EHC Alumni Publishes First Novel

Elliott Hudson College alumni, Fatim Fofana has recently self-published her first novel entitled “Carry On” which is available on Amazon. We are very proud of her achievement and caught up with Fatim to find out more about her novel and what inspired her to start writing.

What is your book “Carry on” about?

My book is titled ‘Carry On’ and I first started writing the book just before I began at EHC and since then I’ve been working on it , editinitg, and improving the first drafts of it.

“Carry On” is a contemporary teen/young adult romance book. It was inspired by my own personal experiences along with other books that I’d read before. The main themes of my story are friendship, love (platonic & romantic), crime and law, found family, loss, betrayal and the silent battles with mental health that many of us endure.

My own experiences with mental health first inspired me to the write the novel. During my time at college, I was undergoing some difficulties in my day-to-day life but what really triggered me into the writing the book was reading another book similar to my own. Reading that book at the time made me feel inspired to write something as beautiful, honest, and inspirational as that novel. And so writing “Carry On” was a little bit like a release for me at the time and helped me put my own struggles at the time into words.

I want readers to feel inspired, hopeful and that they are heard and seen after reading the novel. Just like the characters in the story, I want readers to realise that life can be difficult, and you will go through times of darkness and hardship. But, on the flip side, life is also full of happiness, joy, and love. I want readers to remind themselves that when things get hard, life will also become easy once again because nothing lasts forever.

What are the characters like?

I love all my characters – Mason, Renée and Amanda. But if I had to pick a favourite, I would have to choose Mason. I’ve always had a soft spot towards his character, and I loved writing and reading about his multiple personalities.

I feel Renée resembles myself the most in her character and personality. She’s kind-hearted but can be quite lethal if you hurt the people she cares about and so I would say that my personality matches with her in that sense. Although I felt I could relate to each character in some way.

How did you get into writing?

My creative process is naturally quite messy and spontaneous. It wasn’t something I came up with on the spot or in one day. I take inspiration from other books, my own experiences, and TV/films that I watch. I did have an ending and beginning set in my mind from the start, however. I decided that I wanted to write a story about a girl and a guy who had tragic backgrounds but through their struggles, they help one another and fall in love as a result. I had to think logically and take inspiration from other works in the same genre that I’d personally enjoyed, seeing what works and what doesn’t work, and by doing this, it allowed me to form a well-structured story with an engaging plot.

I found the hardest part was actually getting the words onto the page. I had so many thoughts and ideas in my head, but the difficulty came with trying to get it down in a cohesive and engaging way to the reader but over time and through editing/rewriting, the process then became easier.

During my journey, I attempted to go down the traditional publishing route but struggled to find an agent interested or willing to represent me as an author. I then decided to look into self-publishing and sent in my manuscript to a self-publishing company. After two weeks I received an email, and they were ecstatic and full of praise about my book, and this led to me deciding to work with the company leading to my final work.

About the Author

Fatim left Elliott Hudson College in 2022, after completing her A Levels in Psychology, Biology and Chemistry, she now studying Psychology at the University of Hull, with the hopes of becoming a Clinical Psychologist.

“I loved the sense of community at college” said Fatim “I enjoyed the warm and friendly atmosphere, especially during Culture Week and Ramadan, and the support from staff and teachers.”

“Carry on” by Fatim Fofana (ISBN-13: 979-8387270307) is available now on Amazon.