Michelle Medhat has had an exciting career that spans over 24 years in technology, science, education and marketing. Currently, Michelle is Director of Operations and Strategic Development at NEF: The Innovation Institute, an educational charity and professional institute that she co-founded with her husband Professor Sa’ad Medhat. Through her life Michelle has always written, and has carried a deep love for reading and writing. In between being a serial entrepreneur starting up and running several companies, and more recently a charity and professional institution, Michelle has stayed committed to her first true love.
Interview with Michelle Medhat
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| Author Michelle Medhat |
Michelle Medhat: During my 24 year career, I have written extensively for publications, journals and newspapers, and I have numerous short stories published in various anthologies. Connected: The Call is my first full book to be published.
Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
Michael Connelly, Dean Koontz, Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, Robert Ludlum, Neil Gaiman. I like authors who deliver high octane action, but who can weave characters with emotionally-charged histories, and clearly have something to hide. I also like authors who mix genres and who write quite shockingly, but make it believable.
When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
When I was 4 years old my parents took me on holiday to Broadstairs, in the UK. We visited Bleak House, the home of Charles Dickens, and I sat in his chair and proclaimed I would be a writer one day.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
I wrote a poem when I was 4, but my story-writing kicked in much later. I was nine when I first penned a short story about an evil witch who lived between worlds and terrorized young children holidaying in a hotel in Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife. Two brothers and two sisters from two families on holiday had to find a way to kill her using her own enchanted jewelry. For a nine year old, it was quite gruesome, featuring decapitation and dismemberment! The writing was very vivid, with plenty of action, secret passages and thrilling chases. It was inspired by the holidays I used to have in Tenerife and Spain.
Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?
I have a very-pressured full time job, so my writing is certainly not by routine. During a working day, I have very little time to write creatively. I tend to write in the evenings or over weekends. I will also scribble down ideas wherever I am - on train, plane or in the car (obviously not whilst driving!) - and see where I can take these ideas when have more time to reflect. There are places that inspire me greatly. East Devon in the UK is a very beautiful, peaceful place, and every time I visit, I'm compelled to either write or paint (another passion of mine). A few years back, I had more time to write, and I scribed a number of short stories (most of which will soon be available on my site www.forever-connected.com). However, in recent years my emphasis has been on completing my two books- Connected: The Call and Connected: The Shift.
"The hardest thing about writing is finding the time."
What do you find easiest about writing? What the hardest?
I find writing creatively easy. I only have to have an idea or a notion about something and the words start to flow. The hardest thing about writing is finding the time. Often, if I do spend some time writing during the day, I end up feeling guilty about not focusing my energy on something more immediately productive and important connectedto my work. It is quite a dichotomous life I lead, and it can be quite heart-wrenching as my love of my work (I run an educational charity and a professional institution to drive innovation) and my love of writing compete for my time, and one inevitably loses out. Writing is in my heart, and sometimes I have to be true to my first love.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Creating something people enjoy reading, which moves them and they talk about it. Essentially, connecting with readers through writing something that resonates deeply with them at some level. This impact is the best a writer can hope to achieve.
Michelle, please tell us a little about your Spy Thriller Connected: The Call.
Connected: The Call is a very unusual book. Its heart is that of an addictive, exhilarating spy thriller, but its soul is dallying with something more surreal. This mix keeps you hooked. With every turn of the page, a new dimension is revealed, as you go further into a world where traditional powers are failing and a new brand of enemy has the edge.
The central characters are Sam and Ellie Noor; a married couple deeply in love. Only, everything that Sam has told Ellie is a lie, and very soon his world breaks into hers in ways she cannot possible imagine.
For Ellie Noor - an innocent woman who is at the centre of it all - one unexplained moment starts a chain reaction leading to series of events that will change her life forever. But what isn’t she telling? And is it all too late?
The shifting power-play between governments and international terrorists, where double agents, advanced technologies and brutal actions only seek to mask a deeper fight. In the end, it will be down to control, but those who think they have it are just fooling themselves. Control belongs to another. And this is only the beginning.
Connected: The Call is full of people with their own agendas, secrets and lies. From hidden meetings place near Whitehall to the dungeons in Langley, from the high tech laboratories in the Middle East to the winding English country lanes, this book weaves a journey in real-time, with a very real sense of now, although no year is given, the reader is given the notion of it being current, if not set in the future.
.jpg "Connected: The Call (Michelle Medhat)") |
| Click to Read an Excerpt |
What inspired you to write the book?
