ProtoStar: Yamna Malik

The Evening Star

Proto-Star Interview

When I Joined The Meraki Magazine, the first writer I noticed was Yamna Malik. She has extraordinary skills and her story talked to me. She was so strong spirited person and getting to know her helped me a lot to gain strengths in my writing career. She is a jolly person and is a hard worker. Today I have interviewed this amazing person so read her interview and leave some love. 

1. How would you define yourself?

Driven and passionate.

2. How proud are you of being yourself as a writer?

Very proud. Writing is a part of me, part of who I am. I'm proud of being able to do what I love and be loved and appreciated for it.

3. Do you realize that you belong to only a very small percentage of people who can have a huge impact on the world?

Definitely. Writers are also influencers with social responsibility. And as a writer, I always make sure to convey a message that can help people become self-aware, confident, and accepting.

4. How proud are you of being an introvert? Does it cause you any problem?

I'm actually not an introvert. An ambivert, maybe. I'm gregarious to the point where I often come across as intimidating, but I'm also that person who's off in the corner, reading her favorite book.

5. Where do you see yourself in the future?

As an accomplished writer, Insha'Allah. And a philanthropist. I believe if you're in a position to make a difference, you owe it to yourself and the community to do it.

6. What genre you like to write in?

I started with Teen Fiction because when I was a teenager that's what I'd like to stick to romance, not precisely just romance but life and tragedy to be more accurate. I'd also love to write a biographical novel one day. Stories of real-life heroes inspire me immensely.

8. How are you as a reader?

Ah, an addicted one. Once I pick up a novel and get engrossed, it's really difficult to pry it from my hands.

9. Name your favorite Book(s)?

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It's a masterpiece.

10. How would you want to be remembered as?

As someone who was bold and unafraid. Someone who wasn't afraid to speak her mind. As a person who was compassionate and just.

11. Tell something funny about yourself?

Umm, okay. This is top secret, but I guess I'll tell you. When I was around 6-7 years old, I used to hate toddlers with kohl-lined eyes. So, if I was ever visiting someone with my parents and they had an infant like that, I'd find them when they were alone, sleeping or just resting, and I pinched them really hard, just because I thought kids with eyes like those were ugly. Then, I'd sneak away and act all innocent when they started crying. Luckily, no one ever found out. But just to be clear, I love kids, just please don't have kohl-lined eyes.

12. Why do you write?

Most of the people write down the things they can't say and that's how they become writers.

I'm very vocal with my opinions so it's not the same for me. My passion for life fuels my writing.

I feel so passionately about everything that sometimes I make stories out of them.

13. When did you start writing and how?

I was around 5 or 6 when my father - once he realized I liked to read - got me around 10 storybooks and a dictionary. Since then I never stopped reading. And because I had started reading from such a young age, I started writing from a very young age too. I was around 10 when I wrote a piece of fiction and won first prize at school. I wrote my very first short story and several poems when I was 12. At 13, I won the Commonwealth Essay Writing Competition in the senior category and got a silver medal. I guess that's when I realized I could write well and started penning down stories.

14. Have you ever cried while writing?

Plenty of times! I have cried buckets when writing some of my stories.

15. What is your most prized piece of writing?

'It Was Always You'. I wrote it overnight for a friend and it's about best friends one of whom is struggling with cancer. It's one of my most beloved stories.

16. Who is your ideal as a writer?

Favorite writers? Emilie Richards, Umera Ahmed, and Judith McNaught.

Ideal as a writer? Umera Ahmed maybe. I don't really have an idea.

17. Who is your mentor? If there is one?

I've never had a mentor. Nor have I ever had an idea. But sometimes, I think you should have someone to idealize. This way you already have a benchmark insight and it gives you a lot of confidence in what you're doing.

18. Do you want to be a full-time writer or think of it as just a hobby?

Penning down stories is a passion I want to make into a profession. Because what better way to live than to do what you love and get rewarded for it?

19. Have you ever fall in love with someone, you were writing about?

My characters? Yes. I usually connect and fall in love with my most complicated and unpredictable characters.

20. Have you ever been heartbroken? Explain (5 marks)

Sure, who hasn’t? Inspire of trying my best to be otherwise, I'm a very jaded person due to my experiences in life. They've left me heartbroken countless of times and taught me at a very young age what most people my age and older are blissfully unaware of. But I've never been heartbroken in the romantic sense of the word.

