Ask the Author: Mark Murphy
Answered Questions (6)
Mark Murphy
Usually, I get an idea by what I call a "What if" moment, when something happens that makes me say,"Hey, that might make a good story!" My novel "The Shadow Man" starts with the protagonist being involved in a fender-bender with a mysterious SUV with tinted windows while coming back from the airport. That actually happened to me one day (or almost happened; we nearly collided, but I managed to slam on brakes). In the real-life incident, I almost honked my horn at the guy, but decided not to because the other guys' car looked a little ominous. I remember thinking, "This guy could be a lunatic." And then I thought, "What if you had a random encounter with a man who turned out to be a psychopath and he targeted you and your family as a result?" The novel grew from that.
Mark Murphy
I just finished "The Lost Year," a work of literary fiction that has a romantic element to it. I'm shopping that work to agents right now. I'm also working on "Vengeance of the Dark King," the sequel to "The Curse of the Thrax," and on a thriller about a biological terrorist. I stay busy!
Mark Murphy
Read, and write, a lot. You learn to write by reading. You sharpen that craft by writing. One cannot be an Olympic-caliber athlete by sitting on one's bum. The same applies to being a high-caliber writer. It requires some talent, to be sure--but it also requires a certain degree of discipline in one's work. And having someone else read what you have written and offer honest critiques can be very helpful. Don't be thin-skinned about it; learn from what they tell you and use it to make your craft stronger.
Mark Murphy
Being a writer seems to sharpen my capacity for observation. I notice everything--sounds, textures of things, tastes, colors, speech patterns, the ways people dress--and I file them away for future use. As a result, the entire world seems more alive and more vibrant. It's like being a child in some ways. Everything seems new all the time. In that respect, it's a real gift.
Mark Murphy
I'm fortunate--I don't really have that problem. I do get "writer's fatigue" sometimes, when I realize that I'm writing a bunch of garbage. It usually happens when I'm tired (mentally) after writing for several hours at a time. Going running can help with that. Paradoxically, so can reading--especially if it is something challenging and creative, like Flannery O'Connor or Joseph Conrad.
Mark Murphy
In reading such novels as the Harry Potter books, the Hunger Games and the classic King Arthur tale "The Once and Future King," I thought it might be fun to integrate sword and sorcery with science in a post-apocalyptic YA book. The story was simply too big for one novel, however, so I broke it up into a trilogy. "The Curse of the Thrax," while a self-contained tale in its own right, also introduces the trilogy's major characters and sets up the plot for the rest of the story. I'm excited to be able to get into the meat of the tale now--which takes a dark turn in the second volume. I hope people enjoy it!
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