Exeter College alumna Lucy Banks never thought she would become a published writer when she enrolled on a Creative Writing course at Exeter College. Now her dream has come true with the publication of her first novel – The Case of the Green Dressed Ghost.

The book is aimed at adults who like light-hearted, supernatural stories, it was recently described by Publisher’s Weekly as ‘Ghostbusters with a British accent’.

Lucy, from Exeter, said: “I liked that it was something I could work around my job because I work full time and it was a nice convenient time. It seemed like a really interesting, relaxed, informal sort of course.”

Lucy’s book came out in March, with the next one due out in February (and two more in the pipeline).

Described as being about the supernatural, Lucy credits the course with the idea for her main character saying, “It all stemmed from Sam’s class. We did a character exercise where we had to come up with a character from thin air and that’s where I came up with this character of Dr Ribero. It stayed in my head for about three months afterwards and then it turned into a book, so it is all down to Sam!”

Lucy said the idea for the book came from wanting to normalise the fears around the supernatural for her own children. “They can get scared of ghosts and stuff like that so it was more to sort of kill that stone dead and make humour out of it really.”

So how does it feel to be a published writer? “It’s been lovely, it’s quite weird because they're a US publisher so there's more going on there than there is here”.

Lucy says that her advice to fellow writers would be to do a writing course. “I think doing a course is a great idea that really did help and gave me a lot of confidence. When you share your work with other people you're sort of forced into that situation of getting feedback and I think that can be really helpful. Just keep writing as much as possible whenever you can.”

Lucy’s lecturer while studying at Exeter College was Sam Watson, who was overjoyed to hear of Lucy’s success.

She said: “Three pieces of her writing, in particular, stood out for me that term – one was a scene from a train trapped in winter weather which had the beginnings of a ghost story. The second was her entry to the class Flash Fiction competition. Of course, the final piece that has stayed with me was Lucy’s creation of Dr Ribero.

“During a particular session I had asked the group to start developing their own ideas of a detective. Lucy told us her detective was an elderly Argentinian, had a twirly moustache and carried a cane – how could we resist? I was so pleased to hear the fantastic news last year that Lucy’s first book (with her character of Dr Ribero) had been accepted by a publishing house and I made sure I went to get my copy signed by the author herself!”

You can read reviews about Lucy’s book and purchase online here.

Kester Lanner didn’t know what to expect when he followed his mother's dying request to contact the mysterious Dr. Ribero, but he wasn't expecting to find his long lost father. Nor was he expecting to join the family business: catching supernatural spirits. Kester is intrigued despite his fear, and finds himself drawn into an ancient ghost story that will test the entire agency. He soon becomes enmeshed in a struggle with the spirit, who is so malevolent and haunting that his first real case might just be his last.

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