M.G. Darwish's Blog, page 6

WRITING BLOG AND BOOKSTORE SHARING TIPS, WRITERLY ADVICE AND SOME BOOKS TOO READ MORE

3 Tips on How to Craft a Good Chapter

Alright, so I've been researching some folklore and haunting stories for... research purposes (don't judge), and I came across a few good points that helped me write a few storylines that I could use in one of my books, so I decided to share with you a few tips to write really good chapters for your work as well.
1. Prep! Do your research and work.Chapters can be seen as stories within a story. A roadmap towards a fitting end or in your case, the 3rd act of your main plot. Every chapter should push your character a bit further and drive them into a corner or some form. If the stakes aren't high enough, the reader won't bite, and nothing jumps out of a story, unlike a filler that is poorly researched. If you're writing a vampire story, a quick search will pull up some interesting names such as Striges (a beast who could separate their upper body in an instant and grow wings, attacking people). Is your hero visiting a village on the way to that mysterious fort that the baddie is residing in? You guessed it, have Striges make an appearance.
2. Beginning, middle and an end.Every chapter should have a beginning, a middle and an end. In the same way, the book does, however, the seeds for a great chapter can be planted in the beginning of the story. Complicated? Let's take do a quick example:

Main plot: Pirate goes out to find the fountain of youth. This plot is explored fully in the book but the sequence goes like this:
Chapter 1Pirate witnesses an execution, and decides to embark on a quest looking for a way to change the world. They are chased off by the authorities because Pirates are cool, and they can't stand someone to be cool other than them (roll with it).
Beginning: Pirate witnesses execution.Middle: Pirate decides to embark on an adventure to change the world.End: Pirate escapes the authorities on a small raft. The world is their oyster! Chapter 2Pirate meets a historian who is intrigued by them and offers to join the crew under one condition: we try to find the fountain of youth. Because the local authorities have been researching techniques on how to make people immortal, and they don't want anyone to live forever, so by finding it, they are totally sticking it to them.

Anyways, you get the gest of it.
3. A lasting effect.Ask yourself this: why do people hate fillers? Because they are boring and add no value except waste time. That is why you should avoid writing anything that doesn't contribute to the bigger picture. A chapter should always add something to the character, whether a new scar, a new comrade or a change in behavior... Give readers something! If all fails, you can always resort to the default: teach them some lore by the end of it. Have the hero be questioned about their identity and at the end of the chapter, they learn their true ancestry.

If you follow these steps, chances are you might get just a bit better at crafting that great chapter of yours. If you have any comments or would like another post like this, be sure to get in touch and let me know! No really, I mean, suggestions on what to cover would definitely help out a bunch.

