KOTA BHARU: Writing novels has become a trend among today’s youths in hopes of turning it into a career.
But realistically, noted Sara Aisha, 31, whose novel entitled “Aku Lelakimu”, a psychological thriller, was named Best Novel in the National Book Award 2018 last month, the path to success is a long winding road.
To be a writer, she said, one must have the passion, a love for books and other reading materials.
“The inspiration does not come just like that; we need to read a lot, and it doesn’t matter if they are works of others, newspapers and even encyclopaedias.
“In fact, I set a budget to buy my reading materials,” said Sara Aisha, whose actual name is Siti Sarah Aishah Mohd Azkah.
She emphasised that it was imperative for a novel to have a plausible storyline and factually accurate.
“That apart, experiences gained from travelling to different places can also become an idea for our writing but ultimately, to get more information about the area I have visited, I still have to do research through reading journals and so on,” she told Bernama when contacted.
Sara Aisha, from Kampung Pasir, Ketereh here, said she also interviewed certain individuals to gain more insight into their profession.
Having dabbled in writing novels for the past six years, she said one of the individuals she talked to was a crime reporter named Sharil A Kadir.
“I didn’t know him before that, but I contacted him to get a clear picture of his daily tasks as a crime journalist, and “get it from the horse’s mouth”, so to speak.
“I incorporated the experiences that he shared with me into my book, “Aku Lelakimu”,” she revealed.
