How To Free A Jinn
Ramadan Guest Post #04
Ramadan Mubarak, to those observing. We’re in the last ten days now, may Allah accept our duas inshallah…
This month, I am sharing with you a series of guests posts from readers and writers around the world. It’s a way for me to take a break while also using this platform to uplift the voices of others. Today, we have a piece by Raidah Shah Idil, charting the journey she took to publishing her middle grade fantasy novel, and ‘a love letter to complex Muslim families’. Enjoy!
Since I was a little girl, I adored fantasy stories. When things at home got too frightening, or when I made yet another social faux pas at school, I sought refuge in books. Books made sense. People did not. It took many decades for me to start getting the diagnoses that pointed to me being a beautiful neurodivergent soul, and not a broken neurotypical.
In my mid-thirties, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant with my third child. I knew that this was my last chance to write the book of my dreams – before the inevitable exhaustion and sleep deprivation that would happen once I birthed to my youngest child. I made a mental promise to myself – finish my first draft, like Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf told me to.
THRIVING IN MALAYSIA
After five years living in Malaysia, I was finally out of the siege mentality that had haunted me my entire life. I was born in Singapore, part of the Malay Muslim minority. In Singapore, I had to prove to the Chinese majority that I could speak English and write well – at cost of my own mother tongue. I moved to Sydney at twelve and once again, I was a minority in a completely different environment. I didn’t know I was a neurodivergent, adding yet another layer of exhaustion and difficulty to my daily life. Living in the pall of white supremacy, and being in high school when September 11th happened, left a deep mark on me. I didn’t understand the toll it took to exist in the crosshairs of Islamophobia, anti-Asian sentiment and misogyny until I moved to Malaysia with my Malaysian husband.
For the first time in my life, I was finally part of a racial and religious majority. I was boringly…normal. The only time I was mistaken for someone else was at a hotel breakfast, where I was mistaken for a celebrity! That made me laugh. I could never be mistaken as a celebrity actress in Sydney. In Malaysia, my ancestral home, at long last, I had the delicious freedom to exist as a whole human being, to just sink into regular life. I didn’t have to fear being yelled at on the street to ‘take off that rag’, or smile at the microaggression like ‘you don’t need an umbrella, you have that thing on your head’ or even register the latest terrorist attack in the West, out of fear of the inevitable fallout on hijabis like me and my mother.
Instead, I lived in a country where hijabi fashion was the norm, there were prayer rooms in petrol stations, malls and airports, and – my favourite – water hoses in public toilets. For the first time in my life, I was living in a society that was designed for Muslims like me. I had the luxury of just creating and writing the fantasy novel of my dreams.
For the first time in my life, I was living in a society that was designed for Muslims like me.
CREATIVITY AS A MOTHER
Knowing the boisterous energy of my 5.5 year old son, I understand now, that creative push I had to write my book. I have vivid dreams while pregnant, and he was my creative buddy. This was pre-Covid lockdown in 2019, so I drafted my novel while I enjoyed delicious Malaysian food at different restaurants. I had never written anything beyond 10,000 words, so it was exciting pushing past that for the first time. While I was drafting it, part of me wondered if this unapologetically Muslim and Malay book would ever get an agent to represent it, let alone a book deal from a Big 5 publishing house.
I asked myself – would I shrink my book to fit the white gaze, like I had done to myself for three decades of my life? My answer – no way. So I kept going, one word at a time.
I had to be so incredibly stubborn to make this happen. I also had the privilege of so much support. My mother-in-law loved looking after my younger daughter, while my eldest daughter was at preschool. We had full-time domestic help to keep everything else going effortlessly in the background. My husband would help with our daughters so I could write in the depths of the night, or in cafes during the daytime.
By the time my son was born, I had 4-year-old and 1.5 year old daughters who loved to tickle his little feet – and a complete first draft of my book. At the time, it was a young adult novel. Insyirah, my neurodivergent Malay Muslim character, was sixteen in the early iterations of my book. I started the brutal process of querying while my son was still freshly earthside.
In hindsight, I don’t recommend combining the adventure of raising three young kids, including a newborn, with the mental pressure of querying for a literary agent! I naively checked my inbox every day hoping for good news, but of course, it took months for any kind of progress. To preserve my rapidly fraying sanity, I gave myself a time limit – if I didn’t get an offer of representation by a US or UK literary agent within a year of querying, then I would shelve my book, draft another one, and query for an agent with that book instead. Would that be harder, with three kids under 5? Definitely. But I had written a book while pregnant, so I could do it again. I didn’t query Australian agents because I wanted the wider distribution networks of US/UK agents, and the Australian publishing landscape felt very literary – the total opposite of the exciting jinn-infused fantasy adventure I had written.
In hindsight, I don’t recommend combining the adventure of raising three young kids, including a newborn, with the mental pressure of querying for a literary agent!
