Author Interview: Mahem Fatemi discussing The Ruins of the Heartless Fae

Hello readers!

In today's book episode, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Maham Fatemi, the author of her debut YA Fantasy novel The Ruins of the Heartless Fae. Join us as we delve into the creative process, inspirations, and experiences that have shaped Maham's writing her fantasy book.

Links for Author Maham Fatemi:
Facebook | Instagram | Website: Signed Copies 

Synopsis of The Ruins of the Heartless Fae:
Eighteen-year-old Kolfinna is a fae, a near extinct race of “heartless” monsters. The Hunters, the military, and the Royal Guard all want her dead for the murder she committed last year.

When Kolfinna is finally caught by the Royal Guard, they offer her a choice other than death: help them search for magical artifacts in an ancient fae ruin and they’ll erase her crimes. The catch? No one has made it out of the ruins alive. The other catch? The wicked Blár Vilulf will be there. The same powerful ice soldier who maimed her and left her for dead last year.

But evil monsters, strange writings, and ancient magic lurk within the crumbling walls of the castle. Kolfinna might be the key to surviving in the ruins, but she’ll have to cooperate with Blár and learn about her own dormant abilities if she wants to save them all.

My Goodreads book review: HERE

Transcript

0:00 Hello. This is Charity, your booktivevert reader, coming with you with an exciting guest with me today. Her name is Mahon Fatimi. She is an indie author of her debut novel called The Ruins of the Heartless. Fay what makes this a really great novel is that I had to run and talk with her is because it has to do with the Fay being hunted and being instead of being the hunters. Kofi is a Faye who's out on the run, afraid of being found out and being hunted down for her magical abilities. Until one day her luck runs out and she is found by the royal guard. And the royal guard takes her in and gives her an ultimatum. You need to either help us out or you're going to have to die. She is being tasked to go into the ruins of the castle, which is Harfed heritage. And even then they come across dangers and monsters and everything in between. This has a little bit of a slow burn romance, a lot of magic, a lot of magical creatures and obstacle and danger that I have to recommend that you go pick it up now. Maha Epatomi is a writer, an avid reader and a cat lover. When she's not obsessing over her books, you can find her skimming, a new cookbook, reading comics or drinking an unhealthy number of oatmeal glates. She writes young adult and new adult fantasy. Maham lives in Chicagoland area with her husband, son and cats. And in this episode, we're going to go over her book, her new debut novel that's going to be published on June 13 of this year. And we're going to get to know her characters and how she came to writing this fantastic novel. Come join me today. I'm here today with Mahome Fatimi. She wrote a book called The Ruins of the Heartless. Fay I came across this book on a book, Sirens. This is my first book I ever reviewed on that website. And the first thing that popped up to me was it was about the Faye. I mean, Faye is big Faye. I'm like, oh, that's amazing. And sometimes it's overdone. And then when I looked at the description, I was really intrigued by it just because it was a different perspective. It's about being hunted instead of being the hunters. And that's what really drew me into this book. I loved a lot about it and I just wanted to ask for your time to talk about it because 2:16 thank you for having me. Yeah. 2:18 So what inspired you to write this book in particular? 2:22 My answer will probably surprise you, but over a year ago, my husband was playing this video game and it's called like Dark Souls. I've never played it, but I saw him playing it and it was really dark and there was all these castles and ruins and I was watching him and I was like, I want a story that has something to some type of vibe like this, and then that's how the story came to be. I mean, obviously my story is not as dark as Dark Soul. 1s Because my story is like young adult, right? And I was like, I wanted to add some sort of mythical creature in there because I knew she was going to be like a different race, like a magical race. And so I was like, what should I? Okay. I could do the faith. It just happened. I was just like, okay, out of all the mythical creatures that are there, I was like, this one seems to fit the story the most. And it seems like, like the best fit for her because I always wanted her to have some sort of nature powers, right. And so it only made sense that it was like, okay, she has to be like a fairy or a Faye. Right? That's how it came about. U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 3:29 I love that because you never know what the inspiration comes from writing a story. 