Alan goes ape at book debut
His first novel hits the shelves
A driving instructor swapped his steering wheel for a pen and got up to some monkey business.
Alan Milligan, 61, from Neilston, was inspired to write a novel about a Rhesus Macaque monkey which wreaks havoc after escaping from captivity.
And the book is now on sale at WHSmith, in Paisley, and also online as an eBook.
The idea for the book came to Alan after a visit to a safari park.
He said: “At the beginning of the millennium I took my wife and daughter to a safari park and we had a fantastic day.
“I decided to write a story about a Rhesus Macaque monkey which escapes captivity and proceeds to cause complete havoc thereafter.
“It was purely a pipe dream at that point, but next thing I knew, I had some kind of novel completed.
“It stayed in the confines of my head – and computer – for some years, then I met someone who helped me collate all of my notes and chapters, and then converted them all into a pretty wonderful eBook, well, in my eyes anyway, which I self-published on Amazon Kindle.
“I didn’t have any means of publicising the novel, so it sat on the world’s biggest bookshelf, virtually unnoticed for three-anda-half years.”
And then Alan took the decision to convert it to paperback.
“I took a copy of the paperback to the WHSmith’s store in Paisley and after reading it, the manager decided to include it in the Paisley store, which has quite blown me away,” he said.
As a writer, Alan is completely self-taught.
He said: “I’ve no literal training, I just picked up writing as I went along.
“I’ve played guitar, written songs and poetry since I was 15, and just considered creative writing a natural progression.
“But I could literally wallpaper each room in my house with the rejection letters I’ve received from all kinds of agencies, regarding each of my four books, in almost 20 years of applying for advancement in the literary world.
“But now, with this little development of publishing a hard copy, and personally exploring the opportunities, doors which had always appeared closed, I now seem to be able to open to some degree.
“I feel that, with the first real examination of the book, it has passed.”
Alan’s novel is called Esc-ape - An Incredible Journey and is available to buy from WHSmith, High Street, Paisley.