Until next time,
Write on

Writing 'GOOD' Evil Characters

I wanted to write about villains lately (as obviously, that's been what's on my mind for the most part... for good reason, don't judge). This is the result of my own understanding about how humans actually work, think and do things that sometimes we do not understand ourselves (could easily work the same for magic creatures too).
We tend to forget that villains are not made of evil. They are normal beings, and evil is just what they do. Once we establish that fact into the minds of the readers, then and only then you will have a villain worthy of a thousand tale! Below are some tips that I wanted to share with you!1. Backstory, and BackgroundThe first important aspect of every good villain, is a good backstory. Let's say for example, therein the world of Eisena (literally just made that up, sorry if sounds weird) is a villain that was cursed by the Kings of Old to roam the underworld unappreciated and alone. Want to add more depth? When traversing there, they learn of a secret conspiracy that combined some close friends. Betrayed, defeated and left for dead, they were offered a chance to rectify that mistake and they swore that humanity would pay the price. That such a world cannot hope to exist... why? Because if it was, they would be stopped. If the world was strong enough, they would stop them. What is the point here? Deep down, the villain WANTS to be stopped. They are just doing this as a statement. Adding a plot twist here and there as well can do wonders (make him the Crown Prince of the biggest Kingdom, and their brother organized this whole thing to get him out of the way).
The biggest mistake writers sometimes make when doing this, is that the motivation behind villains is just plain shallow (I.E he wants to get the legendary crystal, and use it for world domination... sure but why? Is there any reason why he believes he can do a better job than the current occupant of the position? Or is there something to it?). I think evil characterizes with choices, because bottom-line, the only difference is just the line that Evil can break, and Good cannot. They make choices, villains just choose differently.
2. Clear Motives, and Strong CharacterKeep in mind, this may differ when writing a mystery novel or something similar, but readers can't get confused. They must be able to tell who is the villain and basically know what motivates them (we talked about this a bit in the previous point). There was an instant where I introduced a character and purposely made him so vulgar, rude and arrogant that it was nearly impossible for anyone to have any sort of connection with him. But then the magic starts, the journey to turn him into a likable character, or at least to have readers understand just why he is so despicable. 
I spent a good amount of time writing this character and I was enjoying every second, and let me tell you... I had fun, showing some sides that humanizes the villain is a very important aspect as well. For example, in this instant, the villain went on and on looking for the protagonist just to slaughter him (meanwhile, he would battle and kill as many followers of the protagonist as he found) but then we learn the true reason why he holds such hatred. His daughter was killed in a proxy war that the protagonist started. Just look at real life, no matter how crazy or vile someone is... they are bound to have followers around them. Ever wondered why? Because the closer they are, the more convincing the arguments. 3. Sense of Danger Imagine a scene, where the hero of the story is captured by bandits or pirates, and the villain comes to the hero's rescue... How embarrassing would it be for the hero? Or better yet, you could shape it that he didn't know who saved him. Have the villain toy with the MC as Red John did to Patrick Jane on the Mentalist, you know, have the reader worry about the protagonist! They have to be so terrified, that they think once the two meet, that'll just be the end of the book as they know it.

This can be achieved through different methods as well, give the antagonist a clear advantage (IE. he could be a professor gone mad, or a military genius), something that the protagonist cannot hope to compete with, and has to come up with interesting plans or a grand finale that forces him out of the comfort zone. Perhaps the hero chooses to do a lesser evil for the greater good, by choosing to murder the antagonist in a vile and gruesome way. Have them cheat, for example, they result to trickery and somehow convince the villain to kill themselves (in a mystery novel per say, where the hero simply cannot find anything to incriminate the villain, chooses to simply "fake" evidence and present them as truth).

I'll be sure to write another part about this, but for now, let me know if these tips will help you or how they will impact your writing process; I'm really interested.

Until next time,

Write on.

Tips on Writing Villains

I wanted to write about villains lately (as obviously, that's been what's on my mind for the most part... for good reason, don't judge). This is the result of my own understanding about how humans actually work, think and do things that sometimes we do not understand ourselves (could easily work the same for magic creatures too).
We tend to forget that villains are not made of evil. They are normal beings, and evil is just what they do. Once we establish that fact into the minds of the readers, then and only then you will have a villain worthy of a thousand tale! Below are some tips that I wanted to share with you!1. Backstory, and BackgroundThe first important aspect of every good villain, is a good backstory. Let's say for example, therein the world of Eisena (literally just made that up, sorry if sounds weird) is a villain that was cursed by the Kings of Old to roam the underworld unappreciated and alone. Want to add more depth? When traversing there, they learn of a secret conspiracy that combined some close friends. Betrayed, defeated and left for dead, they were offered a chance to rectify that mistake and they swore that humanity would pay the price. That such a world cannot hope to exist... why? Because if it was, they would be stopped. If the world was strong enough, they would stop them. What is the point here? Deep down, the villain WANTS to be stopped. They are just doing this as a statement. Adding a plot twist here and there as well can do wonders (make him the Crown Prince of the biggest Kingdom, and their brother organized this whole thing to get him out of the way).
The biggest mistake writers sometimes make when doing this, is that the motivation behind villains is just plain shallow (I.E he wants to get the legendary crystal, and use it for world domination... sure but why? Is there any reason why he believes he can do a better job than the current occupant of the position? Or is there something to it?). I think evil characterizes with choices, because bottom-line, the only difference is just the line that Evil can break, and Good cannot. They make choices, villains just choose differently.
2. Clear Motives, and Strong CharacterKeep in mind, this may differ when writing a mystery novel or something similar, but readers can't get confused. They must be able to tell who is the villain and basically know what motivates them (we talked about this a bit in the previous point). There was an instant where I introduced a character and purposely made him so vulgar, rude and arrogant that it was nearly impossible for anyone to have any sort of connection with him. But then the magic starts, the journey to turn him into a likable character, or at least to have readers understand just why he is so despicable. 
I spent a good amount of time writing this character and I was enjoying every second, and let me tell you... I had fun, showing some sides that humanizes the villain is a very important aspect as well. For example, in this instant, the villain went on and on looking for the protagonist just to slaughter him (meanwhile, he would battle and kill as many followers of the protagonist as he found) but then we learn the true reason why he holds such hatred. His daughter was killed in a proxy war that the protagonist started. Just look at real life, no matter how crazy or vile someone is... they are bound to have followers around them. Ever wondered why? Because the closer they are, the more convincing the arguments. 3. Sense of Danger Imagine a scene, where the hero of the story is captured by bandits or pirates, and the villain comes to the hero's rescue... How embarrassing would it be for the hero? Or better yet, you could shape it that he didn't know who saved him. Have the villain toy with the MC as Red John did to Patrick Jane on the Mentalist, you know, have the reader worry about the protagonist! They have to be so terrified, that they think once the two meet, that'll just be the end of the book as they know it.