3:35 Yeah. It came out of nowhere because I had just had a baby recently at the time, the vibe and everything, I was like, I want to do something with this. And then that's how it just came. I have no idea what the actual story of the game is, but, like, the images and stuff, I was like, I'm vibing with this. I want something to do with this. 3:55 Yes. 1s I think I'm just I'm gonna be, like, so much about it because I think a lot of it was so creative and so interesting to me, the way you approached a lot of the themes in the book and just the creatures in it. And I'm just like, oh, my gosh, I don't even want to be there. 2s I was so shocked. But I loved it. Thank you. And I flew through that book, and it was 500 pages, and I flew through it. 4:25 It turned out longer than I expected it to be. 4:28 Yeah. How long did it take you to write that? That's always a big question for people starting out with 4:33 books. So the initial draft, I mean, it was really quick. It took a month. But that's not my normal just, like, write a book a month or no, it just somehow took a month. I don't know how, but editing it and making it perfect, that took, like, five, six months. 2s It took a little bit, but not as long as other people. But not as quick either. Right. Yeah. 5:06 I was expecting oh, it took me two years. I was, like, a month. 5:10 Yeah. 2s The thing was, I had originally, a few years ago, I had some sort of idea with this book, so I kind of repurposed some scenes, like, reedited them and tried to add them. So that's why I think it took a little bit quicker. But generally, I don't take a month to write a book. It usually takes me longer than that. Editing it. Oh, my God. Editing it took forever because. 1s There was just so much I needed to fix, especially since it's like my debut book. I wanted it to be perfect. Right? Yeah. 5:46 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 That's awesome. 2s So just tell me a little bit about the magic system in the book. I was very fascinated about it because it was just such a unique approach. And then how was that like the human's magic is different than the Faye magic. Yeah. So the humans have elemental magic without the Earth element, because that's like for the Fay. So the humans can have the elements is like lightning, fire, water, air. I don't know if I mentioned fire. Yeah, that was one of them. And then there's only maybe like 10% or 20% of the humans that have elemental magic, and then the rest of them have this magic called enhancer magic, which is basically like super strength. Right. But for the humans, it's really hard for them to use their magic and to learn it. And while the complete opposite, it comes to them very naturally. And they have a few magics. They have the nature magic, where they can manipulate nature. They can make trees grow. They could use the vines. Kofina loves to use her vines and roots to attack people. And the rocks, 6:56 I was like, oh, yeah, like the stone and rock Earth magic. They also have, like, this lost magic called rune magic, which Kofina at the time doesn't know anything really about it because it's lost magic. 7:09 Yeah, very lost magic. And I think I liked how she and tell me if I'm ever spoiling anything. We can make sure that it's not in there, but I'm like, she's rediscovering that in that castle. And that's what I really loved, is like, she's getting in touch with that, and it's just an amazing journey to see her go through. 7:25 Yeah, especially since that whole culture is being wiped out. They're considered the dangerous ones, the monsters, and the Faye is always considered monsters and oppressors and all this stuff. But this time, they're hunted. They want to be killed, and there's people out there for them. Our main character, or Kofina, is that correct? Kofina. Yeah, Kofina. She was on the run and she was captured, 1s and it was epic. 7:58 I like the development of your female main character. 1s Thank you. A lot of times that these female characters are very powerful. They're confident, they can take the world. And Kofina, she is really good at what she does, but through life circumstances, those insecurities came in, her doubts come in, and I think that is such a beautiful character to be written, because you can be strong with still have those Insecurities. 8:31 Sorry. No, you're fine. Yeah. I really wanted her to have her own flaws. She's only 18, so I was like, okay. When I was 18, I was so insecure about so many things, and so yeah, she's insecure about her looks, her appearance, like, her body, especially. It's like, she goes to this castle on this mission with all these really fit soldiers, and she feels even more out of place. And another Insecurity of hers that recently had developed was that she used to be really confident with her magic and her abilities, and then she got defeated by this soldier, and she just like now she's like, I don't even know if I'm strong. I'm probably weak because I lost him so badly. U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 9:18 Yeah. She even says, I've been humbled by it. And I'm like, no female character ever says I've been humbled. 