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Bahraini fantasy author MG Darwish plans to enchant even more readers around the world with his latest novel, Titanlord: A Thousand Ashes.
Mohammed G Darwish, known better as MG Darwish or just ‘Darwish’, is releasing his fourth novel next month, a direct sequel to Titanlord: Of Death & Sacrifice released in 2018.
The 28-year-old Bahrain Polytechnic graduate told GulfWeekly: “I’m not a full-time writer, because such a career isn’t viable at our region at the moment.
“Writing is not something that you can do for a few months and expect to turn it into a full-time job, it’s a long process that you must have the endurance and dedication to pull through. That’s why most amateurs quit right at the first book mark because they begin to understand the level of work and commitment that writing really requires.
“You have to write for completely selfish reasons. I write the books that I wish I could read, and that is why I will never stop writing, because there’s always something going on at the back of my mind. Aspiring writers should always read, read and then read some more. Over the years, I’ve personally invested so much of my time to help any aspiring writer.
“I come from an entrepreneurial background and work in sales and marketing, so it was a bit easier for me but that is not always the case. I’ve been doing this for about six years now, and it has only paid dividends after four years, three full novels and seven short stories!”
With more than 4,000 copies of his work snapped up via Amazon, Darwish has developed a fan following among those who enjoy his action-packed dark subjects and vivid scene descriptions.
So far, he has self-published three novels: Dragon Tooth, Titanlord: Of Death and Sacrifice and Fortier: The Long Night.
He has been nominated for several awards, including the Contemporary Read Awards 2016, Watty Awards for Hidden Gems 2016, the Wattpad for Best Story of the Year 2017, and the Online Book Club and Awesome Indie Book Awards for Book of the Year 2019. Fortier: The Long Night and the first Titanlord novel broke into the Top 50 and Top 100 charts in multiple genres on Amazon, respectively.
He explained: “Contrary to popular belief, a career in writing and self-publishing does not only consist of writing. My process goes well beyond the writing itself, whether it’s marketing, advertisements, promotions or newsletters.
“When I started, I read a lot of articles about mistakes that new authors make. I didn’t really have anyone to ask or learn from when I started my publishing journey. I had to make a lot of mistakes until I figured out my audience and voice.
“The USA is where 83 per cent of my online readership resides. The rest is scattered between the UK, Canada and Australia. Bahrain represents only three per cent of my audience.”
Of his local fan base, Darwish’s biggest supporter to-date is his wife, Zainab, who has helped promote his work whilst providing honest feedback.
Darwish’s fascination with fantasy writing stemmed in university when he started to create universes around the books he would want to read and develop his own process.
“Depending on how much time I have, I usually target a good 1,000 words a day until I reach a bit further into the story, then my target shifts into chapter mode,” he explained.
“I am definitely a night owl. All my creative energy comes out at night, I light a few candles, play some soundtracks and just write, and generally, authors write about what they know. That is why you always find me researching and reading books, articles or even research papers. Because our writings have to reflect a certain level of reality that can hook readers and only then can we truly take them through the journey or the experience of reading the book.”
Titanlord: A Thousand Ashes is available for pre-order now and will be released on October 14. Follow @infrangilis on Instagram or visit mgdarwish.com for details.
