My name is Simon Drayton and I am the author of the From East to West series, the Mysteries of Just Another John Smith, and the Voyages of Simeon Carter and Peter Truman. I am an indie author who started publishing in July of 2025. If you have read my stories, it is my hope that you’ve enjoyed them. You may wonder about the process of how I write or how I am able to release so much material in a small timeframe. I would like to show all interested the strings behind the scenes.
Timeline of My Books
It is true that I just started publishing my books last July, but I started writing way before that. In fact, of the 23 titles I currently have available to read or preorder, 13 of them were written years before 2025. Here is a breakdown of when my published works have actually been written.
- The Voyages of Simeon Carter and Peter Truman (2019-2020)
- From the Tropics of Britain (2020)
- From East to West Books 1-5 (2020-2021)
- The Mysteries of Just Another John Smith shorts and novels (2025-2026)
Although I’ve been releasing books quite rapidly, as you can see, my writings actually represent years of work. Seven of the ten books I’ve written in the past year are short stories, which can be incredibly faster to write than novels. Also, since I am a self-employed small business owner, I have more control over my schedule which enable me to write as much as I do.
Methods of Writing and Sources of Inspiration
I use Apple Pages to write my stories and this app is very easy for me to use. I always use fonts from the Noto Sans family because they are open source and readable. I usually write my stories at home, but I have written in other places, such as in the car while going to and fro places, a cabin at Lake Fort Smith State Park, or a hotel room in Atlanta. Some of the places in the Mysteries of Just Another John Smith are either places I visited or places around Arkansas. I get ideas for my stories in various places. For example, Gone with the Sun, was inspired by the total eclipse of 2024, which crossed Little Rock. While mowing a client’s yard, I talked with a lady across the fence. She mentioned that her dog was an Australian Shepherd, which contributed in a little way to the Australian Shepherd Scheme. A picture I took years ago of a female cardinal in the snow became the inspiration for The Cardinal Crime.
For my earlier writings, classic authors served as an inspiration. I felt a surge of desire to write a story after reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. This eventually led me to write Under the Crags, which started the Voyages of Simeon Carter and Peter Truman series. The beginning of A Story Below came from an actual experience I had of demolishing a shed for someone. I learned how to make recurring characters that pop up at different times from Charles Dickens and his writings served as an inspiration and somewhat as a guide for From the Tropics of Britain and From East to West. My Caribbean and European heritage also served as an inspiration for From the Tropics of Britain. Learning about the Chinese Exclusion Act while in school served as a basis for Jiang in the From East to West series. Her relationship with Toulouse Blanc was inspired by Silas Marner by George Eliot.
My Commitment
As you can see, I get inspiration for my writing from many places and that I have been writing for years. I have a broad writing range; from Historical Fiction to Sci Fi, from novels to short stories, from YA Mystery to MG Action. One thing, though, will always remain the same. My stories will always be clean and wholesome, free of any mature content. It is my hope that you will enjoy my stories. Thank you!