A NEW writer has been thrilled with the response to his debut novel after 18 months of hard work.

Mark Bishop, of Burford Road, Witney, self-published Where the Dark Fish Swim last month and is now spreading the word to get as many people as he can to read it.

The 34-year-old’s book is written in the form of a letter from a father to his son, explaining why he abandoned him as a child and why he is planning to leave his life again.

Mr Bishop, an accountant at Grant Thornton in Oxford, said: “I’ve always had a keen interest and a hankering to do it I suppose.

“I had this nugget of an idea in my head and just started writing it about 18 months ago.

“It’s been received really well since it came out. I’m very pleased with the good feedback it's been getting.”

Though not autobiographical, Mr Bishop drew emotionally on his experience struggling to have a baby with his wife, Jennie, over a period of five years. The couple now have a son, one, who they adopted in December.

After writing the bulk of the text in the space of six weeks last year, it was the editing process that took up the most time.

Mr Bishop spent his time editing the novel sharing it with close friends and family and making changes based on the responses he received.

When the book was finally ready, Mr Bishop decided to go down the self-publishing route.

He said: “The book is what I wanted it to be. You’re never going to be 100 per cent happy with it but I am pleased.

“I sent it to a few literary agents and did get some good comments, but then I spoke to a friend who asked me if I wanted to make money from it or if I wanted people to read it.

“Because my goal was to have people read it I ended up self-publishing through Amazon, which was really easy. It’s great being able to look at it and think ‘that’s mine’ and see the positive reviews on the page.”

With one book under his belt, Mr Bishop’s second novel is already under way, which he started writing just after Christmas.

He now wants more people to read his first book so that the feedback can be used to develop his approach in future.

The book can be found by visiting amzn.to/2i9dO8q