My experience interviewing Danny Jalil

Singaporean author Danny Jalil wrote the historical fiction novel Enrique the Black, published by Penguin. Danny is a multi-talented writer who has experience with film writing, illustrating\writing for comics, and writing novels. Danny is also a member of the writing group Caferati, that is based in Singapore but also has external members.

Danny is a busy person, but he has agreed to give us a one hour virtual interview\conversation on Hari Raya, a traditional new year for Muslims. I'm excited to chair this session, which has also been recorded.

Part 1 of the interview deals with the inspiration for writing this story, the final battle scenes, and the multicultural, religious themes of the book. I learned about Danny's aunt and sister, and how they played a role in his writing.

Part 2 of the interview deals with his writing life, his writing process, and publishing. His advice to beginning writers: "discipline to succeed".

Personally, I learned a lot from reading the book and interviewing Danny. What are the lessons?

Firstly, I learned many things about the early history of the region. I have discussed the parts of the book I find fascinating in my blog review.

Danny has humble beginnings, and he said he didn't do particularly well in school, but he benefitted from writing mentors and has written his first novel in his late teens. 

Apart from the lessons about writing, I've learnt that it is important to optimise lighting for the zoom session. Even though I've used an additional light, it turned out to be insufficient. The interview can be also presented in an audio only, podcast format.

What do you think about this interview?