Author Spotlight with Shaun Allan (ShaunAllan)

Once upon a time...

All the best stories begin with 'Once upon a time...'

Once upon a time, Jack climbed a beanstalk and encountered a giant and a magical goose. Once upon a time, three little piggies ran away from the Big Bad Wolf, whom they wouldn't let in by the hair on their chinnie-chin-chins. Cinders did go to the ball. Snow White did live happily ever after.

Once upon a time, I started to write. I was very young, I'm told. I used to write stories and draw the pictures to go along with them. My artistic skills not being what they might be, the drawing side of things fell by the roadside to be driven over like the roadkill it was. My writing, on the other hand, continued to drive me. It carried on being something which, when I had little else, was mine. Throughout school, where English was easily my favourite lesson, and beyond, I would read voraciously and wish I could be like the people who created the books I lost myself in. Asimov and Clarke. Eddings and Brooks. King, Koontz and Barker. They took me on journeys I could never imagine travelling myself.

I didn't have much back then. My diet consisted of 'if it went with chips (British chips - like fat fries)' it was ok. We had little money. I had cast off clothes and remember asking for something for Christmas, being told I was getting it... and receiving nothing. But I do remember one Christmas Eve. It was gone midnight but somehow still fairly light. Maybe it had been snowing, that I don't recall. My mum came into my bedroom with my presents, saying I could have them then. They weren't wrapped, but they didn't need to be. It didn't matter. Four books, the top (and most exciting for me at back then) was Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, with a picture on a crystal skull on the cover. I didn't need the Bionic Man Action Man I'd asked for, or Thunderbird 4. The years where we (my brother and I) found Santa had been too busy and didn't have time to get to us were memories. I had a Mysterious World to explore. I had worlds to explore.

I didn't particularly have a great opinion of myself either - for various reasons. So I was introverted and socially awkward. As such, being able to walk in the lives of others was my way of having a life I couldn't. Or didn't think I could. Or deserved. But, as Sin would say, hey ho, daddyo. Life is a puddle and you have to make a splash to cause ripples. So I did. Attempted to, at least. I wrote, over a ten year period, my novel Sin. He started off as a short story but I soon realised how bit a part of me the main character was, so he continued to have a voice. In the end, the short story became the prologue to the book. In that time, I wrote other stories, started a couple of novels, wrote poetry, but didn't feel I could really bring it out into the open. Writing was this silly little quaint thing I did. No-one took it seriously. Some laughed. Silly Shaun. Why read a book when you can see the film?

As I was writing Sin - and sending parts off to my friend, Tony, in California - his humorous, sarcastic side began to have an effect on me. I grew out of the downtrodden person I was and started to think have this somewhat cheeky exterior. A change of life, partner and outlook pushed me into as world where I was supported rather than ridiculed. Encouraged. On a holiday to Luxor, Egypt, I was able to write 15,000 words the old fashioned way (pen and paper) and saw the end of Sin in sight.

Eventually, Sin made it onto Amazon and did well, reaching #1 in Psychological Thriller, for example. It also hit #1 on a Goodreads list of 'Books that Get you Hooked' above The Hunger Games and Harry Potter! Had I made it? Was I a writer? I think I might be.

But it didn't stop there. I was lucky enough to be invited to join a wonderful group of writers grouped as Myrddin Publishing. They're such an amazingly supportive group and have really helped me believe in myself. Further to this, I wanted to expand my readers. Amazon is great, but it's... cold. Reviews are something people usually forget to leave. You buy your book and go on your merry way.

So I found, about 5 years ago, this site called Wattpad. It was free to join. Free to read. Maybe I could entice readers to buy my book from Amazon if I uploaded the Prologue? It was pretty much self contained but led into the novel proper. It was worth a try. I also put up some of my other work. One day, I received this email from a Wattpad member of staff asking if I'd like to serialise the book in full and join this Writers Program they had going. I was worried at first. I'd be offering my whole book for free!

I could happily slap myself for such thoughts now. Wattpad, with its massively supportive members, have taken my writing - and me - on a highly enjoyable journey which has surpassed anything I had before and anything I could have dreamed of. Not only am I a Wattpad Star, but I've written for Universal, DC's Comics and Goosebumps. I've met the staff - and been welcomed into their family. I've had comments on my books such as 'beautiful and savage,' 'dark, disturbing and amazing,' and 'simply superb.' I've made amazing friends.

Wattpad is the real home of my writing. When I complete a chapter, I'm SO eager to upload it. I barely think of Amazon now as I don't write for the money (thankfully). I write because I have to. It's part of me. In Wattpad, it's not just my stories which are at home, it's me too.

It's accepted by everyone that writing and me go hand in hand. I have writing related tattoos. People ask me about my work - and they're genuinely interested now. They (in the main, at least) think it's cool.

But, if they didn't, I'd still write. If I didn't, the words would dribble out of my nose. That wouldn't be pretty.

Oh, the first lines of this piece? They're the introduction to Mr. Composure, which I was commissioned by Wattpad and Universal to write for the release of The Purge: Anarchy. Without Wattpad, I wouldn't have written one of my favourite of all my stories.

Dreams can come true, and you don't always need a rainbow.