WHEELING — Bill Welker, retired teacher, wrestling coach and author from Wheeling, has written a new fiction novel titled “One Wrestler’s Courage.”

Welker said the story focuses on a main character who lives in eastern Pennsylvania in the south side projects when his mother was murdered.

“He ends up coming to Wheeling and living with the coach. The story goes on, and there’s always a love story twist in all three of my novels – a coming of age, as you might say, but I don’t want to tell the ending,” he said.

Welker said the story involves gangs, drugs and racial conflict.

The photo on the front cover of the book is of Welker’s step-grandson, Isaac Martin, who wrestles for Wheeling Central Catholic High School.

“He was a freshman, and this photo was taken when he was 14. He was in third place in states last year, but this story is not about him. I just thought that’d be a good photo to have,” he said.

“One Wrestler’s Courage” is Welker’s fifth book. He wrote and edited his first book in 2005 – a technical book titled “The Wrestling Drill Book.” Welker said that a second edition of the book with two additional chapters was released in 2012.

“The book did so well. …What I did learn very much from the technique book is marketing. If you don’t have marketing and it’s just word of mouth or a website, you’re gone,” he said.

Welker said the publishing company had a good marketing program, and he does not think that the book would have been as successful if it was self-published.

After completing “One Wrestler’s Courage,” Welker wrote a memoir titled “The Sparrow’s Spirit” that tells the story of his life.

Welker said that book contains many photos of himself, his family members and his mentors.

Welker then wrote two fictional novels, “A Wrestler’s Curse” and “The Novel Wrestler,” both about student-athletes.

“The books are unique because they deal with high school and college wrestling, and there are very few novels on that subject,” he said.

Welker said that he is a “Civil War buff” and incorporates history in his novels as well.

Welker won two writing awards for his books. He won the sports category of the Sixth Annual Beverly Hills Book Awards for “The Sparrow’s Spirit” and the personal growth and sports categories of the Eighth Annual Beverly Hills Book Awards for “A Wrestler’s Curse.”

Welker said aspiring writers should always write about something they are familiar with.

“For example, for me, it’s wrestling or something in education. As a wrestler, I don’t want to write a basketball book because I don’t know anything about it. So you have to be familiar with what you’re doing,” he said.

Welker said that once he chooses a topic, he tries to come up with the ending first and then builds the story around it.

“It is also very important that the protagonist has a human struggle that he has to overcome throughout the book. During the writing, I sometimes come up with new ideas, and I actually sometimes change the direction in which I was going. I jog and run, and sometimes I’ll come up with ideas when I’m running,” he said.

Welker said that research is very important when writing a book, even fiction books.

“You want to research the different places where the main character is located. It makes the story more realistic. I’ve actually had some of my readers say, ‘Is this a true story?’ That’s an important part of writing the story,” he said.

Welker said he sometimes uses the names of real people in his fictional stories, and he has also used the names of real coaches and wrestlers but has slightly changed the spelling of their names.

Welker said the most important part of writing is the editing.

“Actually, the easy part is the first draft. It’s the editing, and you just can’t get over the editing. Even in the best novels by Stephen King, you’ll find some typo somewhere and that’s with a million eyes checking it out, and these are professional proofreaders and editors,” he said.

Welker also recommends using a publisher who publishes on demand, meaning that the books are printed when a sale is made. He explained that it takes a little longer for customers to get online orders, but writers do not have to spend money to print books that they are unable to sell.

Welker was previously a coach at Wheeling Park High School and has coached wrestling at the youth, middle and high school levels for three decades.

He was a former Pennsylvania state champion wrestler and state runner-up and a member of five halls of fame, including the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (West Virginia Chapter) and the OVAC Hall of Fame.

Welker earned his bachelor of science and master of education degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and earned a doctor of education degree from West Virginia University. He was a reading specialist for 40 years at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Upon retirement, Welker was named “Teacher of the Year” by the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce and received the “Jasper N. Deahl Award” from West Virginia University for lifetime accomplishments as a reading educator.

Welker said he has some projects in the works, including a motion picture.

Welker’s books can be purchased at Barnes and Noble, on Amazon and on billwelkerwrestling.com. He said he may be selling his books at the OVAC Ron Mauck Wrestling Tournament in January.