M.G. Darwish's Blog, page 7

Review: Bishop a Short Story by Ric Santos

A couple of weeks ago, something stumbled across my Twitter feed and compelled me to check it out. That thing was the beautiful cover that you see. Now, being able to actually purchase it though was a completely different story (one, where I had a 2 hour phone conversation with Amazon -story coming soon-).

Something about the cover just compelled me to check it out, and @RicSantos was kind enough to show a couple of pages as a (read before you buy) which I absolutely love when authors do that by the way, and I just read the story.

I felt extremely drawn to it, and long story short, I couldn't purchase it through Amazon because apparently I live in Narnia. So I contacted the author and he kindly provided me another way to purchase the story, and the rest was history.

In the sense that it breaks away from normally found short stories and I found that it executes its concept pretty well (which is a short story to be exact). The story begins after 'The Calling' and the world is pretty much in chaos, laws are abandoned and instead anarchy breeds and lurks in every corner.

The main character, Bishop whom I immediately felt drawn to, is the personification of the word 'total badass' and spends his days hunting for his revenge. After his wife and daughter are brutally killed by a group of criminals, he sets out in an already forsaken world bent on avenging them in the most action oriented way possible: butchering everyone left and right until he gets to the source of the problem.

While I won't spoil how the story shapes, it is definitely a great read, but one that I felt could've used a lot more depth and backstory. A short story, simply does not do the world that Ric created justice, and at the end, I found myself still wondering about what would happen next.

'Bishop', was an absolutely thrilling read, but it was one, where it would leave you wanting more and more. I would absolutely love for a sequel, or even a prequel... or you know, anything!

You can find Bishop on:
- Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/666848
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GXVK62W

That's all for now,

Until next time,
Write on!

My Thoughts on NaNoWriMo

I had a couple of interesting discussions to say the least with a couple of friends about NaNoWriMo and generally, they were quite pissed off at me at the end. Let me explain...

What is it?

First, if you don't know what it is, NaNoWriMo is basically this ritual during the month of November where writers take a pledge to write and finish an entire novel. Yeah, one month, one novel. It couldn't be better than as if you were ordering food from your favorite restaurant (what? I'm a bit hungry at the moment, don't mind the metaphor).

So, my friends asked me if I was going to "take the pledge" this time seeing as I'm already working on my second book and stuff, and they were next to shocked when I told them "I hate it."

Look, I get it, the whole idea and concept behind this is to motivate writers to simply write and get them practicing and whatever. But the fact of the matter is, a good novel cannot be written in one month! Holy shit, if you could do that why not write a book every single month as opposed to focusing on only one? And don't start with the "that's not the point" bull...

I write about 1.5K words a day (and on a good day I write about 3K), so in theory I should be able to do this quite easily. But my problem with this is, that writers who plan on participating often plan the book ahead. They plot it out extremely well and then it's simply a matter of finishing a draft. Good? Yeah I guess. So if you can plot a book so well as to finish it in one month, why are you not doing it as a standard practice?

Why I hate it?

I think it's really demeaning for other writers when they hear about NaNoWriMo. Shouldn't every month be considered a month of writing? It seriously belittles the amount of research, hard work, re-write and editing that authors do when it comes to writing. It is just not as simple as they make it sound to be. Finishing a novel in one month? Seriously? And the excuses that you get "I would write a book every month if I had the time" - Ah! They lose simply by pleading to that excuse.

In the end, I'm really not against NaNoWriMo or anyone who participates in it, in fact power to them for actually getting a draft completed in such a short time but I just don't see myself putting that much pressure on myself (books... you see are really evil). I just have a problem with the message that they portray to the rest of the world.

These are totally my own opinion, and if you disagree with me, then let me know. Leave a comment, or tweet me. Let's talk about it.

Until next time,
Write on.

Prologues - Are They Important?

I've been receiving a lot of messages and questions from family and friends who gazed upon the book that is Dragon Tooth, and the first thing that comes to their mind is: why is there no prologue? Isn't that essential? 



Well, I thought I could discuss it in this week's post (I know I missed a post last week, I'll make it up to you I'm sorry) so here goes.

