Recently I wrote a review of a short story called The Ward, written by a fellow blogger Nadine Banna (@NadineBanna). Having found her story to be thrilling and extremely intriguing, I approached Nadine with the idea of a follow-up post featuring an interview with herself, to find out who, when and what inspired her to write and what makes her creativity tick.
“I was surprised how much words on paper could affect you.”
Growing up as a ‘huge bookworm’ Nadine loved all kinds of fiction and after reading each book desired to become a writer herself. When asked what really inspired her passion for writing she replied that being a huge Harry Potter fan she was surprised ‘how much words on paper could affect you’.
Having grown up in Cairo, Nadine went to an all-girl French Catholic school which did not change all through (what she calls) kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school (for us that would be nursery, primary and secondary school). I asked whether there was any specific event or reaction from this environment that encouraged her to write. She told me that she was asked to write her high school graduation speech which was her first real ‘piece’ of fiction. When asked what it was about Nadine stated that ‘It wasn’t really a speech but more of a story about young girls growing up inside the walls of a castle and wanting to get out of there as soon as they can to see the outside world, they had to make a deal with a witch called Time. They finally got out, but at a price.’ Nadine went on to explain that ‘All through my speech I could see her [Marina, (Nadine’s best friend)] and a lot of other childhood friends crying as they identified with the all-too-eager girls who wanted to finally leave the ‘castle’ but at the cost of losing their school friends. Their response and the nun who asked me to write the speech, she came up to me afterwards and hugged me and said to never hide my talent, that it was a gift and that I was meant to grow it. Their reactions towards my speech were amazing and her words and everyone else encouraging me to keep on writing has meant that I’ve never stopped since!’
“I was trying to see how different people would react to what I write and from their reaction see how I could improve my work.”
Nadine’s retelling of those events had me emotional and gripped to find out more, especially about The Ward which she published on her blog on the 22nd June 2017. Although Nadine hasn’t professionally published any of her books, she certainly hopes, in fact, plans to in the future. Speaking of publishing, I asked what made her publish The Ward on her blog and why she thought blogging was a good idea. ‘I started the blog in March [of this year] to try to build a readership and to get wider feedback on my work. I was trying to see how different people would react to what I write and from their reaction see how I could improve my work before taking the step towards professionally publishing. I used to publish my work on Facebook but the community was closed and restricted to people around me.’ Having read several of the comments about her short story and of those I got from my review of The Ward, this ambitious move definitely seems to have paid off.
“I am particularly fond of works of fiction that have an unexpected twist.”
The latter part of our conversation focused more on The Ward, the short story that I recently reviewed. I found that the genre of this short story was hard to identify, in fact, I thought it would be restrictive to label it as belonging to only one category and Nadine reassured me that that was the entire point. ‘I am particularly fond of works of fiction that have an unexpected twist at the end, that can make you revisit the entire piece to make sure you didn’t miss any clues as to the truth of the situation, for example Snape’s story in Harry Potter… I don’t think you can restrict this effect to one genre because it can be used in drama as much as in thrillers or mysteries.’
Nadine’s mentioned of Harry Potter and being a massive fan of J.K. Rowling myself I was compelled to asked whether this story had an impact on her work. ‘Oh definitely… as I was saying, Snape’s story was a big inspiration as well as Neville’s parents who ended up in a ward.’ Speaking of authors, Nadine mentioned that she was also a huge fan of Dan Brown’s mysteries ‘which heavily rely on this effect too.’ These books helped with elaborating the idea which she revealed stemmed from one of her dreams. I asked if she could elaborate further on this point, which she was more than happy to do, stating that ‘I dreamt that I was visiting someone in a psychiatric ward and I was told that I was the one who was sick. I liked the idea and further elaborated it with a richer background story and tried to make it more emotionally engaging.’
The popular response to this story meant that I had to ask whether she was planning to write anymore. I can confirm that she is! I managed to extract that the story will be called The Gift and that it is about relationships.
I finished the interview asking if she had any advice to writers and her response was ‘write, write and write some more… A finished imperfect piece is better than a perfect unfinished piece. I believe that feedback negative or positive is very constructive. But it is only the negative feedback that makes you notice the loopholes in your writing and would make you a better writer.’
