Interview subject: Rafid Amin
Rafid Amin is an aspiring and spontaneous author. His first short story outside of the classroom was during his kindergarten years and from that point on he wanted to be an author. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and is currently studying at CUNY Hunter College with honors as a freshman. Rafid’s favorite book is “The Deathday Letter” by Shaun David Hutchinson. Other than writing, he enjoys reading, long walks, exploring new places, playing video games, and interacting with people. Rafid is dedicated to making his life as exciting and interesting as possible. He is the type of person that would end up in strange situations as long as it would further his writing. His ambition is to write bestseller books and eventually have a movie created for one of his books before he is thirty years old. Below is an interview with Rafid about his goals in literature, edited and shortened for clearness.
Q: Why did you decide to be an author?
A: Honestly, I think it is because I like the creativity of it. You aren’t restricted into what you have to do. You always have to follow the rules at school, work, and other places. You have to have a little space or realm of yourself to do whatever you want.
Q: What traits are necessary to become an author?
A: You can’t give up. You have to force yourself to write at least one page a day. If you want to stay on track, timeliness is important. You have to give a date for when everything is due. For example, I’ll have 20 pages by the end of the week. You also have to be flexible. You can’t expect the story or yourself to go one way. You just write. You can’t be a perfectionist. Your writing should only come from your head.
Q: What is creativity to you?
A: Creativity is not being in a boundary.
Q: What do you mean?
A: When it comes to creativity, there is no box, no line, and no border. You should be able to go wherever you want, whenever you want, however you want, and think about whatever you want. There should be no point where you say, “this is it,” and “this isn’t real.” Everything you think about should be real, no matter how much of a fantasy it may be. Accepting wherever you thoughts take you should lead you to a brand new world. You should never be able to completely map it out. It should be new, every step of the way.
Q: How do you get around writer’s block?
A: You literally sit down and force yourself to write – no matter how many times you are distracted. When I first started writing my novel this summer, I would have a page down every hour. I wanted to have 15 pages everyday. Some days I spent nine hours writing with distractions. Other times I free write, writing about whatever I want. As long as you are writing, it doesn’t matter what you write it’s going to get you around the block.
Q: Those are conventional methods. Do you have any unconventional methods?
A: Going outside and doing something new or doing something you have never done before. If you have never been to the museum, then go to the museum.
Q: Give me an example of a method you used.
A: My first novel is about zombies. The characters have to survive and run. I started learning parkour, such as jumping off five feet buildings, rolling, and somersaulting. Let’s say you are blocked on a situation your character is in; you literally put yourself in your character’s shoes. If you character skateboards, you skateboard. If your character sings, you sing no matter how bad you sound.
Q: What clichés do you try to avoid?
A: You avoid mainstream ideas. If it is magic, “Harry Potter” has already been done. You don’t do magic. If you do use magic, you come up with something new that does not involve wands. You don’t follow the big ideas out there. You can think of the basics, but you have to form something you have never read before.
Q: Do you write to please your readers or satisfy yourself?
A: To satisfy myself. It should never be about pleasing your readers. At one point, you want to publish your story and people to read it, but even that is something for yourself. If you are going to kill a character, you are going to kill the character. It doesn’t matter whether readers like it. You are going to write what you want in a way that your readers like it. In the end, it is about that world you keep to yourself, that new step of creativity.
Q: How do you feel about today’s popular literature?
A: They are fun to read. If you think carefully about them, their basis comes from a book two years earlier. “The Hunger Games” is based on “Battle Royal”, a Japanese coliseum type of fighting. “Fifty Shades of Gray” is a fan-fiction of “Twilight.” I haven’t read much of the popular literature of today, but it is always going to be that same cycle. For example, in romance boy meets girl and boy tries to get girl, but the conflict of parental rejection or a sickly disease interferes. Today’s popular literature is basically the same skeleton. It is just named and brought about differently, but it is the same story.
Q: Do you approve or disapprove popular literature?
A: I disapprove it. I think there are good writers out there. Everyone is a good writer. If they gave five minutes of thought and worked a little harder, they could probably create a new genre and a new type of story.
Q: How do you plan to enter the market?
A: I haven’t really thought of a way; I just write. When I finish this novel, I’m going to look for a publisher, an agent, and an editor. When I find that person, I’ll see what happens. If I self-publish then I’ll self-publish. I don’t think there is a set way; I’m just going to go with the flow in the end.
Q: What are your reactions to the average salary of authors?
A: Most authors have a second job. The big mainstream authors can live off of their writing. It is great if you make it big, but at the same time, you might not. I feel literature is at a lower status in society. Kids don’t read as much as they play video games and watch television. That is depressing. If people paid more attention to writing, salaries would go up.
Q: Do you think literature’s status will change anytime soon?
A: Yes and no. I think it is happening, but very gradually.
Q: Do you think the works you will write will make the bestseller list?
A: Honestly yes, the few people who have read my work asked for more. This is the foundation of a good writer. Not asking people to read, but having people ask you to write. Maybe it will not happen with my first book, but I think book after book it will catch on like wildfire.
-Alan Chen