1s That's why I loved it. And one thing, I have a pet peeve, right? And it's like, oh, I got the skin tight suit, and it fits me perfectly. And your character actually gets stuff that doesn't fit, and it heightens the insecurity, too. And I'm just like, 9:41 oh, thank goodness. Yeah, 9:45 I just think that it's just the character is really strong. The side characters are. 1s Fun. Normally, if things happen, I just like, whatever happens, happens. But I was rooting for every single one of them. And you created such a strong side cast, and I want to know how you came to with those side characters and how you develop them into the story. 10:07 Yeah, so I think the main side character would be Kofina's friend. Well, she becomes her friend throughout the journey. Her name is Aifer, and honestly, I don't really know how she came about. I just knew that she had to be very bubbly to offset Colfina's quietness and shyness. And so I was like, she has to be really bubbly to kind of pull her into 1s be social. Like an introvert needs their extrovert, and so afraid was that extrovert for Kofina. And then there's some other side characters. So Magnie was kind of like antagonistic as a side character, but you could tell that he's kind of like he really liked being in the Royal Guard, but he hates Kofina. And so having him as kind of like an antagonist force for Kofina during the journey, I felt like that was necessary for her to show that it's not all going to be fun. And she knew it wasn't going to be like a fun journey. They're not all friends. No one likes her there except Afra and others. Some of them don't really outright show her that they don't like her, but they're careful around her, they're wary around her. So I think it wasn't that hard, I think, making Kofina feel like the outsider, because she really was the outsider, especially like, all these soldiers and these Royal Guards. They're not used to seeing the Faye out in the open either. So they were all not other than afraid. They weren't jumping to become friends with her or to know her. So I think that's how the cast came about, just all being kind of outsiders for Colfina, except for that single friend. But, yeah, that's how the cast somehow came to be. Honestly, I feel like it was like those four characters that I really focused on, and then the others, I just naturally let them join the story. 11:58 Right. And I think it's like I like how you individually wrote a personality for each and every single one of them, even the non important ones, and then they were just as important as the main ones. It felt very good to me, I personally, so I enjoyed that. 12:17 Thank you. Now I love the slow burn romance. I mean, Romancy is a very popular thing right now, and I like how you just gave enough but didn't give us. Everything in the first book with that. It's like, I don't even know how to ask the question without maybe revealing who it is or how you want to do it. Because to me, some reason, I was guessing a lot. Is it this guy? Is it this guy? Is it this guy? Yeah. I don't know. I U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 was on the hunt. It was so bad, 1s and then when it turned out to be the least likely person, you're just like, what? Yeah. 12:58 So how did you develop that? I'm curious about what gave you that idea, how you turned it in that direction. Yeah, 13:05 okay. I don't want to reveal too much either, but the character, the guy character, he was actually the first character in the story that I came up with, and I knew. I was like, I really want to write about this really mean jerk and really powerful, but really mean. Right. And so he came to be about actually, I had written earlier, earlier drafts, like, years ago with this character in them. Completely different story, but those drafts never saw the light of day. But I was like, I loved his character. And I was like, I really want incorporate this character in this story. But in the romance aspect with Kofina, I didn't really want her to fall really hard in love in this book because I was like, okay, so she's gone through so much trauma. She's in this situation where she doesn't even really want to be in it at first. 1s She's been through a lot. It doesn't make sense that she's going to fall in love in this situation. 2s She develops feelings and kind of like, attraction. But I was like, with her character, I don't feel like it's appropriate for her to be like, I'm in love with this guy, even though I never thought that I would love a human or anyone for that matter. And I just felt like I could have made it where she was madly in love with this guy, and then that they kissed a lot, and they did all these things. But I was like, for this story, I just felt like it just didn't feel appropriate for her character because 2s she's a character that's, like, in her head a lot, and so she doesn't really. 2s She's a very, like she takes things very slowly as a character, and she would not be able to just put all of those feelings aside of being scared, being in a situation she doesn't want to be with, and all this trauma and just put it aside and just jump in bed with this guy. It just didn't feel appropriate for her. I was like, this romance needs to develop slowly over the course of the series for it to fit the character, I think for Colfina, yeah, because I think that's what I liked so much about it. It wasn't rushed. It wasn't, like, hot and heavy instant love. And I think that's just true to her character, because she's been through a lot. Her whole culture, her whole life has been about running, hiding, 15:40 being hunted. So I think that's really true to her. 1s So some author questions. What do you find the most challenging things about writing fantasy? 15:55 The hardest thing. I mean, honestly, I feel like world building is pretty hard. Like, trying to get everything right, trying to get things to be interesting as well. You want to follow like, these tropes that are very common in fantasy. Same thing with world building, like the type of creatures of magical races, but you also want to add your own twist to it because you don't want it to just be generic. Yeah. Because you want it to stand out to other readers. 1s It's just like a ton of books of the same things that they're used to and nothing stands out. They'll read the book and forget about it. The next month, you want something to stick out. So I think that's really difficult for me. I think it's also really difficult trying to create characters that have a lot of flaws and how they interact with other characters and making the whole cast kind of complement each other. Because you don't want all the whole cast to all just be one character type or just to be like, just two different types of characters. You want 1s the characters are blended together, if that makes sense. I don't know if I'm making any sense 1s yeah. U1 U2 U1 U2 17:08 To them themselves. Yeah. So I think that for me is hard with fantasy, but I think with writing any book, I think that it's, like, difficult. Every aspect is difficult, at least for me. I'm sure there's writers out there that everything comes easy to them, but for me, it's like I really have to make a conscious effort to make sure the world is making sense, that the characters, the cast complement each other and that it's not like just a mishmash of random personalities. So I think for me, that's like the hardest. And then I also struggle honestly with writing romance. So I've been, like, trying. That is difficult for me as well. Which, I mean, with this book, the first book I do, romance wasn't going to be like a central focus. So I think that was a little bit easier on me. Yeah. I think for me, romance is kind of harder to write. And then action scenes are pretty hard for me to write. It really takes me a while not to say that I don't try. I try with romance. I try with the action because those are very important elements, I think, if you're writing in fantasy or any genre, because I do believe that romance, it's natural. People always, everyone has crushes every now that they feel attraction. And so I think it's important to incorporate a little bit of that in your books too. But it's difficult, and especially since I write fantasy and I write action in it too, I think that's difficult as well. Basically, what I'm saying is I think everything is difficult. 18:41 Yeah, 18:42 I haven't wrote a book, but I know writing a review could be just as tough but will be 500 page novel that sometimes you're like, Holy crap. 18:50 Yeah, 1s that's the beauty of editing. You could always go back and fix everything. That's, like, messed up. 2s It's like you just got to get through the first draft, and then after that, it's like you just keep editing and rewriting sections to make it perfect. 19:06 Did you go through an editor at all or did a publishing process? 19:11 Yeah, I went through two editors, and then I went through a proofreader as well. So the first editor I went through, she was a developmental editor and a line editor. And through her, I saw a lot of mistakes and things that I should fix and suggestions. So I took all of those suggestions and I incorporated them into the book. And then I went through, like, a copy editor. They look at grammar and sentence structure. So I went through her, and then the last step was a proofreader, which I actually hired the proofreader after I had sent out the arcs because a few people commented. They're like, there was, like, two typos that I noticed. And I was like, I don't want any mistakes in my book. So then I hired a proofreader as well. Oh, okay. That was, like, my whole, I guess, publishing process for the actual editing aspect of it. Basically, like, three different people that I went through. U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 20:08 And you said it took about five to six months. And how long did it take you to get your book to a publisher to get published? 