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:

www.djarabikitabs.com

https://goo.gl/xzcrRh

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.

Alhamdu Lillah we are now in the month of Dhul Hijjah and we aim to continue our series on Top Writing Tips for a few more weeks before concluding the series insha Allah.

We will also continue with the #Giveaways and therefore keep your eyes peeled on our Social Media platforms insha Allah.

This weeks top tips has been provided by Zaahied Sallie the co-author of the children’s book ‘We Love to Play Pray.’

Zaahied shares the following writing tips with our readers:

Allah swears by the pen. Expression of this kind in the Quran is called ‘waaw al qasm’. Allah only makes an oath on something that is of great importance.

Therefore, when we write, we are following the best of traditions.

With this in mind, we understand that writing in itself – if pure – is an act of worship.

When writing, bear the following in mind:

• The first draft should be from the heart.

• Try to step away from that first draft for a couple of weeks. Put it aside and let it ‘simmer’. When you look at it again, approach it as objectively as possible. Your first draft will most likely be the first of many. Your original draft will certainly not be the final draft.

• Write every day even if it is only five lines, even if it is only for 30 minutes. Try and set a time for writing when the home is at its quietest. Alternatively find a quiet place to write, outside of the home. A library is usually a good option or a park or cosy spot on the beach!

• Read every day and read a wide variety of books. The greatest tool for writing is reading.

• Become intimate with the dictionary and thesaurus. Learn a new word every day.

• Familiarise yourself with successful books within the genre you wish to write.

• Quality in the design and artwork is imperative when writing children’s books. Do not compromise on quality in any way.

• Be brave and think outside of the box.

You can find more of Zaahied’s works on their website for Red Kufi Books. You can read our review of their book ‘We Love to Play Pray‘ here and purchase the book, and others, from the link below:

http://redkufi.co.za/?product_cat=childrens-books

JazakAllahu Khair to Zaahied for sharing your tips above. We will be doing a Giveaway of their book this week and therefore keep an eye out for that on the blog and on social media insha Allah.

If you are a Muslim Author who would like to be featured in these posts, please contact us via mail@islamopedia.co.uk

Ayeina have been a supporter of ours since the beginning of our book the Young Explorers’ Adventures in Makkah. They carried out a proof read of the initial text, they provided artwork for some of the chapters and even designed the inside cover.

They have provided the top tips for this week’s post on writing tips by Muslim Authors:

1) Utilise the time after Fajr as your mind is fresh and that time is full of Barakah (plus most of the family members are asleep at that time (especially kids *hurray*)). But please make sure you sleep early the previous night to save yourself from poking the pen in your eye while saving your head from hitting the notebook you’re writing on :p

2) When you think you don’t have the time to write even though you have like gazillion ideas in your mind – record it! Record the audio while moving around, cooking etc. (Mundane tasks that you do everyday). It not only saves time but clears your head – without the fear of forgetting all the concepts you had floating in there.

3) Read, read and read. Because readers are writers! It doesn’t mean you plagiarize (plagiarism kills creativity along with your reputation). It means simply reading for the vastness of your mind. For inspiration. For various perspectives. For understanding. For the love of words!

Their book / journal entitled Alhamdulillah for Series is a great tool to bring positivity, thankfulness and shukr into our daily lives.

You can read our review of their Alhamdulillah for Series here and purchase the book from Amazon and all good bookstores world wide.

They also run an annual competition called the ‘Gratitude Art Contest’ which brings together people from all around the world highlighting the things in their lives that they are grateful for. Join their social media pages to view the talented entries and look out for future competitions as they run quite a few in the year.

Thank you to Ayeina for contributing your tips. We look forward to working with you on future projects insha Allah.

If you are a Muslim Author who would like to be featured in these posts, please contact us via mail@islamopedia.co.uk