Paul Chiswick

I dreamed of becoming a famous writer

Ever since my early years, I have been an enthusiastic reader. In my teens, I dreamed of becoming a famous writer like my heroes, John Steinbeck and Graham Greene. Then reality elbowed aside that idea. I found myself destined for a completely different kind of career, one that drew more on numeracy than literacy.

I wrote reports and feasibility studies in my first career; cost benefit analyses and business proposals in my second. By comparison I thought writing fiction would be easy. I was mistaken.

I took up writing fiction seriously when I retired from corporate life. I passed an entire year analysing different methods, and picking up tips and tricks employed in writing novels and short stories. Only then did I feel competent enough to put pen to paper in earnest. I embarked on my first novel, Through Glass Eyes, and learned a lot more along the way. After that first novel, I wrote three more. I really don’t know where I found the stamina!

Now my preferred format is the short story, flash fiction in particular (to write a complete story in less than 1000 words can be extremely challenging!). Fortunately, I have been reasonably successful with my short/flash stories. Here is a list of my ACHIEVEMENTS.

In the SAMPLE WRITING section there are several examples of my short stories and flash fiction. I hope you will find them engaging.

You can find my published novels and short story books in the NOVELS/SHORT STORIES section.