from a rom-com or an enemies-to-lovers trope, so I wrote the mafia romance of the three siblings “The Plerngmangkon Family” using three distinguished characters and three different vibes. The Dragon is a love story that starts with an arranged marriage, and protection that leads to love. The Tiger is a story about two rival families followed by quick-witted battles and thrilling action scenes. And lastly, The Swan is a story about a complicated background and a necessary vengeance.

3) “The Elements Series” imbibes the qualities of the four main elements- Fire, Air, Water & Earth. How did you incorporate these in your storytelling?

The next series that I finished writing recently was the 4 ELEMENTS. It is about the four siblings of the ‘Watinwanit’ family and their romances. The plot is related to the story title, The Earth has ‘Din Kasama’ as the protagonist, she is determined, and kind-hearted but not weak, like Earth. It is a story about protecting someone you love and willing to face danger in order to fight with the authorities and illegal businesses. In ‘The Water’ the character ‘Nam Arpo’ is cunning like water that runs deep. That’s why she can handle it when someone tries to dig up dirt on her hotel and her family’s business, she knows exactly how to get back at them. ‘Lom Vayo’ in The Water stands out, she is agile like the wind. She is a talented Police Lieutenant who was assigned to escort a princess from a foreign land and protect her from the rebels. In ‘The Fire’, ‘Fire Ajima’ is hot-tempered like fire. She is an heiress of a mine and Southern private island’s owner. She is tough on the outside but soft on the inside.

4) Your best-selling series “Jasmine” & “Mine” is a period style love story that goes back in time, evoking the nostalgic love of Thai royalty in two parts, the present and the future. What inspired this regal romance?

These two stories are another work that I’m proud of. Jasmine was the first historical novel in my writing career. It’s about ‘Mali’, a girl in the modern era who travels back in time and meets Lady Nid or Her Serene Highness Princess Phunisa, her grandfather’s fiancee. Mali intends to change the past so the future can go the way she wants.

It was the most difficult work I wrote because I had to use royal vocabulary and do research about that period. Some specific words can make it difficult to convey what I want to show to the readers. I was grateful for the feedback that was better than I expected from my first historical novel, that’s how ‘Mine’, the part 2 of the story came to life where the story is set in the future after they reincarnated and met each other. I think these two stories are romantic in a way that there is love and loss, happiness and misery, laughter, and tears, including despair and fulfillment.

5) “Villain Star” seems to be quite popular amongst your readers. An age gap romance involving two different people with varied mindsets. What kind of difficulties did you face while creating these two characters?

It’s a love story with a ten-year age gap, what is captivating in the story is the differences between the two characters that fit just right together. And it was a challenge to present P’ Keaw’s character, the superstar who always plays the villainess who is really kind-hearted in real life, completely different from her character, and N’Jao Aoey, the upcoming actress who plays the heroine, who actually behaves like a villain in real life. I want to make it a rom-com and ensure that you would laugh while reading this novel at least once throughout the story.

6) The netizens are happy to hear about the adaptation of your popular work “Built in Love”. Do you enjoy writing stories that are based on the “Enemies to Lover’s” trope?

I can tell you that I absolutely love the enemies-to-lovers trope. Most of my books, more than half of them are enemies-to-lovers. I think this trope allows me to narrate and carry the story in various ways. For example, ‘Built in Love’, which would be adapted into a television series soon, is a story about ‘Soul Tantiya’, an architect who believes in logic and principles, and ‘Xinxin Renita’, a Feng Shui Master who believes in horoscope and Feng Shui. The idea came to me that since architects and Feng Shui Masters are kind of archenemy in real life, if I make this into a romance then it would be something new and interesting. So I have some expectations on this one and I’m looking forward to the adaptation as well. I hope my readers are looking forward to this project with me as well.

7) “Queendom” is also being adapted. Congratulations are in order. Talk to us about this soul swapping fantasy?

This is something that I have plans for in the future too. It is another enemies-to-lovers but ‘Queendom’ is special because it is also a fantasy where the main characters, Rey Radubdao and Prin Panwarin’s bodies get swapped. They are two famous actresses who both play the heroine roles, the two of them have been rivals since kindergarten. Even though this plot is kind of a cliche, I want people to give it a try, I worked hard to portray this story the way I want, so I guarantee that this cliche story is special and hits all the marks.

8) Are any other of your novels in the process of being adapted into TV series? If yes, please share more details about them?

I’ve received many opportunities so far and I have been in contact with some producers as well. But all of them are still in the early negotiation process. I’m open to any experience to learn new things and I have expectations that my work would be noticed by the ones who are interested to give them a chance. I’ll definitely give you guys an update if there is any news on this in the future.

9) What are you working on right now? Talk to us about your future BL novels?

Recently I’ve been working on my new book series, it is ‘The Three Sisters’ series which tells each sister’s story. Starting from ‘The First’, Ploycheewan’s story, who is the eldest sister of the house. She is a single mom who lost her husband in a car accident and encounters an older woman who was her first love. The next one is ‘The Second’, a story of Pancheewa, the second sister of the house, she has a long-term relationship with her boyfriend, but they haven’t been on good terms ever since she met her boyfriend’s little sister who intervenes with their love life. And lastly, ‘The Third’ that I’m still working on as this interview is published. So I, ‘Salmon’, would like to thank you, everyone, for your support, I hope you will love my future works.

The BL Xpress would like to express their gratitude to Ms.Salmon Writing for this exclusive.