If you have found this interview interesting like myself and found that you want to read more of Nadine’s work then just click this URL link to find more: https://nadinebanna14.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/the-ward/
Thanks for this intriguing intro to Nadine’s work.
Am looking forward to reading the twists and turns in her pieces, and more from you.
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Thank you very much! your feedback is much appreciated! Nadine is definitely one to look out for, she’s very talented.
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I have followed you both. Am looking forward to more intros from you and to explore the writers.
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thank you 🙂
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I loved reading this! It’s always so interesting to read about another writer’s experience. I can’t wait to check out her work! Thanks for doing the interview!
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No problem! Thank you for the feedback.
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An interesting insight into her motivation. I loved the story about the graduation speech. My daughter just finished high school and I recognised that in some of her class. I’m also a big Harry Potter fan so the Snape comparison was good as well.
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I’m wondering, how do you connect with other bloggers? Do you just pop them an email? This is an interesting interview you got going on here. ❤️ See you on our facebook group Love! http://BloggyMary.guru here.
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Nadine and I are in the same bloggers facebook page and she commented on my post and it just developed from there. Thank you!
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Loved reading the interview. Very inspiring indeed !
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thank you!
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Your interviewing skills are great! This makes me really want to check out the author’s work, so I’ll look her up for sure! Thanks for sharing!:)
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thank you! if you have trouble finding her work I’ve put the URL at the end of my blog post 🙂
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It is very interesting to see you supporting another blogger! I would like to ask you this question. Do you pitch them for interviews?
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It depends. sometimes I do but in this case Nadine approached me and asked if I was interested.
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Ok, I see now! 😉
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Great interview! I love reading interviews with other bloggers, I find them so inspiring!
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Me too! It was really fun to interview Nadine!
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I never really considered myself as a writer yet I have a blog myself. I find it so interesting to read stories from other bloggers, it pushes me to think more of myself as well.
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I find it inspiring and puts what I’m trying to do into perspective!
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Nadine seems like a very enlightened writer. I’m trying to work myself to becoming a self-sustaining writer so any advice is much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to share this!
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Thank you for your feedback!
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I’m so glad to see your interview with Natalie. She’s such a beautiful writer! I could read her stories all day long. It was especially fun for me to see where she’s taken inspiration from, as in J.K. Rolling and Dan Brown’s mysteries. x
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Thank you, that’s so sweet lf you! 🙂 I’m glad you’re enjoying the stories! This is super encouraging!
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Thanks for sharing this lovely interview.. I really enjoyed reading it.. God bless you both 🙂
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Thank you very much!
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you are most welcome!
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This was a nice review, and I have bookmarked the short story to read. I have always been envious of people who can write stories and really admire how they are able to write and make words just flow!
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She’s so right words on a piece of paper can really affect you, especially when you’re younger x
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This is such a nice review and so inspiring🙂Looking forward for more reviews 👍
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Great read and really well written. So true about how words can have such an affect on you. I am lucky that I have loved reading my whole life. Thanks for sharing xxx
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Well written and interesting post. I really enjoyed the direct quotes you inserted in between your paragraphs.
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Thank you so much!
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Oh I love this kind of post, I love reading interviews with other bloggers and writers, I am very curious by nature!
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I think Nadine Banna will be my next favorite writer. I can relate so much to her life. I was educated in exclusive girls Catholic schools too, from Nursery to high school and went on to earn my degree in a Catholic University.
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She’s definitely one to watch out for!
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I had no idea that the author of the ward that you reviewed in the previous post was a blogger too. I like how she cited JK Rowling and Harry Potter as an inspiration because they are excellent books.
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Yeah Nadine is a blogger! She’s multitalented! I can’t stress how much I think everyone should read her stuff. They are brilliant books- I grew up with the Harry Potter books. They’re what made me fall in love with literature!
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I love her advice to write, write and write some more. I think that’s one of the best ways to get out of writer’s block and get things going. Great interview.
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I totally agree although I’m not good at writing full stop but for those who are this is great advice!
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Thank you for sharing your interview with one of the writer blog . That’s is inspire me to write and write more content as I found writing is one of great things to do to kill our loneliness .
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I agree with you there! And I’m glad this has inspired you to write more 🙂
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i like these type of reviews cos I’m a big fan of books always have been so i can get some suggestions from you by these posts
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It’s interesting to read about Nadine’s writing. I really need to take time out to write more myself it’s very relaxing and great to be able to get creative.
