Guardian Angel: Me Us Them is the first novella from Fatima Begum (MA International Politics, 2009). Here she talks about her journey from idea to published book.
How did the idea for your book come about?
In relations to how this book came about and about me in general, I’d say one word could define it all – rollercoaster. I guess the turning point was when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I was already writing a story for Wattpad – an app that provides a platform for anyone that wants to share their writing. Then a new story came to me. It took me just over a month to complete. It was short, but I would get lost in my own world whenever I began typing and it felt right to end it where I did.
It’s a paranormal romance book, and the strangest thing was that I had never read a paranormal romance book. I wanted the reader to not just read it, but feel like they were in the book and watching the events take place. I wanted the reader to identify with the characters and feel what they felt. Emotion was key for me. The physical aspect of love has been written thousands of times, my book had to be different.
The story is about a girl waiting for her ‘Guardian Angel’. Then enters another character that affects the emotions of the male protagonist, so the reader can see the different emotions play out. The ending is more to shock the reader. This is why the book was short. I was impatient; I wanted the reader to feel one emotion after another before they could recover from the previous one.
What happened next?
The book was just waiting to be published. After thorough research, I decided to self-publish as an e-book, and then later take it a step further and make it a paperback. As it was my first book, I had been giving out free copies to gain feedback until a friend put his foot down. Now a number of Secondary schools have agreed to have it in their libraries.
I’ve also completed the second in the Guardian Angel series. Still an e-book but I’ll work on publishing it as a paperback by the end of this summer. One thing this whole process has taught me is that if you want something, then you need to go for it, fight the obstacles and do the work to achieve it. I’ve also learnt that you need to be able to sell yourself – a skill I am still developing.
Any advice for new writers?
Once you have an idea in your head, write it down. From there, just keep writing, do not put it off. Let your imagination flow and see how that one simple idea turns into something amazing. I would also say write for pleasure and get lost in your own world because that is when your imagination works best. Never give up!
Both Guardian Angel: Me Us Them and Guardian Angel: Before and Now are available from Amazon.
If you would like to read more of Fatima’s writing, please visit www.fatimabegumwriter.com