21. What is the inspiration that gets you going?

To achieve excellence and self-sustenance. Or to at least reach a point in my life where I am satisfied with the way things are.

22. People usually talk about success stories after being successful, how would you define your success story in making? How hard it is?

I don't have a success story for you because as of yet, I don't think I've achieved enough to know for sure if I will be a successful person. But every day, I wake up, I pray to Allah that he makes my journey easier, and then I work until I'm beat.

23. What kind of help you think you can get in this phase?

Moral support. I need a lot of it because, at this point when I no longer need a teacher or an instructor, I need someone to believe in me twice as much as I believe in myself.

24. What is your favorite color(s) and why?

Dark Emerald Green. It's indicative of passion, healing, and reflection. Plus it looks good on me (cue cheeky smile).

25. How are you as a person? Talk about your strengths and weaknesses?

Okay, let's see.

Strength: I'm ambitious and funny.

Weakness: I have a pretty volatile temperament.

26. Are you scared of taking risks?

Definitely. The unknown always scares me. And taking risks is plunging into the unknown with full force. Not taking risks has also in some way inhibited my growth as a person.

27. What is your phobia?

Oblivion. In The Fault in Our Stars, when Gus said he was afraid of oblivion, I felt that.

28. How hard it is for you to answer these interview questions?

Kind of hard because I want to answer these questions truthfully. And that includes telling people I'm the secret baby pincher.

29. How do you deal with writer's block?

Hahah, I was actually waiting for this one. Honestly, writer's block always gets me back to reading, and once I've read enough, writing comes naturally. So, in a way, writer's block is something that keeps me from being completely spent as a writer.

30. What is your area of profession and how hard was it for you to challenge the standard being either a doctor or an engineering mindset?

I did challenge it, heck I challenge it every day I go to university. Ironically, I'm working towards a bachelor's in engineering. I don't hate it, but I'm not going to lie and say I enjoy it. I have more of a business mindset and wanted to study business for a profession, but things didn't really work out and here we are.

31. What is one stereotype you want to break?

The biggest stereotype surrounding us is that of Islamophobia. All Muslims are not terrorists and we do not have to prove that similar to how no other religious entity has to prove anything about themselves.

32. Do you think gender plays a role in success? If so, How?

Gender plays are a role in success because the people around us who are supposed to support us and provide resources for us discriminate on the basis of gender. In our society, a male is provided more opportunities to succeed than a female, and this determines their success rate.

33. Literature, History, and linguistics today falls under the umbrella of the social sciences department, do you think they are sciences? Does everything has to be science to be cool or Arts is something which is equally cool department?

Arts Is cool, but it is also limited. Where art fails to capture the essence of a subject, science helps to detail it. Our world is governed by science, and to use science as a crutch is nothing to be ashamed of. It empowers you, educates you, and helps you master your skill.

34. How are you as a friend?

As a friend, I'm supportive, but I'm also the first one to call you out if I think you're making a mistake. Usually, I'm that friend you go to when you need good advice. Sometimes, I'm a funny friend. Depends on the mood honestly.

35. What are your goals in life?

My goal in life is to be helpful and happy. To make people who love me and the ones I love happy and proud.

36. How much gratitude helps you in life?

Oh, a lot. I see at a lot of instances how life could've dealt me a much harsher hand than I have actually been dealt, and I am so grateful it isn't that way.

37. What is one book that touches your heart?

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover.

38. What is one book you will recommend to people? One for new readers and one for regular readers?

For new readers:

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

For regular readers:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

(both are war stories from the second world war)

39. What are your aims or goals in your area of the profession?

I intend to switch to business after my bachelor's, so for now, my career as an engineer is pretty ambiguous.

40. What makes you happy and what makes you sad?

Succeeding in my ventures makes me happy. Constant failure makes me sad and depressed. But what makes me really happy is a good connection.

41. Do you get emotional easily?

Depends. If something hits home, yes. But usually, I'm not a person you would describe as emotional.

42. Would this interview help you in your writing path?

Yeah. I think I know myself a teensy bit better now. Also, I need to finish my current novel!

43. Share a nice quote?

Oh, I like this one. So here goes:

"One moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory."

- Louis Zamperini

44. If you have to help a person starting their writing path, what would you tell them?

I'd tell them to never give up. Perseverance is the key to success.

45. What would you like to say to your readers?

Never let anything in life break your connection with God. He is the only one to love you unconditionally. So when you lose him, you truly have no one.