I started to write when I was 24. Inspired by the film Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone at the cinema, I couldn’t wait to find out how Harry and his magical friends got on. On arriving home from the cinema I ordered all available books from Amazon and eagerly awaited their arrival. It took several weeks for me to read the books from cover to cover. I’m not proud to admit it, but up until that point I had never once read a book from cover to cover let alone considered it. I was engulfed in the world of Harry Potter from that moment on. The stories and adventures helped fulfil some of the childhood experiences I’d never had. J K Rowling had unwittingly become my true hero, a person whom I admired more than anyone else in the world. She had bestowed a gift on me that I would never have imagined possible.

Although I know what inspired me to write, I’m not sure as to why I actually started to write? I just know that for some reason I did. I found myself typing on my laptop and not being able to stop. I had no direction, no notes, ideas or characters. There’s no other way of explaining it other than noting down a dream as it unravels in your mind. I found myself eager to arrive home from work to attack the keys on the computer with my two finger typing at high speed. On finishing the last few words of my first novel I had the worlds biggest smile on my face. During that one year of my life I had not only started to read, but I had written more words than I had ever written in my entire life. J K Rowling certainly has a great deal to answer for. I’m certain that if it wasn’t for Miss Rowling I would most certainly still be in the same position as I was 4 years ago.

I now enjoy the world that reading and writing has open to me. I love nothing more than sitting with a great book and immersing myself 100% into its pages and feeling like the characters. I read on a regular basis and have accumulated a nice little library of my own. Money is no longer the key factor in my life. I no longer have the strong feeling for it that I once had. The money that I worked so hard for throughout my life has since been spent on preserving my introduction into writing. And I’m proud to say that I own one of the best Harry Potter Book collections anywhere in the world. I still suffer will problems associated with writing. But as the years go by I am slowly overcoming these problems and am gaining more and more confidence.

I have often been asked if A Boy’s Name contains any real events. My answer is quite allusive as this fictional novel is written by an author who believes that every writer subconsciously incorporates their own experiences into their work and that it is often impossible to identify where the reality and fiction intertwine. But in a world where these two parallels come together so often, does it really matter?

If you would like to know more about me, visit to my personal website - www.stephenqueen.co.uk

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