What made me publish.

I'm often asked what made me start writing in the first place, and what eventually convinced me to publish After the Fall.

I've loved zombie fiction ever since I first watched Night of the Living Dead. From then on, I've been utterly fascinated by the genre. If there's a zombie film, series or book I've not seen or read, there's a good chance I'll eventually get around to it.

That love of zombie fiction was really where After the Fall began. It was the first book I wrote and published, although it's now Book Two of The Fall Series, after I later went back and wrote Before the Fall to tell the story of how it all began.

I'd watched and read countless zombie stories set in America, around the world and, when they were set in the UK, usually London. But there didn't seem to be many set here in Scotland.

I wanted to change that.

I wanted to write the kind of zombie apocalypse story I'd always wanted to read, set in places that were familiar to me. More than anything, I wanted to be able to decide what happened. Who survived, who didn't, where they went and what happened to Scotland when everything fell apart.

The strange thing is, I never intended to publish it.

It was just a book for me.

I could read it whenever I wanted, change things, add new ideas and basically let the story become whatever I wanted it to be. I was perfectly happy with that.

Then a friend found the manuscript after I'd left it lying out.

He read it and told me I should seriously think about publishing it. I wasn't convinced. In fact, we debated it for weeks before I finally found the courage to see whether I could actually do it.

That's when a man called Daniel came along and helped me massively.

He talked me through the process of self-publishing through KDP and helped me figure things out when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. When I was ready to throw in the towel because I couldn't get the bloody cover sizes right, he helped me through that too.

Eventually, the book I'd written purely for myself became a real book that other people could actually buy and read.

Seeing After the Fall available as an ebook and paperback was a strange feeling.

People started buying it. Then reviews started appearing. Some were good, some weren't so good, and that's something I've learned to accept. Not everyone is going to love the same books I do, and not everyone is going to enjoy something I've written.

That's okay.

I took the plunge and put my story out there. If even one person gets lost in it for a few hours and enjoys the world I've created, then I'm happy.

What started as one zombie story I never intended anyone else to see has since grown into The Fall Universe, something much bigger than I ever expected when I first started writing.

And to think, it might never have happened if I hadn't left that manuscript lying around.

After the Fall was where my journey as an author started, but it's now Book Two of The Fall Series. If you're new to the books and want to start the story from the beginning, Before the Fall is Book One.

But before you go, I've got a question for you.

Have you ever thought about writing a book yourself? Or, if you're already a writer, what finally convinced you to let other people read your work?

Let me know in the comments. I'd genuinely love to hear your story.