Pakistani-American author, teacher, and attorney Aisha Saeed has published 7 books (one forthcoming) in just the last two years. She spans everything from Young Adult novels to children’s books, settings from Georgia to Pakistan, and even to Agrabah and the Amazon island of Themyscira.
Her 2018 novel, Amal Unbound, quickly found its way to the NYT bestseller list, and has since won a lengthy list of awards. Hayat spoke with Saeed about some of her inspirations, writing and publishing during a pandemic, and more.
You’ve written in a pretty wide age range, from picture books to young adult – do you find it easier to write one or the other? Is there a particular age group you most like to write for?
When it comes to my original stories, I never set out to write a story for a particular age group. My ideas begin with the voice of the main character and the character leads me to the story I will tell including which age category the story will be for. For me, the hardest category to write is definitely picture books. The simplicity of a good picture book is exactly what makes a good picture book so difficult to write. On average my picture books are under six hundred words. Within those brief words, one must convey a nuanced character, plot, setting– as such each word choice matters so much. As challenging as this can be, I love this aspect about picture books and the focus on word choice and brevity is something I take with me to my other projects.
Your books also span settings – Amal Unbound in the Punjab region of Pakistan, Yes No Maybe So in Georgia, and even Diana and the Island of No Return in a fictional setting. How do you choose and create your settings, and why these ones? What personal connections do you draw on to craft them?
When it comes to my original stories, my characters come to me before I settle on what the story will be about. For Amal Unbound, I had an idea of a girl who lived in my ancestral village in Pakistan– her voice spoke to me and over the course of many months I sketched out the details of her life– her likes and dislikes. For example, I knew she had sisters and I knew she loved poetry. When I read an article about Malala Yousafzai later that year, a clearer idea of the plot began to crystalize– a story of a brave girl like Malala but whose name would never appear in headlines like Malala’s did.
The voice of Maya in Yes No Maybe So came to me as Becky Albertalli (my co-author of the book) and I canvassed for a local election. As we went from house to house, an idea came to us about two teens doing exactly what we were doing. We began to imagine what it would be like if one was Muslim (like me) and the other was Jewish (like Becky) and from there a story about love and political awakening came to be. I’m grateful to readers who follow me from story to story as I know that I don’t write in one particular genre or age category.
For work that is not my original intellectual property (Wonder Woman, Aladdin), I am entering into a universe where the characters and the setting are already well established. Instead of creating my own sandbox, I’m playing in one that has been crafted by many before me. But even with these stories, I do draw from my own creative well and I do have to connect with their voice. I work on thinking through the emotional arc of a character’s story. To create that arc, I draw from my own life, and iterations of the character that precede me. As I work on this, I find my own meaningful personal connection, and from there the story unfolds.
Your books also have a theme of strong female protagonists, as well as questions of faith and culture. Are there any broad values, lessons, or inspirations that you find yourself always coming back to in your writing? What do you most hope your readers will take away from your books, collectively?
Thank you! My goal as a storyteller is to write an engaging story for my readers that will transport them and engage them. I never aim to write a story where the main goal is to teach something in particular. That said, when I reflect back on the stories I have written thus far, one connective thread between them all, whether they are realistic stories or fantasy, is the emphasis on holding on to one’s hope, even when there seem to be a myriad of reasons to give up. I hope this is a message that young readers pick up when they read my stories.
You also have a couple of collaborative works under your belt: do you find it more challenging, or easier, working or writing with others? What differences are there to the creative process working alone vs with someone else?
Writing is a task most often done in solitude, so having the opportunity to collaborate with someone and have them share that journey of words, is a true gift. I am very grateful that I was able to work on Once Upon An Eid with my friend S.K. Ali to edit brilliant Muslim voices and bring their short stories (as well as our own) to the written page. And writing an entire book with my dear friend Becky Albertalli is an experience I will treasure forever.
It felt as though we had a shared mind as we created the vision for this story would be– that is likely in huge part due to our long standing friendship as well as our shared experience (canvassing for a local election) on the topic we were writing about together. It’s such a gift to be able to share your earliest draft with someone you trust– and to have someone as invested in your story as you are. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity twice.
How has the pandemic affected your productivity and process? It seems like you’ve put out a good number of books in the last 9 months or so, how much of that work was done in lockdown?
Books take years to create– the ones that hit shelves in 2020 (Yes No Maybe So (Balzer and Bray), Once Upon An Eid (Abrams), Diana And The Island of No Return (Random House/DC) were all years in the making and the actual task of writing was done long before 2020. That said, this pandemic has certainly impacted my ability to create. I have several books coming out in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and as the mother of young children who are suddenly home full time, it makes things complicated as I do need solitude to create. I’m grateful for a supportive partner who helps me find space to write, but I’ve also had to carve out time (writing on weekends, at night, in the early morning) to make it work. It is not easy, but I am grateful I get to do what I love for a living.
What’s up next for you?
My next book is book two in the Wonder Woman Adventures trilogy, Diana and the Underworld Odyssey, where young Wonder Woman will brave sea creatures and supernatural skeletons in her quest to save her friends and the world. It will be out in May!
