Author interview with Mark Alder

Author interview with Mark Alder (Mark Barrowcliffe)

Author bio:
MD Lachlan is a pen name - created after Mark Barrowcliffe, author of works such as Girlfriend 44 and Lucky Dog, felt himself irresistibly drawn back to fantasy after writing his Dungeons and Dragons memoir The Elfish Gene.

Wolfsangel might surprise readers of Mark's other work. He's always been noted for his comic writing ('Wickedly funny' - New York Post, 'Painfully funny' - The Bookseller) but Wolfsangel marks a sharp departure of content and style.

The book is a historical fantasy/horror hybrid that reflects Mark's childhood reading on the occult and witchcraft. 'If it makes you laugh, I've done something wrong' says Mark.

The MD in MD Lachlan stands for Mark Daniel - Mark's real name. He went with initials instead of a name because, as so often in his life, he didn't really think things through. Now he attends publishing events where people don't know what to call him. He wishes he'd gone with Mark Lachlan but it's too late now.

Mark Alder is his new pseudonym for writing Sons of the Morning

  

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Hi Mark, welcome over at The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions for us.

BP: First off, could you give us a short introduction as to who Mark Alder is? What are you likes, dislikes and hobbies?

MA: I am a professional writer who lives in Brighton. I’m a fencing coach and history nut. I dislike tidying up.

BP: Son of the Morning is the first book in a new series. What gave you the idea/inspiration behind Son of the Morning?

MA: Simon, my editor at Gollancz had the idea for a fantasy series set in the hundred years war, involving angels and devils. He’s seen some medieval paintings of angels looking down on a battle from clouds and thought it a good jumping off point for a story. He suggested it to me, I thought about it for ten minutes and the whole cosmology of Son of the Morning came to me in a flash. My lightbulb moment came when I remembered that medieval kings were ordained by god. So what happens when the French king is ordained by God and goes to war against the English king, also ordained by God. Who does God favour? Also, when the social hierarchy is fixed by god, to whom to the revolutionary poor turn?

BP: Son of the Morning is planned to be released in April. If you would have to sell your book with a single sentence, how would it go?

MA: Kings, queens, priests, revolutionaries, chancers, angels, demons and devils all fight for the thrones of medieval Europe.

BP: You are writing Son of the Morning under a pseudonym, why did you choose for this?

MA: It’s so people don’t come to the series expecting one thing and get another.  Son of the Morning is very different to my other things – it’s set on a bigger stage, there are more characters, there are some comic elements. I can’t recall why I chose the name – I think I just wanted something beginning with A!

BP: Under a different pseudonym, M.D. Lachlan you are writing The Wolfsangel Cycle. Son of the Morning is a different type of book from what you have written so far. How did you went about and plan writing a first book in a new series?

MA: I just start writing. There are three chapters at the start of the original manuscript that never made it into the final version and I wrote them first as they occurred to me first. I research as I go along, letting the problems in the plot and characters determine where I need to look. If the king needs a nobleman acquaintance I have to find out who his friends were.
 

I was lucky enough to read two terrific history books very early on in the writing – Ian Mortimer’s England’s Greatest Traitor and The Perfect King. They gave me a real direction for the story. I recommend them both, they’re as gripping as any novel.

BP: Have you gained valuable experience from your earlier works that you were able to use when you were writing Son of the Morning?
MA: I couldn’t have written something this complex when I started. There are seven point of view characters, each with an intersecting story. Also, the maxim ‘see it from the other point of view’ was very useful to me. Each and every point of view character is written as if they are the hero of the story – including even those who are very obviously villains.

Having written a lot of first person stuff I know that if you don’t know where you’re going, go there anyway. You’ll see where you’ve been when you look back.

BP: Did you encounter any specific problems when you were writing Son of the Morning?

MA: Timelines, and the fact that everyone is called Joan, Edward or Hugh. Also, everyone is related. Making things clear for the reader can be difficult.

BP: What was the hardest part of the book for you to write?

MA: The writing was easy, the editing was hard. There is a detective story at the heart of Son of the Morning – Montagu, Earl of Salisbury is trying to find out what has happened to England’s angels. The whole backstory therefore needs to make meticulous sense. You need to know who was where on such a night, why certain information was not mentioned to certain people, what motives people have for concealment.
 

Also, I thought the first three chapters I’d written – detailing a mercenary mission to the west of England  - were exciting and good. However, they got in the way of the plot advancing quickly so they had to go. I agonised over that. It’s really difficult to look at 10,000 words that you’re quite proud of, which flesh out one of your favourite characters, and hit delete. However, I go by the maxim ‘if in doubt, cut it out’. So I did.

BP: Besides the hardest part, which chapter or scene did you enjoy writing about the most?

MA: I can honestly say I enjoyed writing all of it. It flew onto the screen. The character of the Pardoner Osbert is my favourite and I surprised myself when I saw how his story would intersect with that of the main characters. I enjoyed that.

BP: If you would be given the chance to retract the book from publishing and make one final change, would you do so? And if yes, which part and why?

MA: The things I really want to change will emerge as I write book 2. I’ll think ‘why didn’t I make life so much easier by killing X or keeping Y alive?’

BP: Sons of the Morning has a heavy emphasis on historical fiction. Did you have to carry out extra research to keep true to certain events and or places?

MA: I am painfully and inconveniently attached to the true history, particularly considering the fantastic elements of the story. I find it difficult even to move events by a month. The Hundred Years War can be mapped almost day by day – you really can tell where the king was on September 17 1337, then where he went on the 18^th. Luckily I love the research and one of the perks of my job is the ability to chomp through lots of history books and tell your wife you’re getting paid for it.

It’s lucky that the true history of this period is so extraordinary.

BP: With publishing Son of the morning coming April and The Wolfsangel Cycle will see it’s fourth book published later this year, do you have other projects that you would like to pursue in the near future?

MA: I have plenty but I won’t have time for a while. I have an idea for something set in the France of Louis XIV but when I’ll get time to write it I don’t know.

BP: Everyone experiences science fiction and fantasy in their own way. What do you like most about these genres?

MA: I think there’s a lot to be said for escapism! Escapism has a bad name, for some reason. No one says ‘I understand you’re going on holiday. How is that going to solve your problems?’.  Well, it won’t but it’ll make me forget about them for a bit. There is the idea that literature has a more important purpose than entertainment. I don’t think it does. That said, it can have other purposes too but its first duty is to keep the reader turning the page.
Fantasy is the oldest literature and it’s great to be writing in a tradition that includes ancient myth, Shakespeare, Swift and the Warhammer Series (I’m being serious). I believe there’s something fundamental to our psyche about fantasy – we grew up with these stories, as a species and as individuals – and they make us what we are.

Science Fiction is, or should be, dedicated to constant reinvention.  If it’s to be successful it needs to stay relevant, amazing and true. The best of it is.

BP: And just lastly, if you would have to give your top 5 favorite books, which would they be?

MA:  In fiction:

• Game of Thrones by GRR Martin
• Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Use of Weapons by  Iain M Banks 

BP: Thank you very much for your time Mark and good luck with your future writing! 

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! Mark Alder will be at Blackwell's Charing Cross Road this Thursday 10th of April where he will be discussing Revolutionary Historical Fantasy with Simon Morden. Starts 6.30pm. You can still get you tickets here. !