Hi everyone! Some of you may remember a post I did in January about making it my mission to start featuring more author interviews here again, and I was so lucky to have so many people interested. One of these was Laila Rifaat and I am so excited to be sharing her answers with you today!
1. Hi Laila, I’m so delighted to have you here today! Can you please describe Aliya to the Infinite City for us in 5 words ?
Hi Amy, Thanks so much for asking me to be a part of your blog! Aliya to the Infinite City in 5 words: Adventure, Time travel, Friendship, Mythical Creatures and Flying carpets!
2. This book is your debut, and I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about your journey to publication? And what author experiences are you most excited to have now the book is out in the world?
I’ve always written stories in some form or another but did not pursue it seriously until about four years ago. I did my best to polish my story, then called ‘Fatima and the Invisible Necklace,’ and dove into the query trenches. That was without doubt the hardest part of my journey to publication. Getting rejections and having to try again with the same result over and over! I did get enough good feedback from agents though to keep me going and realized that if I wanted to make it as a writer, I really had to suck it up and work hard. So, I joined critique groups, read books on fiction writing, listened to author writing tutorials on YouTube…and wrote and rewrote. Finally, I sent my ‘finished’ draft to the Times/Chicken House Competition and it got shortlisted! I didn’t win, but I did end up with an offer of representation from Lucy Irvine, my agent. Even then, I still had a lot of work to do on my novel. Like Kesia Lupo (then editor at Chicken House) said: ‘You’ve thrown everything and the kitchen sink at it!’ To learn structure, I joined the 12-week course at the Golden Egg Academy with Imogen Cooper, and also worked with Lucy to streamline the story. That spring we went on submission and ended up with Kesia and Barry Cunningham at Chicken House again. That really felt like coming home. I had been dreaming of being published by them for 10 years, since I first submitted a story to their competition back in 2009.
I think this journey has taught me something about perseverance, and that rejections aren’t personal. The people in publishing that I’ve come across are so nice and really want to help authors succeed. So, no one is going to reject you out of spite. That means that it is up to us authors to work hard to make sure that our material reaches a publishable level. To do that one really needs to value feedback and have a willingness to evolve. Having said that, I’ve also learnt that reading is a very subjective thing, and that you can get widely different responses to the same piece of work. I have also learnt that to put up with this roller-coaster ride that this business is, you really have to love the actual writing.
3. Reading this very much felt like reading a future classic fantasy, and I’d love to know what fantasy books you read and loved growing up? And perhaps some recommendations from the past few years as well?
That’s such a nice thing to hear. I grew up in Sweden with the stories of Astrid Lindgren, some of which are fantasy. I also love Tove Jansson’s books about the Moomin trolls. I find her world-building very inspiring. As a child I loved Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story, and his Momo. In recent years, I’ve loved the works of Phillip Pullman and Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor series.
4. Since the book is set in Egypt, I was wondering what myths/legends from Ancient Egypt you love? Why did you want to make it your setting, and what was your favourite part of writing about it?
I love taking myths and mixing them up with something modern, or of making opposites merge. I’m interested in folklore and urban myths – the kind of stories children would have heard at bedtime in Egypt, like the ones about Ummena Ghula, a lady ghoul who gets up to all kinds of mischief. Every child in Egypt would be familiar with the stories of her. But children in other parts of the world would be told similar stories of similar characters. Myths and legends seem to be quite alike all over the world. Maybe they are so interesting to work with because these myths and legends are part of our collective story, and therefore feel close to us. They are part of our childhood. I think readers enjoy both recognizing something – a familiar thing – that is presented in a new guise. That makes it fresh and funny.
5. The book’s magical school centres on learning to time travel, so I was wondering which parts of the past you’d most want to travel back to ?
I would love to go back to see what Cairo was like in the 20s and 30s, when the streets were cleaner and had fewer cars and more of its natural beauty was retained.
6. On a similar note, we also get to see characters from a future you have imagined. Is that what you think the future will actually look like? What would some of your greatest hopes for the future be?
I do think the future will be extremely tech-heavy, with AI at its heart. I also fear that this will lead to people becoming more and more absorbed by it and worse at communication and togetherness, unless the next generation puts a stop to it and rebels. I hope they will. I’m not against technology, but it needs to be balanced by real life experiences and community.
7. Your worldbuilding, magic system and descriptions are all incredible, and I’d love to hear your tips for writers on how to achieve this?
That’s so nice to hear. I think it’s important not to rush the worldbuilding process. It does take time. Having said that, one shouldn’t go overboard either. I’m a plotter, so I create detailed outlines and do in depth character portraits before I start writing. Even so, I also allow myself to brainstorm freely. I think it’s important to go between a mental state of ‘play’ where you’re just having fun and imagining, then taking whatever you ‘mined’ to the drawing board and giving it structure.
I like to create a ‘Book Bible’ in which I jot down everything of importance in my world. Keeping this for reference is very useful, and especially if you are writing a series. It’s easy to forget details, or even backstory or certain events, so having that document on hand to refer to is very important.
8. Also on the theme of writing, what’s your writing routine like? Do you have any unusual habits or quirks ?
I usually write in the mornings, sitting in my bed with the laptop on a pillow in my lap. Sometimes I go to a coffeeshop and have a cappuccino. All very ordinary writer behaviour, I think. I imagine that coffee helps me write, so it’s been hard to get work done this Ramadan while I’m fasting. I set daily goals, a word count that I must hit. That really helps me get work done. It helps a lot not to think ‘I have to write a novel!’ but ‘I’ve got to write another 500 words!’
9. Finally, can you tell us anything about the second book in the series, which I believe is due out in August?
In the sequel, ALIYA ABOARD TIME TRAIN, Aliya sets off on a grand tour of Egyptian history onboard the time travel train, the Silver Express. I like to think of this book as MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS meets the Hogwarts Express. It has elements of a closed room mystery coupled with the fantastical setting of a time-travel adventure. QUICKFIRE Animal you’d most like to be for a day? Our lazy cat, Moxie. Sunbathing, eating canned mackerel – that’s the life. Although I would prefer freshly baked salmon. As there’s a lot of delicious sounding food in the book, I was wondering what your personal favourite food was? I love tameyya, which are fried patties made from fava-beans with a lot of mixed in greens. I think you know them as falafel in the UK. I must say that the Egyptian version is superior. Song you have stuck in your head right now? A children’s song about the month of Ramadan. It’s being played in every shop you go into. It’s even the bell at my kids’ school (I’m writing this during Ramadan).
Top 3 books of 2023?
Emily Randall’s THE WITCHSTONE GHOSTS, Hiba Noor Khan’s SAFIYYAH’S WAR, Zohra Nabi’s THE KINGDOM OVER THE SEA.
The 3 books you’re most excited for in 2024?
Piu Das Gupta’s SECRETS OF THE SNAKESTONE, Jessica Townsend’s SILVERBORN, and the third instalment of the BOOK OF DUST series by Phillip Pullman.
Thank you so much for reading! Have you read Laila’s debut, or are you planning to? What’s your favourite part of Egyptian mythology and legend? I’d love to chat in the comments!
Amy xx
PS- if you’re an author reading this and would be interested in doing an interview, please do get in touch!
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