Interview with Mark Robson, Author, Imperial Spy

Thank you. Being published by a major publisher gives one a wonderful sense of acceptance – that somehow the ‘big bad wolves’ have justified my belief in my writing standards. Even now there are times when I feel as if I’m living in a sort of fairy tale of my own. Possibly, the best thing about the whole experience though, is that everyone who knows me, and what I’ve put myself through in order to get published, is quick to tell me I’ve earned my place on the book shelves.

I’m afraid I have no experience of Christian publishing, so it’s difficult to make any sort of comparison. I wrote my stories aimed at a secular audience from the beginning so I never approached Christian publishers.

I started writing from a throw away line. I was a pilot in the RAF, bored on a tour of duty in the Falkland Islands when my navigator, in pure frustration at my irritability with the weather and the lack of things to do, said ‘For goodness sake, Mark, do something useful – go write a book, or something!’ I took his statement as a challenge. We made a deal that I would write the opening to a book and if he liked it, I would write the rest. Three days later I gave him the opening to my first novel, The Forging of the Sword. His response was very positive and so I pressed on with it and never looked back.

I gathered an initial stack of rejection letters for that first book - as most writers do - but rather than press on, or give up, I was convinced to take an alternative path. I set up my own company, Sword Publishing, and self-published my first novel in 2000. After a slow start, the sales began to climb exponentially, as did the requests from readers for me to write more. I self-published a further 3 novels without submitting them to the big companies. In 2004, Waterstones’ Head Office noticed me. The Senior Buyer decided I should be mainstream and took steps to see that it happened. I signed with a Literary Agency – Mulcahy & Viney - who quickly got me a good 2-book deal with Simon & Schuster UK. Since then I’ve signed a deal for another 4 books with an option on fifth. My first mainstream series is now being translated into: Italian, French, Danish and Romanian, with further international deals looking likely.

That’s a tricky one, because I like to think of myself as a Christian writer, but in reality I’m a Christian who writes. Many people (mainly non-Christian readers) have commented that my good characters all have a strong sense of morality, but I’ve not deliberately written Christian themes through my novels. I’ve always had a love of fast-paced fantasy stories, so I wrote the sort of stories that I love to read. It’s really that simple.

It’s true that I’ve faced some criticism from Christians, but there are far more who enjoy the stories for what they are, than there are looking to criticise. The Church as a whole is clearly split on the issue of stories involving magic. If I were to play devil’s advocate, then I would say, what about The Chronicles of Narnia? There’s a wicked witch in that story. Does that make the story evil? No, of course it doesn’t! CS Lewis wrote it as a wonderful Christian allegory. What about Lord of the Rings? Is Gandalf evil because he uses magic? Tolkien clearly didn’t think so and he was a Christian. Was he wrong? I don’t think so. What about Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty? Are these stories evil too?

My answer to those who feel the use of magic in stories to be a manifestation of evil is simple and biblical – if magic in stories is a stumbling block to you, then don’t read them. For me, and many like me, the use of magicians and magic in stories offers no threat. A story like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings will not corrupt my faith, or turn me to the occult. I can see the stories for what they are; fiction, made-up enjoyable fabrications, or however you wish to describe them. 

I don’t feel I glorify the use of magic in my stories. I tend to use the age-old cliché where good struggles against evil (and where good triumphs in the end, of course!). Without conflict there is no story. If the bad guys use magic, then it only seems right that those on the side of good should have something with which to fight back. As a Christian I believe we’re involved in supernatural warfare all the time. I believe that through prayer we can call on the supernatural power of God to influence things in both the natural and the supernatural worlds. As this is not quantifiable by science, does this make prayer a form of magic? To non-Christian folk, it might well appear that way. I suppose my point is that magic in fantasy is more often than not just a plot device for spicing up the story. There’s no sinister undertone to my writing.  My stories are just that – stories. 

As for handling criticism, people handle criticism in many ways. For ages I craved it, as no one offered anything constructive. Everyone kept telling me how wonderful my characters were and how they loved the way I wrote the stories – not very helpful to a budding writer who was looking to improve. Now I’m a little more discerning as to which comments to take seriously. Having a professional editor has sharpened up my writing no end, though I’ll be the first to admit it hurts when she tells me I’ve not done something well. 

Ideas come from all quarters. The ideas for my next series were born out of an argument and solidified into something meaningful whilst listening to a sermon! I would say that my stories are generally plot driven, though I’m told that my characters are well drawn.

Firstly, I’m now a full-time writer. I no longer have a job to interfere with my writing, but that is not to say that there are no distractions – far from it!

I work in seasons. When I’m in a writing season, then I write from 10am until noon and again from 1pm to 5pm. If I’m pushing hard to finish something, then I’ll probably do another 2 hours in the evening as well. If I’m in a promoting season then the days are longer. When I visit a school, then I will travel to arrive at the school half an hour before the first lesson begins (normally around 8.30am) and do non-stop talks and workshops through the day until the end of school. As my school events can take me from south of London to Glasgow, and from Cardiff to the Suffolk coast, the driving can often make the day very long.

