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It started with a gift.

Thomas Welsh thought it would be a romantic gesture to write a short story about a cool young woman not a million miles from his girlfriend, get it printed and present it to Nana for Christmas.

Nana, now his wife, loved the story so much he had to write more, so she could find out what happened next.

Somehow, Nana’s Christmas present has become a trilogy. The first part, Anna Undreaming, is published by US company Owl Press this month. The book has caused an online buzz, with several film production companies sniffing around the rights.

It’s no coincidence that the story’s heroine, Anna, is an anagram of Nana (it’s a Bulgarian name, she’s not a grandmother or a St Bernard’s dog). Nana was his first inspiration, his proof reader-in-chief and his No1 supporter while he was writing the book.

She said: “I was really surprised when I got the book. Tom had taken the time to write it and find somewhere to print it all in secret. It was a fully fleshed story with a whole new magical world and characters.

“I dug right in through the ­holidays and by the start of the New Year I was constantly pestering him to write more.”

Anna Undreaming is part of a sub-genre of science fiction called “urban fantasy”. This means it’s set in a version of the real world, not a mythical planet or alternative universe. Thomas, 37, took his inspiration from his home city of Glasgow.

Anna is a damaged soul, adrift in the city after finishing her PhD when she discovers alternative worlds, called hazes, where bad things happen.

The story feels like a computer game, which is hardly surprising as gaming was Thomas’s first love. When he got tired of the ­relentlessly blokey world of goblins and car chases, he put some of the elements on to the page instead.

(Image: Owl Press)

Thomas said: “I was a bit burned out with games. It’s an over-­whelmingly male sphere. A lot of the discourse is very angry. It made me think about how I was spending my time. I realised I wanted to create something myself.”

He was 35 and had always thought he would write a book at some point. That was when it dawned on him that it wasn’t going to write itself.

With Nana’s support, he stopped playing games and started writing. As the story evolved, the character became more like a female version of Thomas himself. The finished Anna is, he admits, Thomas in leggings.

Nana agreed: “I think Anna is not really based on me but rather written for me. Tom wanted to write a main character I would love and ­associate with who is a strong lady.”

(Image: Daily Record)

Throughout the writing process, Nana was his sounding board, his proofreader and adviser on womanly practicalities.

Thomas said: “My wife, my editor and other women who are also writers were quick to pull me up on anything I don’t have experience of, or that I would make a fool of myself on.

“In one draft Anna was wearing woolly tights. At which point my wife said, ‘Do you think there’s such a thing as woolly tights?’ I had a think and came to the ­conclusion they would be kind of itchy.”

Thomas has enjoyed getting inside Anna’s head. He said: “I spend every day as me. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I’m like. I don’t want to spend 300,000 words with another slightly different version of me. It’s much more fun to be with someone else.

“Anna is a heroine. She’s inspiring. I’ve used all the best things about my wife, my friends, my mum, my family. She’s got all the things that make them heroes to me.”

Anna Undreaming is published by Owl Hollow Press on March 20, £12.49.