Ask the Author: Yasmina Diallo
Answered Questions (5)
Yasmina Diallo
Mostly from my own experience in the fashion industry. I wanted to share messages of body positivity with women who feel disempowered and caricatured by our modern world’s obsession with the female body. Beauty, body image, workplace harassment, female rivalry and dating are subjects that enter a woman’s life as soon as she hits puberty and I think that our obsession with the idea of being good at all those things is harmful to young girls. A woman needs to be “good” at beauty, “good” at self-love, “good” at dealing with bullies, “good” at ignoring gossip, “good” at being both one thing and its opposite and the list goes on. Through Yousra’s journey, I wanted to show that what really matters is finding joy and comfort within yourself because womanhood looks different for every woman.
I also wanted to invite people inside the head of an introvert. The internet has glamorized introversion a lot and I feel like today, introverts are falsely perceived as extraordinary humans who never feel embarrassed or mortified in public settings. Through Yousra, I wanted to show that introverts can experience anxiety as intensely and awkwardly as anybody else. Yousra is someone whose taciturnity in public completely clashes with the chatterbox that she becomes when she opens her journal and most of the time, introversion really is just that. Approving smiles and friendly head movements that hide a very animated inner life.
I also wanted to invite people inside the head of an introvert. The internet has glamorized introversion a lot and I feel like today, introverts are falsely perceived as extraordinary humans who never feel embarrassed or mortified in public settings. Through Yousra, I wanted to show that introverts can experience anxiety as intensely and awkwardly as anybody else. Yousra is someone whose taciturnity in public completely clashes with the chatterbox that she becomes when she opens her journal and most of the time, introversion really is just that. Approving smiles and friendly head movements that hide a very animated inner life.
Yasmina Diallo
“Comparison is the thief of joy” is the quote authors should live by. People write different things for different reasons and with different goals in mind so unless you’re writing a memoir, try to always remember that what people have to say about your work is not what they have to say about you personally. Don’t overthink neither praise nor critic.
My other advice would be to write for yourself as much as you write for the world. I think that writing stories that you know you’ll never publish is a good way to honor your own private author world. Every author writes to be read, of course, but I think that we also write because we enjoy it a lot, don’t we? So write things that are just for you to read. Poems, funny stories, one-chapter books, anything that will help you remember that what you enjoy most about writing is precisely writing, even if no one reads you.
My other advice would be to write for yourself as much as you write for the world. I think that writing stories that you know you’ll never publish is a good way to honor your own private author world. Every author writes to be read, of course, but I think that we also write because we enjoy it a lot, don’t we? So write things that are just for you to read. Poems, funny stories, one-chapter books, anything that will help you remember that what you enjoy most about writing is precisely writing, even if no one reads you.
Yasmina Diallo
A tribute to a furry companion, a novel where patriarchy and feminism agree to disagree and the first picture book of a collection for children.
Yasmina Diallo
Inserting inside jokes and coded languages in your stories that only you can understand and laugh at.
Yasmina Diallo
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha, Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid, Almond by Won Pyung Sohn, Le Chemin De Jada by Laura Nsafou, The Conference Of The Birds by Attar, Songs Of A War Boy by Deng Thiak Adut, The Devil The Lovers and Me My Life in Tarot by Kimberlee Auerbach, Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 by Cho Nam Joo, Breasts And Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, Oui Mon Commandant! by Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Too Much Soul The Journey of an Asian Southern Belle by Cindy Wilson, the “Love Is” collection by Puuung.
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