Mark Stay's Blog, page 7

Maidstone Comic Con This Sunday

If you’re in and around Maidstone, Kent this Sunday 4th May I’ll be selling and signing m’books at the Maidstone comic con (click on the image for more details)…

I’m going to be at comic cons all over the south east this year. For more details visit my events diary…

EVENTS DIARY

My Writing Process on the Real Writing Process Podcast

I had a great time talking to Tom Pepperdine about my writing process in great depth. This gets very nerdy, very quickly. This is an excellent podcast for writers, so do check out the backlist, too…

https://therealwritingprocess.captivate.fm/episode/the-real-writing-process-of-mark-stay

Tracy Buchanan on the Creative Differences Livestream Tonight!

Join me with bestselling author Tracy Buchanan on the livestream that looks at the little things that make a big differences to writers.

Tracy Buchanan on the Creative Differences Livestream

The Corn Bride by Mark Stay

Waterstones link thingy Dear reader, you are cordially invited to the strangest wedding of the year . . . It’s May 1941, and the war is in full swing…

The Corn Bride by Mark Stay

Talking Star Wars of the Fifty Years of Shit Robots Podcast

I was honoured to be asked to be a guest on the latest episode of the splendid Fifty Years of Shit Robots podcast. `The hosts, Matt and Stephen, have been running a special series on the original Star Wars movie, and — being a bit of a nerd — I had to correct them on a couple of points. This got so annoying for them that they invited me on the podcast and it soon turned into a kind of therapy session for me. Have a listen wherever you get your podcasts…

Which Mark Stay Am I?

There are two authors named Mark Stay on Amazon and Goodreads. Which one am I?

TRANSCRIPT

Hello folks, I’m Mark Stay… Or am I?

If you pop on to Amazon or Goodreads you’ll see that there are two authors with the name Mark Stay. It’s not much bothered me before, but the other day I noticed that the other Mark Stay had a one-star review for their latest novel, On the Leaden Shore, and I thought I’d have a look and I discovered that the poor guy had received a not great review because he wasn’t me… That hardly seems fair on the other Mark, so, to be clear, this is me: if there’s magic and witches and, occasionally robots and spaceships, it’s probably me.

This other Mark is from the suburban Midwest of the USA and in his bio says he comes from a large religious family and he does seem to write about supernatural stuff, but from a Christian perspective. Here are his books… 

Me? Well, I’m from London and no fan of religion so I guess that makes me the Anti-Mark Stay.

So, once again (and this time, demonstrated via the medium of these socks that my daughter bought me a few Christmases ago): dragons and wizards and shit: me.

Christian stuff: that’s the other Mark.

Me…

Not me…

Me…

Not me…

I hope that’s clear. Always read the author bio. And happy reading.

Not Reading the Small Print, with Nadine Matheson

This month’s special guest Nadine Matheson reveals how not reading the small print led to a big break…

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE PODCAST

Or watch it all on Youtube…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What’s the best happy accident of your writing career?

NADINE: I’d say that not reading the small print when I entered the city university competition, because, honestly, if I’d read the small print, then I would have read that: if you win the competition, you win a £2,000 bursary. And I know definitely back then, if I’d read that it was a bursary of the Creative Writing Masters, then I wouldn’t have entered because I’m thinking, I’m already working full time, you know, being a lawyer. But I was also teaching in the law school and I would do that in the evenings. So, I don’t want to spend any more time in a classroom. I give up my evenings as it is, you know, teaching in a classroom. Why would I want to go back? Why would I want to go back to school to learn how to write? So if I’d read the small print, I would not have entered. But because I did not read the small print, I entered and won the competition, did the Creative Writing MA, I and I wrote the Jigsaw Man, so… Is that a happy accident?

MARK: Absolutely, yes. It is. Absolutely. Fantastic. Yeah. Who reads the small print? Honestly, we all sign up to META and it says in there, you know, 17 pages down, we can steal everything you put up here. So yeah, anyway, enough of that.

Tracy Buchanan on the Creative Differences Livestream

Join me with bestselling author Tracy Buchanan on the livestream that looks at the little things that make a big differences to writers.

Tracy writes gripping thrillers that delve into the darkest corners of family, psychology and forensic investigation. Her books explore secrets, lies and the dangerous choices people make when pushed to the edge.

And, as a child, she crafted stories using cut-outs from her mum’s Littlewoods catalogues! She also runs one of the best writers’ groups on Facebook and is a brilliant advocate for authors. It’s going to be a really lively one, so pop the date in your diaries now!

TUESDAY 22ND APRIL, 2025, 8PM BSTJOIN US ON FACEBOOK

Or on Youtube…

When to Start a First Draft with Nadine Matheson

This month’s special guest Nadine Matheson shares a great tip for starting first drafts (and let’s take a moment for poor Nick)…

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What’s the thing that makes you think that you’re ready to start writing on a project?

NADINE: Because I’m a planner; once I’ve done the plan. If I haven’t done a plan and I’m like, well, yeah, it’s like… if there’s no outline, then I wouldn’t be comfortable writing. Because I know what would happen. I would just get to 20,000 words and then that would be it. I’ll just be… I don’t know what I’m doing with the story. But, and I say, it doesn’t need to be a, you know, a beat by beat by beat outline of the whole story. But it’s a general one. And once I’ve got that in place: okay, now I’m ready to start writing,

MARK: It kind of occurs to me, that’s the point in the story where you need to start making serious choices, story choices that have consequences. You know, the first 20,000 words you’re introducing people, you’re having fun, setting everything up. And then it’s like: we can start making serious decisions now. So it’s kind of scary, isn’t it? You don’t know where you’re going.

NADINE: I think that’s exactly it. I’ve mentioned this for my own podcast recently, I was writing this book, and I had a character called Nick. I didn’t have a plan for it. And, you know, the beginning’s, you know, all the set ups, that’s all the fun stuff. But then I got Nick into… Nick got released from prison, and then he went home. Now he’s sitting in his dad’s house, sitting in his dad’s kitchen. And to this day, he’s still there cause I’m like… I don’t know what to do with you now. I don’t know what. I don’t know what to do. So to this day, Nick is still sitting in his dad’s kitchen.

Must all good things come to an end?

And so, we find ourselves at the end of the current Witches of Woodville series by Mark Stay which brings to mind the old saying, ‘all good things …

Must all good things come to an end?