Alex Flinn

The three biggest influences on my writing were law school, junior high, and my mother. Law school strikes people first because my characters are usually embroiled in the legal system. But law school was last.

My mother was first. When I was five, my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. “How about . . . an author? An author is a lady who writes books.”

Well, that sounded fine to me, so I agreed. From that day, we both assumed I’d be a writer. Mom did her part by sending poems I wrote in school to Highlights magazine. I was collecting rejection letters at age eight!

Although my other ambition was to be a musical...