About
Ian is an ex teacher, hospital ward orderly and encyclopaedia salesman.
He started his writing career with the BBC and has had in excess of 30 radio productions broadcast before moving on to TV where he wrote for The Bill, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and more recently a US/Canadian TV romcom movie. In theatre he has had over 20 full length stage plays produced for local Reps, No. 1 tours and a run in the West End.
The Sleepwalker is his first novel and he’s found it far more challenging than writing plays or TV scripts!!
"THE SLEEPWALKER is my debut novel although I have been a professional writer for many years as a screen writer and playwright. I made the decision to write a novel because I wanted to challenge myself; a new challenge from my scripts and plays. And I particularly wanted to write a psychological thriller because it’s a genre I’ve always enjoyed reading and I’ve also written a couple of thrillers for radio/tv .
And indeed it was a challenge. It’s the most difficult project I’ve ever taken on. Not only in the form but the length of time and number of rewrites/drafts it takes. For example I could write a first draft episode of Emmerdale in four days but a first draft of a novel takes me maybe three months or more and then there are re-writes. I suppose writing a full length stage play or probably a 6-8 part tv series is the nearest to writing a novel even though the processes are very different. Having said that, I’ve loved writing it, working out all the twists and surprises, the subplots, the character development and along the way I’ve sometimes surprised myself too."