A teenage author from Dalry has spoken about getting her first novel out there, breaking into the Amazon top 30 and how she was inspired by JK Rowling

Rebecca Howie, 18, is a former Garnock Academy pupil and her first novel, The Game Begins, was recently self-published and has reached the top 30 on its category on Amazon, a testament to the hard work she has put in after leaving school.

The teen, who plans to become a full-time writer, lives in Dalry and spoke candidly about the processes involved with finishing the book and getting it out there.

She said: “I’m not sure what got me into writing, because I’ve been doing it for years. It used to be just something I did when I had free time and then I realised I liked doing it and now I’m always looking for something to write about.

“My book’s been received really well, so far. My parents have been supportive and my sister’s been telling all my old teachers at school, and she’s always there with suggestions if I get stuck in the middle of writing a scene.

“Writing a full length book wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

“I used to just write short stories, which wouldn’t be more than ten thousand words, but for The Game Begins, I had to write around seventy or eighty thousand, and that involved a lot more planning.

“But it was fun, because I got to create loads of characters and give them back stories and put them in different situations to see how they’d handle it.

“I’m working on a sequel, at the moment. It wasn’t planned but I didn’t want to leave the characters the way I had, and when I’m finished this one, I think I’ll try writing something a bit lighter.”

Asked for her inspiration: “That’d probably by JK Rowling because she wanted to write and she wasn’t stopped by her lack of money and work or the rejection letters she got.”

The book itself started off as a short story and tells the tale of a teenage girl who is struggling to come to terms with her father’s death.

She decides to take a private investigator course after encouragement from a friend.

But when she gets her first case, she realises that there’s more to her father’s death than meets the eye.

The book is available to purchase on Amazon, Kindle or Lulu and is available in paperback or e-edition.