Medical graduate turned author shortlisted for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize
Class of 2018 medical graduate William Rayfet Hunter is celebrating being one of six authors shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025. We recently caught up with William to find out more about their journey from junior doctor to winning writer.
15 July 2025
Having won the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize in 2022, a prize awarded to unpublished works of fiction, Sunstruck is now set to be the book of the summer and has been shortlisted by bookseller Waterstones in their Debut Fiction Prize, with the winner being announced later this month. The novel tells the story of one young man becoming enveloped in the lives of a wealthy family and deals with the dizzying highs and devastating lows of young obsessive love.
Ahead of the exciting prize announcement on 24 July, we spoke with author William about their time on campus as a medical student, working in A&E as a junior doctor during the COVID-19 pandemic and transitioning into a full-time writer.
Formative years
Studying medicine didn’t really cross my mind until my biology teacher suggested it to me when I was 16. I was good at science and really love people, so I did some shadowing and spoke to some doctors before deciding it was the path I wanted to go down.
I spent my first year in Castle Leazes, which I loved – despite the rumours it was based on a Swedish prison! – before spending the remainder of my studies living in Jesmond. I was in a seven-bed house on Larkspur Terrace, with a mix of other medics and guys we knew from Halls – four of whom were called Alex!
By fifth and sixth year, there were only us medics left, but I made sure to get out of the bubble of Med School by being involved in the Theatre Society (NUTS). We would rehearse in the Kate Adie Room in the SU and then we’d put on our performances at Northern Stage or The Cluny in Ouseburn. Some of the shows I was involved in included Grease, Annie Get Your Gun, Fame, and I directed a show called The Thrill of Love. The two girls I cast in the lead parts for that production have ended up being two of my best friends in the world!
Everything feels really high stakes when you’re 21. It’s high highs and high stakes.
Spending six years at uni, I obviously changed a lot during my time in Newcastle. And the city changed a lot too! They were really formative years. I actually came out for the first time in my third year. I was stood on a table in Cosmic Ballroom at the time! I visited my first gay club in Newcastle, had my first boyfriend… You get to reinvent yourself at university and experience the freedom to figure yourself out. I have really fond memories.
A privilege to be part of the pandemic response
After graduating in 2018, I moved to London to work in a hospital in Kingston and lived with two other doctors I knew from Newcastle. My first year as a junior doctor was great: it’s such a long course, lots of training, and then you finally get to put that into action. It really feels like an achievement. My second year also started well, but then around January we started seeing COVID-19 coming into the hospital.
It was a really tough time to be a doctor. It was a privilege to put all the training I’d had to use, but it was a tough few years and I really started to feel burnt out. I still hadn’t found my path within medicine, something I wanted to pursue for the long-term.
At the same time, I was writing articles for the likes of VICE about medicine and the politics around it. I began thinking, ‘okay, I could do both of these things together’. And I also had a little bit of the novel on the go, the idea for which came to me while I was still at Newcastle as a student. It was a time when I was trying to figure out who I was, how to be an adult, and my perspective was changing. These are all themes the book deals with.
I submitted an extract of the novel, then known as People Like Us, to the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize in 2022, not expecting much, and in early 2023 found out I had won! Suddenly, I had a book to write…
The writing process and leaving medicine for good
I’ve been writing creatively all my life, but it’s always been a side project to the main part of my life – whether that be university or working in a hospital. There’s an ill-fated script somewhere that I worked on at university which was never good enough to see the light of day!
Developing the idea of Sunstruck over a few years after I had left Newcastle, writing began in earnest after I won the #Merky prize. I set myself a tight deadline as it’s the only way I can get myself motivated to do the work and already had the beginning of the story and the characters formed strongly in my mind. I also knew what I wanted the mood of the ending to be, so it was a case of getting from A to B! That was the most fun part of the writing process, as I was able to drop these characters I knew so well into different scenarios and ask ‘okay, what are you going to do now?’
The main character in Sunstruck, and his best friends, all went to Newcastle, so there’s little Easter eggs dotted through the story that alumni readers will definitely recognise.
My final medical shift was in early 2024. Before then I was a locum doctor, balancing shifts alongside writing. I would have intense periods of work, then take a long time off to write and travel. That pattern made me quickly realise that as soon as I was back in the hospital, my stress level would immediately be 100, and I knew I couldn’t do it anymore.
Sunstruck was published in May 2025, and I’m really honoured to have been shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. It feels like a quiet dream being recognised aloud. As a writer, it's both humbling and electrifying to know that my story has found resonance in the world. Waterstones has long been a beacon for readers and writers alike, so to have my debut recognised by them feels both surreal and deeply affirming.
The main character in Sunstruck, and his best friends, all went to Newcastle, so there’s little Easter eggs dotted through the story that alumni readers will definitely recognise. From house parties in Heaton to nights out in Flares, the full Newcastle experience is there!
The winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize will be announced on 24 July 2025. Good luck William!
Image credit: Myah Asha Jeffers