Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m 41 and I have just published my third novel. I first tried to write a novel at 18 and it took me 21 years to finish one to my satisfaction. This was partly because I have a very low boredom threshold, general lack of commitment to things, and I kept distracting myself by writing comedy sketches, sitcoms, non-fiction, making tons of music and doing stand-up comedy. For some reason I now find writing novels very easy and wrote my 100,000 word latest novel in 6 months with almost no planning. At the same time I’ve also written the first 20,000 words of another novel and, in the few days since publishing my 3rd novel, I’ve already written 20 pages of a sequel. I seem to have programmed my subconscious with some novel-writing software and now I just need pen or keyboard and it all comes out. I’ve always wanted to write existential novels and sci-fi – my main ambition is to write the new ‘1984’ or ‘The Idiot’ – but somehow I’ve found that I can write thrillers very quickly and easily so that’s what I’m currently doing, while trying to broaden out the genre as much as possible.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My 3rd novel is ‘Random Target’, a sequel to my 2nd ‘The Memory Man’. Originally ‘The Memory Man’ was a one off but I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters and wanting to know what happened next so now I am writing the ‘T14’ series. T14 is my name for a counter-terrorism agency based in London, a mixture of MI5, SAS and police. The books are set in 2024, ten years after a terrorist attack kills 80,000 people – this allows me to construct a money-no-object, rule-bending organisation that could never exist outside of fiction. Luckily, they are the good guys. I’ve also set it in the future so that I can speculate about where technology and society may be heading. ‘The Memory Man’ refers to one of the agents who has a brain implant in his head. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds, they have actually been around since the 19th century. This one allows him to process digital information and interact with technology, without in any way making him a bionic man.
The idea for Random Target came to me out of the blue when I was sitting in a pub reading a book. I suddenly thought that a good idea for a novel would be weird things happening to randomly selected ‘normal’ people for no apparent reason. I speculated as to who would want to do this and what the reasons behind it would be. I originally wrote this as a standalone novel but then it just made sense to incorporate it into my next T14 book, so I did. I wondered how I would react if weird things started happening to me – would I put up with it or fight back – and that’s partly what the book is about.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’ve just started writing a novel with pen and paper because I spend too much time in front of computer screens. It feels more like fun than ‘work’, and of course an A4 pad can’t crash and delete your book. I almost always write while doing something else – listening to music, listening to Cricket on the radio, sometimes even while watching a DVD. But usually I just drink buckets of tea and eat biscuits. Once on a writing course we had an assignment to write a short story in half an hour and for some reason I decided to have a few drinks before starting: I ended up writing 800 words in exactly half an hour and the only things I changed were 3 typos. It was a totally different style of fiction than I’d ever written before.
As an insomniac I often dictate ideas into my phone in bed or write in the notepad. Every few weeks I go through the dozens of recordings on my phone and find ideas I’d completely forgotten about. But I suppose my most unusual writing habit is that I cannot begin a chapter unless I’ve arranged all my stationary in alphabetical order and made a burnt offering of an exercise book to the god of fiction.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Douglas Adams, George Orwell, Fyodor Dosdoevsky, James Herbert, Shaun Hutson, J.D. Salinger, Colin Wilson, Robert Heinlein, M.R. James, Arthur Conan-Doyle, H.G. Wells.
What are you working on now?
The third book in my T14 series and a novel about a private detective who investigates cases of missing people. I have many other ideas or just started novels but I’m now far more committed to actually finishing the things so all of them will be completed sooner or later.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I can’t answer this, I’m still looking. The only thing I feel I can do is get my name on as many web pages as possible (I also make music so have multiple profiles and pages for that, which helps with search engine rankings). I think having your own domain and site is essential now, and it costs almost nothing to set-up nowadays. I’ve just put my latest novel on KDP select and am currently running a 5 day free promotion. I think that now, for better or worse, people expect some free stuff up front so I have published a collection of poems and a book of short stories for free and posted them on as many sites as I could find. Both titles had over 1000 downloads within a week or 2 but this has yet to translate into significant sales. I think you have to just publish as much as possible and hope to eventually build up to a critical mass where people cannot help but notice you and your work. I have the usual facebook page, my own site, I’m a goodreads author, I have a smashwords profile etc but how much notice readers actually take of all that I’m not really sure.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, write and write some more. Don’t stop writing. If you’re really cut out to be a novelist then you won’t be able to stop thinking about your novel and your characters, they will be with you always. The first hurdle to overcome is to actually FINISH a novel length book. Doesn’t matter how great chapter one is, you have to be able to finish the whole thing. That was what took me the longest, but once I got over that barrier it because easier and easier and now I don’t think of novel writing as ‘work’ at all because I enjoy it so much. Early on I worked in journalism for 2 years: having your work edited by other people is very useful experience.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Graham Linehan, writer of ‘Father Ted’ and ‘The IT Crowd’. He was talking about script writing but it equally applies to novels:
When you’ve finished [your novel] put it in a drawer and ignore it for a month, preferably two. Then take it out and read it all the way through. If it still seems good to you then you’ve got something.
What are you reading now?
‘The Pure In Heart’ by Susan Hill. Rereading the 2nd in her series of crime novels which contain some of the best writing and characterisations I’ve ever encountered.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Who knows? That’s why I enjoy it so much.
What is your favorite book of all time?
1984. Read it 8 times, never fails to engage me in a new way.
Author Websites and Profiles
Marcus Freestone Website
Marcus Freestone Author Profile on Smashwords
Marcus Freestone’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile