She’s All That goes desi in this hilarious, affecting, and sweetly romantic comedy by the author of More Than Just a Pretty Face.
We chat with Syed M. Masood about his latest book release Sway With Me, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Syed! We last spoke with you in July last year. How have things been for you?
I’m all right, thank you! It’s certainly been an interesting year and a half. SWAY WITH ME is my third book that’s coming out during a global pandemic—we spoke previously about MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE and then THE BAD MUSLIM was released—so things haven’t been dull. If nothing else, I can say that it’s been a unique start to a writing career.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
Grade Four. I remember precisely when it happened too. I was supposed to write a short story and I picked a franchise from my youth that has made a recent comeback—the Masters of the Universe—as the focus. It was probably awful, but I’ve never forgotten the magic of that moment. I’ve basically been writing since.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first novel? “Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the 99 Steps.”
A novel that made me want to become an author…. I don’t know the answer to that one, honestly. I was writing years before I’d ever read a novel. I will say that John Green’s work made me want to be a YA author. All of his novels kind of blend together for me because I devoured them one after another, but let’s say “An Abundance of Katherines.”
As for one that I can’t stop thinking about—it’s not so much the novel, but a line. Austen’s “it is a truth universally acknowledged…” How do you escape that? It’s brilliant. There is a reference to it in SWAY WITH ME, actually. The book is, of course, a classic, but I don’t think I’ve ever sat down to write fiction without the perfection of that sentence occurring to me. So good.
Your new novel, Sway With Me, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Book nerd finds a family.
What can readers expect?
Arsalan Nizami is a more earnest and, in some days, a more vulnerable protagonist than I’ve ever written before, so they can expect to follow the journey of a very sheltered young man, who grew up in a home that is basically a time capsule, going to a public high school for the first time. The book is about his growth, his making friends, falling in love, and finding his place in the world.
It’s a rom-com, so it has some of the typical elements found in the genre, but it is also very much a found family book. It’s the first time I’ve written one of those, so that was fun.
Where did the inspiration for Sway With Me come from?
Mohsin Hamid once said, “we’re all migrants in time and space.” I’d just written a book about migrants in time, though not for young adults—THE BAD MUSLIM DISCOUNT. I wanted to write about a migrant in time, and I thought it’d be interesting if this was a young person who is unfamiliar with a lot of modern technology or even modern idioms. There is comedy to be had there for sure and I got a chance to play it up a few times, like the makeover scene I mentioned earlier. It was a fun concept.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
The challenges of writing are the same for me—at least, they have been for the books I’ve written. Aside from the perennial scarcity of time, my other challenging is that I’ve never got a planned plot to work off of.
I’m a panster—that is to say, I write by the seat of my pants—and what a panster needs more than anything else is faith. You have to have faith that things will come together at the end, that everything you’re writing will coalesce into a working whole. Sometimes it’s hard to keep believing, but if you can, in my experience it does work out.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
There is a makeover scene in the book where the protagonist gets a new look and that was a lot of fun to write. I was able to get some jokes that I thought were good in, which is always satisfying.
Aside from that, Nana, the main character’s snarky great grandfather was a joy to write. He improved every scene he was in, which is always nice for an author.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
Stephen King’s ON WRITING is the single most valuable book about writing that I’ve come across. The techniques there really worked for me. Doesn’t mean they’ll work for anyone else, but that entire book is something I can definitely recommend.
I don’t know if I’ve gotten bad writing advice. I have gotten advice that doesn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean it is bad. It just means it wasn’t for me. Everyone’s creative process is different.
This isn’t really advice—it’s a cultural myth—but I do think that I can state with some certainty that the idea of waiting for a muse or a brilliant idea before beginning a project is destructive. Don’t wait. Just write. Inspiration is real. Serendipity is real. They both happen more often to people who are actually putting words on a page than people who aren’t.
What’s next for you?
I honestly don’t know yet. I’ve got ideas and crossed fingers, which sums up the experience of being in publishing rather well, I think.
Lastly, what have your favourite reads of 2021 been?
You know, I just finished NEVER SAW YOU COMING by Erin Hahn, and that’s a special book. Highly recommend it!
