Interview with Zaynab Rujabally

Khayrun Gure: What authors did you dislike at first but grew into?

Zaynab Rujabally: JD Salinger was an author I disliked at first. He wrote Catcher in the Rye. The book tackles feelings of alienation not being able to relate to other human beings and stuff. His writing style in the beginning was almost like I was reading someone’s diary, which I wasn't too fond of, but upon reading this book and experiencing entire story, I kinda realize that it’s not supposed to be personal, so it took me awhile to kind of get settled into the story and get used to this prose. Once I realized the way he wrote, I started realizing it was intentional and appreciated it more.

KG: Where did your idea come from? What was your inspiration when writing your novel?

ZR: So, my story ideas started in the research for writing class with Jennifer Chambers. We had to research real life issues/historical events and write a story. I researched suicide rates in indigenous communities and I wrote my story about my main character, Mika, who loses her friend to suicide at the residential. She has to come to grips with this unexpected loss in her life, and my story kind of explored this concept through the lens of the Ojibwe creation story and interpersonal grief as well.

KG: Why did you think it is important to write in this genre?

ZR: Well, I thought it was important in that genre because I want to explore Grief and loss through the eyes of a young girl. Also, exploring real life teachings of life and death, and using that to tell a story that encompasses all of that.

KG: What was your way of improving your writing skills?

ZR: My way of improving my writing skills is analyzing and learning how other authors write, and trying to adopt their narrative abilities into my own story. Another way is by having people I know read whatever it is I’m writing to get their feedback so I can have multiple ways of revising my work.

KG: What was your writing process like?

ZR: My writing process involved background research since I was writing about a topic that was not from my perspective. I had to make sure everything I was writing about wasn't just from my best guess, but actually backed up with sources and accurate research.

KG: What is your favorite underappreciated novel?

ZR: My favorite underappreciated novel is Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I read that book in high school and it is kind of just like a murder mystery book, but it revolves around femininity, like the dark side, and women can also be very toxic and have a lot of emotional baggage and trauma. Yeah, I just thought that sounds really interesting.