Hello biblios! And welcome to another “Cuppa with a Book Blogger”, where we get to learn a little bit more about some of our favourite book bloggers (or meet a new book blogger friend along the way)!
My guest today is Hiba from fictionalwritingsandi! Let’s jump right in to learn more about this book blogger:
So, let’s get the obvious question out of the way – who is Hiba? Tell us a bit about the book lover behind the blog.
Hiba is a fangirl – someone who tends to go crazy over the subjects she loves. I’m a Muslim and a thirteen year old bookworm from Pakistan. I’m an introvert and a girl who likes to read/write fanfiction. I’m a professional procrastinator and I loathe anything and everything related to school, homework and exams.
I’m a book blogger, and I have a bookstagram account which is very shitty (though that doesn’t stop me from taking pictures), and I’m going to make a bookish-and-fangirlish podcast soon on soundcloud, where I’ll be rambling and talking about my favourite subjects.
Some of my hobbies include: Singing off-key to annoying my sisters, reading, writing, and fangirling over YouTubers.
Everyone has a story and I’m positive you do too. What inspired you to start blogging? And how did you come up with the name for your space?
When I was nine, I started to write short stories and decided that I wanted to become a writer when I grew up. One of my sisters suggested blogging. So when I was twelve years old, I created my blog.
There are several reasons I started blogging. I really wanted to improve my writing skills, and one way to do that was to write more and more, so I decided that creating a blog would help me with that. I also wanted to write about the books I read, and book-blogging seemed to be the best option. But the main reason? I didn’t have fangirl-ish and bookish friends in real life, and I desperately wanted to fangirl and talk to someone about my books. Creating my blog helped me to get out all my frustration on books, and talk freely about things, and that has been such a great thing to me.
It was actually my sister who came up with the name for my blog. I was about to come up with something lame when she suggested, what about fictionalwritingsandi? I figured it was the best name my sister or I could ever come up with, and so, fictionalwritingsandi was born.
From one book blogger to another, I know how much time goes into crafting a post that you feel comfortable enough posting for the world to see. Looking back, what was your favourite post to write? (You may list more than one if you want).
I think two of my favourite posts are definitely,
- ‘Severus Snape – a Good guy or a bad one?’ which is a character review on Snape from Harry Potter.
- ‘The Rainbow Spines book tag’, which is about a few of my favourite colourful books.
Getting a lil’ personal; what is your biggest achievement to date? Is there a moment you are especially proud of when you look back on all you’ve accomplished so far?
Achievements? I haven’t really ‘achieved’ anything in my thirteen years of life. Oh, wait, yes, I won a competition when I was nine years old in which I was supposed to stuff as much food as I could in my mouth. I only had fifteen minutes, and I was competing against two boys and a girl. I was the one who ate the most out of all of them. Does that count as an achievement? Lol, I guess not.
I’ve also been securing the second position in my class (in a row) since grade four, and I guess that could be called an achievement.
Do you have a bucket list stashed away somewhere with some daring (or more subdued) activities that you’d like to complete? Name 5 items on your list.
- I’m a little bit scared of the water, and I don’t know how to swim, so I really want to learn how to swim.
- Play football or any sport that contains a ball – because I’m afraid of balls. Like, really, really afraid. never play sports with the rest of my class in P.E period because of that.
- Meet J.K Rowling and Cassandra Clare.
- Ride in a hot-air balloon.
- Go mountain-climbing.
Name one of your most cherished life experiences.
In 2015, my whole family, and my cousins (that is, three more families) went on a trip to the northern areas of Pakistan (Murree, Naran, Kaghan, Muzaffarabad, etc.) in the summer vacations. I had so much fun. Everything was gorgeous there – the whole scenery was perfect.
The Kaghan Valley was so beautiful, and I’d do anything to go back there again.
“HakunaMatata – it means no worries, for the rest of your days.” Do you have a motto in life? If yes, let us know what it is.
I don’t know. I don’t really have a life motto. John Lennon once said, ‘Imagine…’, which is my favourite word and my favourite quote. That could be taken as a motto. Other than that, I live by the quotes and sayings of Islam and the Quran.
