Meet The Authors Showcase Edition #3 (3 of 3)

A showcase @Alatary, author of Enheduanna the first author

1 what inspired the idea of your story?

I got inspired to write about Enheduanna when I learned about her existence. To know that she is the first author in history, and yet, so few people know her story, it compelled me to write about her. For the longest time, even I, an archaeologist, didn't know that 4000 years ago Enheduanna defined authorship by signing her work. So, when I learned about this amazing woman, I thought this is a story that needs to be shared.

2 what is something you struggled constructing with your story?

Overall, I struggled little with the narrative or plot. That is one of the benefits of working with a real-life person as your basis. Translating Enheduanna's hymns from Sumerian into English was another story. It's a dead language, and the various translations were very inconsistent, so I struggled to give her writings one cohesive voice.

3 what did you enjoy writing most of your story?

 That being said, translating her hymns was also the most enjoyable about this story. Reading something so personal, like 'The Exaltation of Inanna', feels like you are reading the most inner thoughts and emotions of this woman who lived 4000 years ago, and yet you can still relate to her feelings. I cried so many times while reading her work, because she struggled with the same things as many of us still do. We all want to leave our mark on the world. We are trying to find our place in this world. And most importantly, we feel ownership over that which we have created.

4 what's the overall response of your story from your readers?

Most of my readers are perplexed that Enheduanna's story is not that well known. I got so many sweet comments saying that they wish this was taught in school or that they are researching Enheduanna themselves after reading my story. And as a researcher myself, this is the greatest compliment. History is so much bigger and complexer than we are taught. There are still hundreds of stories undiscovered, and to get my readers interested in this particular piece is amazing. 

5 is your story a stand alone novel or a piece of a series ?

 The story is a standalone novel, but after the amazing response I made a 'Writers of the Past' series, in which I write about the (often undiscovered) influential writers of our past. 'Queen of The Fairy Tales' will be the next in this series, and I am also working on a story about the Female Tattler and the man who wrote about an undiscovered country.

6 what would you like your readers to take away from your story?

I  would like my readers to take away from this story the knowledge that your story deserves to be told. I mean, we often hear these big heroic tales and think, my life is nothing like that or I'm not that interesting, but you are. You contribute something, and your story can be told. Even if someone says otherwise.

7 what advice would you provide to fellow writers, when it comes to focusing on their own story?

 I'm not the best advice-giver, seeing how I still have so much to learn. But if there is one thing I learned from this story, it's that if you have to get to the essence of your story. My essence was remembrance and legacy, so I started my story with the sentence: "I should never be remembered according to the laws of men."

8 does your main character share any similarities to yourself?

Yes, more than I thought. Enheduanna is a writer, so I relate to all the struggles she has as a writer. But she is also very stubborn, hides her insecurities and has a big sense of duty, which I relate a lot to. 

9 what is something about your story you believe would draw in new readers?

The prologue. It sounds strange, seeing how I added it last, but that prologue is a sneak peek and an intro to Enheduanna's character all in one. If new readers love it, without a doubt, they will love the rest of the story. I also think that the fact that I based it on a real-life person, and contained her actual writings is very intriguing. 

10 do you have any future projects?

 So many, maybe even too much. As I said earlier, I am working on the 'Writers of the Past' series and currently I am also writing a NA romance novel named 'Mummies and Millionaire'.