Marc W Shako

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your hobbies and interests.

I'm from Doncaster in the UK and currently living there after a spell living and teaching English in Warsaw, Poland. My hobbies include listening to podcasts (actually, that's more of an addiction!) anything paranormal and conspiracy-based. Love classic rock music. I'd rather watch a film than a TV series. I also hate talking about myself so this answer will be really short!

When and why did you start writing books?

I've always had stories in my head but didn't have the skills to put them on paper. I got those skills teaching English - to teach something you have to really know it! While in Warsaw I actually started writing screenplays. Then I realised to get your screenplay made into a film that people actually go and see is incredibly difficult. That wasn't good enough for me! I wanted people to read my stories so I started publishing on Amazon and realised I enjoyed novel writing as much as screenwriting. I wrote my werewolf thriller 'The Death of Laszlo Breyer' and thankfully people liked it. That positive feedback spurred me on.

What made you decide to tackle writing as a career?

Once you start creating these worlds and characters and realise that the power to do so resides within you... that is addictive. I'd be lying if I said getting kind words from someone you've never met who lives on the other side of the world wasn't a big part of that! So I guess the answer there is I can't stop writing and couldn't if I wanted to. If you're creating these stories it seems a pity not to share them. Even if only one other person likes your story, it's worth sharing.

Which one of your books or characters is your favourite?

That's tough! Not really sure I've got one favourite. The detective Jack Talbot from 'Laszlo' has been through some stuff so he's an underdog, as is Ray from 'Ghosts of September'. Everyone likes an underdog, I think! A lot of my books are about underdogs. I'm also fond of parapsychologist Daniel Cross (loosely based on mentalist Derren Brown) from the Jack Talbot books, they make a good pair. As for my favourite book... 'Laszlo' is my first so that's in the mixer, but then there are parts from the sequels that I'm really pleased with - a scene in a storm from follow up 'Flight 187', the finale in vampire book 'Before the Dawn', some creepy bits in 'Hex'. I really like how the ending from 'Ghosts of September' turned out. 'The Wilde Diaries' might *might* be my favourite overall, but then I've got some of my best feedback for the new Northwoods series. This question is impossible. I should move on or we'll be here all day!

Which one of your books was the hardest to write and stretched you the most as a writer?

The easy answer to this is 'Ghosts of September'. It's based around the events in New York in September 2001 and anyone around then knows what an awful day that was. Everyone remembers what they were doing. That messed me up. I was the optimistic dreamer back then so even at the other side of the pond to see man's inhumanity to man up close, on repeat, was rough. Writing that was picking over old wounds, so that was difficult. There's also a bit in 'Laszlo' with some racist characters. No spoilers but I wanted some horrible people, so I added them. Writing their dialogue made me feel dirty. I was writing about 2000 words a day for that book, but their parts took a while to get through. I'd write a bit and think "OK that's enough for today!" My latest book Jane Doe was a step outside of my comfort zone as it's the forst time I've had a female main character. Sending that out to my female Beta Team was nerve-wracking beyond belief! Thankfully the feedback was incredibly positive. Relief!

Who is your favourite author and book?

It's got to be Stephen King. I grew up watching old Hammer Horror films with my dad (I think that's where I get my love of the paranormal from - dad's into all that, and now I am) so it was natural the first books I'd read were horrors. I actually had audiobooks on cassette (showing my age) when I was a kid and they were mostly spooky (Conan Doyle, Greek Mythology - I nearly cried when my Famous Legends tape got chewed up!) when I think about it. Perusing the isles at WHSmith on lunchbreaks at school I was drawn to the horror section and King was prominent. Can't recall the first (might have been 'Cujo') but my favourites are most peoples favourites, I think: The Stand (the writing and word choice I love) and of course Pet Sematary (probably his creepiest - a bold statement!).

What book are you reading right now?

Right now I'm reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. Crazy to think it's Oscar Wilde's only novel because the writing is so good. I'm familiar with the story from the film from the 40s (thanks, Dad!)

Where do you get your inspiration for your books?

Ideas come from everywhere. The tiniest thing could set you off, and then your storyteller brain kicks in, "What if? What if?" A short, relatively insignificant scene from 'The Howling' was the basis for 'Laszlo'. The idea for 'Ghosts of September' woke me up one night. That happens a lot. Ideas will not let you sleep. First draft time is a nightmare. I just brace myself for a month of insomnia. Ideas are everywhere, you just have to decide which are the ones with enough legs to get you a full-length novel, and then choose the best of those - the ones that excite you. I woke up with a seven-part series in my brain the other morning! A lot of the time those ideas are nonsense so you wait for the next one, but this might end up being something. It was a case of fragments of ideas clumping together (something else that happens a lot). It's the storyteller bit of your brain asking "What if you took that bit of an idea and mixed it with this one?"

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I'm usually writing in my spare time, but outside of that I'll watch a football match with my parents. They have a TV, I don't, so the football is just a nice excuse for me to visit them. I'm a serial stop/starter at jogging but I do like to get into that from time to time. I'm losing count of how many times I've done week one of couch-to-5k! I do like to get on the PS4 as well. Some great storytelling in gaming these days. Red Dead Redemption 2 was incredible for that.

Do you have any new books in the works?

Always! Got a couple of irons in the Jack Talbot fire. Those are percolating in the background waiting for first drafts (hello, Insomnia, my old friend) while I work on Paint it Black, the latest Northwoods story (might be my darkest story yet). I'm lucky enough to be working on a screenplay with Kuba Kucharski who survived the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, so that's waiting for me too. Got plans for new stories and spin-offs and extended universes galore. Great to have plenty to work on, but it sounds like sleep might be hard to come by!