Ayse is such an interesting character to write for: an outcast with a strong, fiery passion and conviction for life, bogged down by the nuances of how her gender affects her interactions with society.
She didn’t exist prior to 2015 until I started working on the seed of what will become TCM. The backstory that I give for the genesis of TCM is it was supposed to be a routine mini-chapter of my first webcomic The World in Deeper Inspection. I reached the point where I needed to tell Zeynel’s backstory – how he became a vampire and arrived in Brookham, where he will meet the cast of TWIDI. Zeynel wasn’t as solid yet as a character, though I’ve got the main hook: anxious friendly man of faith who happens to be a vampire and has to navigate religious dilemmas over his condition.
What kind of woman would Zeynel be partnered with, and how would she respond to his anxious, bookish, nerdy, affable personality? Personality-wise and physically I made Ayse to be the opposite of Zeynel: confident, unapologetic, earthy, intimidating, unafraid to claim her presence. I was also inspired by the historical literary fiction I like reading, which often featured matriarchs made strong and bold by a lifetime of living (see: Love in a Time of Cholera, Captainn Corelli’s Mandolin).
TCM was supposed to be a pretty simple story. I had no idea her creation would come to dramatically influence the story in such a way that it became 600 pages.
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The hookah (nargile in Turkey) is a smoking device that filters using water. Both men and women recreationally use it.
Ayşe replies, “Exactly!”
Selim chuckles, and rubs a hand across his full, grey beard, looking at his daughter of fire who he loves. “Give Zeynel a chance. The family will stay with us for two weeks. Perhaps you will change your mind."
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After dinner, the two families retreat to the verandah, to enjoy the luxuries of rural shisha. The conversation is light and fragrant, like the smoke that envelops them. Politics, poetry, the mothers and fathers' individual career trivialities. Catching up on 12 years of separation.
From what Ayşe could make out through the smoke, Zeynel's night-blue figure has been out there in the fields for a while now. Earlier, he had gone away from the verandah to soothe his baby brother to sleep, away from the chatter. He never looked back since.
Meanwhile Ayşe has been keeping watch, partly because she is afraid of wild animals, but mostly because she is waiting for the right moment to finally, properly, converse with him.
Her father is joking about the client from last week. Ayşe snorts. Oh yes, that man. A fool, who thought he could tell rug from washcloth.
She glances at Zeynel. Not yet.
Yenge Zeyneb laughs and offers her own story about a patient who has a new illness every week, yet miraculously manages to keep herself alive.
That story is funny, and Ayşe lets out a small chortle.
Her mother isn’t the type to talk much about her job, but she is a curious woman, so she asks Zeyneb questions about the basic dos and don'ts of medicine.
Ayşe is surprised at how much she enjoys that conversation. Medicine is something she rarely thinks of frequently. Plus seeing a woman physician in person, an expert in her job, offers Ayşe some comfort. Maybe her dream isn’t impossible at all.
Amca Efraim, who seems to enjoy teaching, tells her mother about the stars. How they are like letters of the alphabet, revealing messages to those who know how to read them. As he teaches them the language of the night, the stars twinkle above, signalling to her, telling her:
Now.
Soon Ayşe is right behind Zeynel. He has heard her approach, but does not turn around. He is busy entertaining his brother, who isn’t interested in sleep at the moment.
She coughs gently. “Hi, those stars up there are pretty, aren’t they?”
The silence between them tightens briefly before it pops.
He carefully turns around and looks up. His doe eyes are wide and brown, confused over what to do next. Almost without thinking, he softly blurts, “I... I know what our parents are doing.”
