About

I’m Peter, a writer of horror fiction. My first novel, The Well, was published in 2010 and is available in print or for download to the Kindle. So yes, I’m new to the game of writing fiction – but not to writing professionally.

I’ve been writing for around twenty-five years – but non-fiction. The bulk of my writing has been for websites, brochures, advertising and so on – although I have also written hundreds of magazine articles, mostly about training and personal development.

Like many copywriters, I’ve long yearned to write fiction. For me, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for years – since I was at school, actually. At the end of December 2009, I found myself at a party and ended up discussing writing with the excellent singer/songwriter Claire Mooney. I explained that I had several ideas for an interrelated series of horror books. Claire took a hard line with me – she told me that during 2009 she’d set aside things that weren’t a good investment of time and, as a result, her career options had blossomed. What she told me was simple – stop wasting time watching TV and start writing. Get it done. It was the kick up the arse I needed – and I’ll be forever grateful.

So, I started writing The Well on 1 January 2010. To be fair, it was based on an idea that had been gestating in one of the rear compartments of my mind for over half a decade. I finished The Well towards the end of 2010 – publishing it first on Kindle and then, in January 2011, it was made available in print on Lulu.

Now, I’m busy working on my next novels. Yes, you read that correctly, novels. It’s true, writing a novel was far tougher than I’d expected – when you’re used to rattling off pieces of copy that are two to three thousand words, you kind of expect that something of one hundred thousand words will somehow only be two or three times harder. It’s not – it’s a hundred times harder. But a hundred times more rewarding.

I’d always known that The Well would be part of a series of books. My planned novels are all based around the same locations – and will include some of the same characters. Will there be a linking theme or story arc? That would be telling.