This can be achieved through different methods as well, give the antagonist a clear advantage (IE. he could be a professor gone mad, or a military genius), something that the protagonist cannot hope to compete with, and has to come up with interesting plans or a grand finale that forces him out of the comfort zone. Perhaps the hero chooses to do a lesser evil for the greater good, by choosing to murder the antagonist in a vile and gruesome way. Have them cheat, for example, they result to trickery and somehow convince the villain to kill themselves (in a mystery novel per say, where the hero simply cannot find anything to incriminate the villain, chooses to simply "fake" evidence and present them as truth).

I'll be sure to write another part about this, but for now, let me know if these tips will help you or how they will impact your writing process; I'm really interested.

Until next time,

Write on.

How To Make Characters Jump From Pages

I've been getting some questions about how to flesh out a character in a story. Writing a believable protagonist seems to be difficult for new writers but once you nail some basics, it becomes given. So I decided to write about some of the things that I do and consider when writing a new character.

1. Always introduce them first.
Nothing is worst for the reader than a character who is shoved in the story. Hey, it might work out fine but if you don't properly introduce him into the story, it might get hectic a bit further down the line. Now the way to do this, is to always have a scene that basically shows a bit of his personality and story as well. Start up a rumor upon his arrival, have them challenge the best, or bully the weak (in writing, please don't do this).

For example, let's say we want to introduce a bad ass character named "Flowers" -see the conflict at the very beginning? Bad ass conflicts with Flowers, so this should be a piece of cake (no pun intended... and this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm hungry)! Upon his arrival in the world or the place that the protagonist is, have them cause a stir, no one knows how to deal with this character who simply oozes badassry. Have them wear a top hat, and whenever they say something clever they flick it a bit.

Now, let's say this takes place in a tavern or an inn, and there is a fight. A bandit is bullying an old man, and every one just plays along and is laughing at this, to which Flowers intervenes, he flicks his top hat and says "My, what have we here? A bandit who knows no honor and good manners; what a surprise".

How does the bandit respond? By throwing a fist at our own Mr. Flowers, who quickly dodges, hold his arm and twists it, pushing him to the ground. Mr Flowers smirks and then twists even harder. "Would you like I teach you some?" he says as he glazes into the old man and winks at him.

"Who are you?" The old man asks, stuttering and nervous for some reason.

"Captain Flowers, at your service." he says as he loosened his grip on the bandit, and makes his way towards the exit.

"You're a Pirate? Here? I'm afraid you are in for trouble for assisting me . . . you see this place is ravaged by the likes of him," the old man says, pointing at the bandit.

