The Next JK Rowling?

Snapchat. Cross. The latest TV series. Cross. Pajama parties. Cross. The 13-year-old author of the recently published book, The Other Side, doesn't look forward to any of this at the end of her school day or week. "I created my Facebook account only a week ago," says the teen who wonders about all the hype around social media and cherishes instead, the two to three hours of quiet time with family, spent engrossed in individual work, each evening. Weekdays, after school, usually entail extra-curricular activities like squash and recorder, completing homework, revising class work, and an hour of writing "short descriptions of the day, school life or any emotion I have felt, as they may come handy later".

In fact, the book itself started off as "scribbles on paper during a bus journey home". Lee finished writing and publishing it in just seven months. "Descriptions of places we'd holidayed at, which I had jotted down, are what I used for creating the scenes of my book," says Lee referring to family trips to Sikkim, Delhi, parts of Maharashtra, and Goa. She enjoys her holidays packed with adventure and action, and believes that "an author must have a wide spectrum of experiences because fiction too derives from fact". This also pushes her to delve deep into all that she learns even at school.

Although her novel features magical creatures such as fairies, witches and werewolves, it doesn't romanticize them, but sets out to "contradict the common view that being magical is awesome because if you've never experienced something, you can't judge it. By showing the creatures at war every night, I'm saying everyone has a civilised and beastly side."

JK Rowling's Harry Potter inspired her to become an author and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, which she used to improve her vocabulary, gave her words to express her ideas to satisfaction. "It's the first time I read the unabridged version of a classic novel," she admits. Her sister, her sound board, was the first to vote her idea as "interesting", and then her English teacher was "impressed by how much she had written". The toughest part?

Connecting the bits of the plot she had in mind; she recalls reworking her manuscript at least three times. "At one point, I completely scrapped five chapters when I realised that they didn't match with the rest of the plot. I felt sad as I had spent a lot of time writing them, but it was for the best." As for publishing, her fourth-grade teacher, Miss Rachna Gupta, a published poet, advised on websites, where she could find children-books publishers' numbers.

The third one Lee contacted signed her up and "it really felt like a big achievement; I wanted to be an author, but never thought it would happen and so soon." So what gave her the confidence? "I really liked the plot myself and after reading Jane Eyre, I felt that I had the conditions (skill and vocabulary) right. A 12-year-old author on Ted Talks also inspiried me." Though her peers don't look at her differently, many have told her, she's not common. And who would disagree? But neither has been her training or approach. Her parents have always encouraged her to "have a dream and start working on it early" and the schooling in Korea, where she lived till age nine, was so rigorous that "it forced students to concentrate, be self-motivated and multitask". She doesn't allow people to disturb her when she's working and takes pride in her perseverance; "I never leave tasks unfinished and it has really helped me because writing a book requires patience". On weekends, after completing school projects, she reads and plays the piano, which she says helps her 'visualise' sound. Meeting friends, eating out and watching movies with family are occasional affairs.

No wonder, this young genius has managed to master English merely four years after coming to India and has already published a 40,000-word manuscript in the non-native language.

Junhui's picks 

Love to read: fiction series that allow me get into in the story
Don't enjoy: graphic novels, except Asterix
Unpublished works: short stories in Korean
Favourite subjects: English language, Literature, Mathematics and Science
Pet peeve: Shopping for clothes. I just can't maintain them!
Alternate career: as a visual artist or musician—have to have a plan B
Greatest fear: speaking in front of a crowd
Next book to author: a collection of short stories