An Interview with Adnan Amir

Adnan Amir is an author, award-winning actor, and filmmaker, and the creator of the Back 2 Forward universe – a bold, multi-timeline world where love, memory, and destiny collide across parallel realities.

His trilogy of standalone romantic thrillers – Heart Lines, Crossed Lines, and Parallel Lines – explores how the same characters live out different fates in alternate timelines. Each book can be read on its own, yet together they form a larger cinematic universe filled with emotional depth, suspense, and the question that fuels all his work: What if one choice changed everything?

Adnan’s storytelling journey began long before the novels. After fifteen years of determination, he wrote, directed, and starred in the feature film Back 2 Forward, which premiered to a packed-out audience and has since become a rising cult classic. The film lays the emotional and thematic foundation for the novels, and readers who step into the books will discover the hidden paths, alternate truths, and parallel possibilities behind the film’s world.

Before becoming a full-time creative, Adnan worked across the legal sector, community engagement, the fire service, youth development, and life coaching – experiences that shaped his understanding of people, conflict, and resilience. These layers of real-life insight infuse his characters with authenticity and heart.

Driven by a passion for inclusive, emotionally rich stories, Adnan aims to create work that feels fresh, ambitious, and unfiltered – stories that transport readers, challenge expectations, and show that creative dreams can be built from nothing but belief.

Explore the complete Back 2 Forward universe, which includes the books, the film, and the timelines where every choice echoes at Back2ForwardMovie.com.

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What inspired you to start writing this book?

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that one decision, one moment, can change everything. Parallel timelines, alternate realities, different versions of the same people colliding…that always felt powerful to me.

The three books in the Back 2 Forward universe (Heart Lines – Back 2 Forward, Crossed Lines – Back 2 Forward, and Parallel Lines – Back 2 Forward) were born from that curiosity after I’d written, directed, produced and starred in the feature film, Back 2 Forward – now streaming!

I wanted to explore how love, memory, betrayal, identity, and fate unfold across different versions of the same characters. In each reality they make different choices, but somehow, they’re always drawn back toward each other – and toward the confrontation none of them can escape.

In many ways, the books allowed me to explore the emotional and psychological depth behind the film – the roads not taken, the hidden memories, the version of these characters that the camera can’t always capture.

It started as one film…and became an entire universe.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

The titles came surprisingly naturally because each one describes the emotional direction of the story.

Heart Lines — where love and danger are intertwined.

Crossed Lines — where betrayal fractures memory and trust.

Parallel Lines — where two lives run side-by-side, destined to collide.

Each title reflects the timeline it belongs to, while still connecting to the universe as a whole.

Three books. Three timelines. Three destinies bending toward each other.

I think it felt right immediately.

Describe your dream book cover.

I actually designed all three covers myself!

I wanted them to reflect the cinematic feel of the Back 2 Forward film – bold, emotional, mysterious. Something that says ‘romantic thriller’ the moment you see it. They needed to share a visual DNA: the mood, the colour palette, the tension…all echoing the film.

The covers aren’t just artwork, they’re gateways into each timeline and I’m pretty happy with how they’ve all turned out.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Honestly, I’d point readers straight to the Back 2 Forward feature film soundtrack.

There are some incredible tracks that capture the emotions of the universe perfectly – tension, heartbreak, discovery, desperation, intimacy, danger.

The mood of the film is the mood of the books:

– music that builds suspense

– music that stirs the heart

– music that feels like a memory resurfacing

The film’s score elevates the emotional beats – the quiet moments and the explosive ones. There’s been massive praise about the songs and music of Back 2 Forward and I would highly recommend you check it out!

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

I didn’t read any particular books for research, the stories came from within the universe I’d already built.

Back 2 Forward was originally meant to be a novel before it became a film, so writing these books felt like coming full circle.

I found myself completely lost in this world – more than I’ve ever felt reading anything else.

Maybe because I know these characters so intimately, or maybe because the film gives them such powerful weight.

It doesn’t feel like writing.

It feels like returning to a place I’ve already lived if that makes sense.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I’ve worked across the legal sector, community engagement, the fire service, youth development, and life coaching.

People often don’t realise how varied my life has been. I believe each role taught me something about people, identity, conflict, and resilience.

All of that shaped the emotional depth of the Back 2 Forward universe.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I wanted to create a legacy. Something new, something inclusive, something that broke the rules. A world that didn’t look or feel like anything already out there.

As a British creative, I rarely saw stories that reflected the complexity, intensity, or emotional depth I knew existed.

So I created my own.

I never imagined it would grow into three novels and a feature film, but it just felt very natural and makes you realise if you change one thing, you change everything. So, by creating the books we have more timelines, more consequences, more truth. And so here we are!

Where is your favorite place to write?

Somewhere comfortable, usually in bed.

That’s where my mind feels free and I get creative.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

Honestly? Nothing.

I loved every moment of it.

The writing, the discovery, the surprises…it all happened the way it needed to.

I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve surpassed all expectations, the books and film are game changers and there’s nothing out there that are comparable.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

I hope they feel transported, like I did when writing the books…almost as though they’ve lived inside the Back 2 Forward universe and come out changed.

I hope they realise they’ve read something they’ve never experienced before.

And I hope they feel inspired.

That dreams can be achieved.

That fear is temporary.

With passion anything is possible.

And that you don’t need permission to create what you believe in.

Read the books.

Watch the film.

See how every timeline connects.

Step into the universe and enjoy every part of it!

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Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.