Ask the Author

[Joel007]

Woohoo! Do you think It'll be Calvyn or Femke more likely to hit the big screen?

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by Joel007

Woohoo! Do you think It'll be Calvyn or Femke more likely to hit the big screen?

Much more likely to be Femke ... by a factor of about 100 I should think. However, I'll not give up hope of seeing Calvyn there one day.

[Threddy]

Wicked, if a film comes out, all my friends will read your books, instead of only two that I have persuaded so far.

As for the profits from your books, if you don't want to post them on the web, then I don't think it's my place to ask via e-mail.

[Threddy]

Do you know how many words were in each of your books? Could you tell me?

I'd like to know because i'm writing a book, (which I know I should probably ask in aspiring writers but I wanted to ask a published author)
You can't really measure a book on number of pages, as there are different font sizes and page sizes, which is why I want to know number of words.

Thanks, Threddy

[Mark Robson]

The first five books were all around 100 000 words each, give or take a couple of thousand. Imperial Assassin was a bit shorter - more like 90 000.

Good luck with writing your story. I look forward to seeing you storming into the bestsellers in a few years.

[Threddy]

Cool, Thank You
Only 75,000 more to go then.
Threddy

[Threddy]

Hi Mark,
A friend was telling me of a new game that's coming out where you play as a Muslim Assassin in the 12th century, and I was thinking, when you get the films out, you could ask a game company to make The Guild Of Assassins game to help advertise your books. Maybe a silly idea, I don't know but...
Threddy

[Mark Robson]

Not silly at all, Threddy. If there were ever a film made, then I would very much be interested in going after the games companies to make a game - role play or storyline related somehow. I think it would be fantastic to have a game designed around one of my stories. I have actually already attended one of the big gaming fairs in London in order to make some contacts within the industry, but that was some time ago now - before I started writing for Simon & Schuster. I will leave such things to my agent in future.

[M@.Price]

Game, movie= great!
Anyway,

Hi mark (again!)
Um, like threddy i am writing a book! Do you have any particular tips for fantasy writing? How do you think up names?

Thanks, M@

p.s. would you like to read my proplgue if i emailed it to you?

[Mark Robson]

Hi, Matt,

Great to see you here again. Tips for fantasy writing - that's really difficult, as everyone likes different things. My best tip is to write the sort of story that you enjoy reading. If you like reading it when it's finished, then there's a good chance that others will too.

Names I get from all over the place. My latest source is a book of 80 000 baby names, but I've utilised maps, names of people I've met, brand names from foreign countries ... the list is pretty long.

By all means email me your prologue. I'll do my best to give you a bit of feedback.

Mark

[M@.Price]

Thanks
Is the email on your profile the right one?

M@.

[Mark Robson]

It is, and I've received your Prologue, Matt. I shall try to give you some feedback in the next few days.

[Allegra]

Hi Mark, can Imperial Spy be read as a stand-alone?

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by Allegra

Hi Mark, can Imperial Spy be read as a stand-alone?

I would have to answer yes to that, Allegra. Originally it was written to be a one off novel, but the publishers wanted me to turn it into a series. As a result I changed the ending to make it a bit more open ended, but I believe it would read all right as a stand alone. After all, no fantasy story ever really ends, does it. "The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began ..."

[Allegra]

Thanks, Mark. Sounds great! Just ordered. It's just that the epics are not for me. I bought The Eye of the World ages ago and still haven't had the courage to start the never ending story. Prefer the type of series that each installment has a complete story, like the discworld or Harry Potter. A little open ending is good, may lure me going further.