Daily Times

It took not a burst of inspiration but, rather, a conscious effort to pen a science fiction novel. ‘Divided Species’ first began to take shape back in 2011 — yes, almost a decade ago — when I decided to participate in that year’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) session. This is a US-based creative writing initiative whereby a writer is tasked with completing 50,000 words during the month of November. I was fortunate enough to be among the winners from Pakistan. However, what I managed was less than 60 percent of the story that needed telling. Thus, there was rewriting to establish a flow. Not to mention restructuring to remove plot loopholes. I also added content to make the story more holistic — one that reflected the feelings of both protagonist and antagonist. Since this was sci-fi, much focus had to be paid to the believability factor.

I did not want the story to be an out-of-this-world experience. Yet, neither did I wish for the readers to swallow everything — even the physically impossible — simply because of the genre. A balance had to be maintained between fact and fiction. Another challenge was that the story had be acceptable to Pakistani readers, to our local market. Therefore, when writing ‘Divided Species’, the trick was to keep the content aligned with what is appropriate in terms of our social consciousness.

Two observations struck me in this regard. Firstly, Pakistani readers do have a taste for science fiction novels as well as speculative fiction, as underscored by reading habits. Secondly, sci-fi films are avidly watched by local audiences. Meaning that a penchant for this genre certainly exists. Nevertheless, I still had to ascertain whether readers would be open to a novel of this sort written by one of their own: that is, a Pakistani author.

Of course, western material was just one part of the content absorption process. I still had to consciously focus on keeping my novel localised and as ‘desi’ as possible

During my teens, I was fond of reading the ‘Inspector Jamshed’ series by Ishtiaq Ahmed. Then there was ‘Ainak Wala Jin’, a TV show that aired on PTV during the 1990s which was based on magic, science, and speculative fiction. Later, ‘Ismail Ka Urdu Sheher: an Illustrated Sci-Fi Novel and Music Album’ by Zohaib Kazi attracted my attention. ‘The Light Blue Jumper’ by Sidra Sheikh was published in 2017 by Mongrel Books and instilled in me the confidence to keep working on my idea. While Sidra’s narrative employed characters from a diverse universe — I wanted mine to remain localised. My novel depicted human characters from Karachi and the the aliens from outer space. The twist being that the latter had to adapt to the social consciousness of the Karachiites in order to blend in with them. It was the need of the hour, more of a compulsion than a desire.

Indeed, content absorption assists a writer in developing narratives. My exposure to science fiction, largely from watching the ‘Back to the Future’ films, helped me understand some facets of the genre. As did reading novels such as ‘Neuromancer’ by Wiliam Gibson, ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ by Ursula K Le Guin and ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams. All these presented me with ideas and insights as to the types of dimensions that I could add to my narrative.

Of course, western material was just one part of the content absorption process. I still had to consciously focus on keeping my novel localised and as ‘desi’ as possible. In ‘Divided Species’ the alien beings — complete with advanced technology — are non-human in appearance. Yet I had to retain the believability of their image and persona once they arrived in Karachi. Through a molecular transformation process, they could shape-shift to human form. Even so, I had to keep their persona on a par with the human characters, especially in the minds of the reader.

Writing science fiction was a dream that I had been nurturing for many years and seeing my book published still makes me ecstatic. To be sure, this journey was not an easy one. It was a challenge to create extraterrestrial characters that were out-of-this-world and still were able to blend into the social fabric of Karachi.

‘Divided Species’ definitely has an element of fantasy and adventure. I could have added any action or incident and still called it science fiction. For the readers would likely have embraced it within the margins of speculative fiction. However, as an author, I would not have been satisfied with the story’s progression. Imagine watching ‘Ainak Wala Jin’ and seeing Nastoor Jadugar disappearing into thin air and levitating with the greatest of ease. Within the limits of the script and the scenes, this was plausible. However, Nastoor’s character was compelled to accept the social and cultural norms while valuing the opinions of the humans who were not accustomed to witnessing magic. This, for me, has proved critical: making the fantastical appear believable.

The writer is a fiction writer, columnist and author of Divided Species – a sci-fi story set in Karachi. He tweets @omariftikhar