My detective mystery THE GOOD TEACHER was published as an eBook last month and the paperback will follow in March. The idea for the book came from a five-minute writing workshop exercise set by writer David Armstrong at a literary festival in Shrewsbury, England in 2002. The paragraph I produced was my first piece of creative writing since school days. A week later, I had a go at expanding this 100-word workshop piece into a 1600-word story for Writing Magazine’s annual crime short story competition. I couldn’t believe it when it actually won. Buoyed up by this success, I rewrote my short story as the first chapter of a full-length crime novel. I managed to find a publisher and the book came out in 2010. After a few years, it went out of print and the publisher returned the rights to me. In the meantime I’d undertaken a Creative Writing Masters. I rewrote my novel using the techniques I’d learnt on the course and with feedback from three great writing buddies I met on the MA course. By the time I’d updated the book, I’d acquired a literary agent and THE PERFECT NEIGHBOURS had been published by HarperCollins. When I sent the latest version of my first novel to my agent, she sent it to my Perfect Neighbours editor. He took it on and gave it the new title of THE GOOD TEACHER. I can honestly say my book started life sixteen years ago as a 100-word exercise. Several thousand words and the support of many people later, it’s made it to the Killer Reads list.
A week later, I had a go at expanding this 100-word workshop piece into a 1600-word story for Writing Magazine’s annual crime short story competition. I couldn’t believe it when it actually won.
Buoyed up by this success, I rewrote my short story as the first chapter of a full-length crime novel. I managed to find a publisher and the book came out in 2010. After a few years, it went out of print and the publisher returned the rights to me. In the meantime I’d undertaken a Creative Writing Masters. I rewrote my novel using the techniques I’d learnt on the course and with feedback from three great writing buddies I met on the MA course. By the time I’d updated the book, I’d acquired a literary agent and THE PERFECT NEIGHBOURS had been published by HarperCollins. When I sent the latest version of my first novel to my agent, she sent it to my Perfect Neighbours editor. He took it on and gave it the new title of THE GOOD TEACHER.
I can honestly say my book started life sixteen years ago as a 100-word exercise. Several thousand words and the support of many people later, it’s made it to the Killer Reads list.