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It is quite fascinating to know when a person interviews another of the similar interests and how it is put together which shows lot of devotion and respect💖
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I really enjoyed this post. I think it’s always so refreshing to read about someone else’s interpretation, experience and journies!
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I totally agree with you! I’m glad you enjoyed reading it:)
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This is absolute GREAT advice from Nadine ….‘write, write and write some more… A finished imperfect piece is better than a perfect unfinished piece. I believe that feedback negative or positive is very constructive. But it is only the negative feedback that makes you notice the loopholes in your writing and would make you a better writer.’….I am a work in progress but realize I cannot improve my writing if I am not writing. Thank you for sharing
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No worries:) I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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I would love to see and read all about your review. Soon. Will see to catch you up on your other blogs.
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Thank you 🙂
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That was inspiring, I mean she dreamed it and achieved it. I think it’s great that you wanted to share her inspiration with others.
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I love doing interviews with writers, but also anyone who has a dream or a goal! I love to find out what others are doing and I want to help and encourage them in whatever way I can!
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Thank you for sharing the interview. I have not read any of her books or her blog but i sure am going to! I need to free up some time so I can get a copy of her book and read it this weekend.
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No worries! I think that’s a brilliant idea!
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Definitely interesting. I like how everyone has different perspectives and comparing and reviewing is always fun to read.
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I love how supportive you are.
Harry Potter is my little childhood dream.. 😀
The last advice: ‘write, write and write some more…” is a good one for me because I need to improve my English 🙂
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Thank you very much! I found this interview to be inspirational!
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awesome read to get closer and get to know the writer and blogger behind a huge succes story. was deep and am glad i read through.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
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Write, write, write is great advice for budding writers. Great interview!
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Thank you:)
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It’s a good thing reading a post from a writer interviewing another writer. Good experience. Would love to catch up your blogs again.
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Thank you son much!
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It’s great reading something about your post writing about another writer. Hope to read one again. Thank you.
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Thank you! I’m looking to do another interview just got to find someone to interview! 🙂
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I got to know her writing through your blog and I enjoyed it. I think it’s always refreshing to hear about the author behind it all. Nice post and I’m glad she decided to share her work!
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Its wonderful to read these interviews which allows us to get to know the blogger in person rather tan a face behind the blog.
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I really relate to Nadine’s line: “I was trying to see how different people would react to what I write and from their reaction see how I could improve my work.” That’s what I’m working on now! I’ve published three novels without many comments along the way until they were out! I had no idea how my writing would be received! It’s quite rewarding to learn and connect with others!
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Oooh what are your three novels called?
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Hi Jade! They are a continuing story beginning with Mending Stone then Catching Rain, Seeding Hope…Maybe there will be another 😁 but the characters haven’t told me yet! You can find them on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com…or from me. I have lots posted about them on my blog http://www.mendingstone.com It has been the most awe-mazing journey for me and I love “meeting” so many great writers and readers!
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This sounds amazing!!I’ll see f I can find them!
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I loved reading this and gaining insight of how it is for another writer. I love her advice on keep writing and better to have an unperfect finished piece. I will be reading more about her. Interviews are always so informative.
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I love interviews! It allows you to know the person behind the words!
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SUbscribed to you both, so intrigued by you both and can not wait to read more of your interviews and hear your thoughts.
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Thank you so much!
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Thank you!! 🙂 This is so encouraging!
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Lovely insight into Nadine’s work – what a brilliant idea to ask her for an interview. I was also a real bookworm as a child, I really need to carve out more time for it now I’m older.
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Thank you! Same here! I used to read a lot – now I do it whenever I have a free moment! 🙂
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You did a lovely job introducing us to Nadine’s writings. Many come to blogging with aspirations to become full fledged writers. I wish Nadine much success in her journey.
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Thank you! I think she will be successful- she’s very talented!
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Thank you so much!
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Thank you for introducing Nadine’s work to us. It is great to discover her work – from what she has shared I can say that she has great potential. Looking forward to more works from the both of you!
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This really hits my interest, thanks for bringing them up. I’m sure gonna follow them and read their blogs – and good job for the great interview skills!
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Really interesting and great
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I enjoyed reading both this post and the short story review. Nadine has led an interesting life and her story shows how much we can fuel our creative expressions with our experiences.
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