Scarred For Life

Lets Chat!

Hey there,

So this will be the last time you ever see a notification relating to this book pop up on your device. I realize how depressing this sounds, but such is the way of life. I just think we need a moment to absorb everything we've learnt and talk a little about this story.

First off, I'd like to extend my gratitude towards each and every one of you who is reading this. It means you've gone through this with me, and I'm eternally grateful. For those of you who like to skip to the ending however, I see you. And I hope you lock your doors at night.

Anyway, let's talk about the story.

Incase you didn't notice, the primary plot point is domestic abuse, be it sexual, physical, emotional or verbal. It's a deep and widespread topic in this part of the world, and somehow I haven't figured out why it's still prevalent in this day and age.

What Yusuf did to Afrah was unforgivable. If it were up to me, he would be dead a long time ago. But whenever I write a story, I don't want my characters to be one-dimensional. Labeling someone as either good or bad is something we tend to do often, which is extremely improper. On Wattpad alone, I've seen a multitude of books where a character is defined as either being good or bad. Humans aren't like that, because we all have the tendency to do good or bad to some extent.

You will recall a scene in Chapter 49 where Yusuf comes home to find Zainab alone, and he makes dinner for them. It's an unimportant scene, but little things like that are meant to show that his mind isn't consumed by darkness and hatred. As cruel as he was, I like to think a part of him is still good, which is what led him to do what he did for Halima's sake.

It's a shame that he ruined it by assaulting her daughter however.

Another topic I would like to address is marriage. Too often, we tend to think love is the supreme factor in choosing a partner. I am here to tell you it's not. When Afrah decides to marry Adnan, she didn't love him. But she knew he was her friend, and that was enough to let her know that they could make it work. A wise man once told me that the best thing you can do for your marital life is to marry your best friend. Of course I'm not an expert, so please don't quote me. I have never married before, so I don't know what goes on in the thick of it all. But I've observed and watched and taken my notes. I've seen too many marriages ruined by two people entering into them with unrealistic expectations. No marriage is perfect; we all know that. But then we should try and choose the right person at least.

I remember someone sending me a message once on this story, where she asked me why I labeled it a romance considering the fact that there were so many other elements to it. I told her that's just my style of writing, because I cannot write a one-sided story with nothing but romance. After all, do we wake up in the morning and the first thing on our minds is our love interests?

Of course not.

I don't know about you, but when I wake up the first thing on my mind is whether my phone is fully charged or not.

I'm curious to know who your favorite characters were. For me, it was Zainab. I enjoyed her scenes more than the rest, and I feel like there is so much that goes on in her head that I haven't even touched half of it. The scheming, the efficiency of her planning; all of it. Please let me know who your favorite characters are and why.

Now, to answer some of your frequently asked questions:

1. I don't have another book planned for Wattpad yet. For now, I'm going to devote my time and energy to the other books I abandoned on Dreame for this one. I would appreciate it if you would check them out. One is a fantasy novel about werewolves (Born A Female Alpha) and the other is a historical romance (The Master and The Maiden). It would mean so much to me if you gave them the same love you gave this book. The latter is almost complete, but the former is just starting. If you're into those kinds of stories, check them out. You can send me a private message if you are unable to find them on the site.

2. I will be uploading this same story on GoodNovel, along with a few bonus chapters and extended scenes for anyone who's interested. You can check it out if you want more of Afrah and Adnan.

3. Do I have a new book planned for Wattpad? Not yet. I don't plan my books in advance. But when I get an idea, it takes control of my mind and I immediately start drafting a plot. If you are interested in reading another story I might come up with, follow my social media and I'll be sure to post when I have a new story planned.

4. Believe it or not, I came up with this book en route to Kano. I did not plan it, but it took me three days to plan everything from beginning to end. At the time, I wanted one of my main characters dead at the end. But I don't think you would have enjoyed reading that, because it would have been much darker and I'm a sucker for happy endings, bleak as this one is.

5. Are my characters based on real people? Absolutely not. But I drew inspiration for this story from things I've come across in my life. When I can, I try to avoid mirroring real people in my characters.

Finally, I would like to extend my appreciation to a few people. I know my rate of replying to comments is abysmal, and I'm sorry if you ever felt like your comment was overlooked. Please know that I read all of them, and I truly appreciate it.

I specifically would like to thank Hauwah_UA @maidservant1 @_suttie @Ukhtisoma PopoolaBarakatOladoy  @mubarakah_md @hidaaaya @diijahyb @hawieA.

Your comments are usually the first to pop up on my phone. And yours are the ones I can usually remember to look for. Thank you so much for the votes, comments, opinions and well wishes.

A special thank you to arafatmoh123 ,whose comments are always the most amusing, and probably the funniest. You can check the comments section of chapter 82 to see how he would have ended the story if it were up to him.

And a warm thank you to my personal beta reader, N__imam . A lot of people don't know this, but he's usually the first person to read a chapter before anyone else. I'm usually sitting right next to him while I'm writing, and as soon as I tell him I'm done, he rushes to Wattpad and reads the chapter. He's the first to point out a mistake, and the first person to give an opinion on the chapter. I regard my plot twists as being successful if he runs out of the room immediately after reading the chapter and starts telling me how he never expected it. Trust me when I say he knows the characters better than any other person does. You have him to thank for Yusuf's death, because he was the one who told me to kill him from the beginning. Maryam's death was also his wish, so you can complain to him if you didn't like it. Initially he asked me to kill either Adnan or Afrah as well, but the need of the many supersedes the want of the few.

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say. I don't think I've said thank you quite enough, so I'll say it once again.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS STORY!

It's been fun, and exhausting, and sad, and tragic, but in the end it was rewarding. My dream was that one day I'll get to see this book at 500k reads. We're signing off at 156k reads, which is more than I could have hoped for when I started. I appreciate each and every one of you who recommended this story to a friend or a sibling or a neighbor or that weird girl in your group who doesn't talk to anyone. Tell her I said hi.

It's hard to say goodbye to you all, but parting is such sweet sorrow.

Thank you so much, goodbye, and good luck!

P.S: A final question before I leave :- The title of the story is Scarred For Life. Knowing what you know now, who would you say was scarred for life in the end?

Cheers!