Along my tumultuous first year of querying, I had the fortune of making writer friends online, and I even gained the mentorship of Meredith Ireland (also known as Mai Corland of Five Broken Blades). On a whim, I applied for her #DVPIT menteeship, and was so excited that she selected me to be her mentor – this included a full manuscript critique, editorial letter, Twitter/X pitch support and best of all, a friend and ally through the years it took to me to get published.
She helped me whip my manuscript into shape, which I will always be so grateful for. This was the version of my book that led to a single agent offer. The day after reading Surah Al-Waqiah, I received a life-changing email. At one point, I had twelve full manuscripts out with different agents, but only Allison Hellegers of Stimola Literary was brave enough to offer to represent me and my YA fantasy, 10 months into my querying journey.
WORKING WITH MY AGENT
My first call with her was at 9 pm my time, 9 am her time, with my son strapped into his carrier while I bounced on a ball. She told me how much she had fallen in love with my book, and to let the other agents who had my full manuscript that she’s offered to represent my book. If her offer of representation wasn’t a huge enough high for me, the supportive responses from all the other agents who stepped aside made me so happy - Alli was known in the NY publishing scene as a kind and communicative book champion.
I signed with her in October 2020, and after some light revisions, our gruelling journey on submission began in March 2021. NY editors gave very enthusiastic feedback stating how much they loved my characters, the plot, and the Malaysian setting…but there were no offers to acquire it. There were some close calls, with editors falling in love with it, but being unable to persuade the acquisitions and marketing teams. Those rejections hurt the most.
After one of my American beta readers suggested that Insyirah sounded more like she was twelve instead of sixteen, I had a light bulb moment. Had I accidentally written a middle grade novel?! I told my agent that maybe my book would be better positioned as MG instead of YA, she enthusiastically agreed. 2022 was the year of aging it down and ruthlessly cutting out more subplots. Finally, in mid 2023, I had enough of editing my own book. We needed an actual editor from a publishing house to make it shine brighter. I was keen for my agent to send it out on submission, but this time, she wasn’t sure if it was ready. I had to put my foot down, and she agreed. Her Australian agent friend suggested that we go out to Australian editors first, and with an Australian book deal, we could leverage for a North American book deal too.
She heard back Allen and Unwin within a few weeks of pitching my story to them – this is lightning fast, by publishing standards! I couldn’t believe it. My first call with the A&U editors went so well – they loved my book so much, asked if I would be open to some light edits (of course), and Jodie Webster described my book as being “such a gift”. Shortly after announcing my Australian offer, Deeba Zargapur of Salaam Reads (Simon & Schuster) asked if North American rights were still available. I was overjoyed. Our strategy had worked!
PARTING TIPS
If you’re reading this, the one takeaway I want you to have is this – if I could write a fantasy novel while pregnant and juggling two young kids, then inshaAllah, you can too. All you need is copious dua and a healthy dose of stubbornness. Carve out time for yourself and your book. Especially if you’re a mother, there will be no end to caregiving duties – working on your book is your way of looking after yourself.
Especially if you’re a mother, there will be no end to caregiving duties – working on your book is your way of looking after yourself.
I’m so proud of my younger, sleep-deprived self for believing in my author goals throughout the years it took to manifest. Alhamdulilah, Allah Kareem. Because of my debut MG fantasy book reaching bookstores worldwide, I’ve had the absolute pleasure and privilege of speaking at schools, book events, and even spoke at a panel about storytelling at OzComicon! I look forward to speaking at book festivals and other literary events, and have so many books left to write. To every little brown girl who wishes she could see herself in a fantasy novel – I did it, and you can too, inshaAllah. The more of us write our stories, the more we will enrich the lives of readers.
Raidah Shah Idil was born in Singapore, grew up in Sydney, Australia, studied and worked in Amman, Jordan and now lives in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia with her husband, three children and mother-in-law. She teaches at KL Kuttāb, a holistic weekend madrasah in Kuala Lumpur. Her debut Middle Grade fantasy novel, How To Free A Jinn, was published on September 3rd (in ANZ, Asia and Oceania) and features the unseen adventures of 12 year old Insyirah, a neurodivergent Malay Muslim hijabi girl. Salaam Reads will publish and distribute the North American version of How To Free A Jinn in November 2025.
Thank you for taking us on what sounded like an exhausting but oh so satisfying path to publication! The importance of mentors cannot be overstated.
I love the title and will keep an eye out for the book.
Finding your space, being able to be visible/invisible in Malaysia where you finally became part the majority was painted by you so clearly. The stifling nature of being" othered" by colonialism came through loud & clear.
I wish you joy as you raise your three children, despite the exhaustion raising 3 under 7yrs will bring and hope one book leads to another. 🙏