Daniel Parsons was born in South Wales, UK. He began writing short stories at the age of nine but didn’t attempt to write a novel until his early teens. His first few attempts were terrible and were never finished. However, at fifteen he started a story called Retrospect which was his sixth attempt at a book. It took nearly four and a half years to complete! A few literary agents gave Daniel encouraging feedback but he ultimately put that project aside, deciding that it was good practice but that he could do better.

While studying English Literature at Cardiff University, Daniel was introduced to the idea of self-publishing and decided to write a Christmas eBook called The Winter Freak Show for Kindle. After uploading it, he discovered a whole community of writers and readers on social media who were happy to help him as a newbie writer. Some of those people are still helping him today!

All of the support persuaded Daniel to pursue writing novels as a full-time career. His following title was Blott, the first book in a teen fantasy series called The Canvas Chronicles. It featured a fourteen-year-old boy who discovered that the world outside his village was a blank canvas and that he could paint life into it using his hands.

Next came a comedy zombie story called Necroville that Daniel released on the story-sharing website Wattpad. As a short story, it exceeded all expectations, gaining tens of thousands of reads. It was eventually even added to a list of “Top Zombie Stories” by the Wattpad content team to help promote the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie.

Due to the overwhelming response, Daniel is now working on a much longer sequel to Necroville which should be released in 2016. He will also launch two sequels to The Winter Freak Show and a non-fiction Twitter guide for creatives called #TheArtOfTwitter. After that, he will begin work on the rest of The Canvas Chronicles.

Besides writing, Daniel is also a keen movie-goer, squash player, traveller, and thrill-seeker. To him, every experience is a writing research opportunity – from bungee jumps to bluffing his way past airport security to getting hit by a van – all of which have actually happened to him. If you want to know anything else about Daniel, sign up to his mailing list or follow him on Twitter (@dkparsonswriter). He loves talking to readers, writers, and anyone else who will listen!