EP01: Introducing The Fall of the Black Masks - TRANSCRIPT

Hi! Welcome to the first official episode of Hyba is Writing! My name is Hyba, and I'm your host. In today's episode, I want to talk a little bit about one of my works-in-progress, the first installation in a high fantasy series. It's called The Fall of the Black Masks, and it follows a group of characters - Mila, Qays, and Ragnar - as they try to survive the unfortunate times that have befallen the Empire of Belvatria and overcome their own troublesome pasts. If you're coming here from my Tumblr, you might already know a thing or two about it. Here's the blurb that I've shared online:

Ragnar has been on the run for almost two decades. When he finds himself on Death’s door, it is Qays and Mila who save him and treat his wounds. But Ragnar knows that those hunting him will stop at nothing to bring his severed head back to Vakkar and claim their prize, and the longer he stays with his gracious hosts, the more danger he fears they will be in.

Qays, one of the most accomplished physicians in the empire, discovers an epidemic when his patients begin to show symptoms of an unfamiliar and deadly disease. Soon, he finds himself in a race against time to find a way of effectively treating the disease and saving the lives of his people - a feat that is easier said than done when his daughter Mila is kidnapped by the Black Masks, a criminal organization that has been causing civil unrest throughout the streets of his homeland, running unchecked and rampant.

Mila, a young and naive woman seeking adventure, gets more than she bargains for after a stand-off in the local marketplace comes with unforeseen consequences, and soon finds herself fighting for her freedom and her life as she tries to escape the clutches of the Black Masks. Along the way, she uncovers disturbing underground criminal activities and a treasonous plot.

So, that's the blurb. It's a bit long as blurbs go, but this is a work in progress after all, and it's a really complex tale. I want to point out here that when I first started writing The Qarran Tales, I actually had it all as one big book. Once I reached about 100,000 words and still found that I was nowhere near finished with the story, I decided it would be a lot easier to split it up into 5 books. The Fall of the Black Masks became the first of those books.

Now, since making that decision, a lot has changed in the story, but the general premise has remained the same, and the characters themselves also haven't changed much. I started to think, recently, that because of this the story was juvenile and just not working out, but actually, the more I sat down and read what I had, the more I realized that it's not so bad at all in terms of plot. It could use some tweaking here and there, but the plot's pretty solid and I'm really liking how it's turning out, plot twists and all.

Mila and Ragnar are recurring characters in the series, and they'll feature prominently in many books. Other prominent characters won't pop up until the third, fourth, and fifth books. Just to give you an idea of how I'm setting this series up, I've got about 10 books planned, with the first five making up the first series, entitled The Qarran Tales. The next five books will be a continuation of this series, but they will focus on some of the other characters that we meet and their stories, as well as the main characters from The Qarran Tales. It's all very complicated when I say it out loud, but I have no doubt my readers will be more than able to keep up when they read the books.

One thing that's really noticeable in this book is the Islamic- and Arabian-inspired architecture and art. The Empire of Belvatria was created with these influences in mind, and as a result, the settings might seem unfamiliar to most Western readers, as they won't be the usual medieval Europe-inspired fantasy settings. I personally think this is going to be a good shift, especially for readers who want to find something that strays from the beaten path, so to speak. I also want to make sure that I do it justice, because this is my heritage as an Arab Muslim. A lot of Western-made representations of this style of architecture and art sticks to the parts of it that are exoticized, but I want to really go through and ground these influences in a less Eurocentric perception of Arab-Islamic art and architecture. Hopefully that comes through.

The title of the book is a bit of a spoiler. It is called The Fall of the Black Masks, and as you now know, the Black Masks is the name of the criminal organization that is terrorizing the people of the Empire of Belvatria. Well, they're going down. What the reader doesn't know is how they're going to go down - and trust me, it's not what you'll expect!

Well, hopefully!

Finally, I do also want to note that I've had a lot of fun writing high fantasy, and particularly this series. I actually never enjoyed reading high fantasy, and I never thought that I would actually write high fantasy, either. I think the reason for that was that I personally was tired of the Eurocentric high fantasy that I had been exposed to.

There's nothing wrong with it, per se, and I completely respect the fact that for a lot of people, that kind of high fantasy is their favourite. I think that's pretty cool, and I will admit that when I first started writing this high fantasy project, I had a very stereotypical medieval style story! But for me, as a person who connected more with non-European settings and characters and influences, it just felt a bit remote, and that made it feel dry and tired. So, I decided to take pride in my heritage and make something that I could be more emotionally and personally invested in.

And here I am.

I hope that this episode has given you some insight into The Fall of the Black Masks, what it's all about, and my general experience writing it. Currently it stands at over 130 pages, which is great. In future episodes where I discuss this book, I'll go into more detail about the themes, characters, settings, worldbuilding, and more! Until then, if you have any questions or comments, leave them for me via an ask on my Tumblr, which is hyba.tumblr.com, or let me know through my Twitter, which is @HybaIsWriting.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode, and I hope to see you again next time, where I'll be introducing The Pirates of Sissa, the second installment in my high fantasy series!