Four months ago Carl Leonard Groves was homeless. In January, he had his first novel published.
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Now housed and living in Long Gully in central Victoria, Groves, 62, is ready to release more books.
Boab is a fantasy tale aimed at an older youth audience and tells the story of four friends, a haunted house and a magical tree with a dark and powerful history.
Groves, who says he's a former screenwriter for Australian television and films, first had the idea for a story based on a haunted house 20 years ago.
In January last year, after a period of instability, Groves decided he'd knuckle down and finally get it finished.
"When I became homeless my mental health suffered and I wasn't able to write physically," he said. "I wasn't able to do anything for quite a while."
Living out of his car at the time, Groves achieved his goal, but the journey wasn't over.
"I started submitting it straight away, and I got rejection after rejection," he said.
"Then when I sent it to Prime Seven Media, they were back to me within a week. They said they wanted to publish the book."
Apart from housing instability, another challenge Groves overcame was the transition from a screenwriter to novelist.
He said at first his writing was too descriptive and too much like a screenplay.
"I didn't make the jump that easy because it's two different worlds - screenwriting and screenplays and in novels and books," Groves said.
"In the end, it was this book that actually helped me make that jump from thinking screenwriter to thinking novel and actually succeeding in getting it out."
Taking inspiration from Stephen King, Groves said he wanted to capture the reader immediately and immerse them in the fantasy world.
"People start to read the book and they're just excited by what they're reading because it's a different kind of literature," he said.
"I wanted to keep the pure fantasy of the book. Anyone that picks it up and reads it can escape."
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He said "everything's a character" in the novel, from the titular Boab tree, to the house and the townspeople.
"It's basically just a really good fantasy, horror novel that kids will enjoy and parents just as much," he said.
Groves said it was a long road to publishing the novel, and since finding stability he hoped to release more in the future.
"My stability has had a lot to do with where I am," he said.
"In reality this book should have been probably published 12 or 13 years ago, but I've had a lot more time to grow.
"I've grown in the last five years because of the responsibility of having kids and grandkids. It's important for me to do the right thing by them..."
Boab is available in paperback or e-book at Barnes and Noble.
