INTERVIEW: Mark Lawrence

Speculative Book Review is proud and fortunate to have the opportunity to interview one of this year's up and coming debut authors. Mark Lawrence is the author to one of this week's latest fantasy novels releases and one of this year's most anticipated books, Prince of Thorns.

Speculative Book Review- Since this is your debut novel, I would like you to take a moment and let everyone know a little more about you, can you give our readers a quick introduction?

Mark Lawrence- Sure, I’m a research scientist in my 40’s. My mother read me Lord of the Rings when I was seven, and I’ve been hooked ever since. About ten years ago I moved to the States and creative outlets (mainly RPGs) dried up due to lack of time and opportunity, so I started writing short stories and sharing them on online groups. I got a taste for it and wrote ‘Prince of Thorns’ in many little pieces in the dead of night.


SBR- Why should The Prince of Thorns be the next book everyone reads?

ML- Will my publisher kill me if I say I don’t have a good reason? Nine times out of ten the reason I read a book is because a friend said it was good. The remainder usually fall to snap decisions in airports, or classics that I feel I should read and normally end up enjoying despite the fact that technically it’s education. Maybe they should read ‘Prince of Thorns’ because you like it and they trust your judgment?


SB- Your novel has a lot of death and combat, what research, if any, did you do in order to write those events?

ML-I watched a lot of fantasy films (most of them terrible, truth be told) and read a lot of fantasy books. Does that count as research? I also have a talent for collecting random bits of knowledge and find it comes in handy when writing.


SBR- Who did you base the character Jorg on? He seems to be a cross between Machiavelli and Alexander the Great.

ML- The original and broad inspiration was ‘Alex’ from Burgess’ ‘A Clockwork Orange’. I wanted to write about someone violent and destructive who appeared to have no redeeming features save a charisma sufficiently compelling to keep the reader turning pages until the story took hold.


SBR- Which character in the Prince of Thorns was the most difficult/easiest to write?

ML- I don’t recall agonizing over any of it. I guess I just started typing and let it happen. When you have an intriguing character and set them loose on the page, I find they gather story to them and it’s a case of following where they lead. At the time I was writing Prince of Thorns real life was the difficult side of things, and writing an escape.


SBR- Which character from the Prince of Thorns do you identify with the most?

ML- Different parts of me identify with different characters, none of them are close to being a copy of me. Maybe Lundist and Makin. I may occasionally imagine acting like Jorg, but I’ve an overactive imagination. I’m the sort to freeze in the headlights in a real crisis rather than slice my way to the most efficient solution without care for the cost.


SBR- What is the most satisfying aspect to writing?

ML- For me it’s knowing I nailed a scene, knowing it will matter to somebody. If I read it back and it affects me, then I generally know that sooner or later somebody is going to tell me that it really got to them. And I love that. Knowing I captured something timeless on the page. That sounds too grandiose. I’m not writing the stuff of ages here, it’s just a fun tale of swords and sorcery, but I like treading on the edge of what great writers must feel and getting my tiny thrill of it.


SBR- Prince of Thorns is your debut novel and the first in the Broken Empire trilogy, can you give a peek at what to expect in the sequels?

ML- I wrote Prince of Thorns as a stand-alone novel and I hope it can be enjoyed that way. What you won’t get in the sequels is more of the same. Prince of Thorns is a discovery, Jorg turns fourteen and catches up with his past. What comes next is about the future, about Jorg the man rather than Jorg the boy.

SBR- In your novel, Prince of Thorns, it seems as none of your characters are safe, a lot of my favorites came to a violent end, how do you decide who lives and dies in your series?

ML- I’m not a planner – I start each chapter with no real idea where it’s heading and just start typing. Characters who wander too near to the edge of cliffs … fall off.


SBR- What authors/works have most influenced you and what type of influence (e.g. good/awful) were they?

ML- I had a long break from fantasy and only really got back into it when I picked up ‘A Game of Thrones’ by George RR Martin. He opened my eyes to how good fantasy could be, how well it could be written. Recently I’ve been reading more fantasy but my time is very limited, I have a job, writing, and a disabled little girl to look after. The books I’ve enjoyed recently have been by Martin, Hobbs, and Peter Brett. I expect I’m more influenced by modern classics though.


SBR- What are you currently reading and what is in your to-read pile?

ML- Currently I’m reading ‘The Bad Mother’s Handbook’ by Kate Long. I knew her at University. My to-read pile is huge and contains all manner of fantasy authors whose works I should try, not least because people keep saying I write like one or other of them. Top of the pile are Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, and Brent Weeks.


SBR- Aside from your own novel, Prince of Thorns, what series/standalone should people be reading?

ML- Well George Martin and Robin Hobbs hardly need my support, so I’ll say ‘The Emperor’s Knife’ by Mazarkis Williams, coming out this autumn, the first of a trilogy but entirely satisfying as a stand-alone.

imeSBR- Anything you would like to add or perhaps shamelessly plug?

ML- I’m certainly shameless, but I have nothing else to plug.

I guess I’d like to add that the fact ‘Prince of Thorns’ has been so well received thus far and going to be published has come as a great surprise to me, exceeding all my expectations. If it were all to go away tomorrow, I would still count myself immensely lucky to have put a book on the shelves and to have been part of the story.

Speculative Book Review would like to thank Mark Lawrence for taking the time out of his busy schedule to sit down and answer our questions. Prince of Thorns comes out today in the US and 4 August in the UK.