Azhar Amien's Blog

Ensuring that you stay creative, and don’t lose hope

In a previous post I tackled the dreaded topic of ‘Writer’s Block’ and how to beat it, assuming that you belong to the camp of pen wielders who believes that it’s a real phenomenon. I say this because you do get those sorts of people who don’t believe in it, and instead feel it’s all in the mind. I’m not really on either side, as I simply consider writer’s block to be a blanket term for the many creative slumps we naturally go through.

The question then becomes: how do you stay creative, and...

Writing is…

Writing is…

My New Book Is ‘Death’s Edict’

In seventeen years of writing I can safely say that it has never happened to me before that I became so consumed by a story that I put my current one on hold.

In August last year I discussed my horror novel in the works ‘The Wraith in the Woods’, and while that story is still very much alive, I’ve hit the proverbial pause button on it in favour of my brand new novel ‘Death’s Edict’.

This is a story that began forming a few months ago when I found myself enjoying a lot of foreign films and...

How to beat ‘Writer’s Block’

I don’t particularly like to use the phrase ‘writer’s block’ as I don’t place a high degree of importance on it as a concept. Nevertheless it’s a relatable term that everybody is familiar with to some extent, so that helps I suppose.

The reason this topic has come up for me is due to the fact that I come across many writers in my Instagram journey who are very talented, but find themselves stuck in ruts or creative lulls and unsure how to claw their way out of it.

Now while there is cert...

Watch ‘The Wanderer’, my three-part narrated story on IGTV

I’ve always had a fascination with storytelling and the many ways in which you can do it. Particularly with the marriage of audio books, in bringing together voice acting and music to create a compelling story that offers a different experience to a traditional written piece.

The dilemma is that I’ve been practicing voices and doing impersonations since I was a child, yet it was always for little more than amusement, of either myself or others. These days I spend a lot of time amusing my two-...

My Novel ‘Black Glass’ Will Be Available On 02 March 2021

The title pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

Be that as it may, Black Glass is a novel that I originally began conceptualising as far back as May 2015, which is just under six very long years ago. In fact it was so long ago that I was actually still a student at the time. The idea was that I wanted to write a novel that put you into the mind of a very complex and dark character that unnerved and at times terrified, but at the same time would be someone you could understand if not relate to....

Short Story: Blade of Malachite

The knight ascended the ruined hill, as grey clouds swirled above a sky split asunder, and lightning wreaked havoc in flashes of perfect chaos. Though the thunder made its fiercest effort to shake the earth, a message sent by the Gods to dissuade him, the knight pushed on relentlessly. The sound of his march matched that of the explosions in the sky, so mighty that brief showers of rain plummeted to the ground intermittently, like fallen angels, battering the rock and ruin.  

A stifling smell...

Insecurity about your Writing

It’s easy to be a victim to crippling insecurity about your writing, and there are many reasons as to why you would hide your work away and refuse to share it with other talents.

The most common reasons that I have encountered are:

Fear, often disguised as being lost in the creative processSelf-doubt over the quality of your workA little too much comparing yourself to othersBelief that your work is not good enoughYour writing is too personal The feeling that your work is not ‘ready’You’re...

Common Writing Errors

There may still be many purists who disagree with me on this, but personally I feel that grammar has become less rigid in the world of free-form writing, expression and style. I am not overly concerned with whether a comma was inserted into the right place, or whether or not you committed a cardinal sin with a misplaced semi-colon.

The simplest reason is that those things never really take away anything from what I am reading. I am far happier allowing a writer to express themselves freely a...

Join a Writing Circle

If you’re someone who is serious about your writing and it’s more than just a hobby to you, you’ll probably be hungry for feedback and thirsty for inspiration. After all the most important return as a writer is the response of readers.

I am not implying that you necessarily have to be pursuing professional publication, competitions or even publication in journals or magazines in general to take your writing seriously. You could simply be trying to build an audience or just be challenging and...