CANR
WORK TITLE: I HOPE YOU GET THIS MESSAGE
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://farahnazrishi.com
CITY: Philadelphia
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Bryn Mawr College, B.A.; Lewis & Clark Law School, J.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and voice actor. Has worked variously as an environmental law attorney, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American writer and voice actor. She earned degrees from Bryn Mawr College and Lewis & Clark Law School and was a participant in the Odyssey Writing Workshop. Throughout her life, Rishi has also worked as an environmental law attorney, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant.
Rishi published her first novel, I Hope You Get This Message, in 2019. The world is in disarray after NASA discovers that an alien race will be coming to Earth within the week with perhaps nefarious intentions. Teens Adeem, Jesse, and Cate decide how they want to spend their remaining seven days. Adeem longs for his sister, Leyla, who left the family and disappeared after revealing to them that she was lesbian. Cate lives with her mentally-ill mother and wishes to confront her biological father, who abandoned them long ago. Jesse, who is also gay, lives with his widowed mother in Roswell, New Mexico. As they each deal with their separate issues, their stories converge. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews stated: “Tautly plotted, with realistic characters and situations, this debut will please enthusiasts of both science fiction and realistic fiction.”
In an interview in YA SH3LF, Rishi shared what she believed to be the most difficult part of writing her debut novel. She recalled that “the hardest scene for me to write was the very opening scene. You know when you roll up your sleeves for a big cleaning day, but the mess is so huge, you don’t know where to begin? That’s kind of how starting a book feels like. Starting is so difficult for me because I have to take this big, amorphous idea in my head with all these moving pieces and somehow finding a concrete beginning that doesn’t give away too much, but also convinces the reader to keep going, to stay with me.”
Rishi also discussed her motivations for writing I Hope You Get This Message in an interview in the Odyssey Writing Workshop blog. She mentioned that “the stories that stay with me are stories about ordinary people who, because they refused to give up in a crucial moment, managed to do extraordinary things. And most of the time, that’s done because of hope.” Rishi continued: “When I started writing I Hope You Get This Message, my dad had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It really did feel like the beginning of the end of the world for me. When he passed away, and after my brother ended his own life, I needed to find a way to convince myself that no matter what happened, and had happened, things would still be okay. That I would be okay. I Hope You Get This Message was my argument. And thankfully, it’s one I can read again when I need the reminder.”
In an interview in the Headscarves & Hardbacks blog, Rishi shared what she hoped readers would take away from reading her debut novel She stated: “No matter what happens, no matter how much life beats you down, no matter what you might tell yourself … you are strong enough. One of my favorite lines in the Quran is: ‘Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.’ So far, I have found that to be the truest thing there is.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2019, review of I Hope You Get This Message.
ONLINE
Headscarves & Hardbacks, https://headscarvesandhardbacks.wordpress.com/ (May 17, 2019), author interview.
Odyssey Writing Workshop, https://odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/ (July 15, 2019), author interview.
YA SH3LF, http://www.yash3lf.com/ (June 3, 2019), author interview.
Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she’s worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s probably hanging out with video game characters. You can find her at home in Philadelphia, or on Twitter at @far_ah_way.
She is represented by Hannah Bowman at Liza Dawson Associates.
Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she's worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she's not writing, she's probably hanging out with video game characters. You can find her at home in Philadelphia, or on Twitter at @far_ah_way.
Interview with Farah Naz Rishi, Author of I Hope You Get This Message
June 3, 2019 yash3lf Leave a comment
Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she’s worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s probably hanging out with video game characters.
Farah Naz Rishi
What authors inspired you to start writing?
Hands down, the author who inspired me most was Jonathan Stroud, author of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. His writing had such a huge impact on me because his books were so different from anything else I’d ever read (I mean, footnotes? In a children’s book series?). His stories are so wacky and fun, but so full of heart–and Bartimaeus was the first character to make me understand the impact of voice on a narrative, the first character to make me realize just how much power a well-fleshed out protagonist could wield in guiding a reader through a complicated story. His series prompted me to write my one and only fan e-mail; he’s just that good.
If you could live in one of your favorite books, which one would you pick and why?
