SOME writers have dreams of splashing out the advance from their publishers on fast cars and exotic holidays.

Jonathan Whitelaw would be happy with a new laptop to replace the battery-sapping machine with the letters rubbed off the keyboard he used to produce his first novel Morbid Relations.

The darkly comic work of fiction follows the story of struggling stand-up comedian Rob Argyll who returns to the family home in Glasgow for his mother's funeral. The ensuing struggles with his dysfunctional siblings worked particularly well in a Scottish setting, according to 29-year-old.

"The city is as much key to the story as the characters," explains the freelance journalist who grew up in Newton Mearns, not far from the Newlands location of the book.

"There is very unique Glasgow humour and I think a lot of the time when you hear someone say 'Glasgow humour' it can sometimes be taken the wrong way and mean something very coarse, says the guy who wrote Morbid Relations which has totally vulgar moments in it.

"I think I wanted to show an aspect of Glasgow that is funny across the entire societal cross-section. The Argylls as a family are very much middle class. Rob is from a middle class background and as much as he might not like to admit it there's still a lot of humour there that I think sometimes can go missing.

"The jokes in Scottish sitcoms are often at the expense of someone who is snooty, someone from Bearsden or Milngavie.

" Rikki Fulton did it all the time. It's not to say that's not entirely true, of course it is, but I think delving deeper into that aspect of Glasgow life hopefully comes across as still being quite funny."

Originally self-published and available on Kindle, the novel was picked up by Glasgow's Ringwood Publishing, on sale from April 1.

Jonathan, who has been writing since he was 17, is delighted to finally see it in print.

He has been drawn to writing comedy after since a screenwriting course after his psychology degree at the University of Glasgow.

"I've always loved stand-up comedy, I think it was borne out of the belief that those who can't, teach and those who can't do stand-up comedy, write comedy, or try and write comedy anyway," he says.

"On the screenwriting course, Raymond Friel, the screenplay writer, said something along the lines of, 'Writing is totally subjective and what you think might be good might be bad and vice versa.'

"I've always tried to look at the funny side of things, good and bad, and I think he certainly encouraged me to at least try and write a lot more comedy.

" I've grown up sitcoms like Only Fools and Horses and Dad's Army and I've always loved that 'Never be dragged down by what goes on in life and always try to put fun in it' attitude, because life is funny, it can be very, very funny."

A feckless and self-obsessed 30-something, there isn't much to like in Rob Argyll yet the reader still somehow keeps rooting for him.

No small feat for Jonathan whose writing skills fully flesh out the characters, making them believable and engaging.

"He's unlike any other character I have written," laughs Jonathan. "Incidentally, I finished writing Morbid Relations by October 2013 and reading it back and looking at him I do sometimes think, 'I'm quite proud of him and the overall story arc. If nobody else likes him, I suppose I do.'"

Swiftly moving through the well-paced chapters, it is easy to imagine the story on screen, a nod to Jonathan's ability to write so visually.

" The opening gambit on the book is Rob on the train and he's sick. I was able to see it all to the point where I pictured the carriage and the people, even the colour of the carpets," remembers Jonathan.

"It's the same for whenever I'm writing. I enjoy that aspect of the process: being able to see it and translating that into something people can visualise themselves."

A proud Glaswegian, Jonathan moved to Edinburgh two years ago but thanks the daily commute for giving him the chance to finish Morbid Relations.

Now working in the capital, he no longer has those two hours every day dedicated to writing but is never without a notebook and pen to work on ideas.

He looks at the notebook by his side: "It's always open, whenever I get five minutes. I've got a number of projects on the go. I've got another book that is finished, a more traditional action adventure thriller set in the 1950s.

"I'm fascinated by modern history. When I was at school I didn't really get a chance to study it but as an adult I've become totally fascinated by politics and modern history, especially the Cold War era."

He is also keen to put his psychology degree to good use and work on a novel based on a character trying to cope with mental illness.

"There's still a stigma in this country and I think to highlight that in any shape or form can only be a good thing," he says.

"With my background I have the privilege of being able to do that. I'd love to do a book told from the perspective of someone suffering from a mental health illness. It is a very difficult subject to broach for a lot of people but I think exposure is a wonderful tool."

With a notebook packed with so many ideas, that new laptop could be put to good use...

Morbid Relations, published by Ringwood, is available from April 1.