Writing Your Books

[Jayne]

Mark,

Just wondering how you go about writing your books (apart from sitting down at the desk, obviously...). Are you a must-write-everyday type of person or are you not that strict with yourself? And do you have a set routine where you only write at certain times of day (mornings, evenings etc)? Finally, how long does it take you to research and write each book?

Thanks,

J

[Mark]

I can't write every day unless I know what I'm doing. I can't sit at the computer and stare at it, I get easily distracted and find myself looking out of the window for far too long. I might not write for two or three days and then spend a week writing solidly. So no routine. I also find I work best after dark (and not just because the kids are in bed and it's a lot quieter).

I suppose that on average each book takes around nine months from the moment I start to write, but I start thinking about it, even before I've finished the book I'm supposed to be writing.

Mark

[Stuart MacBride]

How did you find writing the books after getting published. Was book 2 harder than the first? And was number three an absolute nightmare? Or were they all fun?

[Mark]

Book two was harder than book one. Three was harder than two and so on and so bloody forth. I'm sure you must have found the same thing. But I think it's supposed to be that way, isn't it? I reckon that if you find writing a book easier than the one beforehand, it's probably a worse book. That's not to say that the books will always get better, but each one should be more of a challenge in some respect. We're all trying to write better books, so it shouldn't be a doddle. Mind you, we've all read books that were obviously a piece of bloody cake...

Mark

[Stuart MacBride]

Hmmm, this does not bode well for the future then...

[paperbackwriter]

Mark, what are your thoughts on self-publishing? I want to write a novel, and I am thinking of buying and then selling the books myself. This is risky but the profits/royalties from conventional publishing don't excite me very much. If I could buy each book for about £1, with a view to selling at about £8, I would have to sell about 1500 or so books to break even. I would love to give up my boring job and write for a living - is it a realistic ambition?

[Mark]

I'm no expert on this, and certainly know little of what is involved, but it's certainly better to persevere and try and get a small press interested. Self-published work rarely, if ever gets any respect, good or not and once you go down that route it can be hard to come back from it. Just keep writing...

Mark

[stillwater1]

If it just gets harder to write as you go along, i dread to think how bad it's gonna get as my first book feels like getting blood out of a stone, even now I'm in the final straight of it.
But BTW, Mark, many thanks for your words of wisdom last year at the Glee Club in Brum - being able to talk to an established writer really helped me get on with it and get the bulk of my book written afterwards. Cheers mate - looking forward to Buried.

[Mark]

But BTW, Mark, many thanks for your words of wisdom last year at the Glee Club in Brum - being able to talk to an established writer really helped me get on with it and get the bulk of my book written afterwards. Cheers mate - looking forward to Buried.

No probs. It's all about "getting on with it".

Mark