I’d say there are very few books I’d want to live in because I’m fairly confident I would be killed within the first minute of arrival. But I absolutely love the Wundersmith series by Jessica Townsend, and maybe in the Wundrous Society, I’d stand a chance at survival. It’s one of those series where no matter what happens, no matter how horrible things get, you know deep in your bones that everything’s going to be okay. Plus there are giant talking cats, and I really, really want to meet Jupiter North.
What is the hardest part of the publishing process, and how do you overcome it
Writing is such a solitary process, and it’s really easy to get caught up listening to that awful little voice in your head that doubts your ability, that questions whether or not your writing is good enough, or that you’re good enough. I am guilty of self-sabotage, and I often find myself devolving, when I’m deep in my writing, into this gloomy Eeyore-type person who is convinced I should just give up before I inevitably fail. But I have friends who, the moment they begin to hear a hint of negativity, give me a good wake-up slap. They rip off the shackles I put on myself, and help me move forward and upward. Therapy helps, too! I’d recommend it to anyone.
Where did the inspiration for I Hope You Get This Message come from—specifically the setting?
It was only natural that writing a book about aliens meant having it set in Roswell, New Mexico. It’s where, in 1947, a supposed UFO crashed, and it’s since been the capitol of all things extraterrestrial. It’s a fantastically weird little town for what I thought was a fantastically weird little story.
What was the first sentence you wrote for your book? Did you keep it intact or did you change it?
I wrote Jesse’s first sentence on a whiim, and to my surprise, we ended up keeping it. I wanted the story to begin with Jesse, in a moment of forced vulnerability and his sudden pulling back. It somehow made sense to me, especially because of how his character undergoes the most drastic change. This opening line, I believed, would also act as a perfect foil to the very last scene in the book, where he is in another moment of vulnerability…but chooses to stay.
What is your favorite scene you’ve ever written in your book, and why is it your favorite?
Oh no, my favorite scene is definitely a spoiler! But I will say it happens towards the end, and it was the kind of scene I’d always dreamed of writing: when all the pieces suddenly come together, in a moment when all hope seems lost. It was really emotional and cathartic for me to write because it was then I realized just how in love I was with these characters and this project. It hit me: “Ah, this is why I wrote this book, this right here.” It was pure magic.
What was the hardest scene to write for I Hope You Get This Message—and where did you get the inspiration to finish it?
The hardest scene for me to write was the very opening scene. You know when you roll up your sleeves for a big cleaning day, but the mess is so huge, you don’t know where to begin? That’s kind of how starting a book feels like. Starting is so difficult for me because I have to take this big, amorphous idea in my head with all these moving pieces and somehow finding a concrete beginning that doesn’t give away too much, but also convinces the reader to keep going, to stay with me. …Then again, maintaining that momentum was just as hard. So I guess this is a total cop-out answer: the whole thing was hard!
But what helped me finish was, strangely, going through a lot of tragedies, starting with my dad passing away. The book became a place to dump all of these really awful thoughts and feelings. I wanted these kids to find a happy ending even though my own world felt like it was spiraling into darkness. For my own survival, I had to help find them a happy ending–because if they could do it, maybe I could, too. That’s what gave me the strength to finish. And to keep going.
What’s the greatest piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?
When writing a first draft, do everything you can to silence your internal editor, because she’s only going to slow you down. You have to give yourself permission to write that crappy first draft or else you’ll never get it done. And sometimes the only way to know something isn’t working is to write through it, so treat that draft as your proof of concept. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to demonstrate, to you, that it can be done.
Interview : YA SH3LF
Interview: Graduate Farah Naz Rishi
2016 Odyssey graduate Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she’s worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s probably hanging out with video game characters. You can find her at home in Philadelphia, or on Twitter at @far_ah_way.
You attended Odyssey in 2016. Can you talk about your pre-Odyssey writing process? What kind of writing schedule, if any, did you keep?
Before Odyssey, I had no writing process to speak of; I wrote sporadically, at best, writing down a few sentences and phrases that I thought were interesting and would spur a greater story. Of course, they never did; my interest quickly waned and I’d give up. I also wasn’t exactly sure how one turned a few sentences into an entire book. As a result, I kept no writing schedule at all and only wrote during lulls in law school classes.
What made you decide to attend the Odyssey Writing Workshop?
