Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing on and off since I was a kid when I was using my father’s manual typewriter – with whiteout! – to write stories in the basement.
After I graduated from York University in Toronto with an Honours BA in Psychology, I managed a small bookshop on Yonge and St. Clair for five years and had the time of my life reading ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) from bestselling authors, hosting book signings, and attending book conferences and parties. It’s around this time I started to have an inkling about possibly becoming an author.
I’ve always been interested in human development, personal growth, and psychology (my father had a PhD in Psychology and was doing human resources development training and so a lot of it rubbed off on me) and also in mythology, especially Joseph Cambell’s work around the hero’s journey.
And so, I took my years of self-study and research in the field (I actually had my first paper on the mind-body connection published in my high school library at Blair Academy, in Blairstown, New Jersey) and wrote Psychology of the Hero Soul, an inspirational book on awakening the hero within, which was mentioned in Reader’s Digest and the Toronto Sun.
I did a book and speaking tour on the book topic to various business organizations and nonprofits including the Toronto Police, Learning Annex, Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario, the City of Toronto, etc.
After about a decade of that, in between freelance writing/copywriting gigs and sales consulting roles (writing and sales are my two main strengths; my father had me hawking candy/lemonade when I was a kid and later I did about two years of door-to-door sales to help finance my university education) I was itching to get back to my childhood joy of writing fiction.
During this time, I was also reading books on creative writing and taking writing workshops and courses, and so I finally went for it and wrote a dystopian epic heroic fantasy novel, Brave Fortune, which is now available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My debut novel is titled, BRAVE FORTUNE, which comes from the Latin proverb, fortune favours the brave…fortune or luck tends to favour those who are bold and take chances and risks.
The inspiration for the novel was really a continuation of my fascination with the hero’s journey, the alchemy of transmuting base metal lead into gold through the purifying fire of suffering, struggle and sacrifice, and taking the concept to the next level.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I sometimes act out the personas of my characters, especially relishing the villainous roles. I’m sure I’d scare a lot of people off if they stumbled into my room while I was pacing and howling and making strange faces.
I took a method acting course once with Jim Ross, founder of the Canadian Academy of Method Acting, and I believe it has helped me craft better characters.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The vivid horror of Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Harris, and Stephen King, Dostoevsky’s deep dive into the human soul, Hemingway’s dogged determination to write the one true sentence, Donna Tartt’s hauntingly gorgeous prose, the dystopian works of Atwood, Bradbury, Vonnegut and Orwell, the honest bravery in Mohsin Hamid’s lean lines, Michael Connelly’s Bosch and James Lee Burke’s Robicheaux detective series, and Cormac McCarthy’s sparse Southern Gothic have provided me with loads of entertainment and inspiration.
Additionally, renowned writing teacher, Pat Schneider, author of Writing Alone and With Others and founder of the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) workshop method has had a lasting impact on me. I was first introduced to her work as required reading for training I received as a creative writing facilitator volunteering for the Toronto Writers Collective where I volunteered for 10 weeks at Progress Place offering free writing workshops for people living with mental illness.
I learned to look at writing from an entirely different perspective; to temporarily put aside the critical/analytical eye and explore writing in communion with others through the lens of deep listening and honouring what’s strong and good and resonant in a piece in order to encourage voice and create a brave space to heal and be heard.
As Pat stated in her seminal work, “When we write, we create, and when we offer our creation to one another, we close the wound of loneliness and may participate in healing the broken world.”
Finally, last but not least, my writing mentor Giles Blunt has been a major influence. More about Giles later…
What are you working on now?
I’m currently expanding a novella into a novel. It’s a political issue-based thriller, a work of speculative fiction that posits an alternative reality set in contemporary Toronto around the lives of two characters that get romantically involved in the midst of a massive wave of hate crime targeting their community which escalates into a possible holocaust.
The two characters in love are caught up in this dystopian occupation led by a totalitarian regime and run into conflict with each other because of their opposing views: one of them believes in a peaceful MLK/Gandhi-style revolution, while the other believes in a Malcolm X-style armed resistance.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m most active on Facebook and Twitter to promote my books and share interesting musings. I also have a presence on Linkedin which has helped me connect with influencers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t avoid the dark night of the soul. Embrace it. Embrace the challenges and difficulties and doubts that plague new authors, and veteran authors for that matter. Strive to achieve on paper what’s in your imagination, even if you keep coming short. Do the hard work of promotion, even if no one seems to care. It’s the only way to test yourself and find out what you’re made of. It’s the only way to grow. Seeds don’t grow in the light, they grow in the darkness. Embrace it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A wise monk came up to me and smacked me across the head and said: Sharif, cut it out!
What are you reading now?
On the fiction side I’ve started reading Stephen King’s The Institute, while finishing up Daphne du Maurier’s novel, Rebecca, an eerie gothic romance that was adapted into a film by Hitchcock. I’m a big Hitchcock fan and really into dark psychological thrillers and noir.
On the nonfiction side I’m reading Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) Cases. I’m deeply disturbed by the erosion of democracy and constitutional freedoms in the West and around the world. The book explores landmark legal battles fought by underdogs to advance civil rights and social justice.
What’s next for you as a writer?
After writing Brave Fortune, I decided to make a big investment in my writing career and was accepted into the Humber School for Writer’s post graduate certificate program in creative writing, a 30-week correspondence program, one-on-one with a writing mentor, to work on a book length project.
My assigned mentor was screenwriter and novelist, Giles Blunt, whose Cardinal detective books got turned into a hit TV series. Giles guided me in developing a contemporary crime novel which is now complete but not yet released. I intend to publish it at some point. Here’s the book pitch:
BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES x THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
“When Adam is promoted in sales at a Bay Street investment firm, he doesn’t expect to be sucked into a scam of conning money from mega church pastors.
Now his life, love & rep are at stake—along with his very soul.”
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh, boy. They’d have to be big books to keep me occupied: The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, The Portable Nietzsche, and The Greatest Works of Dostoevsky.
Speaking of big books, I hope people will buy my epic fantasy novel, BRAVE FORTUNE, and leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads.
One reader described Brave Fortune as a page-turner – “Action adventure, dark fantasy, psychological intrigue…a treat for the mind.” ★★★★★
Author Websites and Profiles
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