Interview Conducted: Brittany Perez ( Oh My Bookness )
With Author of "The Sender" Bushra Satkhed
Today I'm very lucky to be interviewing Bushra Satkhed, she is a young self published author well on her way.
Here to to tell us a little about herself and her first novel "The Sender" a YA fiction thriller/murder/ mystery!
A young lady in for the love of it, and to see where it takes her. A nod to following your dreams and to what you want to do.
Today I'm very lucky to be interviewing Bushra Satkhed, she is a a young self published author well on her way.
Bushra thank you for agreeing to this interview. Can you tell the readers a little about yourself and your background? And what inspired your writing career?
No problem! Thank you for this oppurtunity.
I'm from India. I was born in Mumbai and I've been living in Saudi Arabia since birth. I shifted to Bahrain when I was 7 years old, in grade 3. We lived in Manama, the capital of Bahrain for 4 years. Then, I shifted to India in grade 7, when I was 11 years old and lived in Aurangabad.
The next year, when I was 12 (grade 8), we shifted back to Saudi Arabia. Now, I'm in grade 11, 15 years old.
I live with my parents and elder brother.
I love writing, drawing and acting. I also like playing basketball and badminton. Tennis is my favorite sport but I never got a chance to play it.
I love writing, drawing and acting. I also like playing basketball and badminton. Tennis is my favorite sport but I never got a chance to play it.
I also like entertaining my friends and family cause I'm considered as the 'joker' of the group.
I love writing a lot. But writing is not my career as I’m still a high school student.
Q. You were 14 when you published your first book, what challenges did you have to overcome to make it happen?
Well, first was the challenge of writing the book. I used to think it’s an easy task, just write and edit. But when you do it for real, it’s not as easy as you think it is.
You have to work hard and think of a good story, write it down, think of characters and make it happen. It takes a lot of time, you’ve to be very patient and dedicated.
I started writing this book when I was 12. As I had school work and other activities, I couldn’t find enough time to write.
I somehow manged to find time and through hard work, finally finished writing it when I was 14.
I somehow manged to find time and through hard work, finally finished writing it when I was 14.
Next was the publishing process. I needed an agent or publishing company to publish the book. But I had no one to help me get to them. My parents were not very interested, so I decided to self publish it.
I self published it on lulu.com in July 2013.
Self publishing helped me get my work out there.
Q. Looking back, and had a chance to do it all over, would you? The process of going through self publishing, marketing and promoting? Or would you choose another path than being a author?
Not at all. I regret nothing. This journey of writing and self publishing has thought me manythings. I’m still a teenager and not a professional ‘author’. I like writing and I’ll continue to write books. But if it doesn’t get me anywhere, I can do something else in life rather than being an author. My future depends on where this book will take me and I’m hoping for the best.
Q. Where do you see yourself and your writing career in the future? What are your ambitions for it?
As I said, I like writing. If I get a lot of readers and if this book takes me somewhere big in a few years, then yes! I see it as a long term career. I already started writing my next book.
If it doesn’t get me anywhere, I will do something else in the future but continue writing books as it’s my passion. . I don’t want to be a ‘writer’. I want to become an author but that depends on where this book will take me.
Q. Which writers have inspired you?
I am not a very big fan of reading- something you’ll never expect to hear from a person who has written a book, but that’s true. Don't get me wrong, I do read short stories and poems online.But not novels and other big books.
However, I love 'Diary of a wimpy kid’ by Jeff Kinney. He is an amazing and hilarious author.
Also, authors like J.K. Rowling, John Green, etc.. have inspired me. Not through the stories they write, but their struggles and hardwork, the story of their lives have inspired me.
Q. Pt. 1.What have you written?
(Include books, short stories, poems, blogs, awards, anything of interest)
So far, I've written only this book. I used to write poems, short stories, speeches when I was young and I still have a few of them in my files. (I hope I do. I had written many but was able to save only a few because of shifting into different places/countries.)
Pt. 2. Did it help you realize your interest in pursuing a writing career? If so why? No, Why do you think not?
Yes. I used to write poems/short stories/ jokes since I started holding the pen!
Basically, most of my friends, including my best friend, loved reading. While I loved writing. I am not a very big time reader as you know, so I decided to write a book instead.
Q. Is your family supportive of the path you chosen?
I have their moral support and also my dad supports me financially to some extent.
A Peek into "The Sender":
Q. What genre are your book/s?
Murder mystery, thriller and horror.
Q. What is " The Sender"?
The Sender is a murder mystery fiction novella.
Q. What is "The Sender" about?
It is about a 15 year old girl, Jennifer who lives a normal life. She has amazing parents and loving friends. Overall, she has nothing to worry about and her life is going perfect.But nothing ever lasts forever, right?
