{"id":75,"date":"2020-10-27T13:05:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T13:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londonfilmandcomiccon.com\/2021\/YALC\/?p=75"},"modified":"2020-10-27T13:05:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T13:05:41","slug":"syed-masood-more-than-just-a-pretty-face-qa-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/syed-masood-more-than-just-a-pretty-face-qa-exclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Syed Masood – More Than Just A Pretty Face Q&A Exclusive!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The wonderful Syed Masood took some time out to come and speak to us here at YALC about his new debut YA novel More Than Just a Pretty Face!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Hi Syed! Thanks for speaking to us!
\n<\/strong>Absolutely! Thank you so much for having me!<\/p>\n

Can you give our readers a little overview of your debut novel ‘More Than Just A Pretty Face?’<\/strong>
\nMore Than Just A Pretty Face\u201d is a romantic comedy that tells the story of Danyal Jilani, who is handsomebutnot very bright, at least in his own opinion. (Well\u2026that\u2019s actually also the opinion of a lot of people around him.)In order to impress the family of a girl he wants to court, Danyal ends up having to prove that he is more than just a pretty face by taking part (reluctantly) in a prestigious academic contest. It is a story of Danyal growing up, discovering love and his own depth of character.<\/p>\n

Titles are so important, how did you come up with the title for this book? Did you come up with the title before, during or after the writing process? <\/strong>
\nI actually didn\u2019t come up with the title! I\u2019m objectively terrible at them. So far the titles of everything I\u2019ve written have been suggested by my editors or my agent.
\nSo yes, titles are really important, but having an awesome team that has your back is more important still!<\/p>\n

A lot of authors get their inspiration for their characters from themselves or people they know. Where (if any) did your characters come from?<\/strong>
\nThe book is built around a trio of friends: Zar (who is religiously lax), Danyal (the pretty one caught in the middle) and Sohrab (the religiously committed one). I\u2019ve been Sohrab in my life and I\u2019ve been like Zar too. Those two friends of Danyal\u2019s are personal to me, in the sense that they are, in some ways, past versions of myself. Writing them was important. I wanted to show that Islam is not a monolith. People, even fast friends, can and do have complex and divergent relationships with their own shared identities. You don\u2019t get a sense of that if your only exposure to Muslims is through the news.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give someone wanting to write their own YA novel?<\/strong>
\nRead a lot of YA. There are so many brilliant, brilliant, brilliant YA authors out there. See how they do it. Let them inspire you. Learn the craft from them. From IbiZoboi to Karen McManus to AdibaJaigirdar, you\u2019ve got so many great contemporaries. You\u2019re in the golden age of YA. You can still enjoy it while you\u2019re taking part in it.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? What made you want to write a YA novel?<\/strong>
\nTo be honest with you, I didn\u2019t set out to write a YA novel. I had just finished \u201cThe Bad Muslim Discount,\u201d which is for adults. It is by no means an entirely serious novel, but one of the two narrators in the book is intense.
\nI was interested in writing a book about forgiveness\u2014who gets forgiven and who doesn\u2019t, for what and why. But, at the same time, I wanted to write something cheerful and full of hope. YA is the fiction of hope, in my opinion, so \u201cMore Than Just A Pretty Face\u201d just\u2026I mean, it just sort of happened. It wasn\u2019t planned. I discovered the story as much as I wrote it.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really sure if there is anything in my background that helps explain this. I will say that I\u2019ve always enjoyed wandering my way through the world.A little disorganization and chaos, in life and in writing, is in my experience, not entirely a bad thing.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve already had some fantastic reviews. How does that make you feel?<\/strong>
\nTo quote BismaAkram from the book, I feel super validated.
\nSeriously though,trade reviews are very nice, and I appreciate truly them. But honestly, the most memorable feedback has come from readers. I\u2019ve had people tell me that they don\u2019t usually read but they read \u201cMore Than Just A Pretty Face\u201d in a day. I\u2019ve had a few say that the book busted them out of long reading slumps. I\u2019m not sure there is anything better one can experience as an author. It\u2019s amazing and I\u2019m very grateful.<\/p>\n

