Faizal Eidoo, author of among the stars & between the galaxies, answers some of our questions.
Recently, we got the chance to ask Faizal Eidoo all about himself and his chapbook, among the stars & between the galaxies. As Faizal is a member of our Whispering Wick team, we are very excited for everyone to get to know him better.
among the stars & between the galaxies is a poetry collection full of ethereal imagery and bold words, detailing a pantheon of planets with their own landscapes, secrets, and desires. With a poem named after each planet in our solar system, Eidoo's chapbook personifies our galaxy beyond the gods and goddesses of mythology, into something wholly original and new. His writing doesn't hold back, filled with wit and biting prose in every poem. The collection is available in our bookstore.
Keep reading to hear about Faizal's inspirations, his writing process, and more.
Q: What was the inspiration behind your chapbook?
FE: The inspiration behind my chapbook comes from many places. I absolutely adore mythology, and so I thought that it would be fun to write some poetry about a pantheon of gods. I decided to pick the ones that are namesakes for our planets because it just felt right and would give the chapbook a sense of duality (I’m also really fascinated by space, so why not?).
I was also inspired by our chapbook class and the rough and makeshift feel of creating chapbooks. I wanted my poems to be just that, not something super refined (language-wise) or “normal.”
Overall, I just wanted to have fun with it.
Q: What is your favourite poem in your collection and why?
FE: Oh, this is a hard one. I might just say “Venus” because I’ve sung that jingle at the end so often, haha. On the other hand, I’m the type of person to not like ANY of their work once it’s done—at least not for a year. Maybe ask me again then.
Q: What was the writing process for your chapbook? What does your usual writing process look like?
FE: My writing process, for poetry especially, is usually spontaneous. I struggled for a while because I was just not happy with what I was coming up with. I think I let it sit for a long time and then when I felt the pressure, it kind of just dawned on me.
Once I got that flow, everything just fell into place. I think it also helped that I stopped thinking so seriously about it, too. I just had to immerse myself in the fun.
Q: Everyone has a distinct style and there are many writers we can recognize just from the way they form a sentence or create an image. What would you say is a trademark of your writing that will make anyone read it and say, “that’s Faizal Eidoo”?
FE: I think that my trademark is my worldbuilding and descriptive style. A lot of people who’ve read my work, especially my fantasy prose, have told me they were clearly able to visualize what was happening in my story.
I think that having a background in visual arts and a huge appreciation of animation and illustration has helped me better visualize scenes and bring them to life in my writing.
Q: What was the editing process like for your chapbook?
FE: The editing process of my chapbook went really well! Nate was really receptive and asked all the right questions, which helped me make sure that things were accurate (when it came to talking about the gods) as well as made sure that my writing made sense and was able to reflect what I wanted to say.
I think we only did two or three drafts until both Nate and I were content with how the writing was looking.
Q: Why did you choose the songs you did for your Author Playlist?
FE: The TL;DR answer is vibes.
When I begin writing, I always try to find a song that conveys the emotion that I am feeling. My whole process is sort of like this: come up with a concept; note it down; find a song that matches the emotions I am feeling; put that song on repeat and enter a trance.
It sounds wacky, but it works for me. Sometimes I even close my eyes and let my fingers take the wheel while I listen to the music.
Q: Your chapbook is rich with beautiful imagery. How did you go about creating such atmospheric poems?
FE: When I was writing the poems, I really wanted to combine the visuals of the planets with the themes of each God. I researched specific motifs, symbols, and even colours that would be associated with the gods and tried to bridge that with what the planets looked like.
Going back to my answer about a distinct style, I think that being a visual artist just helps harmonize those different elements into something cohesive. I then let the writer part of me take over and translate that visual in my head into words of a poem.
Q: What made you choose planets and Roman mythology as the focal point of your chapbook?
FE: I wanted to do a collection of poems that felt cohesive and familiar. People are most familiar with the Greek and Roman gods, as well as the planets of our solar system, and so it wasn’t hard for me to try and marry the two.
I’m obsessed with the divine and how they are represented in various cultures, so this collection was a way for me to test the waters. I think I’d like to return to this subject in future writing, but definitely with a different pantheon.
Q: As a graduate of Sheridan’s Creative Writing and Publishing program, how has that experience changed you as a writer?
I thought I was a decent writer until I came to this program. There are just techniques and methods that the people in the industry know that help improve the quality of our work. Such is the case with me. Having people provide feedback and equipping myself with the different tools helped transform my writing.
I also will never forget that one time in my second-year poetry class when my professor, Paul Vermeersch, basically told me my poem was garbage (he didn’t actually say that because he’s a wonderful teacher and has tact, but in my mind, that’s what it felt like). That moment was a defining point in my poetry writing career because it made me realize that I was writing what I thought was poetry.
The poem I wrote after that week was when I knew I discovered what writing poetry really is, and I got that validation from Paul.
Q: Was anything interesting or fun you found while researching for your poems?
FE: It’s been a while since I’ve done that research but finding things about gods is always interesting. If I hadn’t read into mythology way back and was discovering it for the first time, I’d say finding out how Venus/Aphrodite was born would be the most interesting thing.
Q: Is there something totally random that you wish you could have added to your book but couldn’t because it wouldn’t fit, or due to an idea switch?
FE: At first, I did want to do some illustrations to include in my chapbook, but I think as it came closer to crunch time, I let go of the idea. Maybe in a future book I’ll incorporate a visual and written element. We’ll have to wait and see.
Thank you Faizal for answering our questions. We loved getting to hear more about you and your chapbook.
About Faizal Eidoo
Faizal Eidoo is a part of the Whispering Wick family as the Content Writer. He engages with the literary community by writing reviews for chapbooks and online publications. Faizal recently graduated from the inaugural class of the Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing & Publishing program at Sheridan College and currently works as a professional Content Writer for a media company. Faizal writes mostly poetry and fiction, with themes focusing on fantasy, science fiction, and cultural identity as an Indo-Canadian.
among the stars & between the galaxies is available for purchase right now! You can order your copy here.
Click on the tags below to see more posts about Faizal and his chapbook. Check out the "Nothing But A Whisper" page of our blog to see all the awesome content he has written for Whispering Wick.