You know what I love? Seeing people get their debuts out into the world. Today’s guest, Mark MJ Green, was someone I connected with through his reviews and support.

Mark has always been super kind and continues to showcase all the exciting books he’s read and enjoyed. I’ve also loved connecting with Mark and exchanging some Christmas Cards between our kids. It shows you just how small social media has made the world.

Anyways, when I reached out to Mark, I was so excited he agreed to do a 3Q’s!

Please welcome Mark!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Mark: My writing time has been a sporadic mess as I try to juggle time with my family, writing reviews and recording and editing podcasts with my friend and fellow writer, Lee Richmond. Lately, though, I’ve been trying to get myself settled into a more set routine. On days when I manage to stick to it, I try and write for a few hours in the morning, break for a couple of hours to do some chores, walk the dog, or work on a few other things, and then; get back to writing for a few more hours in the afternoon, until it is time for me to pick my kids up from school.

On average, I get two thousand words down each session, but I don’t currently have an office or private writing space, so most of my work will be done sitting at the dinner table.

So far, I haven’t planned out any stories too much in advance. I have the title and a small paragraph outline of what it will be about, and then I write and see where it takes me.

For the story I am currently working on, I decided to set out with more of a plan in mind and made notes for the requirements I wanted to hit in each chapter. It seems to be working for me, so I am trying to stick with it.

I do find it difficult to keep to a strict schedule due to some brain-related issues, as I suffer from headaches and brain fog, so sometimes, I struggle to get into the necessary mindset, but once I get going, I love every part of it. Especially those unplanned moments. The ones where an idea filters from my brain and onto the keyboard almost effortlessly. I enjoy that feeling when something unplanned pops into my brain, and the story in my head truly evolves and takes shape.

I am new to all of this, so there is still experimentation with what works best for me, but I enjoy a relaxed approach to working. Writing should be a fun, enjoyable experience. Especially if I can throw in a subtle reference to another of my stories or kill off a character that I hope readers will have taken a liking to. On average, I think characters have a seventy per cent mortality rate in my work, and I like the unpredictability that makes anyone at risk. Due to my slightly haphazard way of approaching my work, even I don’t always know I am going to kill off a character until I have decided it mid-process.

Someone foolishly asked if they could be a character in my next book, and I am finding immense enjoyment in putting little things into it that will hopefully make them laugh and call me names at the same time.

Most people won’t even know it is there, but a few will, and I love that.

As long as I get enjoyment from writing, and someone somewhere enjoys reading it, then I have achieved what I set out to do.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Mark: Stories are supposed to be shared. That’s why we write. We have an idea, and a desire to tell it. We hope someone else might want to hear it, and we put it down onto the page.

Obviously, I would do the sensible thing of trying to contact the author’s family, getting the work to them, and letting them have the final word on the issue.

If that wasn’t an option, and there were no family members or even publishers that the author had worked with available, and the decision fell solely upon me, yeah, I would get it published. I wouldn’t want to make money from someone else’s work, so that would go to charity. But I would love to keep the original manuscript. Although my wife would probably say, ‘Not more books, don’t you have enough?’

If I die with incomplete or unpublished work, I would like to think someone would pick it up and finish/publish it.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Mark: My latest, and first solo release is titled Abortus. It was initially a short story I wrote as part of Medley of the Macabre, which is a collection of ten short stories. Five of them are by me, and five by Lee Richmond. It was the first time I had written or published anything.

I revisited and rewrote parts of Abortus after the awesome Nancy Sienna Sundquist added me to a reading challenge on one of Duncan Ralston’s Facebook pages.

Abortus is about Mel, a drug addict who sells her body for money and has found herself pregnant again. Rather than have another child born addicted to drugs and placed into care where she will never see it again, she decides to terminate the pregnancy herself. A drug dealer/client makes her a large cash offer to let him film her undertaking the procedure.

Why should someone read it? They probably shouldn’t. It’s nasty.

It’s only around forty pages, and I’ve had reviews stating how readers had to stop to take a breather or that it almost made them cry, so it’s not going to be for everyone.

I wanted to create an extreme tale that was more than just gore for gore’s sake, and I tried writing something that would impact the reader. It’s not just the fucked-up nature of the situation Mel has placed herself into but also the psychological damage to her mind driving the story.

Being a new writer and knowing readers have enjoyed something I created – well, it blows my tiny, little mind.

I’m currently writing a short story called Birdsong. It won’t be an extreme tale, although the psychological aspect will still be there as it deals with an elderly widow with dementia. That, admittedly, doesn’t give much away, nor does it sound particularly creepy, but the horror elements will certainly be present.

After that – who knows? I have multiple ideas written down; I just need to decide on which one will be next. Most likely, I’m going to write something with a more comedic aspect, if only to give myself a break from characters with psychological trauma.

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your superpower?

Mark: There is no way I am responsible enough to have superpowers of any kind. I’ll inevitably do something idiotic through laziness or boredom. My favourite comics have tended to lean more towards anti-heroes, so things like The Punisher, Lobo and Dredd have been my favourites.

The other day we were on a family trip to visit Sheffield Comicon, and my youngest (who’s eight) tends to become bored and grumpy on more than an hour’s drive. He began complaining about how he wished he had teleportation powers. So, I would pick teleportation to make that aspect of my life easier. Also, I would never have to use the postal service ever again. I could teleport to wherever I need my parcel to go and deliver it myself.

However, I’d probably waste it on inane tasks like transporting myself from the sofa to the fridge; or the toilet. Basically, I’d be like an overweight version of Nightcrawler from the X-men.

Thanks, Steve. I really appreciate you getting in touch with me to be part of 3Q’s.

Hey, awesome! Thanks so much, Mark! I appreciate you doing this!

To find all of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Green/e/B086MK7WYS/