The inspiration to write Connected: The Call came back in April 2003, at the end of second Gulf War. I was watching the television and scenes from Iraq, and I thought about what really had happened during the war, how different agendas (political and otherwise) had surfaced, and how different people and countries positioned themselves to control the future of a country, that was basically in tatters. I sensed at that time considerable evil but there was also a great optimism, and a notion that perhaps, good would come out of all the suffering and death. An idea germinated that grew rapidly and over six weeks I wrote the plot to Connected. It is really a story that becomes another story, a bit like a Russian Doll. You have to take off the first layer to get to what is really happening. Connected: The Call starts the journey – if you like the outer story – but it is only in Connected: The Shift that answers start to be found.
I have tested Connected: The Call on various people before it was published, and nearly all identified a mood that seemed to capture the deep feelings of people today. In Connected I have incorporated themes that affect our modern lives: the mistrust of establishment, the fact that the government and its agencies can do almost anything with impunity and civilians have little redress; the fears of terrorism (in any form) and a general feeling that maybe, we’ve all gone too far. Connected counters these dark themes with a solid hope that things will somehow improve and the balance shift that has occurred can be reversed.
I was very aware when writing Connected (The Call and the Shift) that some very strong themes are being addressed. Both books don’t hold back, and these are not books for faint-hearted. There is a love story here, but it is not one of ‘wine and roses romance-kind’. The protagonists in the book are presented with virtually intractable situations, and their only resolution is to maintain a continuous underlying strength in hope, faith and a belief in love and goodness.
Connected also has a strong, technological feel to it, and all the technology and science that has been included is grounded in the principles of ‘real science’. Over the years being in technology, science and engineering, I have accumulated an array of articles and information relating to these technologies, and together with over 24 years of technical knowledge, I have been able to create devices in Connected series that have been termed as ‘highly plausible’ and ‘believable’ by those who have read the book. (Even by a writer of science fact).
Who do you see as your target audience and where can we buy the book?
The typical target audience will be readers who enjoy intelligent action, political intrigue, conspiracies, and techno-wizadry. People who enjoyed '24' will enjoy my book. It is also ideal for those readers who enjoy cross-genre novels, and like original stories. In a sense people who are looking for action with something a little bit different from the norm.
"small chapters - big action!"
What makes your book special?
Connected: The Call is an unpredictable thriller with a strange twist. Beyond the nail-biting missions, the terrifying enemies, the cool technology and the political back-biting, there is something else going on. And it is this ‘something else’ that makes Connected: The Call such a genuinely original read. Spy thrillers tend to keep firmly in their genre, however Connected: The Call skirts flagrantly at the very edge. It is intriguing and has resulted in many readers not knowing ‘what on earth is really going on’. The book trailer does nothing to dispel the sense of edgy weirdness that readers have felt after reading the book.
Perhaps, another reason why Connected: The Call is special is that its plot line and characters were written in six weeks flat , along with the plot of my other book (out in Spring 2014) Connected: The Shift (the sequel to The Call). At the time (April 2003), the second Gulf war had just finished, and there was a sense of both hope and dread for the future. Something about this moment affected me deeply, and although I am still not exactly sure why, but I felt I had a story that needed to be told. And I picked up a pen and wrote. What resulted was the initial story of Connected. And over the 10 years that followed, between setting up businesses, creating an educational charity focused on science, engineering and technology and a professional institution to drive Innovation, I finally finished writing Connected.
However, I realized that a debut offering from a new author that ran to over 700 pages was probably not a clever idea, and thus she made the decision to split the books, making Connected: The Call and Connected: The Shift.
A somewhat unique feature of the book is the ‘connectedness’ of everything. People that have read Connected: The Call and Connected: The Shift (published Spring 2014) have commented on how they ‘enjoyed seeing how everything came together’ and even how seemingly little events had a meaning and purpose. This connectedness is something that I believe in - how a small event can have massive consequences - and how, in this fast moving world which we live in, these connections can sometimes be forgotten.
Another element that makes the book so special is the style in which it has been written. Very short chapters which follow a live timeline (except for a few flashbacks) gives the reader a feeling of being really 'in' the story. They have a true sense of pace, as they fly around the globe, interacting with character after character at breakneck speed! This style was characterized in a review which said "small chapters - big action!"
"It is consistently getting 5* reviews"
How would you describe the success of your book so far?
It is going well considering I have had little real time to devote to promotional efforts, and marketing only started in Dec 2013. I notice that as soon as someone reads Connected: The Call, they really love it. It is consistently getting 5* reviews, and a lot of readers are waiting excitedly for the sequel. With its short chapters, big thrilling action, meticulous timelines and overall strangeness, readers quickly get fascinated and addicted to reading the book, to find out what is really going on.
