Will Luckman

I have failed a lot in life. Odd way to start a bio I know, but it's not something I hide from. It is the driving force behind who I am today. Use whatever platitude you want to explain it. 'Cast enough lines and you're bound to catch a fish'; 'Throw enough faecal matter at the wall and something is sure to stick.' However you want to say it, my life has always been about having a go at as many different things as possible until something finds success.

I've experienced jobs across every area of industry including bar work, waitering, function supervision, freelance and magazine journalism, swimming/tennis/soccer coaching, sub-editing, ghost writing, security guarding, paving driveways, shelf hardware consultant, retail sales supervision, acting, cellarman, traffic data collection, production assistant, film unit manager, after school care, working at my dad's handyman company whenever he needs an extra set of hands, and finally, teaching. My list of sports I've played is just as long, because I'm always searching for that new experience or way to challenge myself. If I haven't done something, the questions are always 'Why not?' and 'What am I missing out on?'

I'm like the cow looking at the greener grass on the other side of the fence, only I also have my eye on the field over the next fence as well, and the next one and the next one.

I always have some kind of side project I'm working on in my spare time, like starting a TV show or magazine - which were complete failures by the way, but taught me valuable lessons about who I am and what I am capable of. Even writing my first book was a process of creating slightly less terrible drafts each time I scribbled something down on the paper, until I ended up with something I unbiasedly think is quite good.

My journey from award-winning writer to author began on the primary school playground, scribbling poems in my pocket-sized notebook just like any other “cool kid” would have been doing at that age. That passion has never left, coursing through my veins as I've written many short stories and scripts at every opportunity, from sitting for a few hours on the computer at home, to a few minutes on my phone during a "toilet break" at work. They say a writer can't find success until they find their own voice. So I try to carve out as many moments as possible, whenever I can, to focus on improving my skills and search for that moment where I can finally kill the giant octopus witch and release my voice from the glowing seashell to live happily ever after.

Three decades later, I'm back in school on the other side of the teacher’s desk, trying to inspire the next generation of “cool kids” to grab a pen and find their own adventure wherever it may be hiding.

My debut dark fantasy novel The True Tale of Santa the Zombie Slayer hit the market in October 2022.

2023 saw my first children's picture book, There's A Lion In My Shoe, begin a series called Marvellous Minis.

Then in 2024, book two of that series came along - There's An Octopus In My Bathtub, which I co-wrote with my 2 crazy kids Zane and Alba.

I've since set myself the challenge to bring out a new book each year, and in 2025 I juuuuuuust got there with a late 31 December publish of my favourite book, The Screen. This was my first self-illustrated book too, just to see if I could. I experimented with hand drawing all the internal sketches myself, then using a combination of photoshop and AI to colour them.

Now in 2026, There's a T-Rex In My Backyard brings up the literary hat-trick for the Marvellous Minis series, with my little co-authors back on deck.

With my bookshelf now at five as I punch these words into the keyboard, I've got my next book cooking away in the noggin and dreams of hitting 10!

Follow me @willluckmanwrites on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube.