Farah Oomerbhoy

Author of The Avalonia Chronicles

author

How to Meet Deadlines and Remain Sane

The Black Book

I’m honored to be on The Black Book for a guest post, How to Meet Deadlines and Remain Sane. Read the excerpt below and check out the full post on The Black Book.

Deadlines!!! Some people thrive on them, and others cannot work within restrictions. But if you want to get your book published, deadlines are an absolute necessity. I personally don’t like deadlines, but I do respect them and I have come to realize that without them I would keep procrastinating and nothing would ever get done.
From one procrastinator to another, here are a few ways to make sure that you meet your deadlines and remain sane at the same time.

Hiring help. An author assistant can be a great asset to an author. Whether it’s a virtual assistant or one that you meet with everyday, an assistant can take on a lot of your workload. They can carry out many of your other marketing and administration tasks (including research!), leaving you time to do what you do best, which is write. Author assistants cheer you on, help you out, and guide you through your week. The are champions of your book and are an inexpensive way to get expert help and advice. (You can find more information about author assistants from my assistant here: http://katetilton.com/author-assistants/)

Full Post on The Black Book.

Interview at 5 Girls Book Reviews

5 Girls Book Reviews

I’m honored to be on 5 Girls Book Reviews for an interview. Read the excerpt below and check out the full interview on 5 Girls Book Reviews.

1. Are you writing another book? If so, when do you think it would be published because I would love to review it for you as well. 

Thank you so much Michaela! I would love for you to review the next book, too. I have started writing book 2 of the series. I’m not entirely sure how long it will take, but I do hope to have something ready by next year. I do have a pretty good idea what is going to happen in book 2 but it always changes once I get halfway through the story, depending on the way the characters behave.

2. Where did you get your ideas/inspiration for The Last of the Firedrakes?

I started thinking about this book nearly ten years ago. Building the world of Avalonia, whenever I got time. The actual world creation started with a tapestry in my grandmother’s house. One day I stood before it and wondered, what if I could step into the tapestry, where would I end up? And so the world of Avalonia sprang into existence.

From then on, the person who stepped into the tapestry was a young 16-year-old girl who didn’t know who she really was, her name was Aurora, and this is her story.

3. What age did you begin writing?

I must have been in the sixth grade when I started writing poems. They were really quite bad, I then tried writing fiction, but I would never finish anything because of schoolwork. It was only after I finished studying that I started creating Avalonia and wrote my first book.

4. What age were you when your first piece of writing was published?

I was twelve when one of my poems was published in a local magazine.

Interview at Grazia

Grazia

I’m honored to be on Grazia for an interview. Read the excerpt below and check out the full interview on Grazia.

Farah Oomerbhoy author of the latest award winning novel ‘The Last of the Firedrakes’, also a part of Wattpad’s Collector’s Dream category, is all set to formally launch the book today at Le Mill Store, Colaba. She talks to Grazia about her ever-growing love for the world of fantasy and fiction and her road so far.

Grazia: Does the love for all things magical and fantasies stem from your childhood? Any significant memory growing up?

Farah Oomerbhoy: One of the first books I ever read was Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree series. Since then I was hooked and proceeded to devour anything fantastical that came my way. From the magical worlds of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, to T. H. White’s A Once and Future King and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, Roald Dahl’s Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Diana Wynne Jones’ Magical Worlds, Lewis Caroll’s Wonderland books, Ursula le Guin’s Earthsea Quartet and J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan, have all in some way contributed towards my love for magical adventures and fantasy worlds inspiring me to write fantasy for young people.

Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness Quartet was very instrumental in the creation of my main character Aurora.

Full Interview on Grazia

Is Aurora Darlington the next Katniss Everdeen? – Vogue India

Vogue India

I’m honored to be on Vogue India for an interview titled ‘Is Aurora Darlington the next Katniss Everdeen?’. Read the excerpt below and check out the full article on Vogue India. 

The dearth of published fantasy writers from India is a stark reality. Farah Oomerbhoy is part of a rare breed of authors. Her first novel, The Last Of The Fire Drakes: The Avalonia Chronicles is a fantasy saga about the coming of age of a teenage girl who is dragged into a magical but dangerous world. In fact, with little to no support from Indian publishers, Oomerbhoy first released her book on Wattpad, a free e-reading site, and today with over a million reads, it is number one on the fantasy list and in the Collector’s Dream category. It also won Best Cover Design at the USA Best Book Awards 2015. She has, recently, independently published the book in physical form, and tells us more about the world she has created.

When did your relationship with fantasy begin?
A long time ago, when I read Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree and Wishing Chairseries, and then CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Later I discovered Tolkien’sThe Lord of the Rings, David Eddings’ The Belgariad, Tamora Pierce’s The Song of the Lioness and Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown. I have read all sorts of fantasy, from Brandon Sanderson to George RR Martin.

Full article available on Vogue India.