Beacon House Author Interview with Najae
Najae is an author at Beacon House who contributed to our newest novel in stories, The Day Tajon Got Shot.
We recently sat down with Najae, one of the authors of The Day Tajon Got Shot. Najae is writing the chapter for Bobby, a drug dealer who gets in an argument with Tajon before he is shot. She's also helped with the character of Dwayne, Tajon’s father. Najae talked to us about her inspiration for writing and the importance of being able to see the world through different perspectives from her own.
“I did this to have experience in writing other than school. I’m creative with art, but I want to be creative in other ways. I’m not usually writing about stuff I make up, just like history and things in school. This kind of writing shows how I think of things, and how I want to write. In school, it’s more about how they want us to write.
People should read this book because it shows the power of young people’s writing, how we can come together and think of a topic that’s happening around the world and in society. And we can put it in our way. We can take things and make it our own. We can communicate, we can connect in our writing to others. I’d want other kids to learn that anything is possible. Like you can do whatever you put your mind to. You can make an awesome story based on adult things, mature things, and learn how to develop an articulate way of thinking.
Was this project hard? Not really, because you’re making it up. It’s hard to put yourself in other pepople’s shoes. Like me, I had to put myself in the shoes of two grown men, and write from their point of view. I’m the total opposite. I’m a young person, and I’m a girl. But it’s a good thing. It shows you can connect with people. In the world, you’re going to meet different people. But you got to treat people like how you want to be treated. You don’t know what they’ve been through, so you have to put yourself in their shoes and try to understand that maybe things are not what it seems.
Everybody has a backstory. They become who they are for a reason. There’s always a reason for change. I’m a kind of a watcher person. I sit back and notice things. I’m a visual, laid-back person, That’s why I’m quiet. All of my teachers say I’m excellent at paying attention. I like to see what other people think. My smartness comes from what other people do, and what they’ve been through. I visualize. I imagine their world, their life. They talk, and I think about it, why they think that way.
I pay attention to everybody. And I just wonder. When people in my school do something bad, I don’t always think of them as bad things. I put myself in their shoes. If this was me, would I want someone to treat me like this? Maybe if I didn’t mean to do it? Would I want someone to criticize me?”