A TALENTED eight-year-old from Okehampton has begun writing his second book after having his first published.

Orlando Quigly is an aspiring young author who wrote and illustrated his first children‘s story at just six-years-old.

His first book, The Mystery of Helicopter Land, was published last year and since then he has been working hard to write a follow-up book.

The story is about a boy who is taken on a trip to Helicopter Land by his helicopter friends. They have to find a magic tree, which takes them there, but all is not as simple as they hoped. The boy and his friends have fun yet encounter many obstacles along the way.

The creative youngster was inspired to write this story after receiving a small indoor helicopter gift at Christmas — this was where his interest in remote controlled helicopters began.

Orlando is an avid reader and keen writer. He is currently working on the second instalment of the helicopter adventure which he intends to call The Creation of Helicopter Land.

As Orlando’s writing has matured in the two years since his first book he intends to make the prequel a chapter book.

Ambitious Orlando has received lots of support from his friends and family, including his parents who said they were extremely proud of him.

His dad Patrick Quigly said: ‘Orlando became interested in remote controlled helicopters when he received a small one for Christmas in 2014. Soon after, remote controlled helicopters and quadcopters became his passion.

‘One day he just sat down and started writing a story about them, completely of his own volition. The story was completed within a week or two. It was just a story at this point, without pictures.

‘It was then that we thought it would be a fun experience for him to make it into a picture book and publish it. Orlando created the illustrations, as backgrounds and individual helicopters, using an iPad.

‘The three of us then worked on placing them together in Photoshop. We only really edited for spelling and punctuation, as we wished the story to remain as it was, without changing things to the way an adult might try and write a children’s story.

‘We then set about figuring out how to self-publish using Create Space, which is an Amazon company. It took a while to figure this all out, as picture books are more complex to set up than chapter books. Eventually all was done and published in May 2016, when Orlando was seven.’

As a helicopter and plane enthusiast, Orlando is the youngest member of the local Remote Control Model Aircraft Flying Club (OMFC), who he said had been very helpful and supportive.

Orlando said he enjoys writing, drawing, playing with his remote control helicopters as well as playing the piano —which he taught himself. He is also learning to play oboe with the Okehampton Music Centre orchestra.

He also enjoys building things, such as model drones, helicopters and cars, using whatever is available. He is also interested in computer coding, which he has been learning from books. Orlando said he is starting to experiment with a simple Arduino kit, which involves programming and construction.

He said that one day, when he has the necessary skills, he plans on making his very own ‘walking robot!’

Copies of Orlando’s book can be accessed at Okehampton library.