About Mark Patrick:
Born in Witney, Oxfordshire, (UK), too many years ago to mention without embarrassment, Mark suffered through the usual childhood problems of mumps, measles and miserable schooldays.
His father worked for the government and changed his workplace frequently. The constant changes made Mark wary of making friends: if you don’t have close friends, you don’t get hurt when you have to leave them. Now, he still finds making new friends difficult.
He worked in the area of photography, in London, then moved to Spain after his marriage. There, he and his wife established a successful language school in Andalusia. After many years, he is now concentrating more of his passion – writing.
What inspires you to write?
I’ve always written. To my great embarrassment, my essays and stories were read out aloud by my teachers at school. Then came college and earning a living. The urge to create reemerged about fifteen years ago.
I love the works of Anne McCaffrey, Tolkien and other authors who created working worlds out of their imaginations.
I have dreams – maybe it’s age, but those dreams coagulate into a world I only see in my imagination. This world I love sharing with my readers.
Tell us about your writing process.
I write with pencil onto paper – actually cheap A5 size notebooks. Then I put that into the computer, changing, adapting, editing and developing characters and scenes. It takes time.
I don’t actually write character sketches, but I do make notes as characters are introduced.
I also tend to write the last chapter of the book first – I need an end-point: something to aim for. Of course, that chapter is liable to be changed, although not drastically.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Not really. I see scenes in my mind, rather like scenes in a film, and write them. When I have the final book, I read and reread it, maybe discarding some of the scenes and creating others to make the book flow more easily for the reader.
Sometimes, I am so immersed in my world that I don’t even hear my wife when she tells me it’s time for dinner.
What advice would you give other writers?
Write everything you can, the edit ruthlessly. Make certain the story flows with plot, subplot, and action.
Ignore destructive criticism, but be your own worse critic.
I have never written a book I am 100% happy about – that’s normal. There is always something that can be done to make a book better, even if it merely the addition of a comma.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I had a contract with a publisher for my first two books – but only for e-books.
I like real books and, when offered the opportunity, decided to self-publish. In a way, there is more freedom, but the marketing is difficult. There are many self-published books out there that are, to put it mildly, rubbish. To get people to spend their hard earned money on quality is difficult.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
The world is changing rapidly. More and more authors are going to self-publish as the traditional publishers limit their production. There is talent out there – but there are also a hell of a lot of people pushing their own beliefs – Christian, Jewish, Muslim based novels that are, in reality, propaganda for some faith or other.
As a writer of fiction, I do not believe in this subliminal advertising. I write books that I hope everyone will enjoy and leave the messages to Western Union.
What do you use?: Professional Editor
What genres do you write?: Modern/Medieval Fantasy Adventure
What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print, Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Mark Patrick Home Page Link
Link To Mark Patrick Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Twitter
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