The short answer is: yes and no. Basically, prologues have developed this sort of reputation that they are used by authors simply to 'info dump' the reader and get them familiarized with the world they're creating, and this couldn't be further from the truth.

First, you have to consider if your story even needs a prologue (I hear you... 'but Mo, how on dear planet Earth am I going to explain my world then?' I'll get to that in a second). The thing is, most books can do without it, and a good question to ask yourself is "if I take the prologue away completely, does it change or alter anything important?" if the answer is no or even a maybe, then yours is not that important.

Second, don't get me wrong, it could be used to drop the reader in the world and have them hooked straight away from that, or completely turn them off by it. The prologue has to add something to the equation, whether it happens way in the past, or way in the future.

One of the techniques I've seen writers often pull, is that they'll have the prologue take the reader through a very important event lore-wise and that without reading it, the true ending would not be unlocked. How? Let me explain with an example:

Let's say, your story revolves around Simon, who is a good old fashioned hero who goes on an adventure to save the princess from the evil dinosaur Bibo (just go with me, right). And the ending would be Simon butchering Bibo and saving the princess, but at the end, the princess notices a scar shaped like an 'S' around his neck and asks him about it, to which he replies "It's an old wound that you don't need to worry about."

Perfect right? Yep, except for the part, that in the prologue, the princess's grandfather summons a witch to predict the future, and the witch says "Your granddaughter will perish at the hands of S".

Now, who was the bad guy? And just who exactly was this... Simon fellow? It offers a lot of perspective to the story, and trust me, while some may not make the connection, others will. Readers are exceptionally smart and will pick up on every little clue you leave them.

So, that's it for this week. If you enjoyed going through this, I'd appreciate it if you could share and spread the word, it really helps.

Until next time,
Write on.

Dragon Tooth Available in Jashenmal - Bahrain!

I am more than happy and excited to announce that Dragon Tooth is available for purchase locally in Jashenmal (City Centre, Seef Mall, and Aali Mall). I couldn't be happier to be honest, and as soon as I got the email, I was on my way to take pictures!
But what good is publishing a book if you can't play around a bit? When I entered the bookstore, my eyes rolled towards the book copy that was on display at the store, and then it hit me. I want to do something crazy, and at the same time motivate myself and so I did this:


So, apart from going there and taking a couple of pictures (more like a dozen) I decided to take a copy and place it next to George R R Martin's brilliant books (A Song of Ice and Fire). This was literally the best I could do without looking like a lunatic (there were people watching going like 'what is wrong with this guy? And why is he placing a random book next to George's books?) but it definitely was worth it!
Then, I got out as quickly as I could, blushing and hoping no one noticed what I did (but come on, anyone would do that!). 
So anyways, you can still order the book through Amazon or CreateSpace directly if you are not in Bahrain (I'm still working on getting it more accessible as 
Finally, I would like to thank Jashenmal for their wonderful cooperation in making this possible.
Until next time, Write on.

Tips on Character Development

One of the questions that I get sometimes is how to create complex characters that don't all sound the same, and if you're wondering (but Mo, it's just text! What is this sound you speak of) I hope you had your fun... you freakin legend.

Anyways, in all seriousness, having a number of characters in a story is accompanied by a lot of different factors and risks. For example, think about your friends in real life, and how even when two people sometimes act the same, and even have the same voice tone but they have that one thing that separates them from the rest. 
No two persons can be alike in a story. This can be translated in the way they say their dialog or key personality traits. Let's take Vendel from Titans (You can check it on Wattpad by the way). Even when technically she is the main protagonist, most readers find her extremely annoying and childish. It's the way she approaches problems and the first impression that she gives.

The first scene that we are introduced to Vendel is when she's attending a class, daydreaming about joining the military. What happens next? She almost gets killed for simply not keeping her mouth shut. Now let's pause for a moment and wonder how many people you know, get in trouble for simply not keeping their mouth shut? A bunch, I'm sure.

That is different than say another character who is calculative and is not impulsive at all, and observes the situation and all options (you can even show the reader what he's thinking) while analyzing the best course of action to take from there. For example, lets say you have two characters: Adam, and Eve (I know... just bear with me) and Adam is impulsive and acts solely on instinct while Eve is the calculative one, and they both happen to see a thief.

