1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
It’s funny, I never knew I had the talent for writing until one day my literature teacher came running to the class looking for that student who chose to write a story instead of a topic in the exam. And she was like, “You wrote this?” I was like, “Yes!” and wondered if I was in trouble. She was just appalled and said, “Why aren’t you participating in writing contests?” And I answered, “I didn’t know these existed.”
I love writing, I have always found myself imagining new worlds, writing dialogues, and thinking really hard about how the stories in my head can progress. I guess it just comes naturally to me.
2. What inspired you to write your book?
I always dreamed of writing a book one day, and it happened to be this one. As for the inspiration, I was reading about Zarqa’a Al-Yamama and wanted to create a character inspired by her. If you don’t know Zarqa’a, she is a real historical figure from pre-Islamic history who had superb eyesight and could see a tiny white hair in a bowl full of laban. She could see invaders from as far as a day and a night’s walk and would warn her people to prepare for a fight. There are many stories about her; some say she had help from Djinn, while others believe she gathered gossip and news from traveling merchants and knew when invaders targeting other villages would come for them. One day, the invaders thought of hiding behind shrubs that they carried and started advancing slowly. When she saw the trees advancing, she told her people, they thought she had gone crazy. Unfortunately, the trick worked, and the invaders killed Zarqa’a. The first thing they did with her body was gouge her eyes out and let the crows eat them. She was my baseline for Mina. However, the character of Mina evolved and developed her own characteristics, background, and story.
3. What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
Mina struggles with restraints. She has to watch herself—to not be sad, to not be angry, to not give in to negative emotions, or the thing within her will start to wiggle itself, and she knows from experience that she can hurt people. But you can’t restrain yourself too much; you will eventually explode. My message is: we all have restraints that we should cater to, but we shouldn’t let them prevent us from being who we want to be. It’s like a game of balance. As Hugo from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame says “Give her some slack, then reel her in, give her some slack then reel her in.” honestly this is one of my favourite quotes, and kind of a universal advice. You can see this in the world we live in, it’s either total freedom or too much oppression. We have to find the middle ground somehow between the two.
4. What drew you into this particular genre?
I love fantasy, it’s as simple as that.
5. If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
Hmm, this is a difficult question! I probably know my characters more than they do themselves. However, I would love to spend time with them over a cup of Quahwa and enjoy it without saying anything.
6. What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Since my book hasn’t been published yet, the only place I could see my early readers reactions is through Goodreads. It’s good to see who enjoyed that early ARC, what their thoughts about it and if it wasn’t really the flop, I think it is sometimes. I would love to see random people pop up on My DMs one day and to hear about their thoughts about the book if they liked it. That would be a treat. Like receiving fan mails, I guess.
7. What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
This might be repetitive, but just write. As a busy person myself, I rarely have quiet time to write anything, so most of my writing is done through my phone. It’s messy, full of grammatical and spelling mistakes, but I’m laying down the bricks for the story. When I have time, I will sit in front of my computer and start editing. You don’t need to force yourself. Write when inspiration hits you.
8. What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
I’m currently working on Book 2 of Rings and Chains, but I also started on a new WIP during the waiting time between the editing process of Book 1 and getting it ready for publication. I couldn’t make myself start Book 2 because I was afraid people might not enjoy the first book in the first place. So, I had to distract myself with something totally different. Now that the early reviews are coming in, mostly positive ones, I found the push I needed to start working on Rings and Chains Book 2. I work on my other WIP when I’m in a writing slump or whenever I get an idea for a scene or something while lying late in bed thinking about the story. While I’m really in love with that WIP and would love to share it with the world as soon as possible, it will have to wait until Rings and Chains series is done. Which may take years. But by that time. I will have a lot of material to work with, hopefully.
You can find me on social media:
Instagram: @yumiche.withbooks
Twitter: @TheAhlamFaris
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Ahlam-Faris/author/B0D956RZ1B?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
About the Author
I’m Ahlam Faris, a self-published Indie Author who have a passion for all things fantasy, I’ve been writing for years, but I’ve only recently found the courage to submit my work to the world, I really hope you enjoy reading “Rings and chains: Daughter of Light and dark.
