A man from West Belfast who has autism has published this first book after failing his English GCSE three times.
Gerard McLean, 24, from the Finaghy area, self-published fantasy novel The Mythical Mounts last month on Amazon after working on the book off-and-on for the past six years.
During that time, Gerard temporarily dropped out of school, and passed his English GCSE after a few attempts when he was 22.
Read more: Pierce Brosnan thanks people of Belfast as filming finishes on new movie
Now, he's hoping to spread the word that with work, patience, and consistency, anyone can achieve their dreams if they put their mind to it.
"I first started writing the book a few months after I turned 18 and it took me about four months to complete the first draft of it," Gerard told Belfast Live.
"During that time, I temporarily dropped out of school and kept writing. Eventually I went back to school, and I just slogged down writing it.
"When it finally was done I wasn't sure how to move forward with it, so I just struggled on and off with it for about five years there. Then I decided enough was enough and hired an editor and an artist, then about six months later managed to self-publish it on Amazon.
"It's a fantasy book. I always loved fantasy, and always knew I would write a book one day, so thought it would be cool if I had my own fantasy world."
The Mythical Mounts centres around 12-year-old Jake Stalline who is given a mysterious blue crystal on his birthday by his sister a few months before she disappears.
With the help of his friends, Jake sets out on a mission to solve the mystery of his disappeared sister and discover what the significance of his crystal is.
Gerard said despite never really doing well at school, he always knew he wanted to be an author and remained focused on achieving his dream.
He said: "I have autism so I never really did well in school at all. I don't think I even passed my English GCSE until three years after I wrote my book, which is kind of ironic.
"I struggled with that and seeing whether I could actually do it. It made it hard for me to concentrate and figure out if people would actually like to take the time to read what I've written.
"I had a lot of self-doubt, as to whether there'd be a lot of spelling mistakes, and I wasn't very good at grammar or English. But I just tried to set all that aside and focus on telling a story and have some characters people would like and relate to."
The 24-year-old said it feels "pretty great" to be able to share his book with the public, and hope people will take a chance on it and pick up a copy.
He's also hoping his journey to publishing his first book will help inspire others in a similar position.
"I never thought it would actually happen," Gerard added.
"I can tell people I'm an author and actually have evidence to back it up. I'm just glad I did something I could be proud of, and my family could be proud of. I hope to continue on with the author life as it were.
"For anyone in a similar position, I'd say to just keep at it and to set yourself a goal. My goal for the first book was around 300 words per day, sometimes I wouldn't hit that and sometimes I would over hit it.
"It's really just about consistency and going with what you feel people would like to read. It's just to set little goals and keep at it, you have to be in it for the long-term and have to be very passionate about it."
READ NEXT:
- Belfast child defying all odds as she approaches her first birthday
- Ashley Cain completes marathon in Belfast in memory of baby daughter
- Belfast woman celebrates four years of makeup brand loved by celebs
- NI woman creates 'Belfast Girlies' to give women confidence to meet new friends
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
