Ask the Author: Khaleel Datay
Answered Questions (8)
Khaleel Datay
One's life often dishes up events that read like the back of a thriller novel. Though there haven't been any such mysteries from a personal point of view, there have been family related dramas, like in most families, that would form a wonderful basis for a book. Not my normal genre, but it is an idea for the future.
Khaleel Datay
Besides our very own Nick Winter and Jasminder Singh from The Winter Deception, it would be John Rain and Delilah of the Barry Eisler series based on a Japanese/American assassin specializing in death by natural causes. Rain and Delilah share an incredible chemistry that leaps off the pages. Whether they are fighting each other in opposing interests in a target, or entwined in their steamy and at once stormy relationship, Barry Eisler always keeps it real. John Cory and Kate Mayfield of Nelson DeMille's brilliant series runs a very close second
Khaleel Datay
My current book is the second in a series. The story picks up a few months later with the protagonist looking for revenge for something that took place in The Winter Deception. My ideas stem from happenings in politics and events that have taken place both locally in South Africa and in the rest of the world.
Khaleel Datay
I love the freedom to express myself creatively. Sometimes you ask yourself, 'did I really write that?' We all have stories inside us waiting to be told. Writers have this compulsive need to get it out, not always for others to read. There are times when writing is a kind of therapy for the soul.
Khaleel Datay
Read, read and then read some more. I like writing about South Africa and its political situation. My favourite genre is the great spy novel in the vein of Le Carre and Deighton. So I've coupled the spy story and SA politics for my second novel and had lots of fun writing it.
Khaleel Datay
You have to keep writing. Get your story out onto a page. Don't worry whether others will think its no good. If its good to you, its good. Also the more you write, the better you get. I cringe at some of the things I wrote in my first book, but if I didn't continue I wouldn't have learned. I read my own book after a few months on Kindle and discovered there was a lot of things I could have said differently, but its part of evolving as a writer.
Khaleel Datay
Currently working on my second book. Just completed the first draft. Now read, edit, and rewrite. I really enjoy this part of the process as it allows you to get a wonderful helicopter view of the story. The second book follows on from the first but can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Khaleel Datay
As a part-time writer, writer's block can be a real problem because of all the breaks in writing when dealing with a full time job. I find the best is to walk away, give it a rest and catch up on some reading. Novels, newspapers, etc all provide lots of inspiration in no time. Our politicians in South Africa provide a regular stream of gems we as writers can only dream of
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