When did you first start writing, and when did you finish your first book?
I first start writing when I was a teenager, mostly short stories but as I got older writing took a bit of a back seat but I kept on reading. I started my book The Gift in 2007 and completed it in 2012.
How did you choose the genre to write in?
I read everything horror when I was growing up and I loved, Stephen King, James Herbert, Richard Matheson and Richard Laymon so it was just a natural progression for me really.
Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
The only challenges I came across were my own ones in getting the writing done it was the hardest thing I have ever done but definitely the most rewarding. The book was rejected by publishers and agents so I decided to self -publish on kindle and the sales and reviews have been great. Publishers and agents and the whole industry can be a cold place but stories written from the heart can make it a warmer place.
What project are you working on now?
I am halfway through writing a zombie novel based in Ireland. It’s the end of the world zombie apocalypse with a twist :D
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Don’t write for money and expectations of becoming a number one seller. The publishing world is a hard nut to crack. Write because you love to write and enjoy telling stories finishing a piece of work is a great achievement and anything that comes after that is a huge bonus. Also a lot of people always say write what you know. I don’t believe in that I believe in writing what you love, especially in fiction. Zombies aren’t real and if they were I would know nothing about them but I am enjoying writing about them.
Michael is a 17 year old boy who has no friends, has never kissed a girl, and keeps a diary documenting his miserable existence. But his worst problem is the atrocious bullying that eventually leads him to try and take his own life. But when his suicide attempt fails under strange circumstances Michael has no explanation for it. That is until he finds a message left by a stranger offering him a chance to avail of The Gift.
The Gift - all of the hearts greatest desires for the price of a handshake and a favour, to be carried out when Michael is a very old man.
When Michael accepts The Gift his life is transformed. Money, success, happiness, and the love of a beautiful woman soon follow. But when the man in black returns a lot sooner than expected to call in his favour, Michael finds himself in a life or death battle against the demonic destroyer.
FOR MORE INFO
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonathanlauthor
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