It’s always exciting when a student goes on to achieve success as a writer. In the case of David Young, he was already an established TV writer in Great Britain when he took one of my online courses. Among some of our ‘virtual’ conversations, David mentioned that he was considering writing a novel. Turns out he did, a book called “Lockdown” – and look what happened.

Scott,

Good to hear from you. I, finally, have some news my end. If you recall I was writing for TV in the UK when I took your (excellent!) class online.

Long story short, just over a year ago I quit writing for TV to focus on a novel. A few months ago I sold world-wide rights it in a three-book deal

Here’s the synopsis

Ryan Lock, an American serving in the Close Protection Unit of the British Military Police, and Ty Johnson, a US Marine, have been friends since Iraq. Now out of uniform, they work in New York at the sharp end of corporate security. When the leader of a group of animal rights activists is shot dead during a demonstration outside the headquarters of Meditech, the world’s largest pharmaceutical conglomerate, the natural assumption is that the real target is the company’s CEO – a theory strengthened when the young son of one of Meditech’s top scientists is kidnapped.It is not really Ryan’s job to investigate, but his years of training and experience tell him that something big is going down. And as a champion of lost causes with a keen sense of justice, he finds himself involved. And so begins a tense game of cat and mouse as Ryan and Ty unveil a shocking conspiracy involving big business, high politics, international terrorists, and the terrifying lengths those in authority will go to find – and test – an effective vaccine against the world’s most deadly diseases. As the New Year crowds gather in New York’s Times Square, the Ebola virus is about to be unleashed. It is up to Ryan and Ty to save the city…

And here is Sean’s bio (it’s very weird ‘being’ someone else)

Sean Black grew up in Scotland, studied film in New York and has written the screenplays for many of Britain’s best-known TV dramas.

While writing Lockdown, he undertook a gruelling 24-day close protection course encompassing two weeks in an army camp in Wales, followed by a week of firearms training in the Czech Republic. To research his next novel, he plans to ‘do’ time in Pelican Bay Supermax in California.

Lockdown, the first in a major series featuring Ryan Lock, is his first novel.

It was an amazing and at times frightening journey but I poured my heart and soul into the book and thankfully it paid off.

In our correspondence this time around, I mentioned the Joseph Campbell line — “Follow your bliss” — that David had done so following his instincts re the novel. David responds:

I couldn’t agree more about following your bliss. It’s amazing how the universe clicks into place when you’re true to who you are as a writer.

A great object lesson for all of us. And major kudos to David on his success and looking forward to the publication of his book. Then the movie. Then the sequels…