Booktalk: Astrid Fleming
Meet Astrid Fleming, author of the hit novel, White Knights.
She describes herself as a black suits and stilettos Jozi chick, but don't let that fool you into believing that she's one of those glamazons with the attitude to match.
She's bubbly, friendly, smiles, laughs and giggles a lot. And she loves talking. I couldn't help but be charmed. She's that nice.
Born and bred in Jozi, Astrid spent five years living in New York surviving the ruthless world of investment banking. It was during that time that she started writing White Knights, which she eventually completed when she came back to South Africa.
Here she chats to women24 about her novel, her love of writing, future writing plans, and all sorts of other fabulous things...
You were an investment banker before you became a writer. How did you go from being in the financial industry to becoming a published author?
There is no way to answer that question without referring to passion. For although I studied finance and became a suits and stilettos chick, it is words, storytelling, reading and writing that I'm completely passionate about. Words have been my constant solace and complete indulgence.
So while I was bouncing around, enjoying the multitude of challenges, experiences, countries and colleagues of my salaried endeavours, I was always writing. Journals, letters, short stories, group emails and chapters after chapter!
And so after seven years in New York, I'd saved enough money. I quit my job, returned home and finished my novel. I basically stood on tiptoes and reached for my dreams… which is really, I believe, the only way!
White Knights tells the story of Emma, an ambitious investment banker who wants to make it big in Wall Street. Coming from the corporate world of finance yourself, how much of Emma's experiences are based on your own?
Well, you can't write a story about the reality behind the opulent facades and original art, the suits and stilettos unless you've been there.
You can't write a story with authentic characters without understanding the personality types of people in that environment. You can't write about living in New York, without having done so.
You can't write about being a woman in a man's world, without having experienced it. And you can't possibly write about surviving so many all nighters in a row, leaving the office at 7 am, showering at the gym across the road, buying a clean shirt at the Banana Republic on the corner and heading back to the office for another long day, without having done it! Because you can't fudge the emotions…so yes, my emotions are laid bare in the novel.
And are certain bits of the story true? Absolutely. There was backstabbing and politics. There were all nighters, midnight walks and private jets. There was brunching, dancing and gay boys.
What made you decide to use the world of investment banking as a backdrop to your novel?
How can one not? Nobody leaves investment banking to write books… it simply doesn't pay! The world of investment banking, Mergers and Acquisitions in particular, was the highest paying career in the world. It attracted the best and brightest from all around the world.
And it was hardcore.
What more fabulous a setting than the dog-eat-dog boys club that is investment banking, where women needed to work twice as hard to get half as far, female solidarity didn't exist... and if there was a bus, and nobody was looking, you can be sure as hell some colleague would shove sideways and – oops! – you'd be under it! It was a backdrop too fabulous to ignore!
How did you come up with the title of the book?
The title White Knights has three distinct interpretations and the novel has three distinct parts, which correlate to Emma's story. Of course everything is interlinked…
The principle references the novel draws on are:
White Knights is financial jargon and refers to a person or company that rescues the targeted company from a hostile takeover bid, by making a successful counter offer. It also refers to a person that comes to the rescue, a saviour and knight in shining armour...
white nights refers to a night when it is never properly dark, as in high latitudes in summer. It is also an informal interpretation for an all-nighter.knight of the road, is an informal reference to a person who frequents the roads, for example an itinerant homeless person. It also refers to an outsider, a person who is unsure where to call home and in certain cases, a tart.
Tell us a little about the writing process behind White Knights
When people ask me the hardest part of writing White Knights, I say everything. It's difficult to start (will I ever be good enough?), difficult to keep going (will I ever finish?), difficult to discuss with friends (oh no, that character's long gone but…), difficult to let go (what, you want me to edit out chapter 12?) and difficult to start writing again (will I ever be able to do it again?).
The whole process is relentlessly difficult but absolutely wonderful. It takes a certain kind of madness and loads of tenacity!
You planned your wedding and the publication of your book at the same time? How did you manage that?
Looking back it's hard to believe that we actually did it and managed to keep the surprise. In the lead up to our wedding, all Andrew knew was that I was planning a surprise.
I was trying to come up with an appropriate way of saying thank you to our wonderful fabulous amazing friends and family for everything.
Because it wasn't just about the fact that our guests flew from all around the world, gave up sacred vacation days, drove North for five hours braving wandering cattle and potholes to share the weekend with us! It was about everything that came before as well. The support, care, love, laughter, shoulders, reprimands, wine, tequila, dancing, crying, commiserating, reading, writing, giggling… it was for a lifetime of just being there!
And so I dedicated White Knights, my first novel, to Andrew and gave each guest a copy at the wedding.
Only my parents, brother and production team knew the secret… and what a fabulous team! Not only did we do the most fabulous job but we did it under extreme pressure. It takes approximately a year to get a manuscript into published form and we did it in 7 weeks.
When you're not writing your own books, what books are you reading?
I love all books but novels are my ultimate indulgence. I adore the absolute escapism of inhabiting another world and being gently led by authors on the emotional journey of their characters.
I believe that books, like people, come into your lives at different stages, for different reasons, to teach you different things. Major impact books have hit a personal nerve because of where I have been as a person. Books I love include: The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera; An Equal Music by Vikram Seth; The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst; What I Loved by Siri Husvedt; Alice in Wonderful by Lewis Carroll, Fury by Salman Rushdie; Small Island by Andrea Levy and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
You're currently busy writing your second novel. Tell us a little about it.
Oh I'm having so much fun with the next fabulous novel… it's modern, set in the converging worlds of Jozi, London and New York and is all about the perceptions, money and power which drive decisions in the new scramble for Africa. Because really, how can a chick live in such a thriving, gorgeous, multidimensional city and not write about it?
How can one not record the deal making, schmoozing, politicking, wangling, networking, socializing and backstabbing of the wanna-be's? And the love affairs! Whew! The book is going to be fabulous. It's all about the seen and the unseen. And society crashing into itself, interacting, sorting itself out and carrying on again.
The novel weaves between different people, their lifestyles, their choices and the masks they wear. For behind these masks, it the personal experiences, values and goals that dictate the decisions they make when their worlds start disintegrating. Which is precisely what happens when a love affair ends, a government meddles and someone disappears…
Any advice for aspiring authors?
Keep going, believe in yourself, stand on your tiptoes and reach for the stars!
She sounds fabulous doesn't she? Want an opportunity to meet her?
Click here to enter how giveaway, where you could stand a chance to meet the fabulous and bubbly author, as well as win an autographed copy of her book.
Trust me, you'll want to meet her. She's fabulous.
- Women24