Welcome to Ink and Spirits by NAIRA

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Welcome to My Blog – Where Stories, Secrets, and the Writing Life Collide

Every story has a deeper layer, and this is where I unravel the mysteries behind my books, share the real-life inspirations behind my stories, and offer insights into the writing and publishing journey.

Here, you’ll find:

  • Behind-the-scenes secrets from Mist and Unappeased Spirits and Sun on Your Back
  • The true stories that inspired my books, from unsolved disappearances to real-life trauma
  • Writing & publishing insights—what I’ve learned along the way
  • Expanded thoughts from my most viral social media posts, diving deeper into topics that sparked conversation

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Writing About Domestic Violence without Exploitation

Imagine you’re reading a story where a character’s life is shattered by domestic violence. The scene is raw, heartbreaking, and hauntingly real, but as you turn the page, you feel a twinge of unease. Did the author cross the line from telling a story into using trauma as a spectacle?

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The Story Behind The Book Sun On Your Back

When a book begins with a confession that shatters a family’s perception of safety, few readers can resist leaning in a little closer. Sun on Your Back is that rare novel which starts with a jolt, a daughter waking to the news that her mother has admitted to killing her

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The Psychology of Silence: Why Abuse Often Goes Unspoken

Silence around abuse is something I’ve thought about deeply, not just as a topic, but as a human experience we often misunderstand. From the outside, silence can seem like acceptance or indifference. Once you begin to truly listen, you realize it is neither. Silence is often shaped by fear, trauma,

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The Emotional Aftermath of Leaving an Abusive Relationship

Many people think leaving an abusive relationship is the end of the struggle, the ultimate victory. But what happens after leaving an abusive relationship is often far more complex. Life after an abusive relationship is rarely simple. It’s messy, emotional, and deeply transformative. Naira Khan is a psychologist, advocate, and

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How Trauma Shapes Identity: What Fiction Can Teach Us

Our sense of self isn’t something we simply have from birth; it is something we build, often through struggle. Experiences of deep hurt leave invisible marks that subtly shape how we think, feel, and respond to the world. In exploring trauma and identity, fiction becomes a remarkable tool, not just

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Domestic Violence Is Not Always Visible: Breaking Common Myths

For a long time, I carried a belief many of us are taught: abuse must be visible to be real. You imagine dramatic confrontations, anger erupting into objects or bruises, something unmistakable, almost cinematic. I used to think that too, until I watched lives unravel in quieter, softer ways, until

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Can Understanding Perpetrators Help Prevent Violence?

We talk a lot about violence after it happens. We talk about the damage, the pain, the lives changed forever. We talk about survivors, and we should. Their stories matter. But there’s a part of the conversation we often avoid, because it feels uncomfortable, even wrong: the people who cause

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Books That Stay With You Long After the Last Page

There are stories that feel like whispers at first, like a quiet echo tugging at your curiosity. Then there are those rare books that stay with you long after reading, the kind that don’t just entertain, but invite you to carry them with you into your everyday life, your quiet

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When Healing Isn’t Loud: The Quiet Work of Reclaiming Yourself

Healing is often portrayed as a dramatic transformation—bold decisions, loud breakthroughs, public declarations of freedom. But for many people, real healing doesn’t look like that at all. It happens quietly. It happens in moments no one applauds. And most importantly, it happens within. For those who have lived through emotional

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Finding Your Voice After Years of Emotional Control

Emotional control can feel like a cage with invisible bars. Unlike physical restraints, emotional control is subtle, insidious, and slow. It doesn’t leave bruises or scars that others can see — it leaves questions unanswered, identities unformed, and voices silent. People who live under emotional domination for years often lose

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Healing Through Stories: How Sun on Your Back Gives Survivors a Voice

Stories have always been a refuge for those who feel unheard. Long before therapy rooms and diagnostic language, people turned to narrative to make sense of pain, loss, and survival. For survivors of abuse, stories do more than entertain—they validate experiences that are often minimized, misunderstood, or silenced. In this

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The Psychology of Characters Who Never Heal: A Guide for Writers

In storytelling, healing is often treated as an inevitable destination. Characters face adversity, endure suffering, and emerge transformed—stronger, wiser, redeemed. But real life doesn’t always follow this arc, and neither should meaningful fiction. Some of the most haunting, realistic, and psychologically rich characters are those who never fully heal. These

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How Emotional Abuse Leaves Deeper Scars Than Physical Violence

When most people think of abuse, the first image that comes to mind is often physical harm—bruises, cuts, or visible injuries that can be seen, documented, and proven. But emotional abuse operates in the shadows, quietly shaping how a person thinks, feels, and behaves long after the abuse ends. It

