Author Q&A with H.G Ahed

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Hi, I am H.G Ahedi, my first name is Harbeer. I am a researcher and a writer who loves to create ideas into books and share it with the world. I am originally from India and moved to Australia a decade ago and I just love it here. I enjoy watching movies, reading books, and travelling.

1. Tells us about your writing/ published book(s)

It has been quiet a journey. I began writing ages ago, but I usually just kept my stories to myself. In 2017, when I finished Haunted something compelled me to publish it. Also, during this time, I was in depression because I had lost both my parents (my father recently). And a voice kept telling me “He did so much. What have you done with your life?” It kept challenging me to do more.

Haunted was the third complete book I had written and received a lot of good feedback from my friends. It was also the book that had kept me sane during turbulent times. For the next two years, I kept querying agents and publishers to get it published. No one seemed to like it. Then I decided to self-publish it, and also ran a funding campaign to get readers and mostly promote it. Haunted came out in Nov 2019. I continued with the same enthusiasm in 2020 and decided to publish additional four books. I have already published three (Black Moon, Calculated Murder and Transcendence) and the fourth book will be released on Christmas Eve (Realm 1: Fall of Titan)

2. Where’s your favourite place to write?

I wish I could say a café near the river close to my place. But usually, it’s always the couch in my living room or on my bed. This is mainly because of the ease. I like to be comfortable, mostly in my PJ’s when I am writing. I like to write with the TV, I think I like the voices.

3. How do you approach starting a new book?

When I get an idea, and I really really like it, I will write it down on a word document and save it on the drive. Sometimes it would me days to return to it and develop the idea, sometimes I would develop it within 72 hours.

I begin with a few sentences, then I go into a bit more details and turn it into paragraph (blurb you see on back on all books). When I am ready to go ahead, I will take the paragraph and start developing scenes in an excel file. I will note the point of view, chapter, research required and what happens in that scene.

After I have the scene list, I will do the research and put all the links to the research or the information I need for the novel in the same excel sheet. If I am in the mood, I will write the first draft initially and then do the research. Depends how excited I am about the story. Also, I am always prepared for change. I have noticed that my scene list/plot ALWAYS changes while I write the first draft. And this is okay because the scene list is a summary of the book.

Hope this gives people some good ideas!

4. Tell us about a scene that you loved but had to edit out of your book

There was a scene in Haunted that I really worked hard on and was very particular about the sequence and how the character feels and what happens. It is the scene where one of the suspects is being chased by the NYPD, and the suspect accidently bumps into the protagonist Cranston. The suspect is delusional, and Cranston is trying to control him, and they fall off the cliff. I felt this scene was very exciting to share with the readers.

Unfortunately, many readers thought it was too long, had too much action and didn’t like it. The main reason it was deleted was because it didn’t move the plot forward and it was dragging it. Also, at that time Haunted was 180K long. Too long for a mystery thriller and had many such scenes which slowed the plot. So, I had to cut down this scene and a lot of other scenes which were relevant.

5. How do you fit writing into your everyday life?

Honestly, I struggle like everyone else. Sometimes I am great, and I write every day. But I am a published author who needs to promote and market her books and since I am wide (I have book on every platform) it requires a lot of hours of administration work. Currently, most of my time is allocated to developing ads on Amazon and social media. I also work full time, so I only get a couple of hours every day to work on my craft. However, I do take one day completely off, because writing is hard work and our minds need rest. I have noted that after resting for a day, I am more creative and productive.

6. Tell me about your current work

My next release (Oct 2020) is Transcendence, it’s a story set in 1944 about an American Soldier who is injured in a blast and when he wakes up the world is taken over by Germany. He hides in an abandon house, but soon discovers nothing seems as it is.

This is my first Historical Science Fiction novella, and it is with my editor for final revisions. I am also working with a professional designer to finalize its cover. I usually do the interior formatting myself and it takes me a day or two and if all goes well, it should be released in the first week of Oct 2020.

Where can you find Harbeer?

Facebook: AuthorHarbeerAhedi
Twitter: @harbeerahedi
Instagram @harbeerahedi

Amazon Authors page

Author Q&A with H.G Ahed