Hazia’s Reflections

Most of the questions asked were ‘helpful’. They prompted the 3 of us, fresh newcomers, to say the right things.

Examples:

1) How does writing change your life? Milestone?

- My answer: It makes me look at things in a different way, makes me more alert to the happenings around me.

2) What are you going to do next? Write more short stories, write a novel, market your work overseas, etc?

- My answer: Can I say all of the above? (laugh)

3) Where do you get your inspirations from?

- My answer: My characters are inspired from the people around me and real life environments.

Follow up question: Aren’t you worried that people may guess you writing about them.

My answer: Frankly? Noo! (big laugh)

4) I noticed that you are all educated in Malay. How did you overcome the language obstacle?

- My answer: My struggle with the English language started years ago when I changed career from Accounting to PR. Despite graduating top of my class (local varsity), I was told that my English wasn’t good enough. I’ve worked hard to improve it for the last 7 years.

5) Do you have a favourite setting i.e. Malaysia, etc?

- My answer: Most of my stories are set in Malaysia, though not 100%. 1 is in Sri Lanka. 4 of my stories are set in behind-the-scene hotel environments since I used to be a hotelier.

6) Do you have a favourite genre? What about your future work?

- My answer: I tried to write in several genres. For my upcoming work, I’m exploring different things, try out new styles, experiment more and see what comes out of it.

These are all great questions:D. Thank you.