"I always find plotting the characters and plot-lines in a mind-map very helpful [...]"
Can you give some advice for other Authors regarding the writing process?
It is important to always remember the voice you are using and the POV of the specific character you are writing about. I always find plotting the characters and plotlines in a mindmap very helpful, as it helps to structure your mind, and it identifies connections or opportunities to explore a character or a scene in greater depth. Having structure to writing is important, especially if you are writing something complex with lots of different timelines, destinations, inter-weaved plot lines and characters and flashbacks.
Are you working on another book project? Can you tell us a little about it?
I have just finished writing Connected: The Shift which is a sequel to Connected: The Call. At the end of Connected: The Call, a question mark loomed over a number of people: Ellie - for what isn't she telling, Sam - for what retribution he would take and Salim Al Douri, the terrifying leader of Al Nadir for what he would do, now he's got ‘it’.
The Shift picks up almost immediately from where The Call left off. However, be prepared there are changes afoot. The Shift blends an intoxicating mix of fast-paced, shocking spy thriller with intelligent and poignant sci-fi that reflects the world around us.
Things have already happened to Ellie Noor that she can't explain. The roller coaster ride that started in The Call continues at breakneck speed. Over the remaining three days, and told in real time, with scenes playing out simultaneously across the world, Sam and Ellie find themselves in situations difficult to comprehend.
The Shift is a book that doesn’t pull any punches, or tread around issues lightly. Lives will be betrayed, revenge will be delivered and actions will be taken to excess. In The Call, Ellie Noor asked "what's too far gone". In The Shift she gets her answer. And in a way, it looks to answer the bigger question "Have we all gone too far?" The world in The Shift is a mirrored reality of our own. Traits of instant want, immediate gratification and insatiable greed, so prevalent now are pulled to the very precipice of what could be.
But The Shift is also about keeping a belief in faith, hope and love. No matter how dark things seem, there will always be a turning point. A rebalancing of dark to light.
It’s going to be an interesting journey…And one not quite finished, as I have Book Three in the Connected series forming in my mind.
Where do you see the book market in 5 or 10 years? Will there be only eBooks and will book stores disappear like record stores disappeared?
Books are an intensely private thing. I travel extensively and I’m seeing more eBooks than printed books in peoples’ hands. I think that without a doubt the future is eBooks. The versatility and choice that it offers is immense. With the advent of wearable devices such as Google Glasses, ebooks will be able to pick up preferences, styles of reading, pace, size of font etc, and deliver a ‘custom-reading’ experience to reader. This doesn’t mean that printed books will be forgotten, but they will be elevated to similar status as the vinyl records are these days, with avid collector clubs forming and particular genres or authors being highly sought after.
Do you write full-time or do you have a day job? When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
I wish I could write full-time, but at the moment I have a day job, which is very fulfilling. I’m Director of Operations and Strategic Development at NEF: The Innovation Institute, an educational charity and professional institute that I co-founded with my husband Professor Sa’ad Medhat in 2004. The Institute has donated millions of pounds to the science, engineering and technology education sector, and has helped to improve the lives of over 500,000 people. It is very rewarding to know that what we do in NEF is changing lives and improving peoples’ chances to progress and achieve more.
How can readers connect with you?
Twitter: @theconnected1
www.facebook.com/michellemedhat
Web: www.forever-connected.com
Thank you very much for the Interview, Michelle.
About the Book Connected: The Call
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| Click to Read an Excerpt |
The central characters are Sam and Ellie Noor; a married couple deeply in love. Only, everything that Sam has told Ellie is a lie, and very soon his world breaks into hers in ways she cannot possible imagine.
For Ellie Noor - an innocent woman who is at the centre of it all - one unexplained moment starts a chain reaction leading to series of events that will change her life forever. But what isn’t she telling? And is it all too late?
The shifting power-play between governments and international terrorists, where double agents, advanced technologies and brutal actions only seek to mask a deeper fight. In the end, it will be down to control, but those who think they have it are just fooling themselves. Control belongs to another. And this is only the beginning.
Connected: The Call is full of people with their own agendas, secrets and lies. From hidden meetings place near Whitehall to the dungeons in Langley, from the high tech laboratories in the Middle East to the winding English country lanes, this book weaves a journey in real-time, with a very real sense of now, although no year is given, the reader is given the notion of it being current, if not set in the future.
Links to the Book
Link to the eBook Connected: The Call with Excerpt on Amazon - UK
Link to the Hardcover Connected: The Call with Excerpt on Amazon
Link to the Paperback Connected: The Call with Excerpt on Amazon
Link to the eBook Connected: The Call with Excerpt on Amazon
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