If I’m doing a signing event, then I try to arrive when the bookstore opens and leave when it closes. I rarely take a break, so I often spend up to 9 hours talking to customers. I always look to work harder than the staff of the store I’m signing at. My mentality is not to sell books, but to sell myself – both to the customers and to the staff. By helping people find what they came in for, chatting enthusiastically about books in general and my books in particular with anyone who’s interested, I regularly sell large numbers of books – both my own and those of other authors whose work I love and admire.

When I was working and writing, I used to aim to fit 3 hours of writing into the evening – normally from 8.30 to 11.30 – or to write 1000 words, whichever came first. Normally it was the 3 hours! By doing this TV became a thing of the past and my self-discipline became better the more I wrote. My wife was studying for much of this period, so our lives were very much all work and not a lot of play for a very long time.

I’ve put a lot of myself into characters – too much at times, as I’ve recently realised that some of my characters tend to speak with the same voice – mine! What distinguishes my characters from one another is their defining passion – that central desire which affects the way they act and think more than anything else in the world. For one it might be revenge, for another it might be a burning need for thrills and adventure, but whatever it is shapes the character’s reaction to every situation he finds himself in.

I think the worst thing you can do to a character is to make them truly unsympathetic. By that I don’t mean it is wrong to make a character evil, for an evil character can sometimes be more fun as a character in a story than the hero – but a character for whom the reader has no sympathy. If the reader ceases to care whether a character lives or dies, then in my mind the author has failed and the reader will be unlikely to read more of that author’s work.

I’m currently editing the draft of the first in a new quartet of books commissioned by Simon & Schuster UK. It features a disparate group of dragons and dragon-riders from another world on a quest that will lead them into our world in World War I France. If I were to give a punch line description of the story it would be ‘Biggles meets dragons!’ However, there is a lot more to it than that. 

Aside from drawing on my flying experience, this new series will explore issues and physical conditions that affect many in society today. The heroine of my first book, for example, suffers several life-restricting phobias and displays classic symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Through the story she has to face up to these problems and discover ways of combating her fears. The sequence is to be called The Dragon Orb series, though the title of the first book is still in a state of flux. It is due for publication in May 2008.

I’m not sure the techniques are different, more the emphasis. I’ve always striven to write as if the book were for an adult, but an adult who is not looking for clever English, or painstaking detail. Young people don’t like being ‘written down to’, so I deliberately use a wide vocabulary, but seek to inject plenty of pace and action into the storylines whilst skimming the description to a bare minimum. Often, this means that I use more story ideas in one book than you might see in several adult novels, but I’ve enjoyed hugely positive feedback from the readers, so I must be doing something right.

The books in print to date were not written to carry a message. They are stories for those who like stories. However, now that I’ve gained a readership that’s likely to follow my work, I will be looking to write sub-texts into future stories that I hope will set people thinking. The new series will feature elements of spirituality in a way that I’ve not tried to do before. I raised the idea of an all-powerful Creator God in my first two series, but my characters will face far more spiritual dilemmas in the new series than I’ve previously attempted to write into my stories.

Never give up! If the dream means enough to you, then keep plugging away at it. Look for help from anyone and everyone you can. There is definitely an element of ‘who you know’ in publishing, but it will only get you so far. Even when I did start meeting influential people, it was not this that saw my work published – it merely meant that my work began to get looked at more closely. The writing still has to stand on its own merits. Look for constructive criticism. Learn from your mistakes and never give up.

I sold 20,000 books through mainstream bookstores before I got picked up by the mainstream publishers through hard work and dogged persistence (the number sold of those self published titles has since climbed to 50,000).  The secret to selling a lot of books is to talk to a lot of people. Even though I'm not self-published anymore, I've not stopped promoting myself and my books.  In the last two months alone I've talked to over 7000 young people. The trick is to find where your target audience gathers and then pitch your work at them.  Above all else, remember that self-publishing means taking on all the roles of a publisher, not just the writing and printing. If you don't like the idea of selling, then don't self-publish.  You will just be disappointed.

Yes, definitely. You only have to look at the longstanding success of Frank Peretti’s books, or at the international phenomenon of the Left Behind series. The interest is there, but it is all about finding the niche that will set the publishing machine and the word of mouth success rolling.

 Myth busters: what is the number one writing myth you would like to bust?

That authors all get huge advances for their books and live a life of luxury in big houses in the countryside! The average children’s author earns roughly £5000 per year from their writing, and either has another job, or a partner who supports them financially. Of course the top few - as with any profession - earn vastly more money than that, but you don’t have to move far down the list of money earners from Rowling and Pullman before you reach very ordinary figures.

I have a contract with Simon & Schuster for a quartet called the Dragon Orb series.  It will be an action adventure story involving a quest that will bring the dragons and their riders into our world during World War I.  The series will feature more humour than I've attempted in the past, and will explore some interesting personal problems and character dynamics that will stretch my characterisation skills to the limit.  The first book is due to release in May 2008.

Writing for children is a privilege I don’t take lightly. It frustrates me that some writers of fiction for youngsters don’t take enough time to engage with their readers. My abiding image of an author from my childhood was of a little old man or woman sitting in shed at the end of the garden, scribbling away with a quill on sheets of slightly yellowed paper. Thankfully, I now know better. I spend as much time with young people, encouraging and helping them to see that reading and writing can be fun and exciting, as I do writing. The ability to weave a web of words that will entrance readers is a creative gift like no other.