East Lothian mum becomes internet sensation with teen stories

Gillian Brown, 34, has received more than 2.3 million hits and a fanbase of over 11,000 across the world.

The budding author, who writes as GS Banks, has written three short and two full length stories which are available for free online and is now looking to publish her first novel.

“I’ve always written things since a really young age - as soon as I could write I was making up little stories and once I reached 11 years old I was ‘publishing’ books that I hand wrote myself, put together with felt tip pen illustrations and plastic covers,” Gillian said.

“From there I wrote on and off all my life until I got to the age of 28 where I decided that was my favorite thing to do and I should make something of it.”

Although she never set out to have a target market, the fact that the majority of her protagonists are female teens has appealed to many young girls.

“I get emails every week from young people around the world,” says Gillian. “A girl in Tunisia asked if she could do her school project on one of my stories. Another girl in the Philippines told me how reading my work gave her comfort after her uncle was kidnapped.

“There’s something about the girl on the brink of womanhood that inspires me. I remember it well myself. Plus I have a big heart for teenage girls - I just get along with them and feel they are important contributors, the next generation and often they are incredibly smart.”

Gillian’s work has also attracted the attention of American TV station USA Network which asked her to pen a story for one of its new shows.

Her most famous stories are called Dovetail Diaries, which revolves around a brother and sister in a small Lancashire village, and Animal, about a girl from New York who possesses animal superpowers.

“I get my inspiration from two main areas. On the one hand the realities of my own life, things that move me or bother me or things I find emotionally impacting. I purposefully look out for those things and explore them.

“On the other hand I get inspired by whatever I wish was true, by my own fantasy of how life could be or possibilities that I dream could actually happen. It’s exciting to me to mix reality with “unreality” and see what comes out.”

Having recently completed her first manuscript, Gillian is now looking for a literary agent to publish her work.

“It can be a bit lonely looking after a baby at home so I like to write when I can. My son inspires me to keep going, since having my son I am much more focused on making my writing a real career.”

You can read Gillian’s stories at wattpad.com/gs_banks or gsbanks.com