Hyba Is Writing

Looking Back on 2020: This Year in Writing At times it's wonderful to remind yourself to look back on the year and take note of what you've done and what you've accomplished. This is especially crucial when you start to think that you haven't been productive enough, or that you've let yourself go.  It happens to everyone; we all think we're out of the game for longer than we actually are. Reminding yourself of everything you've done - not just in your trade of choice, but in all aspects of your life - is a vital part of keeping yourself motivated and making sure you don't distort the amount of effort and the number of accomplishments you've truly been able to put in and achieve.    As is the tradition, the end of the year marks a time of self-reflection and critical thinking. For some, the end of each month serves the same purpose. While I personally celebrate the Islamic new year & holidays, the end of the Gregorian calendar year is important, a...

  Yet another snippet I wrote for the prompt game I created! Fantastical, creepy, and definitely on-the-mark for me. Now that I am reading it again, it reminds me slightly of Kafka's Metamorphosis , although I'm quite sure I wasn't drawing from its influence as I wrote. 🔥🔥🔥 When we finally found him, he was barely human anymore. It was me who found him - and the eyes that I noticed first as I squinted into the black of the cavern. They were hard to miss - two blood-orange orbs, hovering in the dark, following my every move. They were mesmerizing, flickering like candle flames suspended in air, and it was difficult to break contact once my gaze had fallen upon them. We discovered later on that this was a common reaction, that his eyes, which once calmly held you in place with their lovely blue, would keep you prisoner with their dancing flare. They were the invisible web into which one must not tread, and into which I tread readily that day. Predator’s eyes -...

Today's small excerpt is a bit different from what we've seen so far, because it's from the perspective of the apartment building itself.  In fact, the building can be seen as a character in its own right, possibly influencing the events that take place within its confines... Excerpt: This, the giant would ponder upon for many years to come. Nevertheless, one thing was very clear, regardless of the answer. What happened in this building – what is yet to happen – was not survival, but savagery. Apartment comes out January 5, 2021.   Check out more Apartment posts here . This post is part of my 49 Days of Apartment campaign spanning the time leading up to the launch of my book, and the week after. If you would like to participate and write a guest post on the subject of suspense and magical realism or an equally relevant topic, please contact me here . If you think Apartment is a book you might enjoy and would like to review the book prior to the release date, please cont...

Another snippet I wrote as part of my prompt game. This one tried to go for a modern dark Gothic vibe, incorporating some of Edgar Allan Poe’s work as you can see with the note and the last 4 or so paragraphs.  🚪🚪🚪 The message was still taped to my door when I returned. I half-expected it to be gone, as if by physically removing myself from my home and making a trip to the grocery store, I would return to find it erased from existence - to find that it had never been there at all. Evidently, I was wrong. I read it again, still feeling somewhat lightheaded from the events of the night before. And the cloud took the form Of a demon in my view Hark! You will face the storm And in the morrow, be born anew I recognized the first half of the note - those two lines from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe - but the second half was new to me. The handwriting was new to me as well, but then, I didn’t know if I’d have been able to recognize anyone’s handwriting, now that all of my corre...

Today's tiny excerpt from Apartment is a foreshadowing, a portent of what is to come for the character whose thoughts we are immersed in. Click on the image to see it in higher quality.   Excerpt: She remembered times when they had been alone, when he had told her that they were linked, that he could find her wherever she was in the world. His words kept replaying in her head, again and again and again, becoming louder, increasingly disfigured. Apartment comes out January 5, 2021. This post is part of my 49 Days of Apartment campaign spanning the time leading up to the launch of my book, and the week after. If you would like to participate and write a guest post on the subject of suspense and magical realism or an equally relevant topic, please contact me here . If you think Apartment is a book you might enjoy and would like to review the book prior to the release date, please contact me here . If you would like to contact me for media purposes, please contact me here .  

I wrote this snippet for a prompt game that I made a while back where my followers on social media chose a first line from a list that I provided, and then I had to write a story for it. Enjoy this little piece about dragons! 🐉🐉🐉 This is probably your first time meeting a dragon, so I’ll try to describe the experience as best as I can remember. See, the thing about a dragon is that it’s not always like the stories. The first time I saw this dragon, it reminded me of a griffin. I always thought griffins were small - at least, the size of an actual lion. But imagine a griffin the size of a skyscraper, or bigger! It’s not as furry as a griffin, though. The feathers slowly transform into impenetrable scales. It’s hard to pinpoint where, exactly, the change takes place, but it’s obvious that the head, neck, shoulders, and wings are covered in feathers. The further you move away from the head, the harder the feathers become, until suddenly they’re not feathers at all, but sca...