What do you want your readers to take away from More Than Just A Pretty Face?<\/strong>
\nI want people to have fun. It\u2019s a rom-com, after all. Aside from that, I hope they reflect on the central theme of the book, which is acceptance. Our hero, Danyal Jilani, is not good at much, but he\u2019s excellent at that. The world would be a better place if more people in it had Danyal\u2019sopen and kind heart.<\/p>\n

All authors are different. What is your writing process like?<\/strong>
\nAwful. I\u2019m only half-kidding here. It\u2019s a little painful. I don\u2019t plot at all. I just start writing and see where things go. This means that I usually end up tossing out the first fifty pages of everything I write, and the first edit is very extensive.On the plus side, I\u2019m always as surprised by what is happening as the reader is, so that\u2019s genuinely a lot of fun. Wanting to know what happens next keeps me going in my first drafts. When I try to plot, I lose all that steam. It just doesn\u2019t work for me.<\/p>\n

Do you have any writing heroes? Do you take any inspiration from them?<\/strong>
\nI think Mohsin Hamid is brilliant. Also, Kazuo Ishiguro is a legend for a reason. (In terms of classics, Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde are my jam, along with Sufi and Urdu poets.)
\nHowever, the author who helped me most was Stephen King. His book \u201cOn Writing\u201d was a revelation. My process is very similar to his in that I start with a scenario in mind and just sort of let the story take shape. Getting advice from someone who has had success with that method was incredibly useful.<\/p>\n

Where can our readers find you on social media?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m most active on Twitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/syedmmasood<\/a>
\nI also have an Instagram account. I even use it sometimes. https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you planned your next novel? Have you got anything your working on?<\/strong>
\nMy next novel is actually literary fiction for adults called \u201cThe Bad Muslim Discount.\u201d It is a comic novel tracking the lives of two characters, one Pakistani and one Iraqi, that collide in San Francisco in 2016. Fireworks ensue. It\u2019s out 11\/17\/20.
\nMy next YA novel does not have a title yet. However, I can tell you that it is about a boy who has been raised and homeschooled by his hundred-year-old great-grandfather and who is having to adjust to a more mainstream life now that he\u2019s attending high school. He ends up as the dance partner of a girl who confuses him entirely and vice-versa. It\u2019ll be out next year.<\/p>\n

Your main character Danyal wants to be a great chef. Are you a big cook? What is your favourite meal to cook?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m not much of a cook\u2014I\u2019m more of a foodie\u2014but I\u2019ve got a few dishes I\u2019m pretty good with. My nihari, in particular, is excellent due to a desi uncle I found on YouTube.
\nI\u2019ve recently discovered a bunch of vegetable dishes thanks to the books of Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. I\u2019ve been trying out their recipes and they are fantastic!<\/p>\n

The final word is yours Syed! Any parting message you\u2019d like to give our readers?<\/strong>
\nDon\u2019t trust first person narrators. Any of them worth spending time with have blind spots, biases and things they don\u2019t know or understand. Their views\u2014which incidentally are not always the author\u2019s views\u2014represent one, possibly flawed, perspective on the world.
\nThis is both good and valuable. It means that when you\u2019re done reading their story, you\u2019ve learned something\u2026but it is only a little something. So keep reading! Read whenever you can. It will help you remember that the canvas of human experience, like libraries, is varied and vast and beautiful.<\/p>\n

