Fallacies of Gold

Prequel, Sequel & Ending Note

Before you come at me with your pitchforks, let me tell you that Salman's story doesn't end here. The sequel will pick up Salman's as well as D&K's story. He is my baby boy, I'll never let his ending be this miserable.

Those of who you have been threatening Salman/giving him baad duas/signing petitions against him - hold onto your billis (mmeow_124 hi). I didn't give him a chance to redeem himself yet. His character arc is yet to come.

Prequel & Sequel

I've already published the Preview chapters of More Than Gold. I plan to start updating from next week in shaa Allah. I'll post future announcements regarding MTG on that book, so please add it to your libraries if you wish to get notified.

Inspiration and Background

The idea for FoG sparked in my head while writing The Golden Girl, specifically this paragraph from Malika's perspective: Her mind went back to simpler summers; when they used to run after the ice cream man with the tinkling bell, spend all evening playing hide and seek, and plot to get back to Salman for driving Farrah up the wall with his silly antics.

It was also during that time I was itching to write stories about my own culture. Despite the number of books I've read, on and off Wattpad, I could never find characters who actually thought and acted like me, or the people around me. Even with Desi/Muslim books, I could never fully relate.

I did definitely take creative liberties with some aspect of the books, but incorporated more of my life here than you guys could imagine. Most of characters and relationships are inspired by real people and stories I myself have experienced or heard.

The retelling aspect of the book came later. About halfway though writing it I was like - I guess I can't just write desi parties and drama? I need to have an actual plot lol. I was also watching a show that was a P&P retelling (the one I mentioned in the previous author's note). Little Women has always been my favorite classic. So I combined these two and came up with the mashup that is this book.

Farrah & Salman

I call this book Farrah & Salman's book, that's why they're in the Prologue and the Epilogue.

I was always on the fence about whether or not this couple would end up together, especially because I designed them after Jo & Laurie (they were the Little Women aspect of the retelling); I don't plan my books, and that includes my characters. They take shape naturally as the story progresses; and with how both Farrah and Salman ended up, I knew this couple was doomed from the start.

Farrah is someone who has been struggling to express her feelings in a healthy manner and maintain every relationship in her life (even with her parents and friends). Every single character has issues with their parents in this book (Kaveh's parents literally forced/blackmailed him to leave the life he wanted for what they wanted)... yet, you don't see any of them complain about/and want to abandon their family ties as much as she does.

Everyone processes emotions differently and that's okay, so Farrah's feelings are justified in her own way. But the point remains (she struggles with relationships).

Salman is immature, self-absorbed, irresponsible and naive to some extent. This couple has been problematic and unstable from the very Prologue. The book begins with Salman taking part in bullying her, for God's sake. Farrah always hated Salman's guts. You see some of Salman's worst descriptions from her point of view. Her first reaction when he proposed was "I don't believe you". Salman always knew Farrah loved him and he reciprocated her feelings to some extent, but was too immature to handle it. None of this is healthy.