20:17 So I actually self published this book. Okay. So I did everything myself. 20:23 Okay. Yeah, because I was looking on book sirens or somewhere, and it said something like it didn't say self published or anything, so I wasn't sure. 20:32 Yeah. It's published under my LLC Gazelle and Moon Press. Okay. 20:38 That's what I saw. Okay, awesome. So being a self publisher, what would you say is the hardest part of the whole process of getting self published? Because I've heard about Amazon and all those things, how sometimes that can be difficult to get into that space, and of course, marketing. Yeah, 20:59 I think in my experience, honestly, I feel like writing is the easier part of the job. It's the marketing that's the toughest, because as a writer, it's like, you know what you're doing. You're a writer, you write the book and getting it edited and stuff, it's all within the realm of writing. So it's like very like, you're used to that kind of things. It's not something unexpected, but then it's like when you have to market, it's just like at least for me, I didn't go to school for marketing. I didn't know anything about it. So I had to do a ton of research to see what other writers are doing and what other people in general are doing and what works, what doesn't work, and social media marketing and all of that stuff. So I'm still very new to it because obviously my book is going to come out next month. I'm not published yet, but I definitely feel like the marketing aspect has been so much tougher than the actual writing process. So I think for me, that's like the hardest part of being a self published author. Because for traditional writers, like traditionally published books, it's like they write the book and they go through the editing process with the editors that the publishing house has. I mean, if you're like a big name, then you're kind of done. The publishing house will take care of the marketing. But, yeah, I definitely do think for self published authors, because you're in charge of everything, every step, it's like the marketing is the hardest part because you could write the best book in the world, but if no one knows that it exists, it's not going to go anywhere. 22:30 Yeah, I definitely come across a few of those. And you can't exactly base your. 1s Reading preferences off of the Star reviews and how many people's reviewed them, but you do kind of, like, have to find those golden nuggets. And that's why I'm glad I found the Book Sirens website, because I would never have found you otherwise. Yeah, 1s and I'm glad I did at this point. And that was actually someone reaching U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 out to me through Goodreads Messengering. To join Book Sirens was like, such a trickle effect to eventually get over there. 2s I'm 23:07 glad you found me 23:11 because I'm always on a hunt for something, and 2s especially with Faye, it's like I feel like I've read everything about Faye and you're just like it feels like, over, redundant over and over again. So it felt so good to finally get something that was unique and still true to themselves, and I loved it so much. And I'm so excited for you to get your published book out. 23:37 I'm excited too, man. 23:44 So that's a lot of my questions, 1s and I know this might seem like I'm jumping around a little bit on the questions concerning you or concerning the book. Oh, yeah, it's 23:55 not a problem. Me and the books are kind of like intertwined at this point. 24:00 You are the books. Yeah. Just tell me about you as a person. What started you on writing books in general? Sounds like you've been doing it for a while, and what got you to write? Fantasy in general. 24:14 Yeah, so I've been writing ever since I could pick up a pencil. Honestly, I would just doodle little picture books and give them to my parents, and so I've been writing for a long time and. 1s So it wasn't anything weird for me to just be like, hey, I'm just going to write a book right now. I would write little books and 1s show them to my sister, and we would just create little magical worlds together where I would write it, and she'd just be, like, a part of it. 2s So that's, like, how I first started off. I don't know, maybe I was 1012. And then I started writing actual books, like, when I was in high school. It wasn't like, fantasy. I would write, like, contemporary high school, like high school stuff, 2s and I would post them on some websites, like writing websites, and some people would, like, read them. And that kind of, like, encouraged me to keep writing. And then how I wrote fantasy. I've always loved fantasy, I think because most of the books that I read growing up were like, fantasy books, like fantasy romance, young adult fantasy. It wasn't like a conscious effort because I would read a lot of different genres, but the fantasy U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 element always drew me in more, so I knew I wanted to write something in that genre. And that's how it all kind of snowballed, I guess. And eventually, here I am, like, I wrote my fantasy book. That's how it happened. Yeah, it just kept snowballing, I guess. Like, little by little, 25:54 you kept rolling and it just happened. Yeah, it just so happened. 