. . . p a u l   j .   n e w e l l

Paul Newell was born in Somerset, England in 1977 and is the reader of dozens of award-winning books. He decided to become a writer himself so that he didn’t have to get up so early in the morning. The Turning is his first attempt at a novel.

welcome

Maybe you’d like to know a little about me before you consider parting with cash for my book. Maybe, in particular, you’d like to know a little about my writing.

Well, I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid, but to be honest I never found it that easy. It was always an effort. But there was one thing that kept me plugging away. You see, sometimes I get frustrated, when I watch a film or read a book. It seems to me that so often they have missed the point.

The thing is, I’ve always kind of believed that a novel should be, well, novel.

A book should have something to say that is original and unique. It should empower the reader to think about something completely new to them. Any book that fits too neatly into a genre must at least be flirting with clichés.

I don’t write for a market. I don’t write in a genre. I just try to write books that have something to say, to tell stories that haven’t yet been told. I use science that is real. I present theories that aim to inspire. Theories that could just be true …

Maybe you'd like to hear some?
biography

I was born and raised in Somerset, in the South West of England. After leaving school I studied Computer Science and beer at the University of Exeter, and on finishing my degree I started work as a Software Engineer in the defence industry. But a guy's gotta have a dream beyond cutting code and I continued writing short stories and screenplays in my spare time. Eventually, I realized that there was no market for short stories, except for in women’s magazines, which wasn’t really suited to my style of fiction. Ironically, the first story I ever sold was to a women’s periodical (here) – but I felt there was only so many good stories I could write about knitting. So, I sat down and started writing a novel. The idea for it had been swilling around in my mind for a couple of years by then. I completed the first draft in around six months, whilst my friends busily arranged the social life I claimed I was too busy to pursue.

But despite how difficult writing a novel is, writing a novel is easy! That is, compared with convincing someone to publish it, if you're not already a writer or a b-list celebrity. So this could easily have been the end of the road. My day-job at this time had led me to San Diego. And maybe it was here, surrounded by Americans, that I mysteriously gained the arrogance to believe that people really would like to read my book. And the rest … is a rather lengthy history reserved for another time.

and finally

There have been many people in my life who have helped and influenced me to such an extent that they deserve much more than just my thanks. But they’ll get over it.

Firstly, thanks to my family for moulding the person who wrote my first book (me, that is) and who are ultimately its creators. Quite simply, without them I wouldn’t be me. And I like being me … most of the time.

Eternal thanks are owed to Sam and Dee for providing unfaltering support in pretty much every facet of my existence. To attempt listing the ways here would be futile. I consider myself lucky for meeting them … and even luckier they continue to put up with my whinging ass.

In an inspirational capacity I would like to thank Edgar Wright. More than anyone else he proved to me that from little plasticine cubes do big-screen zombies grow. Likewise, thanks also to a band called Silverman who I hold in similarly high regard.

Thanks to Catherine for being the first almost-stranger to like what I was doing, and so foster in me a belief that some of it actually wasn’t shit. A role of considerable importance.

And finally, very special thanks is reserved for Paul Andrew Wallis, for providing a model of how to be one of the good guys.