Meet Elizabeth Lim.
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us a little about yourself.Elizabeth Lim grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was raised on a hearty diet of fairy tales, myths, and songs. Before becoming an author, Elizabeth was a professional film and video game composer, and she still tends to come up with her best book ideas when writing near a piano. An alumna of Harvard College and the Juilliard School, she now lives in New York City with her husband and their daughter. She is also the author of Reflection: A Twisted Tale, published by Disney Press.
Instagram.com/elimpix
Twitter.com/lizlim
Elizabethlim.com
The Interview.
If you had a choice, what dress would you wear – “the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon,” or “the blood of stars?”
I’d pick the tears of the moon. I find moonlight softer and prettier than sunlight in real life, and I think it’d make a more fitting dress for my personality compared to the blood of stars one.
Who would you want to play Maia in a movie?
I can’t think of anyone in particular, but I’d definitely want someone who’s able to mirror the emotional growth that Maia undergoes in SPIN THE DAWN. Maybe someone that has yet to be discovered!
How did Spin the Dawn come into being?
When I was brainstorming ideas for a new project, I decided to write a story that I would have wanted to read when I was a teen that was also more personal than anything I’d written before. So I listed a few elements that appealed to me or held personal significance: fairy tales, sewing, a girl’s struggle to prove her worth.
Why have Maia as a tailor and not the princess?
Hah, it never even occurred to me to make her a princess. For SPIN THE DAWN, it was important for me to write a character whose struggle I identified with, but not so closely that I would become overwhelmed with weaving my personal narrative into the story. Like Maia, I spent most of my life training to become an artist (a professional musician, in my case), and I wanted to feature an artist’s journey to find her voice.
If you could be any fairy tale or folklore character (villian or hero!), who would you be?
I’ve always loved the tales from 1001 Arabian Nights, and Princess Parizade, who had to seek the Talking Bird, Singing Tree, and Golden Water was one of my favorite heroes.
How has life as an author changed since you’ve been published?
The biggest change is now I have deadlines! I used to be able to take as long as I wanted to write, but now that’s no longer the case. It’s been good for helping me manage my time more efficiently. Another change that I’m still having a hard time grasping is that my stories are out there. I still can’t believe that my books and characters are being read and possibly loved by people around the world. The thought is scary, but it also warms my heart like little else.
Raven C. Eckman 