Returning by popular demand, we’re thrilled to welcome back Muhammad Ali Samejo for another captivating interview. Renowned for his eloquence and insightful perspectives, Muhammad has already captured the hearts of many through his previous appearances in our mini-series. Today, we delve deeper into his fascinating journey, exploring his multifaceted career as a seasoned corporate professional, published novelist, and expert in training and development. Join us as we embark on another enlightening conversation with Muhammad Ali Samejo.
Mili: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background as a writer? When did you start writing?
Author: I guess it all started when I changed careers from 10 years in corporate to teaching English and communication in 2016. That was when I got back into books after years and my creative side kicked in. Before this, I’d only written some blogs with my observations and the thought of becoming an author was something completely alien to me till a new friend pointed it out. In a way, it’s a creative streak I may have taken from my father who was a veteran television director for 30 years at Pakistan Television (PTV) where he made TV dramas focusing on all kinds of domestic and social issues.
Mili: What motivated you to write the book Damaged, a short story collection instead of any full-length novel? Was there a Eureka moment, or did someone inspire you to write short stories?
Author: Well, funnily enough, ‘Damaged’ came out completely by accident and, I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, boredom. I had spent about a year writing my first book, ‘Legends Of Karachi’ and had shared some of it online with a local community of writers and readers who were enjoying it. They motivated me to write more, and I got a good chunk of LOK written that way, but at one point I felt I was losing direction. That’s when I experimented with some other write-ups, and yes I did hit a Eureka moment when I realized exactly how I’d write ‘Damaged’, i.e. in the form of conversations between just two people per story while including as much of a small world and time in the space of a short story.
Mili: What inspired the title – Damaged? Please elaborate for our readers who are yet to read this book.
Author: Even in LOK and another side project titled ‘The Darkly Tales’, my focus was to highlight the issues within society, including crime, violence, harassment, abuse, bullying, corruption, and the like. The first story, ‘Power’, shows what would happen when the victim of sexual assault has the opportunity to confront their rap-ist. More importantly, in the span of the conversation, I had to dig deep into both these characters and their psyches, motivations, and the effect any trauma had on one or both of them. Once I finished the story, I realized I could tell more about such incidents of different kinds of trauma and how they ended up tearing people off the path they were following and turning them into something different. However, I knew there had to be something that should make these stories stand out, hence the dark twists and the acts of revenge that only people impacted by trauma can do. Like I said in the book, it isn’t about what’s right anymore, but only what will give them release.
Mili: Do you prefer to outline your book beforehand? Could you give us a quick short trip through your story? What themes or messages do you hope readers will take away from it?
Author: It’s a little different. Yes, I do like to have an outline, but I don’t want to keep myself completely bound by one. Plus, whenever I come up with a story or book idea, I more or less know how it will begin and end. So ultimately, I’ve visualized what the final outcome is going to look like and all that is left is to make it happen. That strategy has seemed to work for me a lot more than religiously plotting the book, but it’s probably just me.
Mili: How did you maintain balance while writing your character-driven stories and the special awareness message themes?
Author: And the most important thing How do you even balance between your job and writer's life 🙂 I firmly believe that people are a product of their circumstances and environment. They are pushed, driven, cajoled, tempted, and inspired to take each step in their lives with little to no concern about whether or not those actions will make them happy. Writing about social issues, for me, is impossible without mentioning the human impact. We see it each day with news reports and documentaries that look at people and how they cope with all kinds of problems, which is why I want readers to empathize with the characters and really put themselves in their shoes to understand just how hard life has been to them. As for balancing my life, that’s quite tricky. I think what’s made it so much more interesting is my kids spending my writing time with me, trying to figure out what my mature-themed stories are all about. Not only that, if I even hint what my characters are about, they take it upon themselves to give me completely zany plotlines that make us all laugh. I guess it isn’t that hard to balance life with writing so long as you’re having fun doing it.
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