Before the career as an author takes off, writers have jobs before getting to the point of being a paid full-time author.
Some jobs depending on the genre that the future author wants to go with, makes sense in a way. I shall explain. Say you are a nurse or a doctor of a small local clinic, you enjoy writing mystery thrillers where the MC is in the medical field or something romantic that involves a doctor and a nurse working in a hospital trying to balance their work life and romantic life properly.
Or if someone works at a cafe or an office, they can do a corporate romance or slice-of-life dealing with a cafe.
What I am getting at is, certain jobs and skills that authors had in their previous jobs can help with their writing career in SO MANY ways.
I think the Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister series were scripted by some British civil servants.
The Rumpole series was written by a former barrister.
The SEAL characters / actors in the film Act of Valor are serving Navy SEALs.
There are rumours some of the Rangers in Blackhawk Down were real Rangers.
And something a tad different. The weapons handling in the film Heat was so precise and authentic, the gun battles are used as training guides for the US Marines.* I once read the film’s technical / weapons advisor was Andy McNab.
*If you can’t reload a carbine as fast as Val Kilmer, you don’t belong here ~ Marines drill instructor (apparently).
I would rather eat rocks with spikes on them that write that but I understand your point
I have a book written by a lawyer about a fictional legal trial that takes place. Knowing the law obviously helped him write that. I still need to finish reading it lol.
Oooh, I just remembered Ian Fleming really was a spy in real life. I’ll probably remember others like in the middle of the night when this convo is long passed. (>‿◠)
I don’t really look into what authors did before becoming authors tbh. If you’re looking for a job that can help you, there’s careers in marketing, design, research, advertising etc that can all be beneficial in self-publishing. In trad, I suppose research and marketing can help you to A) write better and B) know how to navigate trends
Before diving into my dream of writing, I worked as a phlebotomist, which might seem unrelated, but it taught me so much about human interactions and emotions. Fun fact: the median age of phlebotomists is 38,8, so I had coworkers from all walks of life, which gave me endless character inspiration. Being in healthcare, I’ve seen moments of vulnerability, resilience, and even humor. It’s wild how those experiences translate into storytelling, especially in creating authentic, relatable characters. I’m working on a mystery where the main character uncovers secrets at a clinic—definitely inspired by my own background. It’s amazing how our pasts can feed our creativity, right?