Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
L.J Smith is best known for her book series “The Vampire Diaries” which was turned into a television show and became a hit. She passed away at age 66 after experiencing the effects of a rare autoimmune disease for a decade. According to The New York Times, Smith’s partner Julie Divola and her sister Judy Clifford confirmed the author passed away in the hospital and the cause of her death.
Part of Smith’s journey with “The Vampire Diaries” was being fired and replaced with ghostwriters so she reclaimed the characters with the use of fanfiction. Her canon includes over 24 books and 3 more books that were unpublished before she died. She got her start in writing in High School when she began writing her fantasy novel “The Night of the Solstice.” Since then, millions of copies of her work have been bought.
The series was a work-for-hire project, meaning that Smith did not own the rights, but she did not know that when she agreed to write the books for an advance of only a few thousand dollars. She reclaimed the characters when Amazon debuted Kindle Worlds which gave people the permission to write fanfiction on certain licensed properties including “The Vampire Diaries.” Kindle Worlds was discontinued in 2018.
Smith was born on September 4th 1958 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to two parents and eventually became an older sister. Her family eventually moved to Southern California in Villa Park which triggered her love of the supernatural. She decided to use the name L.J Smith on her works to mirror her favorite writers C.S Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien. Despite being in and out of the hospital due to her condition Smith always brought her laptop with her because of her dedication to writing.
According to BBC, a statement was posted on Smith’s website saying “Lisa was a kind and gentle soul, whose brilliance, creativity, resilience and empathy, illuminated the lives of her family, friends and fans alike. She will be remembered for her imaginative spirit, her pioneering role in supernatural fiction, and her generosity, warmth and heart, both on and off the page.”
Lisa Smith ended up taking a decade-long break from her writing while two of her family members dealt with cancer and she was plagued by writer’s block. The last novels published before her break were nine volumes in her “Night World” series.
Smith’s agent John Slibersack, told The New York Times, “She had been quite ill, but despite the difficulties and the pain, she was fiercely dedicated to continuing to write. She wanted to get it right, to be quite perfect.” L.J Smith’s legacy will continue on in her works and the TV shows a couple of them have been adapted into. She leaves behind her partner Julia Divola and Judy Clifford as well as the characters she has brought to life throughout her time as an extraordinary author. L.J Smith has shown her strength and determination while she continued to write despite living with an autoimmune disease and hospitalizations because of it.
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