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Naira Khan’s Mist And Unappeased Spirits: A Tale of Folklore and Mystery

In today’s evolving literary landscape, stories that blend cultural heritage, emotional depth, and supernatural intrigue are more sought after than ever. One emerging voice capturing this blend with profound artistry is author Naira Khan, an whose writing continues to resonate with readers looking for narratives filled with meaning, mystery, and

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Why Kindness Feels Threatening When You’ve Been Hurt Before

There’s a strange moment that happens when someone is kind to you after you’ve lived through hurt, abandonment, betrayal, or emotional violence.You don’t relax.You freeze. Kindness — the very thing that should feel warm, safe, and reassuring — suddenly feels dangerous. Your body tightens.Your mind races.Your heart whispers, “Be careful.”

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Finding Voice After Violence: Why Telling Your Story Matters

Violence leaves more than visible scars. For many survivors, the most lasting wound is silence — the unspoken memories, the fear of disbelief, and the heavy sense that their pain must remain hidden. Yet, in that silence, a story still lives, waiting to be told. Finding your voice after experiencing

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The Freedom That Comes from Not Explaining Yourself Anymore

There comes a point in life when you grow tired—not from physical exhaustion, but from the emotional fatigue of constantly explaining yourself. You explain your choices, your silence, your boundaries, your preferences, even your dreams—to people who were never meant to understand them. The need to justify your existence, your

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How Grief Reshapes Your Faith — and Makes It Deeper

Grief has a way of undoing you. It dismantles the beliefs you thought were unshakable, questions every answer you ever trusted, and leaves you standing in the rubble of a life that suddenly feels unfamiliar. When loss arrives—whether it’s the death of someone you love, the end of a relationship,

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Faith Isn’t About Having No Doubt — It’s About Holding On Anyway

There are days when faith feels easy—when life is smooth, prayers are answered, and hope feels natural. On those days, belief doesn’t require effort; it flows freely. But there are also days when faith feels impossible. Days when everything falls apart, when silence replaces answers, and when the waiting never

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The Love That Didn’t Last but Still Changed You

It’s strange how love can end and still live within you.How someone who once held your hand through every storm can now exist only as a memory — and yet, that memory still shapes the person you’ve become. We’re taught to measure love by its longevity. As if the only

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Inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation philosophy, this reflection explores how recognition, truth-telling, and empathy can guide the healing of survivors of sexual abuse and assault — offering a path toward resilience and intergenerational recovery.

Desmond Tutu Taught Us: Healing Begins with Recognition, Not Excuses Archbishop Desmond Tutu taught the world that true healing begins not with technicalities or excuses, but with recognition of harm and truth-telling. In the Epstein and in many abuse stories, people ignored that crucial step. Survivors Denied Agency from the

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How Spiritual Encounters Influence Creative Expression

There are moments in life when creativity doesn’t feel like something we do — it feels like something that happens to us. Words appear as if whispered from another realm, melodies arrive in dreams, and images seem to flow from an unseen current of energy that moves through us rather

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Why Women’s Voices Matter: Using Literature to Advocate for Change

Throughout history, women have used words as weapons, shields, and bridges—tools to challenge injustice and illuminate hidden truths. In societies where women’s voices were once silenced or dismissed, literature became a space of resistance and self-definition. From diaries and letters to novels and poetry, women have transformed personal experience into

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Introduction to Social Media & the Challenges of Book Promotion

“Writing a book is one thing. Getting people to read it? That’s a whole different story.”

When I first started out, I had no idea how much social media would shape my journey as an author. I thought writing the book would be the hardest part—but then I entered the world of marketing, algorithms, and endless content creation.

I had to teach myself everything from scratch:

  • How to make engaging videos with CapCut
  • Designing eye-catching visuals with Canva
  • Learning what makes a post go viral (and what gets ignored)
  • Figuring out which ads actually work and which ones drain your budget

It was overwhelming. It was frustrating. It was time-consuming. But eventually, through trial and error, I started to understand what resonates with readers and how to use social media as a tool rather than a burden.

 The reality is: social media isn’t just a promotional tool—it’s an extension of your storytelling.

It allows authors to connect with readers, build communities, and showcase the heart behind their stories. But it requires:

✅ Patience (because success doesn’t happen overnight)

✅ Adaptability (because platforms change all the time)

✅ Creativity (because engagement matters more than just posting)

So, if you’re an author feeling lost in the sea of hashtags, algorithms, and content creation pressure—know that you’re not alone. It’s a learning curve, but one that can transform your career if approached with curiosity and persistence.

Here are some of my posts that performed very well on social media.

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mist 2
mist
nook relcase
sun on your back