EP25: On Productivity, Timing, & Intention - Our Second End-of-Year Lesson Hi! You're listening to Hyba is Writing, and I am your host, Hyba. Last episode, we discussed one of my lessons learned in 2020. In this episode, we'll be discussing another lesson learned, this time to do with productivity as an independent author. As I mentioned in the last episode, this year has marked a year of very big changes for me. I've started to learn certain things about writing that I didn't know before, and I'm starting to come to certain realizations that make writing easier and less stressful. This was one of my motivations behind creating this series of episodes on lessons learned - to share with you lessons that will hopefully make your life easier as they have made mine. My other reason for sharing these lessons is for me to have a record of how I've evolved as a writer. In high school, to the best of my recollection, I wrote almost every night. I just loved it. I me...

 10 Great Suspense Movies to Watch As a lover and writer of suspense with an forthcoming release (my eerie suspense novella Apartment ), I'm a big fan of well-made suspense movies. Today I'm sharing ten suspenseful movies that I love, and that I think would be a great watch for a cozy night in this winter. Also: As many of us are also trying to stay at home with rising cases, I think now is a great time for us to share movies that we enjoy watching! 1. Vertigo (1958) This Hitchcock film features a layered storyline filled with plot twists and mystery aplenty - as well as a healthy dose of romance to boot. Ex-police detective Scottie takes on a case with a smidge of the supernatural as a favour to an old friend. As he follows around the mysterious and beautiful Madeleine Elster, he is both enamoured and intrigued by the enigma. What I loved most about this movie was the sheer unpredictable nature of its big plot twist. There is no reason to believe that the mystery - and the her...

Episode 24: On Instant Gratification & Social Media - My First End-of-Year Lesson Learned Hi! You're listening to Hyba is Writing, and I am your host, Hyba. Today marks my 24th episode, and we're  coming up on the last episodes of 2020! This is a huge deal for me, because back when I started this podcast in July of 2020, I was only hoping and dreaming of being as consistent as I am today and sharing as many episodes as I have. As we've come to the end of 2020, I realize that there has been a huge transformation taking place over the past two years for me - and further back, over the past six years - and I am both elated and struck by how much I have changed as a writer. This year, though - this year, I've changed in some very distinct ways. So, as we often do at the end of the year, I've been reflecting and taking the time to really think hard about what it is I've achieved this year, and what I didn’t get to achieve as well. Not just as a writer, but also i...

For today's excerpt, I chose a rare representation of hope and freedom in Apartment .  At this point in the story, one of our main characters is taking a moment to soak in her newfound freedom and the hope she has for her life to become better moving forward.  But freedom comes at a price, and hope is sometimes as poisonous as despair... Excerpt: She closed her eyes, inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled. There was something strangely alluring about being on the precipice of a new life, another existence. Something deliciously exciting. Apartment comes out January 5, 2021. This post is part of my 49 Days of Apartment campaign spanning the time leading up to the launch of my book, and the week after. If you would like to participate and write a guest post on the subject of suspense and magical realism or an equally relevant topic, please contact me here . If you think Apartment is a book you might enjoy and would like to review the book prior to the release date, please contac...

A while back, I shared a set of bookmarks I made that were quite simple and minimalist, to go along with Apartment 's design theme.  I made them for fun and because I wanted to start making digital goodies, printables and other kinds of freebies for my readers.  At the time, Apartment was my most popular work, and I also wanted to give readers something fun to remind them of the book, and something that could be put to good use. I came up with the idea of making bookmarks that readers could then print out if they wanted.  This set has 4 bookmarks, each representing the main colours and elements that create the Apartment design theme. I'm happy with how they turned out! Here they are (remember to click the images to see them in their original quality and download them): I myself have been looking forward to getting these printed out on some card paper and using them! As soon as I do, I'll be sure to share some photos on my IG and Twitter !   This post is part of my ...

