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Interview with Moh'd G. Darwish

Moh'd G. Darwish is a writer from Bahrain who aims to establish a mark and create a difference in a country where writing is not seen as a viable career of choice. We have conducted an interview with him.


What is it like to be one of the writers in Bahrain?
I'd say it's a blessing and a curse as well. Being a writer in Bahrain which is mostly an oil dominant country sure has its challenges of not being taken seriously by society (but then again, who has). Being one of the few people who actually use writing as an outlet to spread their creativity and ideas sure has its perks, but the problem resides in the simple fact that there is almost little to no support. There is no platform to support aspiring authors and writers and even when we have had a couple of successful writers and self-publishing authors, no one truly understands the value or the costs of writing a book. Because to them, it is as easy as opening a program or a notebook and write, they don't understand the lengthy process that it goes through. Luckily, there are professional editors who charge minimum costs in order to support emerging writers but that alone, is not enough. Unless something is formed officially to support the talents locally, it'll be a long time before Bahrain takes writing seriously.

What are the things that influence your writing?
I think every writer has a couple of experiences that are hidden in their writing and I'm no different. There are stories and bitter experiences that have left me in awe of how life can actually put you down, however the most important thing is to get up and fight. There's a famous quote by Tom Bissel that says "A writer reveals the truth even when he or she doesn't want to". It's almost a responsibilty or a burden -for lack of a better term- if you will. I mostly write fiction so I can get away with a lot to be honest. For example, I can slaughter a family of ducks who are subtituted for humans in a world setting and it would be totally fine, however if it was a family of humans... then that's more difficult to get around.

I try to use my imagination and creativity while mixing them with a bit of truth. It could be anything from a conversation I have with someone, or a story I read online where I will read how someone behaved or made wrong decisions and think "that's boring... what if this happened? What would he do?" it all stems from the power of empathy where you put yourself in other people's shoes and basically guess what would happen.

How the culture of Bahrain can give a special perspective to your writings?
Different cultures require different approaches to certain problems which is normal. So, in a way perhaps it gives me more freedom to write what I want, but there are certain things and topics that are taboo when you are writing a non-fiction piece. Aside from that, it allows me to tackle issues with a fresh perspective. It is very challenging really, as writing for a population of -just above- one million means that news travel quickly and often readers can actually predict poorly written books very well. The culture here is very tough, everyone I think has the potential to guess and predict some of the events that take place in popular books really easily and that really gets me to push my writing to be completey unpredictable. Often I can tell when someone has read something I wrote or not by simply the way they greet me in the morning the next day, if it's "Hi, good morning!" then they haven't read it, while if it is "You sick psychopath... How could you!" then that means they have gone through it.

You plan to release two short stories soon, can you tell more about them?
The first short story is titled "Minds: the Secret Society" which I think followed a very consice plot from the early beginning, I was really pleased with how it turned out since I completely re-wrote it about two times before it got to where it is now. It follows a super detective known only as "M" where he has built up a reputation of tackling the cases that makes others hide in their rooms. He is very intelligent and very observative, but I wanted to add another element to this crime story, and I thought the best way to demonstrate or to challenge his capabilities is if I put him in a situation all too real for everyone, and that is... the curse of being in love.

"Jack of Scurvy Bay" is totally another sort of story, it is about Jack, simply a boy who gets to witness an execution in the public square. This event turns his life around as he goes on to become a Pirate searching for treassure and glory. I think this is the story where I had the most fun with, it is more established I believe and is more technical than it seems to be, there are a lot of easter eggs in the early beginning where I pay respect to some of the stories that I admire, and to be hoenst I have already began working on a plan for a sequel but I'm not going to work on it fully until I finish "Dragon Tooth "a novel that I'm currently working on.

I am actually in the process of writing another short story titled "Secret of the Moonlight", all the stories will be released on March, April, and May consecutively.

Where our readers can follow your works and get more information about you?
I have a blog where I post something new every Tuesday 8PM GMT+3, I talk mostly about writing and how it is different (culture wise) as well as sharing some tips for aspiring writers and emerging authors as well.

Although I check all my social media accounts, I am mostly active on Twitter, if anyone would like to beta read or anything, you can contact me using any of the methods below!
Twitter: @infrangilis


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