Élan Les Vies shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Élan, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Thank you for having me! Yeah—when I saw my debut novel The Lemon Twist (Turner Publishing, May 2026) listed for pre-order. It was surreal to see it out in the world, tangible proof that all those quiet hours added up. It made me proud, for sure, but also made me laugh a little, because the boy who once said he’d be an “inventor” really did invent something—just not in the way he first imagined.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Sure thing! I’ll start with my pen name. Writing under Les Vies, which translates to “the lives” in French, allows me to live many different lives through my fiction—each book, each character, each world is another reality I get to inhabit.
Right now, I’m preparing for the release of The Lemon Twist, an upmarket mystery that follows a fallen figure skater unraveling her sister’s disappearance while confronting the fractures in her own memory and past. What excites me most about this book is how it blends suspense with emotional depth—thrills on the surface, but questions of identity, determination, and reinvention at its core. For me, that balance of tension and humanity is what makes storytelling so powerful, and it’s the essence of what I strive to bring to every writing project. That and the pure joy of thrilling a reader.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Great question. I would say…secrecy and shame. Those break bonds faster than anything. Which is also at the heart of The Lemon Twist—Iris’s doping secret and fractured family ties threaten to undo her completely. But truth, even when painful, is what restores bonds. The willingness to be honest and vulnerable, to let others see us fully, that’s what makes connection possible again.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Geek out. Whatever sparks even the faintest interest in you—dive in, obsess over it. Be a total geek. And don’t give a damn about how it looks.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
Mmm…I used to believe that writing was mostly about inspiration—that if you wait for the muse long enough, the words will somehow appear on the page. This is rarely the case. The Lemon Twist, for one, exists because of discipline, not inspiration—by writing every day, not by waiting for anything or anyone.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
Well firstly, I’d finally allow my friend James Parker (of Synchronous Pictures) to take me skydiving, haha! Besides that, I would build…an endless library of novels. Each one another life lived, another world made real, another thrilling story.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://elanlesvies.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/elanlesvies
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/elanlesvies
- Twitter: https://x.com/ElanLesVies
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/elanlesvies
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@elanlesvies
- Other: https://elanlesvies.com/PRE-ORDER
Image Credits
Turner Publishing, Edgar Puerto, Publishers Marketplace, Dre Lopez (@developedbydre)
