I have loved writing since a very early age and began properly when my wife and I moved to the Isle of Man. Faced with a new and relatively quiet life (compared to Manchester) I found solace in the works of Philip Pullman, Garth Nix and Terry Pratchett and believed I could attempt a full novel myself.

Having had no formal qualifications in writing (except an A at English Language A Level) I proceeded to buy as many novel writing guides as I could lay my hands on. All I can say is thank goodness for eBay.

I drew upon the culture and mythology surrounding the Isle of Man as inspiration and created a proper novel plan. This was fleshed out over the next couple of years until I reached a total of about 65,000 words.

I have spent the last 6 -12 months refining this novel and have been using several online networks to gain feedback and critiques in order to improve my work - one of which I created myself.

I must thank so many people for their continued support and critiques - especially Carol Bukroyd, Fiona Southwell and Rosalind Edwards over at http://creativewriting.ning.com

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