"I know. I'm counting on it," Flowers says before he disappears.

Now, look at what we achieved with this short little scene that introduced a character that is simply too big to ignore as part of the scenery, we have established that he is the captain of a Pirate Crew, and that although he makes a living off of stealing ships and other... piracy things, he doesn't tolerate bandits -a thing that has apparently pushed him to come to a place where its full of them.

The reader will wonder about the goals of Mr. Flowers, why did he come here, and why the hell is his name so funny.

2. No character speaks the same.
This is a bit obvious, a character must have a unique tone to him, the way he says the letter "R" for example, and contrary to popular belief, dialog needs not to be perfect. "A charcatere, might speak however he desires, and is allowed to make mitsakes -I did that on purpose-" though don't think this is an excuse for bad grammar, it is literally quite the opposite. A Pirate for example would go like "Aye Captain, I be seeing a big and pretty island next to me eyes!" and the Captain could punch him straight in the face "why don't you speak like a normal person?" well, normal is boring.

Think of real individuals that you meet on a daily basis, although they speak the same language, none have the same backstory. Thus, a character must always be driven by a motivation. Something he lacks that he is after... whether that is revenge, power, lust or greed is up to you to decide, but seriously think about the key characteristics that differentiate your best friend from the rest and build it up from there.

3. How about you do an arc for each main character?
Seriously, you can do this as a subplot where they need to go back to the character's roots or home town just to figure out what went wrong/right in their life and try to see things from their perspective. It's a great way to add depth and weight to your book because the more time you spend flushing out the characters, the tougher it is for your readers when you kill them! Um... Sorry, reflexes...

By the time I finish properly introducing my characters, I'll sometimes be at the 40K mark depending on what I'm writing, but in the case of my current WIP, I did a character arc halfway through the book while shrouding her in mystery. Even her damn name changed everything for the protagonist. You can take your time with this really, but if you want to have that human connection to establish, readers have to know someone's why before they understand the how.

I've rambled quite enough, so if you got any questions on this, shoot me an email or find me on Twitter (where I'm most active) @infrangilis or you could just leave a comment here! I promise I'll respond, even if you tweet "The Penguin Overlord is watching you." at me. No but really, don't tweet that please.

Until next time,
Write on.

What I accomplished in 2016 - Yearly

Happy New Year!
Okay, so let's start this with: happy new year everyone! I hope that the next year will bring you more joy than you could ever dream, and may you brim with not only confidence, creativity and focus, but also taste amazingly good food (food is life amirite?)!

So I thought a lot whether I should do a post about new year and at first, I didn't actually want to do it (being that I believe simply wishing new year resolutions is not only a waste of time but its like a comfort pill that we take at the start of every year for the sole purpose of feeling good about ourselves. So in the year 2016, I started around 14 different projects, and completely finished 9 of them, 6 of those are published currently.

Needless to say, I was already planning on making a list of everything I published during 2016, which is a good tracking measurement to be honest if not anything, and so I decided to share this with you! Call this the yearly review of what I have achieved (I'll also post the blurb or synopsis of every story along with the cover and link), but first let's begin with this:

Highlight of the Year:


Well, this kinda deserves its own post to be honest, and I was gonna plan on doing the moment this was done, but unfortunately, sometimes life sails in such a direction that you cannot possi... Okay fine, I'll do it pretty soon.
Anyways, this was seriously a great moment to me personally, I'll be sure to write about it next year (sorry, couldn't resist) but those aspiring authors was seriously the icing on the cake for me. To see such an enthusiasm for writing in such a small country is without a doubt something to be proud of, and I really hope I get to read their stories pretty soon!


Stories Published:
These are the titles that I completely managed to finish and are available for you to read right this moment! I tried to do this based on the order of when each got published, but oh well...


Minds: The Secret Society



In the fictional city of Ganea, a super detective by the name M exists. He is one of the most renowned detectives known for tackling cases that often others shy away from. But unfortunately, not even he, could escape the jaws of love.

