Scott Mariani

If you’re a new reader and find that you’ve picked up a book that’s midway through the Ben Hope series, don’t worry – it’s not essential to read them in order as each one can be largely be read as a stand-alone story. You won’t be left scratching your head too much wondering who’s who or what’s happening. However, if you really want to get a feel for the ever-evolving character of Ben Hope and experience the full impact of the various twists and surprises that pepper his life, the ideal thing is to follow his adventures from the start.

Like most people who get into this profession, I started scribbling stories as a kid. My interest in stories and storytelling has always been a big part of my life. But it wasn’t until in about 2006, after moving to Wales, that I got the idea that would become my first published novel, and then grow into a long series. It was while out walking the dogs in the fields the idea for a character called Ben Hope popped into my head more or less fully-formed. What emerged from that was a novel initially called The Fulcanelli Manuscript, which soon became retitled The Alchemist’s Secret . . . and that’s how it all began. I still can’t believe the series ended up thirty books long!

I’ve always loved history, and it has been a fascinating, highly educational and satisfying experience to write all these Ben Hope novels, each with its own historical backstory or mystery. But because I’ve always produced two books a year, every six months I would have to uproot myself from whatever fascinating historical world I’d been so immersed in, clear it all from my head and plunge straight into the next. It’s like being a perpetual globetrotter, always on the move, and never being able to stay in one location for long even though you might have fallen in love with the place and wanted to live there forever. Then one day while I was working on Ben Hope 28, The Tudor Deception, and deep into all the intrigues of medieval England, I thought: ‘You know what, I really love being here reading and writing about all this medieval stuff. What if I could just keep on doing that, and remain in one setting rather than having to jump about all the time?’ So that’s what I’ve done. It wasn’t a simple or easy decision, but nonetheless I’m really happy that I took the plunge and kicked off the new Will Bowman medieval adventure series with The Pilgrim’s Revenge.

It depends on the subject I’m researching. To get a real flavour of a location, whether urban or countryside, I have sometimes travelled there in person – for example, I spent some time in Rome while putting together The Lost Relic, and for The Alchemist’s Secret I enjoyed exploring the mountainous region of the Languedoc in southern France. I’ve always taken my trusty old  Nikon D90 along – none of your newfangled mobile phone cameras, thank you – so I could bring home hundreds of images – of landscapes, cityscapes, cathedrals and ancient monuments and artifacts, to draw on for inspiration back at my desk in west Wales. I also make extensive use of books and maps. For Will Bowman’s adventures during the Third Crusade I was much indebted to the writings of the original medieval chroniclers, some of whom were actually there and witnessed it all firsthand.

It’s when your mind is elsewhere that the best story ideas can suddenly strike you out of the blue. I enjoy a country lifestyle, often out walking, or splitting logs for the fire, tending to my little patch of woodland, exercising the dogs – and it’s at these moments that an idea can come rushing in, sometimes almost fully developed. In other cases, researching the background for one book can spark off an idea that will eventually find its way into another. Sometimes I find myself drawing on events and people from my own life experience to inspire me – though that’s not so much the case when setting a story in the 12^th century! Then, it’s the traditional slog of scouring whatever information resources are available: books, periodicals, the internet, or even video documentaries.

If it’s a wacky business proposition, a load of nasty abuse or anything else that might be inappropriate, I’m afraid it will be trashed before it reaches me! Everything else, I definitely take the time to read. I’m always happy to hear from readers and will always do my very best to reply to each and every message I receive. I do sometimes tend to get a little overrun with emails, so it might take me a short while to respond. But I generally get there in the end!

I haven’t watched TV for about 25 years, so that’s out. Now and then I’ll get to watch a whole movie after dinner, or alternatively just settle down to play a game of chess or read an interesting book – often non-fiction these days, combining leisure time with more research. I love good food so taking one’s time to cook up a really nice meal is important for the soul as well as for the belly. I still like to have a blast sometimes with the old Brown Bess flintlock musket, making lots of noise and smoke. The rest of non-work time is usually spent outdoors in some capacity, working on the latest project or just enjoying nature and playing with the dogs. If it’s nice weather I might take a spin on the Harley; if it’s not, then ‘Olive G’, my ancient military Land Rover.

You have to believe in what you’re doing. Simply chasing the current popular literary fashion isn’t going to guarantee anything, except that by the time you’ve finished writing it the fickle marketplace is likely to have moved on to the ‘next big thing’. So be true to yourself and write from the heart. If you want to write commercial fiction, a strong story idea, punchily executed, and an even stronger lead character are far, far more important than fancy writing skills and a beautiful turn of phrase. A series of books featuring the same returnable hero / heroine will always be much more interesting to publishers and readers than a ‘stand-alone’. Writing is a business, so approach it with the same serious attitude that you would adopt if embarking on any other highly competitive and challenging endeavour, and don’t let anyone stand in your way. Be extremely careful who you bring on board to help you take your work to its target readership: while there are lots of great agents and publishers out there, there are also plenty of bad ones who, if you let them, will wreck your career even before it’s begun. (And Scott speaks from personal experience here – if he’d listened to what his first agents told him when he was just starting out, the Ben Hope series would not exist today. Don’t let it happen to you!) Lastly, don’t underestimate the value of going it alone. The rapid and revolutionary changes in independent eBook publishing are making it more and more feasible for authors to be their own publisher, retaining 100% creative control and a lot more of the profits. Whatever you do, however you choose to do it, enjoy the ride and good luck!