Our guest author for this week’s tips is the talented Papatia Feauxzar. She is the author of many books and articles online along with being one of the founders of Djarabi Kitabs Publications.
Papatia’s Tips for successful writing are as follows:
Tip 1: Strive to Get Beneficial Feedback
Find a minimum of six trusted beta readers. They can also be critique partners (CPs). If you pick the right people, you will receive less bad reviews when your book is published insha’Allah. Beta readers and CPs are important because they will help you polish your work before editing. Don’t think, ‘They will steal my work or my ideas.’ If you’re meant to write that story, no one can take it from you.
Tip 2: Watch TV Occasionally
This tip can be a bit unconventional because TV can become a fitna if you don’t have a good handle on it. However, if you think about it, the movie scripts are written by writers. So watch TV like a writer. Pay attention to the major parts of the movie you will watch; the beginning, the climax of the movie, the ending, and everything else in between that got your attention. Later, ponder over it. Think about how it grabbed your attention or not. If it piqued your interest, how did the writer(s) make the movie in a way that it was hard for you to tune out. Then, try to write that way to make it hard for your reader to toss your book the minute they start it. You WANT your reader to keep turning pages. You also want to surprise them and weave in original twists!
Tip 3: Read and Review Books
You can’t be a writer if you don’t read. The more you read, the more you stimulate your creative brains cells in my opinion. Reading makes you think of different ways a story line in a book you read could have gone. It also makes you think of other plot twists you would have wanted to read. And this triggers your own positive writing flow.
Reading also leads to reviewing a story mentally. It helps you become more critical of your own work in the process. You will catch yourself thinking for instance, ‘If I write my next story, I won’t write it this way. I’ll be more detailed or not. I’ll use first POV or not. Or I’ll try my hand at third-person close and see how I like it, etc.”
Above all, ask Allah to inspire you to write great stories which will be mubarak and beneficial to you and your audience, amen.
You can find Papatia’s books on her website and on Amazon, both linked below:
Bio: Papatia Feauxzar is an American author of West African descent living in Dallas, Texas with her son and husband. She holds a master’s degree in Accounting with a concentration in Personal Finance. After working as an accountant for a corporate firm for almost five years, Feauxzar decided to pursue Accounting from home while homeschooling her son. You can visit her website at www.djarabikitabs.com.
Abu Zaynah 