Inside The Mind - Murat Saban, PhD.

We started as a few friends saying "we should create a work"  everyone would write a story and turn it into a book. Along the way, everyone realized writing wasn't as easy as it seemed and quit. I continued and got the taste of it, because I realized writing was developing and organizing my thoughts. As I researched, the joy of learning new things came with it, the topics got deeper and more interesting, and it became a necessity for me.

My latest book Mürekkep Devrimi - Ink Revolution is the last work of my early period. For me, it is both the end of an old universe and the beginning of a new one. It is a niche novel, a utopian fiction kneaded with reality. It tells the story of an old legionary's transformation against the system. In short, it is about the return of ink  symbolizing logic and permanent memory  against the madness of the digital world. It starts with philosophical inquiries and opens the door to an action-packed adventure. I can say this book is the final point of all my work so far on "existence" and "meaning".

Character creation is the most magnificent process through which the extraordinary workings of the mind can be observed. I call this an "auratic entity." Why do I call it an "auratic entity"? Because this entity has no beating heart, yet it vibrates; it cannot speak in the conventional sense, yet it interacts; it does not breathe, yet it generates echoes. I am not speaking of a physical or biological form of existence; I am referring to an "engram" formed at the neurological level. Naturally, there is a scientific explanation for this process. In this context, I can say that every writer is also a mental architect.

I need silence. During the mental construction process, my mind is already noisy enough. I start by organizing my thoughts, then I divide them into scenes. I imagine many different versions of a single scene in my mind; if you knew how many times I replay it over and over, you would call me crazy. Writing is the externalization of that mental activity. Fluidity is crucial; words, sentences and paragraphs must complement each other as a whole. Then I read it. Again and again and again... Even the misplaced use of a small conjunction can ruin the whole work. That's why I am very meticulous.

The freedom to stay meticulous and the direct resonance with the reader. Knowing that my message in a bottle reaches another mind without a filter is the most rewarding part.

I want my works to reach a global scale. For that, I need translations. Translation services are quite expensive, and I sometimes worry that I cannot fully convey the impact of my native language. I think this is the most challenging process.

I don't use fancy applications. I need only two things: silence and a keyboard. My handwriting is terrible, so the keyboard allows me to get my thoughts down faster. As for the research phase, my primary tools are books and academic articles; I read numerous works on the subject before I begin.

First, I want them to think about why they write. Is it for fame? To earn money? All those temporary pleasures are just by-products of writing. In my view, they have no importance. I think one writes primarily in order "to be." To young minds who want to become writers, I want to address them with a line from my poem Beyaz Kurt - The White Wolf:

Don't give up,

Never!

"Even in darkness, let your light keep shining."

I don't do aggressive promotion. I trust the auratic entity. If it vibrates truly, it generates its own echoes.

Believe me, I am at least as curious about that as you are.