Writing Goals for the New Year Alas, December is coming to a close, and with it the year 2020, which has been fraught with peril and sadness for populations around the globe.  Like it has for so many others around the world, this year was bittersweet for me - but mostly sweet, I'd like to think, because I've determined not to dwell on the bad things. And, after all, some things happen as blessings in disguise.   As I was spending a moment being grateful for all the great stuff that happened this year, I decided that I wanted to jot down some of the things I'm looking forward to most and a few goals I have for the incoming Gregorian calendar year of 2021. So, here they are: Publishing Apartment on January 5, 2021! (Why don't you drop by my website when it comes out and grab yourself a copy of the ebook? 😉) Completing The Fall of the Black Masks and The Pirates of Sissa and (maybe) preparing them for release. Starting and completing Seasons 2 of Hyba Is Writing: The P...

Wrote this based on a prompt I no longer remember, but it turned out feeling quite motivational and uplifting, and humbling all at the same time.  Happy Motivational Monday, friends! ⭐⭐⭐ She had stood next to this mountain, once. Things were different then. She had been smaller, weaker, much less significant. She had grown, had gotten farther than she’d ever hoped, taller than she’d ever dreamed. And yet, with everything that had happened, standing next to this mountain now, she did not feel like a giant. She felt completely and utterly trivial, like a grain of sand on the shore of a tumultuous ocean. The mountain, unchanged over the years, still held the same majesty and strength. Its power was harnessed over the ages, and still it stood, imposing upon the rest of the world the intensity of its spirit, calm and unyielding.  She wanted that peaceful strength. She wanted to have the power and grace to be unaffected by those down below and those up above, and to be firm...

Today I want to share with you an excerpt from my upcoming novella, Apartment , which is set for release in January 5, 2021 .  Yesterday, we had Eli as the featured character, and here is a little excerpt aimed at giving the reader a little bit more of an insight into who he is from the perspective of another character. Excerpt: "She sat rigid on her couch, and every now and then her gaze floated from the television screen to the apartment door, and every now and then she turned to look behind her, and every now and then she muted the fuzzy black and white film to listen for sounds that were not there."     This post is part of my 49 Days of Apartment campaign spanning the time leading up to the launch of my book, and the week after. If you would like to participate and write a guest post on the subject of suspense and magical realism or an equally relevant topic, please contact me here . If you think Apartment is a book you might enjoy and would like to review the...

 Season 1 Wrap-Up Hyba Is Writing: The Podcast About a week ago, I mentioned that I wouldn't be putting out any new podcast episodes for a short while. Originally, the plan was to only miss one week of podcasting. Then it became two. As we all know, life doesn't play according to our plans! I struggled to create new episodes for my return, but I simply didn't have the time or energy. That's when I got to thinking: Maybe here is a good place to end my first season! You see, when I first started making episodes, I was just making episodes for the fun of it, and for my own chronicling reasons. I wanted to keep track of my experience as a writer, and podcasting was one way of doing that, and also a good way for me to remind myself that even when I'm not making much progress writing, I'm still doing a lot of other things that deserve my attention and appreciation. Anyway, my point is, I didn't think about seasons and how I would, you know, organize my podcast (pa...

 Character Feature: Eli Eli isn't an inhabitant of the apartment building, but like many of the others, something calls him to the building - or, in his case, someone. Enigmatic, powerful, and bent on doling out his form of justice, Eli brings with him his family, eager to teach them a lesson through this hunt he has undertaken. But Eli isn't the only one hunting in this building... There isn't much that I can say about Eli that wouldn't give away important pieces of the plot, but I can say this: This character is both a mystery for most of the book and quite possibly the easiest to understand from a reader's perspective. For Eli, it's all about power and control. It's about manipulation and order. Everyone linked to him is under his control, and there is no escaping it. This is what fuels him in the story, what ultimately brings him to the apartment building, in search for someone that he feels has stolen that control from him. While some of the other chara...

Today I want to share with you an excerpt from my upcoming novella, Apartment , which is set for release in January 5, 2021 .  Last time, we had Angela as the featured character, and here is a little excerpt aimed at giving the reader a little bit more of an insight into who she is. Excerpt: "The car was black and shiny, and it had blended in with the dim, shadowy surroundings so well that she hadn’t really noticed it at first. It sat in the corner of the garage like a sleeping monster in the shadows, a giant black beetle, and for one wild moment, Angela actually believed it to be so. She stared at its big, black shell-like body, its rounded black head, legs protruding like broken spears from its sides."   This post is part of my 49 Days of Apartment campaign spanning the time leading up to the launch of my book, and the week after. If you would like to participate and write a guest post on the subject of suspense and magical realism or an equally relevant topic, please...