Rebecca Lim writes a blog for Female First upon the release of her new book, The Astrologer's Daughter
The Astrologer's Daughter
Before I started writing these slightly freaky mystery/thriller/paranormal books for adult and young adult readers that feature mouthy, tenacious females and cameos from the Archangel of Death, I used to be a commercial lawyer working in funds management drafting things like…prospectuses.
Before you nod off completely, I hear you wondering: How did you go from being an uptight, logical "left brainer" to an "I see colours / auras / feelings" "right brainer"? Because on paper, the only thing my old job and my new job would appear to have in common is: language.
But practising the law has informed my writing in lots of unexpected ways:
- Women matter and women's stories matter because I saw-day in, day out-how hard women had to do it just to earn as much as men or even speak up like men in a hostile corporate landscape.
- My fictional female characters are always going to be strong women, because I have been exposed to strong women who think on their feet, and speak their mind, all my life.
- Sociopaths come in all shapes and sizes. I've been exposed to the full spectrum of personality types / disorders / drinking problems, so I know this to be true.
- The world is ethnically and socio-economically diverse. In the firm I worked for, partners came from "the wrong side of the tracks" (and continued to live there) and reflected the full gamut of nationalities. In my fiction, people will break into other languages at random and be found sleeping in their cars because they've got no home to go to. I am not interested in portraying the lives of pretty people with mildly perplexing personal problems because I don't know anyone like that.
- I am not afraid of a deadline. After you've had years of people screaming in your face for offer documents / advices / instruments of policy that were due yesterday, a deadline will never raise your heart rate.
- Reading a publishing contract holds no terror. Consternation possibly ( What do you mean that's all I'll ever earn from my e-books until the end of time?), but not terror.
It was scary, making the leap from a "regular" job to a "right-brain" job, but I don't regret it for a second. My old skin might have been a lot thicker and tougher, but what I do now has made me kinder, more empathetic and more "whole".