Please welcome Mark Eklid to the blog today. Mark is the author of Family Business, a twisty-filled, fast-paced contemporary thriller, but as his top 10 post shows, he’s also a great many other things: sports writer, Sheffield native, and reader. His book is currently on tour with Random Things Tours, so be sure to check out all the reviews from other bloggers!
Ten Things About Me
one
All I ever wanted to be, growing up, was a sports writer. Well, that’s not entirely true. I really wanted to either open the batting for Yorkshire County Cricket Club or play centre-forward for Sheffield United but I very quickly came to realise that I was never going to be good enough to achieve either of those ambitions. Watching sport and writing about it for a living was definitely the next best thing and, through my career, I’ve been privileged to interview some of my sporting heroes and to travel all around the country covering many sports, mainly cricket and football. I even managed to wangle five trips to the Caribbean for pre-season cricket tours and I’m still not sure how I managed to pull that off!
Two
It was only when the nature of my job changed and I had to accept becoming a production journalist rather than a writer that I decided it was time to crack on with becoming a published author. I’d often dabbled with writing novels – going back to when I was about nine years old and filled a notepad with a story called Sacktown which bore an uncanny resemblance to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and would probably have never got past the copyright people. Over the years, I’ve started or sketched out dozens of novels but writing for a living kept on getting in the way. It’s hard to raise the enthusiasm for writing for fun when you’re hammering out thousands of words a day for your job. When the job changed, that enthusiasm surged again and I published my first novel, Sunbeam, in November 2019.
three
I have always been a big reader but it was more likely to be the Beano than Barnaby Rudge through most of my life up to the age of 16. The first book that really opened my eyes to the power of the novel was Wuthering Heights. I read it when Kate Bush’s song hit the charts in 1978 and I decided to find out what it was about the novel that inspired her. It probably helped that I thought Kate Bush was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen! Anyway, I read it and I was utterly captivated by it. I had no idea that a book could haunt you so completely, both during and after reading it. That signalled the beginning of my desire to read more ‘proper’ books – so thanks, Kate. And, by the way, I still think you’re gorgeous.
four
I like to write suspense thrillers but I don’t read a great many of them. I wouldn’t say I have any particular type of genre I prefer to read, in fact. I make it a general rule to never pick up a similar type of book to the one I have just finished, so at any given time you could find me pouring through a biography, a history, a classic novel, a sports book, a travelogue or poetry. There is so much pleasure to be had from all sorts of different types of books that I believe it would be a mistake to limit your reading. If I had to compile a list of favourite authors it would certainly include Charles Dickens, Bill Bryson and Jonathan Coe but, even then, I would hate to have to stick to reading only them.
Five
One of the themes running through Family Business is genealogy and that is partly because it is a subject which really interests me. When you’ve grown up with people regularly asking you “Eklid – that’s an unusual surname, where does that come from?” I guess it would make you curious! My surname actually comes from Norway. My great-grandfather was with the Norwegian merchant navy as an interpreter. He met a girl in Liverpool on one of his trips, they married and he made England his home. It is an unusual surname – in fact, if ever you meet anyone else called Eklid in this country, I can guarantee you that they will be able to trace their heritage back to my great-grandfather. They’re all family.
Six
There is no doubt that writing/publishing is among the most gratifying experiences I have ever known but I would be lying if I didn’t say it can also be one of the most frustrating. As an independent author, you are competing for attention against so many very good writers and, without the backing of a publisher, it can be very difficult to make your voice heard. Finding ways of making readers aware of your work is not an easy process – especially in these days when we cannot get out to meet them in person – and, at times, it can be disheartening but the only advice I would offer anyone in a similar position is to keep writing. I firmly believe that if you stay in the right habits for long enough, then your rewards will come, whatever your interest or profession.
seven
Most of the well-known people I have interviewed through my journalistic career have been sportsmen and women but I do have several tenuous and vague claims to connections with the music world. I went to school with the two girls out of the Human League – before they were spotted dancing in the Crazy Daisy nightclub and were shot to world fame. They were in the lower sixth when I was in the upper sixth. I suspected, for a while, that I might have been at infant school with Jarvis Cocker of Pulp but he was probably two school years younger than me and I think I had moved to a different part of Sheffield before young Jarvis would have arrived for his first day. I also once met up for a sort-of date with the sister of Jilted John, who was a one-hit wonder in 1978. She is now married to the TV chef Ainsley Harriott. Small world, isn’t it?
eight
I’ve lived for more than half my life in Derby, I’ve spent almost all my career working in Derby and both of my sons were born and raised in Derby – and yet when anyone asks where I’m from I tell them Sheffield. That is by no means a slight on Derby, which is a lovely place to live and work and has the beautiful Peak District on the back doorstep, but I guess the city of my birth is where my heart will always be. Sheffield has provided the backdrop for both my published novels so far, Sunbeam and Family Business, and is also the setting for one of the two novels I’m currently working on, which goes to prove that you can take the boy out of Sheffield…
nine
If I could change one thing about myself I would like to be much better at mornings. I envy those who are able to forward roll out of bed as soon as the alarm sounds at 6.30 and spend an hour in the gym before breakfast. It’s as much as I can manage to work out which end of the brush to put the toothpaste on before 10. Even on days I identify as good writing opportunities I’m unable to get much worthwhile done before lunchtime and that is such a waste because I still work full time and windows for writing are limited. Late afternoon and early evening is definitely my most productive time as a writer.
ten
I’m not one for theories or formulas when it comes to writing. I’ve never sought advice on how to structure a novel and I certainly couldn’t teach it because I prefer to trust my instincts when it comes to plot and the rhythm of language. Before I start a new project, I like to have an idea in my mind of how it starts, how it ends and roughly what happens in between but I believe it is crucial to allow the story to evolve as it progresses, even if it takes you in directions you did not expect to go. If the characters you create are strong enough, they will let you know what you need to write next.
Thanks, Mark!