Link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0173UW9YO


Dragon Tooth




Set foot upon the magical lands where Magic Guilds battle to the top! Dragon Tooth is one of three of the strongest guilds in the known lands. Follow a story of fantasy, principles and mighty battles!

Link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GP03GZY



Jack of Scurvy Bay




Jack of Scurvy Bay follows a young man's adventure and rise to power. His thirst for freedom and treasure drives him away from his home town, where they they often neglected any person who grew to have ambition. The authorities manage to catch and execute one of the most elusive pirates currently known in the world, and ironically, that thing is what sets Jack our hero to take on a life of piracy.

Link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/665859



A Duck's Sacrifice




A Short Story intended for children, but then takes a very dark path. This is one of the first stories I ever wrote.

Link:
https://www.wattpad.com/216708795-a-duck%27s-sacrifice



Secret of the Moonlight




A number of unsolved cases demand the attention of a famous detective, known for tackling a lot of mysterious with success. His success rate has garnered him enough reputation that criminals fear. Isabelle is the girlfriend of Calvin Greyson, son of the well-known Jack Grayson, and after he receives a threatening letter, she runs off to the police to seek their help.

Link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/683013


Kind of the Land



A just King has struggled to have an heir to his kingdom, he is persuaded to summon a witch and gaze into the future, and see what happens. But needless to say, he didn't quite like what he saw, but regardless... Sometimes not even a king may alter destiny.

Link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/691532


Other works (along with status):These are some of the titles/stories that I began writing but either didn't publish yet or decided to cancel them all together. Keep in mind, a lot of these titles have been dissected and pieced in other stories or books that have been published.


New World: Beginning of a New Dawn
Status: On hold.

Description:
This is one of my favorite works as well. Back when I was mainly a scriptwriter, I had this idea and wrote the script to an amazing story (I'm biased here a bit...). It revolved around Sophon, an apprentice of a great leader that was recently executed by the Supreme Council and leads an open rebellion against them.


A Guilty Confession

Status:
Discarded.

Description:
This was the initial skeleton of Secret of the Moonlight and Minds, so think of it like it sacrificed itself to bring you two of my favorite stories so far!


Deathworker

Status:
To be started soon.

Description:
More info will be released soon.


A Tale of Horror (Title to be determined later)
Status:
Canceled.

Description:
I always wanted to write a horror flick. I started working on this story back in May, but decided to cancel it for the time being. It was about a girl trying to summon a demon simply to understand their world. Needless to say, things get quite out of hand very quickly.


Luna's Dream
Status:
Completed, will be published in early 2017.

Description:
It is a tale of a child that learns about Lucid Dreaming, and aims to master it in order to meet her late father. Soon though, she learns that her dreams are more than just dreams...

Fortier: Blood & Moon


Status:
Completed, will be published in early 2017.

Description:Fortier is the story of Alfred Zeidan, a vicious, deadly and renowned vampire that secluded himself away from everyone for hundreds of years, until a message reaches him from his father calling for his return.
Part of him knew that this was about the Bertrams, another family of vampires that are fierce rivals and sworn enemies of the Zeidans, in fact the sole reason why he shunned the world he grew up with was because of the fighting and long standing feud between the two families.

But alas, he returns... for better or worst.

Titans: War for the World



Status:
Main Project, will be published in early 2017.

Description:
A dark epic fantasy that takes place in a world where might is the separator of the brave and the cowardly. Ancient history texts speak of prominent Titans who long controlled the world. It was not until King Magmar the First that their rule came to be challenged.

Needless to say, the Magmar dynasty prides itself in being the sole reason why mankind has flourished for as long as it did, casting away the false rulers for eternity . . . or so they thought.
Achievements Unlocked:Published my first novel.Nominated for multiple awards on Wattpad.Featured on Wattpad.Participated in Writers of the FutureMet Chaker KhazaalTry out different sort of writing platforms (Wattpad, Smashwords, Amazon, Channillo -soon I swear-)Until next time,
Write on.