Thanks so much Syed, below is an extract from his novel he has chosen himself, we hope you enjoy. And Happy Book Birthday!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Akrams\u2014was I supposed to know these people?\u2014 were seated in the formal living room of my parents\u2019 deceptively nice house when I snuck in. Mom and Dad had bought it with the only serious money they\u2019d ever had, my father\u2019s inheritance, and were lucky that they\u2019d made the purchase just before houses in the Bay Area got crazy expensive.
\nSo now my parents were house rich. Their home was all they really had in the world, which was fine. It wasn\u2019t like we were living in the earthquake capital of the world or anything.
\nThe house was their fortune and their misfortune. It made people expect that they would live lavish lives, host ing and attending parties, driving cars that cost more than they could make in a year. I don\u2019t know why my parents cared about what \u201csociety\u201d thought of them, but they did, at least enough that it made their finances really tight.
\nIt would have given them hope, I think, to imagine that there was help coming from their son, that he could grow up to be a doctor or lawyer or engineer, capable of making the facade of their lives real.
\nI think they\u2019d gotten to know me well enough, how\u00a0 ever, to realize they shouldn\u2019t dream such dreams. The slightly sweet smell of saffron-\u00acinfused chicken biryani that lingered in the air distracted me from the guests and lured me into the kitchen. Given the pile of plates stacked in the sink, it was obvious that everyone else had already eaten.
\nGrabbing a spoon, I took a bite straight from the pot and let out a happy sigh. The basmati rice was perfect, each\u00a0 grain separate from the others. It was somewhere between spicy and mild, and the baked chicken wasn\u2019t dry. Mom had the proportions of her dum biryani down to a science.
\nI was only going to have one bite, but there is nothing like the first spoonful of biryani to make you realize how hungry you are. Hoisting the entire steel pot onto the din\u00a0 ing table, I began shoveling food into my mouth as fast as I could. That was how Bisma Akram saw me for the first time.
\n\u201cHi,\u201d she said.
\nI cleared my throat and wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand. \u201cHello.\u201d
\n\u201cBisma.\u201d
\n\u201cDanyal Biryani. I mean, Jilani. Danyal Jilani.\u201d
\nShe smiled.
\nBisma was one of those people who, but for one defin\u00a0 ing feature, would\u2019ve been unremarkable to look at. In her case, it was her swift smile. It caused her nose to wrinkle a bit, and her cheeks dimpled. She didn\u2019t have anything remotely like Kaval\u2019s scorched earth beauty, and she didn\u2019t have the figure to make everything she wore look a little tight. Bisma was willowy\u2014no, that makes people think of movie stars and models. Wrong plant. Bisma was… palmy.
\nWas it weird that I was so focused on her looks? A lit\u00a0 tle, I guess, but that\u2019s the reality of the arranged marriage process. Normally, our parents would have exchanged photos and biographical information before any of this happened\u2014it was the old brown people version of trad\u00a0 ing baseball cards\u2014and the picture alone would\u2019ve deter\u00a0 mined whether or not we even met each other.
\nSo don\u2019t judge me for being shallow. Judge all desis.
\nAnyway, my mom was right. Bisma wasn\u2019t hot.
\nThere was, however, something undeniably attractive about her. Her vibe was very geek-\u00acCalifornia. She had on a pair of retro square eyeglasses that were slightly big for her face. Her long, light brown hair hung in loose waves. In white jeans and a baby-\u00acblue T shirt with Spider-\u00acMan\u2019s face in the shape of a heart, she obviously didn\u2019t care enough about being set up with me to dress up. I liked that.
\n\u201cDo you want me to twirl around or are you good?\u201d
\nCrap. I\u2019d stared too long. I could feel my face get hot. That was probably the first time in my life a girl had made me blush.
\n\u201cSure,\u201d I joked. \u201cGo ahead.\u201d
\nShe blinked, obviously a little taken aback, then shrugged her narrow shoulders and spun around. I hadn\u2019t expected her to actually do that.
\n\u201cWell?\u201d Bisma asked, hands on her hips.
\nI knew I should say something nice.
\n\u201cNice,\u201d I said.
\nShe let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. \u201cThank God. I feel super validated.\u201d
\nBisma laughed then, and I couldn\u2019t help but join in.
\n\u201cHear that?\u201d I heard my mother say from the other room. It was practically a squeal. \u201cThey\u2019re getting along. I think now is a good time to send them out for coffee, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wonderful Syed Masood took some time out to come and speak to us here at YALC about his new debut YA novel More Than Just a Pretty Face! Hi Syed! Thanks for speaking to us! Absolutely! Thank you so much for having me! Can you give our readers a little overview of your debut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}