Your Heart After Dark – Author Interview

Hello friends,
how is your reading spree going? 📖📚

Today, after a week and two days later, here comes my interview with Mahtab Rohan, author of Your Hear After Dark. 

 

About the Author

MAHTAB ROHAN is a Canadian writer of South Asian & Himalayan descent. Rohan was born in Ontario and currently resides in the relentlessly cold Canadian Prairies. When she’s not writing stories that keep her up at night, she’s busy perfecting her square rotis and tutoring English.

Your Heart After Dark (September 2020) is her debut novel.

 

Interview with the Author

 

1. Where did you find inspiration for your book, Your Heart After Dark?

   Ans. (pass)

    

2. How do you stay inspired/motivated while writing?

   Ans. Beyond the initial outlining and brainstorming stage, my motivations or inspirations aren’t the key driving force behind my writing: self-discipline is.

   Following a routine like clockwork is what ensures I actually complete a manuscript.
   Motivations and inspirations are the lifeblood of the story, but discipline is the heart that pumps that blood and actually brings your book to life.

   It took me a long time to realize I was missing that crucial discipline factor, but once I caught on, it was a complete game-changer.

   That’s not to say I’m always working like clockwork, though! I take things easy while
   outlining and brainstorming, but once I actually begin writing the story, that’s when I enter discipline mode and follow a strict plan. That includes waking at ungodly (or
   perhaps Godly!) hours, and betraying my night owl genes by sleeping early.

    

3. Which paranormal stories inspired you to write YHAD (Your Heart After Dark)?

   Ans. (pass)

    

4. Any horror writer whom you follow/get inspired by?

   Ans. I don’t read horror that often, and I wouldn’t consider YHAD a horror novel.
   That said, I did enjoy some Anthony Horowitz as a teen. I read his Alex Rider series and then discovered his horror collections. I also had an obsession with nonfiction horror, things like ghost stories, paranormal occurrences, and haunted places.
   
   

5. Any tips to budding authors like us for writing?
   
   Ans. The more you write, the better your writing will become, and the more you read, the better your storytelling will become.
   
   Experiment with different styles, like poems and short stories, especially when you find yourself in a slump.
   
   Whether or not you plan on traditionally publishing, study the traditional publishing process because you can learn a wealth of information on what kind of tropes and mistakes to avoid.
   
   

6. Can you tell me about your favorite books?

   Ans. I get all my fiction from the library, but ever since the pandemic started, I’ve had no library access (and I can’t read ebooks!).

   Before all this chaos, though, I unexpectedly fell in love with Heather Fawcett’s EVEN THE DARKEST STARS and Hafsah Faizal’s WE HUNT THE FLAME. I could never pick a single all-time favourite book but these two have been my favourites as of late.

   I feel super lucky to have come across Fawcett’s book randomly on a library shelf, and I seriously haven’t enjoyed a book that much in years. I absolutely LOVED the premise and setting, and to top it off, there was a second book in the series which was equally as amazing!

   Faizal’s debut was something I had my eye on for a while. After I finished it, the more I thought about it, the more I found myself missing the characters and Faizal’s unique prose. And now I’m trying to deal with all this angst of waiting for the second book.

About the book

 

Maria Chaudhry’s personal demons trap her in a downward spiral, but the beast lurking in Ehmet’s blood can do a lot worse than that.

After a year of living in a prissy suburb, Maria Chaudhry is back downtown. Back to what she never wanted to leave. But she can’t really enjoy it since neither the living nor the dead will leave her in peace.

JC’s death still keeps her up at night and Ehmet’s sudden ambivalence isn’t helping. Maybe she had read his signals wrong and Ehmet was never in love with her like she thought. Or maybe his love is tangled with secrets too dark to speak aloud, secrets about JC’s death and the unpredictable beast in Ehmet’s blood.

When an upcoming hiking trip is canceled, there’s no pretty path left towards the truth. A growing spiral of deceit threatens to tear Maria and Ehmet apart forever, but the beast lurking within Ehmet can do a lot worse than that.

Mahtab Rohan’s debut YA novel delivers a paranormal tale of crumbling friendships, malevolent secrets, and the struggle to have hope in the face of uncertainty.

You can follow the author on Twitter and her website. 

Check out the book on Goodreads.

Thank you so much team Hear Our Voices for the opportunity! ❤️

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