Dear Amazon, I do not live in Narnia

First of all, before I begin with this week's post, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I didn't get my gifts so I'm going to assume that Santa wrote me in his naughty list this year...

This is the story of when I tried to purchase a short story I found the other day while going through my Twitter feed and I just felt compelled to read the rest of it (the author had provided a free sample on his website) but unfortunately, the short was only available on Amazon at the time.

You know, Amazon? The website that houses the works of almost every writer on the planet? The one which I used to publish my debut novel and a bunch of short stories as well? Well, apparently I live in Narnia, as I couldn't for the life of me purchase a copy (it was only made available through Kindle).

I wasn't all too happy to be honest, and after doing a ton of research, I figured out the reason why Amazon doesn't allow me to purchase Kindle books on the same platform I use to publish my Kindle books, and no you are not imagining... I do have a little bit of attitude, but what would you do were you in my place? Give Amazon a call? Yep you got that right!

I kept my Snapchat(@infrangilis) updated as the story was happening, and living in a small country, getting a call from Amazon is as exciting to some as the um... just imagine something very interesting alright? Thanks.

I stayed on the phone with Amazon for about two to three hours that day, while they checked their records and tried to help me (I feel I must add that they were extremely professional and just awesome), but my beef isn't with the employees, my beef is with the service itself.

Yes, they did inform me that the sole reason why I feel like am living in Narnia right now is simply due to them not having digital distribution rights in my country, but they did assure me that they are constantly expanding their reach and the middle east is definitely an area that they will not miss, but the thing is... I informed them via email and through conversation that I could expedite things over here.

We have an awesome ministry that takes care of the youth and all initiatives and I am almost positive that if I approach them with this, they'll do everything in their power to help bring the magic of Kindle books to our lovely country. Their response? Not much.

You might be thinking that I'm being a bit tough on Amazon even though they provide authors a lot of assistance and services, but seriously... It's a matter of principle, a person can publish their work through Kindle, but his local audience is basically being cut off by default. That's not okay, and I'm not that crazy about that to be honest.

So what's the point of this blog? Nothing, this is simply me steaming off my frustrations while hoping that it makes for a good story. I do not expect this to change anytime in the near future, but I felt like I needed to share this story.

Until next time,
Write on.

Support for Indie Authors

So this was long overdue... Indie authors have a lot on their plate, they have to basically learn to do it all themselves whether it's marketing, designing, layout formatting on top of the actual writing itself. That is why you often hear that writing a book is the easiest part. Now, the question why I opted to write this now is very simple: it usually takes me days in order to find a good editor who understands that indie authors do not 'shit' gold. Not all of us are Tywin Lannisters eh?

Now, the thing is I understand how important it is to get your work edited, but do you really have to charge emerging authors ridiculous sums of money? Professional editing is ranged between 600$ and an go to a staggering 2000$+ to get a novel edited, something that realistically new writers cannot cough up as they do not have publishers behind them.

Is it worth it? Absolutely, never underestimate the work that these editors do, I mean seriously, all the power to them right? But since not everyone can afford the luxury of spending thousands of dollars on their manuscripts I thought I would share some of my favorite editors with you (keep in mind, I highly recommend these editors and they don't charge a fortune):

1- Beta Reading & Editing:

The people at 'SimplyBetaReading' offer great packages that you can rely on to improve your craft. They offer a range of services like Beta Reading, as well as some editing packages. Their prices vary depending on your style of writing but rest assured; it definitely won't break the bank!

Website:
http://simplybetareading.com/services.html

2- Manuscript Critique

Victoria Griffyn offers to critique your manuscript for a very low price compared to her expereince as an experienced editor and is in my opinion a bargain. She also has a YouTube channel and offers subscribers a 10% discount.

Website:
http://www.victoriagriffin.net/editing-services.html

YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ladyace0007

3- Professional E-book Formatting

I was actually surprised to find this service as well, you get best selling authors and editors to edit your work of up to 100K words for a simple fee of 60$ only. If you do a little research only, you'll begin to appreciate just how much a bargain this really is.

