- Congratulations for your book Efa Fakira. Firstly, tell us a little bit about why you chose the genre of crime fiction to pen your book?
Efa Fakira: Many thanks. Well, it was all started from my first ever short story named train to hell which was crime fiction. Since then, my interest in crime mystery and psychological thriller increased. I write poems and short stories of romantic and other genres as a past time but I like writing crime fiction more.
- The multiple locations in the plot make a very exquisite reading experience. Was it tough for you to visualise the scenes in so many different locations?
Efa Fakira: The immense research about several places and explaining everything in a detailed and well understandable way is itself a tricky task. Also, when it comes to time and date that too was hectic so far because there are few plots where date and time played a dominant role. I had to keep in mind all those things primarily before writing location, date, and time.
- Your plot is nothing short of a blockbuster movie. Do you intend to turn it into one in the near future?
Efa Fakira: It is undeniably a dream of mine, that my book turns into a movie but this too will depend on the situation in the future. I cannot assure it for now.
- Rachel and Nyra are central characters to your book. Did you always envision to write a woman centric psychological crime fiction thriller?
Efa Fakira: No. It was all about the aptness of plots and the story.
- Who or what has been the inspiration behind writing this novel?
Efa Fakira: For characterization, defining situations, creating plots the key factor was my surroundings. The places I visit, the people I meet, the things I feel. For me, inspiration is most of the time, what I observe and feel when I am being surrounded by anyone. Even having quality conversations with people inspires me to write. Moreover, I strongly believe that we can find a whole book, in a single person, the only thing is if we are capable enough to read them or not.
- Your subtitle states that everyone is a closed book. How far do you agree to it?
Efa Fakira: My sight of this concept is clear. At some point in our lives, we have been through turning points and hardships; we feel, blissful someday, we feel sorrowful too, whether it is the feeling of being content, or may it be depression, anxiety, trauma, and pain. We don’t speak about each and everything all the time. No matter how closest the person is, there is some hidden personality within us that is secret to one and all.
- The element of dark is very high in your book. Is there any kind of disclaimer that you’d like to put up for those who may not be fans of thrillers to still give your book a shot?
Efa Fakira: Indeed, it’s all about the choice of one’s own, but apart from crime, there is a message which I tried to convey through my book, with more thrilling essence. And one should go for it.
- How difficult was it to write this novel?
Efa Fakira: Writing a crime mystery itself is a challenge, I have rejected my own 6 to 7 stories before finalizing the one. Writing a crime mystery is like creating a map in your mind which should be accurate. Even a single mistake can raise a chance to create a loophole.
- We all know that writing is a seriously time-consuming effort. So how long did it take you to write this novel and how did you go about dividing your time on a daily basis?
Efa Fakira: When it comes to scheduling a time, initially I used to write for six hours in a day, afterwards I started investing more time in it as it was needful. It took me nearly 1 year to complete this book from scratch to end.
- Your novel is very promising. When will we see a sequel to it or do you intend to do a trilogy around it?
Efa Fakira:
There will be no sequel to the closed book. However, I am aiming to write a separate duology once in my career.