Smallman Publishing Author

Eli Smallman

I'm developing my first book, Bugged, and creating creepy stories for the Creeped Out series.

Meet the Author

About Eli

Hi. I'm 11 years old and from Cumbria, and lately I've been discovering what happens when imagination turns into something that can be shared.

I also have two pets. Albus is my very round Yorkshire Terrier who might be little, but he's shaped a bit like a barrel! Then there's Leon, our three-legged cat, who likes to hiss at me. He's getting old now though, and after about a decade I think he's finally starting to get used to me!

I'm an only child, so Albus and Leon are basically my little big brothers: little because they're pets, but big brothers because they're both older than me.

Creative writing is currently my favourite subject at school. I love coming up with ideas, exploring my imagination and discovering what happens when my thoughts turn into stories.

I'm a fan of spooky adventures, which have inspired me to come up with creepy ideas and characters of my own for my Creeped Out series.

Away from writing, I've got lots of different interests. I enjoy creating and building things, gaming, spending time outdoors and learning about the world around me. I'm naturally curious and like figuring out how things work, discovering new skills and trying new experiences.

Writing gives me another way to use that curiosity and imagination. It gives me the chance to explore ideas, develop my storytelling and discover my own voice as a young author.

I'm at the beginning of my creative adventure, with plenty of imagination, plenty of ideas and plenty still to discover.

From creepy ideas to Creeped Out

My Writing Adventure

I've always enjoyed making things up, imagining different situations and wondering what might happen next. As I've started exploring creative writing more, some of those ideas have begun turning into actual stories.

I especially enjoy spooky stories. I'm a fan of the Goosebumps books, and I like the idea of taking something ordinary and asking, "What if something really weird happened?"

That kind of thinking helped inspire my own Creeped Out series, where I'm developing creepy characters, strange situations and stories that hopefully make readers wonder what's going to happen next.

If you head over to my Creeped Out series page, you'll see that I've already got tonnes of book ideas. The difficult part isn't coming up with them, it's getting them out of my busy imagination and into a Word file!

Thankfully, once I've managed that bit, my mum can help me with all the formatting and publishing. My job is to somehow pluck the stories out of my head and get them written down.

I'm still learning how to turn an idea into a complete story, and that's part of what I enjoy about writing.

Explore Creeped Out

Creating, Building & Exploring

Writing is only one of the things I'm interested in. I like creating, building, exploring and working out how things fit together.

I enjoy LEGO, constructing models, VR and PC gaming, creating digital worlds, solving puzzles and figuring out how things work. I like making something from an idea, whether that's a story on a page, a LEGO creation or something I've built in a digital world.

I also really enjoy being outdoors. I play rugby and take part in Scouts, and I enjoy sailing, canoeing and other outdoor and adventure activities.

History and geography are big interests of mine too. I'm particularly interested in military history, past wars and conflicts, and how countries, civilisations and people have changed over time. I find the way the world and the human race have developed and evolved really interesting.

My interests can take me in lots of different directions, but I think that's useful when you're creating stories. You never really know when something you've learned, somewhere you've been or something you've experienced might become the beginning of a new idea.

Creativity runs in the family

The Smallman Creative Family

Writing isn't something I'm exploring completely on my own. Creativity has become a big part of our family, although we all seem to approach it in different ways.

Gail SmallmanMy mum Gail created The Miceverse Chronicles, which was originally inspired by some of the virtual worlds and ideas I created. Now she's helping me develop my own stories and turn some of those ideas into actual books.

David SmallmanMy dad David is developing his own fictional universe too, so between us there always seems to be somebody imagining, designing, researching, writing, building or talking about something new.

We all have different interests and different kinds of ideas, but Smallman Publishing gives us somewhere to bring them together and hopefully turn some of them into something real.

Plenty more ideas...

What's Next?

Right now, the biggest challenge might simply be keeping up with my imagination!

I've already got loads of ideas for future Creeped Out books, and I'm pretty sure I'll come up with even more before I've managed to write the ones already waiting in my head.

For now, I'm concentrating on getting those ideas out of my imagination, into Word and, hopefully, eventually onto a bookshelf.

I'm only at the beginning, so I don't know exactly where writing will take me yet.

But I've got plenty of ideas, plenty of stories still to write and some pretty big ambitions for where they might take me.

Forthcoming book

Bugged

A Creeped Out book

A tense and spooky thriller with twists and turns that will keep your lights on as you turn each page.

A work in progress · aiming for 2027

Get in touch about Creeped Out

Cover concept for Bugged, a Creeped Out book by Eli Smallman

Bugged · Cover concept

The Creeped Out series

Small writer, big dreams.

Keep in touch

Questions, ideas or just curious?

Have a question about any of my books or potential storylines to explore?

I'd love to hear from you.

Email usWe'd love to hear from you.