The women’s majlis: When a novel comes calling

Emirati writer Shahd Thani's second novel, set in Tokyo, was posted piece by piece each week on her blog for a legion of loyal fans.

It was a rainy day in Shibuya. My clothes were soaked because I didn't have an umbrella. When I walked into the warmth of the bakery, the scent of coffee and bread intoxicated me. As I walked through the streets, falling in love with Tokyo, a story germinated in my mind.

I couldn’t put it into words. It was still elusive and magical. I couldn’t see the characters. I didn’t know who they were. All I saw was where the story would unfold. It was only when we were in the Hong Kong airport about to board the flight back to Dubai, that I found myself writing the prologue where Mansour is in the middle of the Shibuya Crossing frantically searching for someone he bumped into earlier at the bakery. I may have left my heart in Shibuya but the story was mine to take home.

It was a long time before I saw the lead female character. I knew that she and her sister struggled in their own ways. I saw her much later – a student, studying in Tokyo for the summer. I knew she would navigate the pitfalls of adulthood and the weight of society’s expectations.

Yet Another Emirati Kinda Love Story was a nod to my first novel Just Another Emirati Kinda Love Story. A lot of people ask me if the stories are a series. They aren’t, but they follow the same themes. I never imagined that my second blog novel would be as well received as my first. It was spontaneous and with every painstakingly written page, I got closer to discovering it. I have written both my novels in weekly instalments every Friday on my own blog. I liked to think of readers as my best friends and I was ­letting them read my drafts. They witnessed novels ­unfolding right before their eyes and they guessed plot twists I would never think of.

I finished writing my second novel on June 13. I posted my last chapter on the blog and amidst the comments of love and tears that poured in for the end of the story they had faithfully read for the last year, I sobbed at the realisation of the silence that suddenly befell me. The characters had ­finally fled my imagination. They were safely tucked in a novel I had written that would live on in the hearts of my readers.

I’m a romance writer, but that is not all I am. I write to dream about life. I write the stories that live on ­inside me. I may not ­always write ­contemporary romance. Tomorrow I may choose to write ­different genres, but what matters is what I have started. I have written ­contemporary romance with Emirati characters and from an Emirati ­perspective while upholding the traditions and memories of the UAE. I have ­chosen English as my ­medium to reach a wider audience. It’s the beginning of a lifelong journey and I’ve never felt more alive.

Shahd Thani, a member of Untitled Chapters, is an aspiring author who has written novels on her blog.

If you have a good story to tell or an interesting issue to debate, contact Melinda Healy on [e-mail]