London, Dec 10 : A close friend of Colombia''s Nobel prize winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has confirmed that the 82-year-old master of magical realism was working on a new novel, allaying fears that he had put down his pen forever.

Garcia Marquez''s next book will be a love story, according to his friend and fellow writer Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza.

However, Mendoza said that the author was struggling to come up with a version that he was happy with.

"He has four versions of it. He told me that he was now trying to get the best from each of them," Guardian. co. uk quoted Apuleyo, as saying.

Apuleyo, who co-wrote a book of conversations with Garcia Marquez called The Smell of the Guava Tree in 1982, said the Nobel prizewinner had become hugely self-critical.

But news he is writing again will come as a relief to fans, who were concerned when the author announced in 2006: "I''ve stopped writing ... 2005 was the first year in my life that I didn''t write a line."

Garcia Marquez blamed a lack of enthusiasm for his inactivity.

"With all the practice I''ve got, I''d have no problems writing a new novel. But people notice if you haven''t put your heart into it," he said.

Apuleyo said his friend described his year without writing as "a sabbatical", during which he had devoted his time to reading.

Rumours that the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude was close to finishing a new novel began circulating earlier this year. (ANI)