After graduating law school, I wanted to stay close to home because my dad was sick. I wasn’t quite mentally prepared to take the bar, but the idea of writing as an outlet seemed a really attractive one. Then, after doing some research online late one night, I found Odyssey. It sounded like such a fantastic opportunity, only, I wasn’t sure I wanted to take the plunge. I knew if I did, I’d probably fall in love with writing and never practice law again. It was a big life decision to make at a time when my life already felt uncertain. Ultimately, it was my online writing friends, Marri and Kate, as well as my partner, Stephen, who convinced me that the best time to do something for myself was precisely during a time when life felt uncertain.
How do you feel your writing and writing process changed as a result of having attended Odyssey? What insights did you gain into your own work?
Oh gosh, what didn’t change? For one thing, since I had never kept a proper writing schedule, the first thing I learned was the importance of keeping one and sticking to it. I believe it was our writer-in-residence (and class hero), Mary Robinette Kowal, who mentioned how, on days when she was especially tired or busy, she would try to force herself to write a sentence, just one sentence; even if you only wrote one sentence, at least you could say you did it. But more often than not, when you’d sit down to write that one sentence, you’d just . . . keep going. Sometimes the hardest part is just sitting down to do it.
What was also incredibly helpful for me was how Jeanne dedicated one-on-one time to each of her students to spell out exactly how and where they could improve their writing. She could somehow diagnose exactly where your story fell apart, could somehow know exactly what you might have been thinking when you wrote a specific scene, and could somehow come up with ten different examples of how exactly you could fix it. And then she’d casually offer you some chocolate while you’d sit there with your mind completely blown to bits. But it was that kind of individual attention that made me grow in ways I still haven’t pinned down.
Can you describe your Odyssey experience? What surprised you most about Odyssey?
The real Odyssey was the friends we made along the way.
No, really.
Really.
I went to Odyssey thinking I would keep my head down, pick up a few neat writing tricks, and then leave. And to be fair, I did learn some neat writing tricks—and, I think, improved my non-existent writing ability by tenfold, thanks to Jeanne—but I also went home knowing I had spent those six arduous weeks with people I would now consider family. I really hadn’t expected my classmates to have become some of the closest people in my life, but the funny thing about baring your writing: it’s a bit like baring your soul. Maybe I got lucky, but everyone in my Odyssey class was an absolute treasure.
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You’ve worked as a video game journalist. How has gaming influenced your prose? What do you think writers could learn from successful video games?
I think analyzing video games actually helped me understand world-building a bit better. I try to treat every character, no matter how small their role, as an NPC (non-playable character). Every NPC in a video game should have a clear purpose, not just to propel the main characters on their quest, but to better flesh out the world around them. NPCs in games offer advice and opinions, sometimes drop hints that, if missed, can really screw over the player, or at least make their quest more difficult. In that way, they can make the story interactive. NPCs basically can reward a player for exploration. If you remove them, maybe the overall story won’t be affected, per se, but it will feel less rich.
The video games I’ve loved the most not only have amazing storylines, but made me feel that I was moving through a fully realized world. For example, if I’m traveling through a particular town, I expect the characters in my party to notice and comment on certain aspects of the town: maybe a certain stall, maybe a flower that brings back a particular memory. Having different characters should trigger different conversations because those characters will notice different things. Or maybe there are Wanted posters on the wall that are clearly aimed at a certain group of people, which shows this is a world that feels this way or that way. It’s these numina, in conjunction, that make a world feel more 3D to me, and help the player—and in the case of a book, reader—understand that there are things at play beyond what we read on a page. So when I’m writing, I find that plotting a story is one thing, but imagining these seemingly unimportant little conversations and details also helps me flesh out the world and the characters in a way that never fails to delight me.
Your novel I Hope You Get This Message, about an alien entity threatening to end humanity, comes out in October 2019. Your website states that you write “hopeful stories in a not-so-hopeful world.” What do you find hopeful in stories about the end of the world? What prompted you to write I Hope You Get This Message?
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To me, the most profound thing about humanity is our ability to hold on even when all hope seems lost. I think that’s why in movies and video games, whenever humans are confronted by monsters or aliens or some other species, without fail, there will always be some line about how humans are so stubborn or headstrong or idealistic, and I think generally speaking, that’s totally true. It’s probably why we’ve survived for as long as we have.