Suddenly, she starts receiving strange e-mails from an ‘Unknown’ sender. The mails were quite meaningless and so, she decides to ignore it. But when mysterious deaths take place in the city, she realizes that they are connected to those mails in someway. Soon, she starts investigating on these mails with the help of her best friends, Kate and Trix. Together, they go through a journey full of twists and turns and finally unleash the secret of the sender with harsh consequences that change her life forever.
Suddenly, she starts receiving strange e-mails from an ‘Unknown’ sender. The mails were quite meaningless and so, she decides to ignore it. But when mysterious deaths take place in the city, she realizes that they are connected to those mails in someway. Soon, she starts investigating on these mails with the help of her best friends, Kate and Trix. Together, they go through a journey full of twists and turns and finally unleash the secret of the sender with harsh consequences that change her life forever.
Q. How did you conceptualize, begin to write your book? Do you have your own unique process? Do you get your ideas from surroundings, history, actual events?
I don’t know, the idea just came to my mind. Yes, I do get my ideas from surroundings, history and actual events. I got the idea to write this book from my spam mails.
Q. What draws you to this genre?
Since a very young age, I loved watching horror/thriller movies, reading (or listening) short stories based on horror, crime, mystery, detective etc..
I love suspense and adventure in life.
Q. Did you do any research for " The Sender"?
Not specifically. I had to only do a little bit research about London (since the story is based on it)places in London, street names and cities for the book.
Questions for the Author:
Q. How did you begin in writing? For example was your sole purpose to become a author, to get published, or for just for the joy of it?
I just wanted to utilize my free time and enhance my love for writing. It wasn’t my ‘sole purpose’ to become an author or get published. As time passed by, the thoughts came along and I self published it.
Q. What topic would you refuse to write about?
I don’t think there’s any topic I would refuse to write about. It all depends.
Q. Who is your least favorite character in "The Sender"? Why?
If I say that, it can break the whole suspense of the story ;)
Q. What was the hardest thing about writing "The Sender"?
Almost everything. The whole story was hard to write because so many things went through my mind and it was very difficult to put everything in the story, write the correct dialogues and arrange each scene in the right order.
Q. Who is your favorite character from the book? Why?
I love Sam (Samuel, Jennifer’s younger brother). He is cute, smart and really sweet.
Q. What's more important to you, characters or plot? Or do you find both equally important?
Both are equally important. If the characters are good but the plot is not strong enough, then there is nothing interesting in the story.
And if the plot is good, but the characters are boring, then the reader may feel that they’re not good enough to fit in the story and thus make the whole book dull and boring.
Q. Is there a snippet from your book that you would like to share that is meant to intrigues us readers?
Sure:
*****
“What in the world is this?” Kate asked.
“I have no idea.” I said.
“It makes no sense.” Kate said.
“Hey Jenny, check who has sent you this mail.” Trix recommended.
I agreed and quickly scrolled up to see the name of the sender. It was written- ‘UNKNOWN’.
We looked at each other, totally confused. We had no idea who had sent this mail and moreover it made absolutely no sense.
“Today is 23rd right?” Kate asked and we nodded.
“Anyone knows any ‘Anthony Sullivan’ here?” I asked.
“No.” was their reply.
“I wonder what this means.” Trix mumbled.
A moment of silence passed.
“Who cares?” I said shrugging my shoulders.
I decided to delete the absurd e-mail, and then deleted it forever from the trash too.
Just then, Mrs. Moore called us down for dinner. We ran downstairs. The dinner table was set. The smell of fresh roasted beef got me excited.
*****
Final Thoughts:
Q. Do you have any advice to aspiring writers?
I would just like to say, never give up. No matter how hard it seems or how impossible you think it is. It’s a very lonely journey but believe in yourself.
Do what you want to do and give your best shot. Have faith in god.
Q. Any last thoughts for our readers? Anything that I may have missed or you may like to add.
I would just like to say a big thank you for showing interest in my work and helping me J
What if.....
(A nod to many of us who think, "what if the character did this..?)
Q. Imagine your main character dies on he first page! Oh No....what would you do if everything else remains the "same" and the plot stays the same?
I’ll most probably:
Continue narrating the story of his/her flashback.
Or he/she will revive after a few chapters.
Or make him/her a ghost and they’ll take revenge on people who killed him/her! :P
Last but Not Least..
Q. how can readers discover more about you?
You can find me on:
To Purchase Book:
COMPLETELY NOVEL:
SHOP MY BOOK:
LULU:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/bushra-satkhed/the-sender/paperback/product-21813568.html?ppn=1
-Book links (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, uk, etc.)
-Book links (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, uk, etc.)
Contact/Social Media and Other:
Gmail:
Goodreads:
Twitter:
Linkeden:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bushra-satkhed/41/841/a29? domainCountryName=&csrfToken=ajax%3A8315039619368306470
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Published 13th, October 2014 by Oh My Bookness©
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