2s Okay. I like that. 26:03 Thank you. 26:04 I guess. Just to talk about your book is being published on June 13. Yeah. So where will it be available? At the purchase. 26:13 Yeah. So I think the paperback will be available, like, anywhere that books are sold. And then the ebook, I'm planning on just having an exclusive to Amazon. Okay. There's like this, I don't know if you've heard of like Kindle Unlimited. Oh, yeah. I'm planning on enrolling in that and see how that goes and keep it there for now. 26:34 Okay. Yeah. I love Kindle Unlimited, so it helps me trial books, I guess, per se. 26:42 It's really nice. They have a huge array of books. I love Kindle Unlimited, but since I don't leave the house that much so I can read everything on my phone 26:54 oh, yeah. I think I have a bad habit of bringing my Kendall with me and just not interacting with anybody. Yes. 2s That's a godsend. 2s Okay. And I think that's it. Is there anything that you want to add concerning your book or anything like that for anyone to know? 27:15 Well, I did have someone ask me, like, how long is the series going to be? 27:20 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 Oh, that's a very good question. 27:22 Yeah. And some people might be surprised to hear this, but the series is going to be five books long. 1s Oh, wow. 27:30 There's a lot happening in that first book. How could you do that? 27:34 Yeah, it's five books long. I already have all the title. Like, I'm writing book three right now. I already finished book two. Oh, man. 2s Let's just say Colfita goes through a lot. 2s So, yeah, five books. And I am well, considering writing a prequel book, too, set in the past, but we'll see how that goes because it's not, like, set in stone yet. I guess you're the only one. I've told I'm planning a prequel book, but yeah, the actual series is going to be five books long. I've already got all the titles. I even had my cover Designer design all five because I knew I was like, this is a five book series. 3s I know someone did reach out to me about that. But, yeah, it's a five book series. It's kind of long. I 28:30 don't know, because I read the first book and I'm like, what else could you put her through? 28:36 Oh, there's a lot. 2s It was pretty epic. And thank you. The things that she went through, 1s and you gave a lot more backstory about the Faye and everything that went down. That so I'm curious about what actually happened and how Colfina moves forward 1s with everything without not giving any spoilers. So 29:01 you have me on the edge of my seat. 29:03 Sorry. 29:05 No, you're not. I know how your authors work, 29:08 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 so yeah. When an author says sorry, you know, they're not really 29:12 no, you're not. You're just like, you know more than I do, and you're probably like, just you wait. 29:19 Yeah. 1s Oh, you think she's been through a lot. Okay. 29:25 So I'm really looking forward to her character development. I'm excited for that. I'm excited about the love interest and how that developed. I'm looking forward, and I'm so excited for you. 29:39 Thank you so much. 29:41 I think it's amazing. 2s I have never written a book, but I know it's tough, and I thought you did amazing, and I wish you all the best for that. Thank 29:52 you. Thank you for having me here. It was so nice to talk to you. Thank 29:56 you. And thank you for getting on. I love it. BOOKMARKS unite. 1s Yeah. All right. And just to just say, The Ruins, the Heartless Fay, it's going to be published on June 13 on the bookstores around it's, amazon, Barnes and Noble and all those places. Right. 30:15 You can also get a signed copy from my website, which is Mahamfatamy.com, 30:19 and I'll put that link in the show notes as well, so people can go to it as well. Thank you, readers, for listening my podcast with Maham Fatimi. Please check out her new book, The Ruins of the Heartless Fade that will be published on June 13 at your local bookstore or at Amazon. If you have a moment, U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 U2 U1 please consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback is super valuable to me and helps me improve the show. Also follow me on Instagram, where I share updates on the latest episodes. Thank you again and happy reading.