A FORMER journalism student is about to see her writing in print - in the form of her debut novel.

Claire Lewis has put a career in newspapers on hold after winning an award for fiction and attracting a publisher for her first manuscript.

A thriller based in and around Newcastle and Gateshead, where the 25-year-old now lives, her debut novel is called A Sick Work of Art.

She moved to the region four years ago and last year completed a newspaper journalism course at Darlington College.

She said her novel centres around a 24-year-old girl called Maxie who works in an art gallery coffee shop and is lonely after recently moving to the area.

"Then she sees a video on the internet of a performance artist who has killed someone but claims it's art and not a crime,” said Ms Lewis. “Through the internet, Maxie gets mixed up with the artist's circle of friends.

"It's quite sinister but it's also about how people deal with loneliness when they move to a new place, which I think people can relate to."

The novel was picked up by local publisher Wild Wolf after she submitted the first chapter of the book as a short story to the New Writing North annual awards and won the Northern Promise Award 2008.

Part of the prize was mentoring and guidance to find an agent and a publisher.

She is already planning her second book and is hoping to become a full-time novelist.

She added: "I really enjoyed the journalism course and it was really important for as a writer. It definitely made me stronger. Journalism might be something I'll go back to in the future but for now I think I'm more suited to fiction writing."

* A Sick Work of Art is available to order now from wildwolfpublishing.com