Corporate attorney and author Pamela Samuels Young has penned four acclaimed novels within the past four years and has helped to establish outlets for black actors in the world of legal thrillers. Now the self-published author chats with ro about her career and what motivates her to push for change and success.
Give us some background information on yourself.
Currently I’m an attorney, I still practice law. I’ve written four legal thrillers and I started writing well over 10 years ago. I finished law school and started reading a lot of legal thrillers, and it always bothered me that the attorneys in the books were never women — they were never people of color. One day I just decided that I wanted to write a legal thriller and I wanted it to contain some people that look like me and I sat down and tried to write. I would get up in the morning right before work, 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the morning and discovered my passion, without question.
How do you discipline yourself?
I think it’s easier to discipline yourself when it’s something you really want to do. I never had the desire to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to write a brief, but I do have the desire to get up that early or to write when I’m tired when it comes to writing these stories that just fall in[to] my head.
Is there anything else you want to add?
I really wanted to bring diversity to legal fiction. I think I’ve been able to do that by presenting characters that you really don’t see in a John Grisham book or in a Lisa Scottoline book. It so resonated with me when I was watching Tyler Perry accept his Image Award a few weeks ago, and he said don’t wait for somebody to green-light your project; create your own intersections. And by taking charge of my career and publishing my own books and the recognition I’ve gotten from people shows me that
he’s right.
Young has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from USC and a master’s degree in broadcasting from Northwestern University. She received her law degree from UC Berkeley. Young authored Every Reasonable Doubt, In Firm Pursuit, Murder on the Down Low and more recently Buying Time. –nicholas robinson