Adam would stop him, and simply report him to the authority. He would say something along the lines "How dare you steal the work of others! How selfish can you truly be?".

While Eve, would interrupt him and say "Cut it out! Don't you care why he stole in the first place? What if he was stealing this for his family?"

Now, just like this, we are creating a moral dilemma as well as fleshing out the characters. Who is right and who is wrong? Adam technically wasn't wrong in that stealing is bad, but Eve is the sort of person who would notice the thief's stench and torn cloths and make the assumption that he was stealing because he had no other choice.

Consider this a lot, the base trait of every certain character is extremely important and cannot be altered. A weak person cannot be strong just like that. They must be hardened or the opposite. A cold hearted person might be softer if he (for example) sentences someone to death and later on learns that they were innocent (the opposite is true as well).

You can always use character sheets if you struggle with this, but if you keep each character true to their base trait, you should be more than fine.

Until next time,

Write on!

Emerging Authors and Bookstores - Don't fall for their tricks!

Alright, I feel it's only fair to begin this post with a disclaimer: All the names, examples on this post are a work of fiction... I am a writer and have a very vivid imagination, that is why everything might seem real.

It's been about two months since I released my debut novel Dragon Tooth, and ever since then, I was working on getting it in local bookstores in my country. But before I talk about the progress and what recently happened, I feel like am obliged to give you a little background of where I worked before to establish some sort of credibility.

I have been working as a Business Development Manager at the company that I left back in February in order to focus full time on my writing, and before that I was a Sales Manager for around a year and a half so, I know -what we in the industry call- sales bullshit when I see it.

So! You've successfully published your book! What's next? Oh right, getting the damn thing in stores (sometimes, it might happen magically, but other than that you're going to have to contact them yourself), and this could actually prove a bit challenging.

First thing that you have to understand is that your local bookstore is a business, and sales is what drives businesses nowadays and not good intentions. Pause for a moment, right after you get the shiny email telling you "you need to confirm that you consent to our trading terms before we go ahead any further with this" and just analyze it correctly.

If you have a publisher, DO NOT supply them with copies directly no matter how profitable you think it is. You might think "but what could go wrong?" the answer: everything.

Just hold on, and let me explain. The first thing you have to pay attention to is the credit period and the selling term. If I'm not mistaken, you'll probably see a 90 day credit period (which is totally normal by the way, don't worry), but the most important thing is the selling term. Pay careful attention as emails are considered official and can be upheld in court so don't go around saying "yes" in any way or form.

You see, what most bookstores will often do is slap a contingent on the deal that they will only pay you for copies that were sold, and the ones that weren't will be returned to you. Now, stop and consider this for a second. First there is a 90 day credit period meaning you will only get paid after every 90 days, and then a selling term which dictates that they will only pay you for copies that were sold.

Get the picture yet? Seriously, I don't wanna risk getting sued, but if this helps someone along the way and stops them from getting scammed by these dirty sales tricks, then I'm all for it. As a final note: NEVER directly supply copies of your book. You have a publisher for a reason (even if you are self published using any platform out there, they will take good care of you and won't fall for tricks).

Please pass this along if it helped you or offered insight.

Until next time,
Write on.

Subplots in Stories

This week's post, I thought I should talk about subplots and what their role is in books/stories and whatnot.

Now, some writers believe that subplots exist only to prolong the word count or basically act as filler content. Well, one thing is known throughout the entire globe: everyone hates fillers.

Sub-plots are stories within stories that can be used to explore and enriches the current world that your characters live in or add further depth into their development as a whole. For example, you could have your main character go back and interact with his old buddies back in his home village... or whatever.

Personally, I use subplots not only to develop characters or flesh out the world; but to also add a somewhat unique aspect to the main story as well. For example, you introduce the hero and the conflict as your main story right? The subplot could explore the antagonist perceptive and offer the "other side of the coin".

That way, and tied to last week's post you create inner conflict and force the reader to make a decision who to support or root for. I also have a rule where I add up all the events that happen in subplots to the main plot as well. Like essentially, there's always gonna be a point where the two collide.

I know this was a short post, but that's all for now, I'll probably do a top tips post on this for next week too.

Until next time,
Write on.