Website:
http://www.fictionworks.com/ebook-formatting

That's it for now, let me know if there is something specific that you want me to cover as well and I'll do it. It was really important for me to write this in the hopes that someone will benefit from these great services.

Also, for my countrymen and any writer residing in Bahrain, get in touch with me if you need any of these services! We have a community to support each other locally, and I would love to have you be part of it (we do this thing where every weekend someone sends something they wrote and everyone provides feedback).

That's it for now,

Until next time,
Write on.

To Anyone Who Could Be A Writer

I've always wanted to write this post, and also forgive the lack of posts but I have a lot of good news coming your way! But for now, I felt that the time was right for me to write a message to anyone who could be a writer.

Writing is a form of art, and it has many categories you see, if you are already doing the work, that means you should definitely consider getting the most out of it. So to all of those who simply dream of becoming great poets or authors I say: wake up, it's time to get to work. The thing about writing is that it's a habit and not something you do every once in a while. In the words of Mr. Chaker Khazaal (the most influential Arab of the world) "writing is like praying, you shouldn't give an excuse as to why you're not doing it".

In my humble journey, I've been blessed to have met a lot of great individuals who have amazing talent, hopes and aspirations... But it's funny that these are the ones who are filled with doubt and consumed by the idea that for some reason they're not good enough. But what are they comparing themselves to? Traditionally published books go through at least a dozen rounds of editing, where every round consists of the following:

Developmental EditingCopy EditingProofreading If you believe that your work is sub-par to them, well of course it's going to be, since you are competing and comparing your own style of writing to others, it doesn't work that way. That's why we write the stories we want to read. WE the authors are the ones creating whatever world we want to create. We are the ones researching the materials we want to shed light on, so to compare yourself to another writer or more so your book to another is the worst crime you can commit to yourself. 
Some will love your work, others will not -that is a given, and that's the beauty of sharing your work with others, they're allowed to disagree with you, but you aren't allowed to quit because of it since the more you write the better you get. Think of it this way: every mistake you make, is one that you won't repeat in your future, so grind, write, make mistakes and learn from them!
That's all for now, 
Until next time,Write on.

When I Met Chaker Khazaal The Most Influential Arab in the World

(Sorry for the low resolution picture, I seriously should've wiped the front camera)
On Wednesday 19th of October 2016, I met someone who I have wanted to meet for quite some time now. Not only an author, a journalist, speaker and champion for human rights and refugees, but also the most influential Arab in the world, Mr. Chaker Khazaal.

I went there, filled with questions, and I didn't hesitate to ask. Immediately, I said "do you feel a certain pressure about your title of being the most influential Arab in the world?" to which he answered "I don't think about it really, it's nice to be get these rewards of course, but that isn't why I do what I do. In the end, you just wake up and go to work."

He was extremely humble, down to earth and just simply amazing. Words cannot describe the feeling and sensation that you get by just being around him, you just feel incredible, invincible even. That maybe, all those voices in your head that fill you with doubt, get quashed by his aura. His story, is one worthy of remembrance.

So what happened then? I pounded him with one question after another, and I felt like he was my big brother, to whom I was just complaining about the hardships of publishing a book in the middle east, and what I got from him was to just keep on trying, and to never be ashamed of my work.

And then, I told him about the doubts that I had in my mind, and how it sometimes feels crazy and hectic. Sometimes, the inner doubts that one can have, are his only demons and obstacles to success... And then, he told to first, sign a copy of my book, and then READ him a part of it. It was an amazing exercise to be honest, and one that definitely helped. In his own words "I hope by doing this, you'll remember what you have done."

So in the end, I'd like to just say to every aspiring author out there, and to anyone who is having doubts about sharing their work... Just power through it! Remember who you are, be okay with making mistakes, learn from them and be the very best that you can be. Because in this day and age, we do not have the luxury of having an excuse why we didn't do something.

If you'd like to check out Chaker's book (which I totally recommend by the way, go over to www.chakerkhazaal.com

And to Chaker, I say: It was an honor meeting you, and I hope that we will meet again soon (and this time, have you sign my copy of 'Confessions of a War Child').