Let’s talk books for a bit… How did reading become such a big part of your life?
My doorway to the wonderful world of books was either The Harry Potter series or books by Jacqueline Wilson. I started reading Jacqueline’s books when I was eight, and they were so interesting that I wanted to read more and more, My sister suggested reading Harry Potter, so I read the whole series and fell in love with books, and started reading more fiction books – Percy Jackson, The Mortal Instruments series, etc.
Harry Potter is the reason why fantasy is my favourite genre.
What would you consider your “most reached for” genre? And is there any special reason for this preference?
I just mentioned it above: Fantasy! I don’t really know why, but I absolutely LOVE fantasy. Any special reason? Idk, I don’t think so.
On the other side of the spectrum, what genre do you hardly reach for and why?
Crime Fiction! It just doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve tried to read many crime fiction books, but I always put them back on the bookshelf after reading the first chapter.
As a major book nerd, I know how overwhelming – or let’s just call it IRRITATING – it can be when someone asks you what your favourite book is because there’s never a black ‘n white answer. So here’s my question: What is your ideal ending for a book?
My ideal ending for a book? Well, It depends. I like happily-ever-afters because they make me happy instead of an emotional mess. However, there are some books where I think that sad endings work well. I wanted Harry to die at the end of Harry Potter. I didn’t want him to live. That’s the only thing I don’t like about Harry Potter. Even though the ending would have been sad, it would have made the story greater, and better.
Mostly, though? I think the Author should kill off a few characters (even though it’s cruel. But killing off beloved characters makes the story better, in my opinion), but make the ending happy and perfect, and not all dark and moody. Does that make any sense? Well, to me it does.
What are some of your most cherished quotes from books?
- “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.” – Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter.
- “I’ve found that there is always some beauty left – in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.” – Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank.
- “I would always rather be happy than dignified.” – Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre.
- “I want to do something splendid…something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.” ― Jo March, Little Women.
What bookish franchise do you tend to fan and fawn over most?
HARRY POTTER! Or the whole Shadow-hunter Chronicles. I think I fangirl over both of the series equally.
If you’re anything like me then you’ll have a long list of bookish pet peeves. Can you name one of your biggest bookish pet peeves?
I absolutely HATE it when people read over my shoulder. It’s so annoying. You can feel their breath tickling on your shoulder. It’s uncomfortable.
I think one of the biggest problems us bookish folk face is our never ending TBR pile that gets longer and longer no matter how many books we tick off as ‘read’. What book has been on your TBR the longest?
The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien. I just can’t bring myself to read that series, no matter how hard I try. I read the first book a few months ago, but my heart just wasn’t in it, and I forgot everything that took place a few days later. That’s why I’ve marked the first book as ‘unread’ too.
Fire Questions:
Stressed Reader or Relaxed Reader?
Relaxed Reader.
Favourite Subject in school?
English.
Quiet night in or a night out on the town?
Quiet night.
Paperback or EBook?
Paperback.
Pretty dress or jeans and T-shirt?
Jeans and T-shirt, because it’s comfortable. However, if I want to look fancy sometimes or like, go to a party – then pretty dress.
What advice do you have for the students out there?
Work hard, but don’t over do it. Do not pressurise yourself and live your life. Don’t worry about working too much – but at the same time, don’t become too careless.
About the blog: My blog is a compilation of my ramblings about books, my fangirl-ships, my favourite book-characters, and all things book-ish. I tend to mostly post only things related to book-blogging on my blog, but sometimes I talk about life and music and other stuff– that only happens once in a while, though.
Blog | fictionalwritingsandi · Goodreads | Hiba Ashfaq
Thanks so much to Hiba for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer these questions. I hope you’ll go ahead and check out her blog and that you’ve made a new book blogging friend!
If you would like to have me feature your blog on A Cuppa with a Book Blogger, please drop me an email so we can talk more. Don’t forget to come back next week Monday to meet another Book Blogger Friend!
Oh, how the times have changed – I didn’t even have internet when I was 13, and I don’t think they’d even invented the idea of blogging yet! All these talented young people make me feel so old! 😉