Mark Lawrence was born in Champaign, Illinois in January 1966. When he was one year old, his parents moved to the UK. He returned to the USA to work in research projects. Now Mark Lawrence lives in Bristol. Married. The family has four children. Mark is the author of numerous novels and the sensational trilogy "Destroyed Empire".
According to the author, he worked in research centers related to physics and mathematics, the last few years the field of activity is artificial intelligence. Mark believes that scientific preparation does not affect his writing. Of course, he can justify some technical points, but in general, his professional experience does not affect creativity.
Mark Lawrence. Books
The series "Destroyed Empire":
- "Prince of Thorns" (2011).
- The King of Thorns (2012).
- "Emperor Thorns" (2013).
The cycle "War of the Red Queen":
- "Prince of the Fools" (2014).
- The Liar's Key (2015).
- The Wheel of Osheim (2016).
The novel "Prince of Thorns" made a lot of noise on the Internet before the release of the book. This is a harsh story of vengeance, strength and pride. From the first words it seems that the book is a lot of cruelty. Trilogy - the story of growing up, reading a novel, it is simply impossible to believe that the actions of the hero of the book are the actions of a teenager. But plunging into reading, you understand that the world around him, childhood trauma and circumstances played a role. Cruelty and murder in that world is just a way of survival.
The path to fame
According to Mark Lawrence, “Prince of Thorns” almost completely coincided with the draft. There was not even a thought to fix some details. He believes that this can be explained by the fact that he did not think about publishing, just wanted to give a way out of history and wrote. And, of course, magic - it worked in works of fifty years ago, will be relevant now. And the magic is that the hero of the novel is inherent in everything human, and therefore the reader is practically not concerned about the hero's actions. Mark says that a good writer should not embellish the truth, but should be honest.
Of course, I did not expect what might become famous. Mark Lawrence writes daily. There is no certain amount of words, but he does it every day. He likes to write. He began to write a novel in a children's hospital in Bristol. He had almost no free time, since 11 years ago his daughter was born disabled. She is smart, funny and has a great sense of humor. But he can’t see well or walk for a long time. Therefore, Mark spends a lot of time with her, helping with this.
Despite the circumstances, he wrote every day. In one children's hospital it was not possible to write in a notebook - he wrote on a piece of paper. Therefore, when asked about how his writing day goes, Lawrence says it’s more like hours after midnight. Every year he and his daughter spend 2 weeks in the hospital, then he writes all day.
The fight for publication
Mark Lawrence says that at some time he had to fight to get his stories printed in magazines. By the word “struggle” he means that he sent stories to several magazines. This was not easy, since 1-2 out of 50 weekly applications were selected from authors for publication. And he was very surprised when several publishers fought for the right to publish his novel.
According to writer Mark Lawrence, he cannot advertise books on forums and blogs. So many authors are doing now. He simply does not have time for this. He spends his free time, which is practically absent, in the garden, at a good computer game or brewing beer. Of course, his path to fame has become a bit unconventional. But he advises all novice writers to seek information wherever possible. Submit your work to multiple publishers. Lawrence is sure that everyone can succeed. The main thing is to write every day.