#100days - '93: the year I became a novelist

In 1992 I was editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine, a fortnightly anthology comic set in the future-shocked world of 22nd Century lawman Judge Dredd. It looked likely that Hollywood might be making a big budget feature film of Dredd soon [it took another three years to appear], so Virgin Books licensed the rights to commission original Judge Dredd novels.

The problem: who would write them? Unusually, Virgin Books welcomed unsolicited submissions from previously unpublished authors for its range of original Doctor Who novels. Indeed, quite a few notable names got early professional credits there - Mark Gatiss, Paul Cornell, Gareth Roberts.

I had long aspired to write novels, having been a voracious reader most of my life. I was also steeped in Dredd continuity thanks to my day job as editor of the Megazine. I volunteered my services and Virgin commissioned the first story I pitched, called The Savage Amusement.

I got up at 5am each weekday and typed for an hour or so before going inot work. That was on an electric typewriter, I couldn't afford what passed for a computer in those days and publishers still wanted printed manuscripts. Sunday afternoons were set aside for another burst of work on the book.

I finished in 10 weeks and proudly handed in my manuscript. A few weeks later someone from Virgin phoned up asking for rewrites. No, I replied, the book is done. The arrogance/ignorance of that statement astounds me now! Even more shocking, Virgin let me get away with it.

The Savage Amusement came out early in 1993, my first professionally published novel. Truth be told, the book's a bit all over the place as I didn't know what I was doing. But Virgin was sufficiently desperate to ask me for another, which became my second pro novel - Cursed Earth Asylum.

This was a much better book, as I took all the lessons learned from my first effort and applied those to its successor. There was a proper structure and it still hangs together reasonably well. Early work, but some promise.

The most significant thing about Cursed Earth Asylum happened while I was writing it. [Again, 5am starts and Sunday blurts.] I typed a scene that so horrifying I was left staring at my fingers - where had that come from? I didn't think I could imagine such things, and yet I plainly had.

The thrill of pure invention beyond anything of which I thought myself capable was a life-changing moment: I was now a writer.

Both books were out of print for the best part of twenty years, and prices for second hand copies vary wildly [anywhere between 51p and £152.08 from different sellers on Amazon!].

Each novel was recently reissued as ebooks for the Kindle. I can't in good conscience recommend The Savage Amusement, but Cursed Earth Asylum isn't terrible - you can order the ebook edition here.