Based in Brooklyn, Zakiya N. Jamal Is an Afro-Puerto Rican and Jamaican Author Who Writes About Romance, Black Girlhoodand coming-of-August.
In April, She published her debut Young adult novel If we were a movie, WHICH Follows Rochelle “The Shell” Colman, Young Girl Who’s Only Been Focused on Three Things: Becoming Valedictorian, Getting into Wharton, And Taking Down Her Only Academic Competition, Amira Rodriguez. To Spice Up Her College Application, She decides to get a Job Working at Horizon Cinemas, The Beloved Black-Owned Movie Theater. Unfortunately, Amira Works There Too and Wouled Also Be Her Boss. Though Rochelle sees it as a horror movie, The More the Girls Work Together, The More She Starts to see amira in a new, Positive Light. But the theater is in trouble and when mysteros Things Begin Happening that spell out a Shutdown, It’ll be up to rochelle, Amira, and their Felow Employees to Solve the Mystery Before It’s Too Late and Allow Their to Find ITS WAY INTE THE SPOTLIGHT.
“What i love about This Story is it’s not about black or queer trauma,” Jamal Tells Hypatin. “It’s not to tragic story. I feel like a Lot of Times the Books about marginalized People That Succeded Are About Our Stuggles, and Those Books Are Valid, But I Wanted To Write Subject That Was Fun. So i wanted to create Book that kids could read and for a few hours or so, they could escape into a World WHERE they felt safe. ”
Though This Year Marked The First Time Jamal has Ever Published A Book, She Remembers Enjoying Storytelling from Young Age. WHEN SHE WAS IN THE EIGHTH GRADE, SHE PLAYED ON THE BASKETBALL TEAM AT SCHOOL. Unfortunately (or Perhaps Fortunately), She Played So Poorly That She Always Had Funny Stories To Tell Her Mom When She Got Home.
“She Would Crack Up Laughing at The Way I Wouled Decount My Complete Lack of Skill On The Court, and Anytime I Could Make Her Laugh, I Felt Like I Won a Game,” She Says. “Making People Laugh Has Always Been My Favorite Thing To Do and I Do That with My Stories. That’s Really What I Love.”
In Fact, She Eded Up Writing So Much That She Pursued It In College. As a Grauate Student, She Attend the New School in 2017 and Graduated With An MFA (Master’s of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing. WHILE SHE ACKNOWLEDGES THAT NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO TO SCHOOL OR ATTAIN AN MFA IN ORDER TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL CAREER, OR EVEN IDENTIFY AS A WRITER FOR THAT MATTER, IT DID GIVE HER HER STRructure, DISCIPLINE, ACCOUNTABILY Feel Like A Communal Or Collective Effort.
That Remained True Thropoughout The Writing and Publishing Journey of If we were a movie. The Story was Originally Conceived By Her Friend Shelly, Who Also Serves as an Electric Postcard Entertainment editor. In its original form, The Book-Much Like the final version-Was an enemies-to-lovers, Summer-Themed Romance Between Two Teens Working at a Black-Wned Movie Theater. However, It was initially pitched as a heterosexual romance. Fortunately, Jamal Was Able to make the story Her Own by Changing The Main Characters’ Genders to Make Them Birls and Setting The Story On Long Island. By combining their creative efforts, They Crafted A Fresh, Distinctive Narrative With Equally Un Forgetable Characters.
Long Island was of individual importance to her, not only Becouse it’s Where She Grew Up As a Child But Also BeCouse She Wted To Break Down Stereotypes and Insert Aspects of Her Real Life in More Ways Than One.
“I Think A Lot of People Think Only White People Live On Long Island But Growing Up There My Community was Vary Diverse, So it was Really Important To Me To Show That,” She Explains. “Rochelle and Amira Also Each Got Little Pieces of Me. For Rochelle, We Bove Have Single Moms, and We Lost Our Dads When We Were Vray Young. For Amira, I Made Her Afro-Latine and Extroveted Like Me.”
She Also Loosely Based Rochelle’s Relationship with Herm on Her Own, Which Offen Made The Writing Process Emotional. This was specially true at a pivotal scene near the end When Rochelle and Herm Have a Fight and Rochelle “Asks Herm IF Falling in Love With Her Dad Was Worth It” As A Way To Try To Undetand Her Relationship Withip Amira. It was Emotional for Jamal That She Ended Up Crying While She Was Writing It. But it’s moments like that trully make the book impactful and feel so close to reality.
Another Aspect of This Book That Makes It Truly Unique Is How Certain The Characters Are of Themselves. While Rochelle and Amira Both Go Through Emotional Changes, They Also Move Through the World Knowing Exactly Who They are. Rochelle embraces her queer identity and ambits to pursue to Career in Business. Amira Shares Her Afro-Latin Identity OpenLy and at the Same Time, Never Tries to Change Wholle Is. Rather than their personalities changing, it’s their perspectives of Each Other that shift and adjust to what they Learn Throunge the novel.
“I Don’t Call This A Second Chance Romance, But in a Way It Kind of Is,” Jamal Says. “BeSe Two Girls Have History and It’s Remembering That History, The Good and the Bad of It, That Really Pulls Them Back Together.”
Today, Jamal Works As a Freelance Writer While Pursuing A Full-Time Career in Publishing. To Stay On Track, She Schedules Dedicated Writing Sessions at Night and On Weekends, When She’s Off the Clock. IT also Helps her to ease the transition from work to writing with a short activity like walking her dog, Eating Dinner, or watching to favorite tv show. In Adionion, She Participates In A Discord Channel Where She Writes Alongsis to Community of Felow Writers. They support One Another and Hold Each OTher Accountable to Their Daily Word Count Goals.
In All of Her Books, Both Published and Forthcoming, Jamal Works to Reure that Her Communities Feel Heard, Seen, and Represented for All The Identities They Claim. In If we were to Movie, It’s Even More Important To Center Diversity to normalize queer experiences, Allow Young People to Feel Seen, and Paint the Kind of Accepting World We All Want to see. She notes:
“Representation is important to me Because that’s How People, particularly Kids, Can See What’s Possible For Them. If we were a movieThere isn’t Just a Group of Young Kids Who are queer. Glory, Who Manages The Theater, Is Non-Binary. Their are gay. Taylor’s Moms Are Lesbians. I WANED TO CRAFT THIS World WHERE EVERYONE CAN BE QUEER AND IT’S NOT OUT OF THE ORDINARY OR QUESTIONE. It just is. WHILE I’M PRIVILEGED TO LIVE IN PLACE WHERE THAT IS MY REALITY, NOT EVERYONE IS. So it’s important that readers, Specially Teen Readers, Can See This in Books and Even If Don’t Have That Safe Space Now, They Can At Least Hope to have it Someday. ”