But the stories that stay with me are stories about ordinary people who, because they refused to give up in a crucial moment, managed to do extraordinary things. And most of the time, that’s done because of hope. When I started writing I Hope You Get This Message, my dad had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It really did feel like the beginning of the end of the world for me. When he passed away, and after my brother ended his own life, I needed to find a way to convince myself that no matter what happened, and had happened, things would still be okay. That I would be okay. I Hope You Get This Message was my argument. And thankfully, it’s one I can read again when I need the reminder.
What is a novel you read recently that blew you away, and what did you enjoy about it?
I just finished The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso and LOVED IT. But with magic, political intrigue, and a story centered on the friendship of two hilariously different women, what’s not to love?
What’s next on the writing-related horizon? Are you starting any new projects?
I’m currently writing a fantasy project steeped in South Asian history about the battle of gods and technology. I’m very, very excited for it.
Author Spotlight | Interview With Farah Naz Rishi
May 17, 2019
Salaam everyone!
As part of #RamadanReadathon, I’ll be hosting a series of author interviews to spotlight new and upcoming releases from debut and established authors. I’m so excited to welcome Farah Naz Rishi on the blog today to talk about her debut novel I Hope You Get This Message!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she’s worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s probably hanging out with video game characters. You can find her at home in Philadelphia, or follow her on Twitter at @far_ah_way.
ABOUT I HOPE YOU GET THIS MESSAGE
Seven days. Seven days. The Earth might end in seven days.
When news stations start reporting that Earth has been contacted by a planet named Alma, the world is abuzz with rumors that the alien entity is giving mankind only few days to live before they hit the kill switch on civilization.
For high school truant Jesse Hewitt, though, nothing has ever felt permanent. Not the guys he hooks up with. Not the jobs his underpaid mom works so hard to hold down. Life has dealt him one bad blow after another — so what does it matter if it all ends now? Cate Collins, on the other hand, is desperate to use this time to find the father she’s never met, the man she grew up hearing wild stories about, most of which she didn’t believe. And then there’s Adeem Khan. While coding and computer programming have always come easily to him, forgiveness doesn’t. He can’t seem to forgive his sister for leaving, even though it’s his last chance.
With only seven days to face their truths and right their wrongs, Jesse, Cate, and Adeem’s paths collide even as their worlds are pulled apart.
THE INTERVIEW
Salaam, Farah! Thank you so much for joining us! To begin with, could you quickly introduce yourself and your debut novel I Hope You Get This Message? How would you describe the book in emojis or comps?
FR: Walaikum assalaam! I’m Farah. I used to be a lawyer; my area of expertise was wildlife and environmental law—but now I write full-time and occasionally do some voice acting work. If I’m not chasing a deadline, I’m playing video games, or watching anime with my cat, dog, and partner.
I Hope You Get This Message is the story of an alien planet that has threatened to destroy all of humanity on Earth, and three teenagers—Jesse, Cate, and Adeem—who scramble to tie-up loose ends, face their pasts, and right their wrongs. The book has been described as We All Looked Up meets The Sun is Also a Star, and I’d say that’s pretty darn accurate.
To sum the book up in emojis… 👽💥🌎📻🚗📡❤️🌅
Wow, I should write all my books in emojis.
In what ways are the three protagonists of the novel – Jesse, Cate and Adeem – similar, and in what ways are they different?
FR: The one thing that connects Jesse, Cate, and Adeem is how most of their problems stem from their inability to communicate to their loved ones. Jesse has failed, for years, to reach out to both his mom, who works an impossible number of shifts at the local diner, and his counsellor, Ms. K. Cate also bottles up her emotions out of fear of burdening her mom, who is struggling to find the right balance of medication for her schizophrenia. And Adeem has never been able to be open with his family, in part because he doesn’t know how.
As for their differences, Jesse and Adeem are on opposite spectrums of how they see the world. Jesse has been knocked down so many times that he believes people are inherently bad; it’s how he’s justified his thievery and conning and taking advantage of people for so long.
Adeem, on the other hand, tends to have a more positive outlook. Though he’s certainly not naïve—he knows evil exists, and he’s dealt with his fair share of racists and bigots—he believes that most people aren’t so bad.
Cate, meanwhile, is smack in the middle. She doesn’t have time to think about sweeping psychological judgments on humanity when she’s just trying to be a supportive daughter and survive school. Until Alma arrives, her world consists of herself and her mother. Nothing else matters.
Let’s talk about music! What songs are these characters currently listening to?
