All of 12, this girl in Oman has authored six books

Oman Tuesday 28/December/2021 21:47 PM
By: Times News Service
All of 12, this girl in Oman has authored six books
Aysal Waheed, the daughter of Pakistani expatriates in Muscat, can count to her name five fantasy novels directed towards children and adolescents, as well as an anthology composition that was written during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which she was the youngest writer.

Muscat: A 12-year-old girl in Oman has already authored six books, despite her tender age, and intends to make writing a permanent part of her life.

Aysal Waheed, the daughter of Pakistani expatriates in Muscat, can count to her name five fantasy novels directed towards children and adolescents, as well as an anthology composition that was written during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which she was the youngest writer.

“The source of the themes and the characters in my books are my imagination,” said Aysal, who attends Choueifat School in the capital. “They can be sourced from anywhere. Basically, in my books, I try to look at things from the perspective of characters that are objects we sometimes take for granted, or do not consider to be very important.”

Her earlier books are indeed around day-to-day objects we overlook. One of her first books, “A day in the life of a Pencil” concerns Bill, a pencil that lives a hard life because he is constantly being bitten and thrown by his owner, James.

The story concerning Bill centres on a day in which James accidentally drops Bill on the road, on his way to school. A strange old lady nearby walks towards Bill and pours magical dust on him, intent on providing him a new perspective on life.

“I focused on something as ordinary as a pencil, because it is such a big part of the creative process, and as a creative person, I understand that,” she said. “Not everyone, however, treats stationery with the respect it deserves, because these are the tools that help bring our ideas and our imagination to life.”

“Another lesson I wanted to share through this book is that everything in this world, no matter how big or small, has value, and it is for us to understand and appreciate that,” she added.

Another book, called “Chip goes to School”, is about a friendly packet of chips. Taken away from his grocery store home, Chip is brought to a whole new environment, where there are different people, different items and so much more. One Monday morning, Chip is stuffed into a lunch bag, by a second grader who takes him to school, where he runs into all sorts of adventures.

Meanwhile, another book, “Through the Portal”, deals with Savannah, who has always been interested in chemistry, and makes a potion so powerful that it could take her to a different universe. Within is a lesson of the wonders that lie beyond our world, but also of the importance of accepting responsibility for one’s actions.

Her two subsequent books, however, are a deviation from her previous, airier work: both “The Demon’s Hatred” and “The Terror” are works of fiction that cover horror and our worst fears.

“I wanted to choose topics and titles that would immediately attract the reader’s attention,” explained Aysal when asked why she chose works of a more sinister nature. “The moment you see these titles, or turn the book over and examine the back cover, you are bound to be intrigued by them, and that’s what I wanted to use to rope in my readers.”

Aysal was also a contributor to “Life in 2020”, an anthology series published alongside 104 other writers.
Dedicated to providing a positive voice to people who have worked so hard to care for others during COVID-19, Aysal’s contribution was about how she improved her skills around public speaking, artificial intelligence, acting, and many other disciplines while academics were moved online.

While she does love writing and exploring the creative field, Aysal’s inspiration to write her own books also came from her elder sister, Zunaira Waheed, who released her first book, “That Night”, at the age of 15.

It was Aysal’s mother who came up with the idea of using Amazon as a vehicle for publishing, because of the international reach and ability to easily order books off it, and her father, Muhammad, is only too happy to encourage his children to pursue their passions at this age.

“That is our responsibility as parents: to encourage our children to pursue that which interests them, so that their minds are open and they understand what they want to do later in life,” he explained.  “Even if they choose to later pursue something else, nurturing your passions leads to the creation of many good habits and countless lessons learned that will stay with us forever.”