Author J K Rowling wrote her first book in a coffee shop to keep warm. Dr Harry Spike Hope, jotted down ideas in a notebook on his rounds as a junior doctor at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

Back in his room he wrote chapters of The Elements of Lore to cope with the stress of medicine.

"I could not leave the job at work. I found it too upsetting," says Dr Harry, aged 25, who quit medicine to become a teacher.

He lives with his girlfriend, a surgeon, in a house at Hodsock, near Worksop, with a small retinue of animals – ducks, chicken and goats.

After being given the elbow by a dozen literary agents he's decided to publish himself.


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"There's an X-Factor on telly for pop stars but I'm not going to have Ant and Dec listening to a page of my book on ITV on a Saturday night," he sighs.

The 94,000 word novel, aimed at 10-14 year-olds but with an adult appeal, is about "an ordinary boy taken into a world that is fantastic and magical. He has to take the fate of the world on his shoulders," says Dr Harry.

His hero, Alex Fletcher, is chased through the snow by a mysterious creature and the adventure begins.

He's already getting the publicity rolling with a couple of websites and a Facebook page (206 fans so far) which are bringing in the advance orders.

Every author needs a good back story and Dr Harry has his. He had hippie parents and at one time lived in a caravan in Norfolk.

"We spent a lot of time at festivals, in and out of tents. I've got a lot to thank them for, they've been so free-minded and supportive," he says.

"I have that creative streak and wild imagination in me."

Despite his hippie childhood he went straight, into medical school but even while he was studying he realised that medicine was not for him and switched to teaching.

He starts at a school in Rotherham this September.

The Elements of Lore (the first of a projected series) started off as an adult book. It's been re-written for a younger audience in crisp, bright sentences.

Realistically, Dr Harry is not expecting to make his fortune. "The chances of that happening are as slim as winning the Lottery.

"The biggest reward for an author is to have someone reading their words in a book, rather than just sitting in a laptop."

Publishing date is May 24 in paperback at £8.99.

Cheaper from www.thebooksoflore.co.uk or www.theelementsoflore.co.uk. Half proceeds to Cystic Fibrosis Trust.


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