FORMER Archway School student and one time SNJ reporter Steve Jackson saw his dream come earlier this month when his first novel, The Mentor, a fast paced thriller about terrorist attacks in London, was published by HarperCollins. Ben Spragg reports.

Steve Jackson's career path was never clear cut - he fell into journalism two weeks after finishing his A-levels at Archway School.

He began writing for The Marlborough Times and although his real interest lied with music he never managed to attain rock stardom.

Despite this, however, Steve, who worked at the SNJ between 1990 and 1991, did work as a musician, recording engineer and a guitar tutor but he appears to have finally found his niche in penning novels.

His first book, The Mentor, was released on February 19.

As a teenager Steve, who grew up in Stroud, admits he was not always happy and he found an escape through music and books - his passion for literature has remained and his love affair with the written word has now developed into a career.

The first of a trilogy, The Mentor follows the exploits of young MI6 agent Paul Aston.

A fast paced thriller, it explores the idea of a second terrorist attack in London.

When writing Steve aims to start at 8.30am and be finished by 1pm, targeting a minimum of 1,500 words a day.

"Most days it's fun and I tend to manage 2,000 words, sometimes 2,500," said Steve, who lives with partner Karen on the outskirts of St Albans and ranks The Stand by Stephen King as his favourite book.

"All I need is a word processor, a stereo and a pile of CDs," he said.

"Journalism was great training. Writing requires discipline, and there's no better place to learn that than a newsroom."

Steve writes one book a year and believes that writing the first draft is the toughest part.

"The first draft is a 24/7 occupation. I'm constantly going through stuff in my head, working out plot lines and playing with the what-ifs," he said.

Before starting draft two, Steve meets with his agent, Veronique Baxter, and they pull the book apart.

"She's a fantastic first reader, very sharp, she doesn't pull any punches," he said.

The second draft is then submitted to Steve's editor at HarperCollins.

There is then normally another couple of drafts before it gets copy-edited, and goes into production.

Steve took up horse riding a few years ago and what was supposed to act as light relief has now turned into something more.

"I ride most days and am training to be an instructor," said Steve who shares his love of horses with partner Karen.

The couple met at the local stables.

Being a writer is also a great excuse to travel and this is another big fixture in Steve's life.

"How can you write about a place if you've never been there? Writers have a duty to their readers to get the facts straight, well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it," he said.

The next two books of in the Paul Aston trilogy - The Judas and The Watcher are in the pipeline and novel number two is set for release later this year.