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On The Table Read, “the best book magazine in the UK“, author Mark Piesing talks about his debut book, N-4 DOWN, and his writing process.
Written by JJ Barnes
I interviewed author Mark Piesing about his life and career, what inspired him to start writing, and the work that went into his debut book.
I am a freelance technology and aviation journalist and author. I live in Oxford.
N-4 DOWN: the hunt for the Arctic airship is my first book.
As a child!
I had a go at writing my first ‘book’ when I was 7 or 8, and I kept trying, even when I was back packing around India.
I remember writing rough notes for a book while travelling overnight in the back of a coach from the foothills of the Himalayas to New Delhi. Unfortunately, in the cold light of day what I wrote didn’t make much sense!
It is hard to say as I came across the story of the crash of the airship Italia while writing a pitch for another book.
So, from when my agent, publisher and I had a call about the Italia story to completing the manuscript was about 22 months – but only about half of that was actual writing.
There was a deadline in my contract with the publisher – and that really helped to me focus!
I love aviation, history, innovation, and exploration, and, so, when I discovered the story of the crash of the airship Italia near the North Pole, I just had to write it!
That’s a good question! The biggest challenge I had was knowing how to start it, and then, how to tell it.
I was really stuck, and I was aware the contractual deadline was getting ever closer.
Then I flew up to Svalbard in the Arctic Circle, near where the airship crashed, saw this epic eternal landscape of brilliant white mountains and frozen sea, and realized that the story had to start here, and more than that, Svalbard itself must be a character in the story, which I hope I achieved.
I read widely about the crash. Then I zeroed in on aspects of the story, such as the background of Umberto Nobile and Roald Amundsen, and explore that in more detail, particularly by reading eye-witness accounts, searching newspaper archives (which are now mostly online), travelling to locations in the book, such as the Arctic Circle for a sense of place, and looking for forgotten manuscripts, such as in an overlooked archive in Tromsø.
I will never forget the feeling of holding a manuscript that Umberto Nobile had typed and then seeing his hand-written corrections on the side. I even tracked down one of the last people alive who knew Umberto Nobile, the protagonist, to a Copenhagen suburb.
The story told itself! I just followed the chronological order of events. I could add nothing to that!
Yes. My editor at HarperCollins in New York took the time to do an old-fashioned line by line edit of my manuscript in pencil, and then DHL’d it back to me. I learned so much from reading his comments and seeing his changes.
The book published was the manuscript that was produced by that process; relatively little was changed after that.
That if they are serious about writing a book, then they need to write every day, even if it’s just a few lines.
I plan to write another gripping, thrilling book about men and women pushing technology to its limits in pursuit of high-stake goals.
Yes, I am. The great reception of the book from critics and readers has, for me, made it all worthwhile. But my wife may have a different view!
Twitter @MarkPiesing
LinkedIn Mark Piesing
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https://www.harpercollins.com/products/n-4-down-mark-piesing?variant=39874687893538
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