FR: Oh man, I love this question. Music has been key in how I’ve come to understand these characters, their story, and if I can’t find a song that serves as that gateway, I can’t write them. These are basically the trio’s theme songs:
Jesse: Tom Misch – Beautiful Escape (feat. Zak Abel)
Cate: Broods – Mother & Father
Adeem: Skogsrå – Out of Time
In the novel, Earth gets a message from Alma about the end of human civilisation. What message do you hope readers will get from the story?
FR: No matter what happens, no matter how much life beats you down, no matter what you might tell yourself… you are strong enough. One of my favorite lines in the Quran is: “Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.” So far, I have found that to be the truest thing there is.
I couldn’t agree more! Now imagine yourself in this end-of-the-world scenario; what would you do if you only had seven days left to live?
FR: Pray. God, I would pray: for the protection of my loved ones, for forgiveness, and for a painless death.
And then I’d eat my weight in chocolate cake, Matilda-style.
And finally, what inspires you to write, and what are your favourite books written by Muslim authors?
[TW: Suicide]
FR: I wrote this book during the most difficult time of my life; over a span of three years, I lost my dad, my little brother, and my mom. There’s a line about Cate that I really connect with: “Cate had felt like she was drowning in the stress of her life, and it was all she could do to cling to a piece of driftwood floating by, a piece of stability.” That’s what this book was for me. Driftwood to cling to when I was certain I’d drown.
Adeem, in many ways, feels like an extension of me; we share the same religion, the same faith, the same outlook on life, so writing his story was cathartic. My little brother suffered from depression, and not long after he came out as bisexual, he died of suicide. To write a character so like me who was able to find and hold their beloved sibling before it was too late was absolutely crucial in helping me find healing. Of course, it was a painful process, but if I can reach out to someone else—if someone else can connect to Adeem’s story and find the inspiration to grab their loved ones and hold on tight—then it will have all been worth it.
Right now, I’m reading A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza, and not only is it just one of the best books I’ve ever read, but it’s also mind-blowingly surreal to relate to a group of characters so deeply. I mean, when do Muslim readers get to experience that? Rarely. Too rarely. So to read a book about a Muslim family and their problems, problems I know all too well, feels a bit like coming home. Finally.
Beautifully written – I love that quote! Thank you so much for your time, Farah. I can’t wait to meet these characters and read their story!
I Hope You Get This Message will be published on October 22th 2019 by Harper Teen. Pre-order the book now on Amazon UK and don’t forget to add it on Goodreads.
GIVEAWAY
Want to win a copy of I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi? Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win this book or a book of your choice from any of the authors featured during #RamadanReadathon! These books will be revealed throughout the month so keep your eyes peeled for more interviews on this blog.
This giveaway is open internationally, as long as Book Depository ships to you.
Rishi, Farah Naz I HOPE YOU GET THIS MESSAGE HarperTeen (Young Adult Fiction) $17.99 10, 22 ISBN: 978-0-06-274145-5
NASA has intercepted information revealing that an alien race will be deciding Earth's fate in one week.
Against this doomsday backdrop, three teens must decide what to do with their remaining days. Adeem, a Pakistani American Muslim, lives in Carson City, Nevada, and misses his big sister, Leyla, who disappeared from his life two years ago after coming out as gay. Cate, a white San Francisco girl living with her mentally ill mother, wants to find the father who abandoned them. Jesse, who is gay and white, lives with his widowed mother in Roswell, New Mexico. Once word spreads that the aliens of the planet Alma are sitting in judgment, worldwide chaos ensues. Adeem, a ham radio enthusiast, hears a message from Leyla and sets out for Roswell, where the message originated. Cate goes on a quest to find her father. Jesse discovers a machine created by his father and starts a lucrative scam "sending" messages to Alma. The three teens' compelling stories overlap and intertwine. Transcripts from Alma's Interplanetary Affairs Committee offer clever insight into the moral dilemma faced by the 13 alien jurors who must weigh the value of human life against our species' violence, cruelty, and environmental destruction. The inclusion of details of Adeem's Muslim background and the understated acceptance of the gay characters are strengths.
Tautly plotted, with realistic characters and situations, this debut will please enthusiasts of both science fiction and realistic fiction. (Science fiction. 13-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Rishi, Farah Naz: I HOPE YOU GET THIS MESSAGE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2019. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A596269556/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b132bc8a. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A596269556