Books / News
From web developer to author
Hotwells author Graeme White has published his first novel Penned In, which features Bristol sights such as The Old Duke and the Old Bookshop.
White, an IT professional with his own web development business, found himself writing about his character Steve – also an IT professional – who got stuck in a computer.
The idea for Penned In came to White while working: “I was in a job that I wasn’t enjoying at the time and I felt like I was trapped in a computer. It came from an unsatisfying time. I just wanted to write a book and I kind of went with what I know. I’d always liked fantasy and thought I’d try it.”
The book took four years to write and get published. White began it in his final job as an employee before setting out as a freelancer.
Penned In starts with Steve lamenting his lost love who won’t WhatsApp him. He finds the ultimate distraction from romance, literally in his work when he gets pulled in to the world behind computers and finds it’s full of magic. Faced with no alternative and in a strange land, he sets off on a quest to not only escape those who want to kill him but ultimately to get back to the real world.
“I found myself using bits of my life as inspiration. For example, I was living with my goddaughter and her mother at the time and the little one inspired one of the significant characters in the story.”
The IT world also makes its way into the book with the odd inside joke but it’s all quite accessible to non-IT people. The library is an all-encompassing knowledge centre, like a hard drive. Then there is a bit where a car breaks down and to get it started, the windows need to be closed and opened again.
After spending four years writing, White found that he quite enjoyed the process: “I’m writing a short story next for the Bristol Short Story Prize and spending my time getting out and about and meeting up with other writers and attending events. I’m also still working as a web developer so I spend a lot of time in front of a computer.”
Penned In is available on Amazon here.
To keep up to date with a potential series of novels, visit www.facebook.com/pennedinbookseries
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