THE motto “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” could have been written for County Durham-raised Howard Linskey.

His belief that he could make it as an author has seen him set aside early disappointments to write two best-selling crime novels, and put him on the brink of a major television deal.

The Drop and The Damage, set in Newcastle and based on criminal gangs, could be about to be adapted for the small screen by David Barron, who was a producer on the Harry Potter movies.

Yet it could all have been so different for Howard, the son of a former RAF sergeant who was born in Norfolk before moving north with his family.

Living in Bishop Middleham, he left school with an A-level in English, and writing success seemed a long way away.

But he re-sat his A-levels and headed to the University of Huddersfield, where his writing career began.

Howard, 45, said: “I’ve never claimed that I’m a Geordie, but I like to think I’m an adopted one.

“When I was growing up, my peer group was obsessed with playing football all the time and it seemed swotty to be seen with a book.

“As much as my parents tried to make me read, the idea of reading was not cool. I was always into movies.

“I did read comics like Commando and as I got older I read my dad’s books including Frederick Forsyth and Jack Higgins.

“At the end of my first year at university I wrote a script. It took me about 12 weeks and I did it in the summer holidays.

“It was a black horror comedy like An American Werewolf in London.

“I sent it off to the Hammer House of Horror, but it never got anywhere. But I’d finally found something that I liked doing.”

Not yet in a position to become a full-time writer, Howard, a Newcastle United fan, instead wrote for the club’s fanzine The Mag for three years.

He then headed to the North-West to work as a journalist on three local newspapers.

A career change followed in sales and marketing. It was at this time that he turned to writing again, penning several stories.

An early effort called Hunting The Hangman, which revolved round a plot to kill Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, an architect of the Holocaust, never hit the shelves, but it did secure Phil Patterson, of Marjacq, as his agent. His next project was a short story about a Nigerian detective who became a taxi driver in New York.

Writing under the pen-name Chris Freeman, Howard created Streetwise for a new series of crime stories by Harlequin.

The series never got going, although Tough Lessons, also penned by Howard for the collection, was published.

“Despite the series not taking off, I was now officially a professional and published author, which was a big step forward for me,” he said.

“I then decided to write a story about the crime gangs in Newcastle and it became The Drop in 2011, featuring gangster hood David Blake.

“I love Newcastle. I went there with my parents followed later by watching Newcastle United play and then for nights out.

“I love the atmosphere, but there’s always the feeling of a criminal undercurrent there and there are some hard folks in Newcastle.

“I was really excited about it and Ion Mills, the head of No Exit publishing, bought it and I thought, I’ve finally got there after all those years.

“It was well received and then I heard that David Barron, of Harry Potter fame, was interested in taking up the TV option on The Drop.

“He wants to bring in JJ Connolly, who wrote the great gangster movie Layer Cake, to adapt it for TV.”

Now based in Hertfordshire, Howard is married to Alison and they have a daughter, Erin.

Following the success of The Drop, he wrote the sequel, The Damage, published this year, carrying on the story of Blake, who has become a gang boss.

The Damage has also proved a hit with readers and Howard plans to write a third Blake book set in Newcastle’s gangland.