CAPERING VIVIDLY INTO THE EXQUISITE FANTASY WORLD OF GENIES

Author Interview - Durriya Kapasi

Durriya Kapasi is an author from Udaipur, who teaches creative writing at school. She is also a cancer survivor, a motivational speaker and an ambassador at wattpad.com. She has come out with the book “Once upon a genie”, in which she has delved into the exciting and entertaining fantasy genre and it has been very much appreciated by fantasy lovers. In her writings, she tries to mystify secrets of the world with her diverse perception for divinity. She is a foodie, and loves traveling and reading. In a candid chat with Chirdeep Malhotra, she discusses about her book, reader’s response to it, her writing journey and her favourite books. Let us delve into this interview to know more about this inspiring personality.

Please tell us more about Durriya Kapasi as a person.
I’m 29 years old, born and brought up in the East African country Tanzania, and am now residing in Udaipur, India. I speak multiple languages. Reading is my passion, and writing is my pain killer. I love traveling to unexplored places, and making new friends. Well, food is my best friend.

From teaching creative writing at school to applying that creativity to write a fiction yourself, how did this all come about? Can you tell us more about your writing journey?
Reading is my hobby since an early age. I started writing as a time pass on wattpad.com, an online storytelling platform, where a lot of users enjoyed my stories and encouraged me to write further. I would get a lot of reads, followers and requests to keep the story going as the site allows one to update new chapters one by one like a series, until the story completes. I would also receive critiques on the chapters to help me improve my writing until I became good enough to be published. When I felt it was high time to release my work as a hard copy, I started writing Once Upon A Genie. Along with that, I took a Creative Writing Course. Also, being an avid reader, it helped me with my writing initially and is still helping today. I believe passionate readers can write well too.
A major turn took in my life when I was half way writing Once Upon A Genie. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. At that time, I had a gut feeling that I would survive, so I fought with all that I had, never thought of giving up though I had to undergo harsh treatment, 12 doses of chemotherapy. That time, I had to keep my writing aside; I couldn’t concentrate with so much going on with me. But I didn’t give up on my dreams, and after my battle with cancer, I started working on what was left undone.
I overcame my anxiety by writing again, and then sending it to the publishers Half Baked Beans, and they accepted my work with confidence, and consecutively, a local primary school approached me to teach writing and imaginative thinking. Writing turned out to be my passion and a life changing ambition for me.

Can you give a brief overview of your book “Once upon a genie”?

Once Upon a Genie is an exceptional love story of a Human and a Genie, although it begun conventionally, but it took a very different turn when proceeded further and the readers surely enjoyed it. The story revolves around a girl named Daisy, and a Genie named Khalil who has been trapped by her grandmother in a magic bottle.
Daisy frees Khalil but she has to say ‘three wishes’ in order to make Khalil independent completely and go back to his world of Djinns. During this, both of them start having a mutual attraction between each other. The story twists when Daisy’s best friend Darren gets terminally ill, and to save his life Khalil sacrifices his love and asks Daisy to command him to cure Darren as her third wish. Khalil has to leave the human world, while later Daisy finds herself pregnant with Khalil’s baby. The story continues in the next book which is a sequel.

How has the response of readers been to your book?
I wanted to give my readers an interesting, fresh concept and an adventurous read. It was well appreciated with positive reviews, and my readers are eagerly waiting for the next book. This actually gave me more confidence in my writing.

Which is the one character in the book that you enjoyed writing about?
I enjoyed writing about the Genie, because that had to come right out of my imagination with logical reasoning. The genie had powers, and he could do whatever he wanted with them, especially drifting (teleportation) from one place to another, and travelling to different cities. The genie world is very mysterious. In my, book, I have tried to show that Genies are not just those fat, purple creatures coming out of lamp for fulfilling wishes, but are so much more than that.

Nowadays, a lot of literature festivals are being organized which have gone a long way in fostering a love for literature in the reading fraternity. Have you participated in some literary fests? What was the experience like?
To be honest, I haven’t attended much of Lit Fests, except for one in Ahmedabad, and one in my city Udaipur where my book’s cover was revealed by Mr. Ravi Subramanian. Of course, visiting these fests taught me a lot, I met a few authors, but some tips by the Author Ravi Subramanian were a great eye opener for a debut author like me. Especially when he said, “Writing can never be the only source of earning.”

What are your favourite books? Can you share with our readers about the genres that you like and your favourite authors?
I love reading Fantasy, Horror Fiction and Mystery Thrillers. I follow many authors but Stephen King and Khaled Hosseini are my favorite ones. I would suggest The Kite Runner from Khaled Hosseini; and It, Gerald’s Game, The Shining and Carrie from Stephen King. Apart from them, I would suggest Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The last Refugee by Ben Coes, The girl on the train by Paula Hawkins, Lolita, The book Thief, The Alchemist. I think the list is endless.

What are your other interests apart from writing?
Cooking is my biggest passion after writing. I try different cuisines and usually cook when I’m stressed out. I love food photography too.

Are there any new literary projects that you’re currently working on?
I’m currently working on the sequel’s editing, and also regularly writing short horror stories on wattpad.com

There are many new writers there who are aspiring to get their work published. What would you say to them?
I would like to say two things. First, being an author and publishing a book is very easy nowadays but selling it is not that easy. So aspiring writers should not over expect from their debut books and also put emphasis on clever marketing. I repeat – clever marketing. Second, authors should write what they would love to read and what makes them happy.

Can you share with our readers a motivational quote that keeps you going?

This has to be this one by Martin Luther King Jr.- “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”