Gabi Tabib’s Novel Approach To Writing

Photo Credit: ALEXANDRA MADAR

BY SARAH ROUSSELL

Ever since she was a little girl, Cooper City High School senior Gabi Tabib has loved to read. Whether it was an exciting adventure or a murder mystery, Tabib would find comfort and enjoyment with her nose in a book. As much as she adored reading when she was young, her terrible handwriting and difficulty with sentence structure left her feeling discouraged, resenting anything involving writing.

With hopes of improving her daughter’s handwriting, Tabib’s mother took her to calligraphy lessons, where she learned to neatly write the alphabet. Little did she know that in just a few months her daughter’s apprehension toward writing would be transformed into confident enjoyment. Tabib’s new found interest in writing sparked a fire, inspiring her to begin writing simple short stories and to read more than ever.

“Reading a lot of fantasy and adventure novels really impassioned me to write,” Tabib said.

As Tabib grew, so did her interest in writing. To fuel her imagination and improve her writing skills, Tabib continued to read a variety of different books and started writing simple narratives. Because of this, Tabib soon began to entertain the notion of writing her own books.

It wasn’t until high school that Tabib’s dream of becoming a writer became reality. During the first semester of her senior year, Tabib began writing her first  novel. Titled, The Adventures of Riley Sneak, it tells the story of a young man who is on a quest to save his girlfriend and baby sister from an evil villain. With the help of a sarcastic bowman, cannibal harem girl and mysterious Elephant Man, Riley works hard to save the only family he’s ever known and loved.

With such a detailed story line, the production of The Adventures of Riley Sneak was certainly no easy task. After committing to writing the novel, Tabib had to go through a very structured process. First, she had to expand her idea of what she wanted the book to be about. After developing a solid idea, Tabib then had to create an outline in which she detailed the story’s plot and sequence of events. Once her outline was complete, Tabib finally began writing her story.

With unfailing determination, Tabib worked day and night to complete each chapter. Page after page, Tabib wrote whole-heartedly, not letting anything come between her and her goal of producing her first novel.

“Whenever I lost inspiration, I would watch a movie with a lot of action, and that would get me back into the groove of things,” Tabib said.

To her surprise, writing The Adventures of Riley Sneak only took a month, but the process still wasn’t over. Tabib is currently going through the editing stage of her novel.

“I sit down and go through each chapter,” Tabib said. “I have to consider what other people would like and how it would sound in everyone else’s mind. I want to convey exactly what I’m thinking to everyone else.”

With this goal in mind, Tabib edits The Adventures of Riley Sneak section by section nearly every day. Through the editing process, Tabib has improved her grammar and writing skills.

Tabib’s next step is publishing The Adventures of Riley Sneak. She has been looking at different publishers and their criteria through The Writers Market, a book that lists a variety of publishing houses. Despite her fear of a rejection slip, Tabib is taking the leap and submitting her first draft to companies such as Random House, which is known for taking interest in action novels.

Tabib’s passion for the writing process has also led her to start the Inklings, a club uniting the creative writers of CCHS.

“It’s kind of like a writers support group where everyone helps each other out,” Tabib said. “It allows other writers from the school to get together and talk about the difficulties involved in writing.”

Tabib was inspired by the original Inklings of the late 1930s. Founded at Oxford University, The Inklings were a discussion group where literary enthusiasts like C.S Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien met up and discussed the details of narrative fiction and fantasy writing.

Just a few meetings in, The Inklings has already elicited keen interest. Around ten Inklings gather each Tuesday in room 204, where they discuss writing and do a variety of activities to strengthen their writing skills.

“The writers in the club are really learning a lot from our activities,” Tabib said. “We work on things that are beneficial to us and we share them with each other. Hopefully we can bring back literature to CCHS.”

With just a few months left of the school year, Tabib is only in the opening chapters of her own personal narrative. Once she has graduated, Tabib plans on attending Florida Atlantic University, where she will major in English or possibly Psychology. Whichever path she chooses, she’s certain of one thing: She will always embrace her passion for literature.

“Regardless of where I go to in life, I know that I’ll always write,” Tabib said.