37 Mark Billingham Quotes for You to Enjoy

Mark Billingham

English Novelist

Born: Jul 2, 1961

Book Character Crime Good Think You

Related authors: Aldous Huxley Charles Dickens E. M. Forster J. R. R. Tolkien Thomas Hardy William Golding William Makepeace Thackeray

When a crime writer thinks up a delicious twist, it is a great moment. Time to relax and take the rest of the day off. I do think that it can be overdone, however. Mark Billingham

Time Day Great Crime Relax Rest Think Delicious Writer Take Overdone However Off Up Moment Twist Thinks

It may sound surprising, but a joke and a crime novel work in very much the same way. The comedian/writer leads their audience along the garden path. The audience know what's coming, or at least they think they do until they get hit from a direction they were not expecting. Mark Billingham

Work Garden Path Crime Joke Think Way Direction Leads Along Know Until Audience Sound Least Coming Were Surprising Very Hit Get Expecting Same May Much Novel

I could never gamble on stocks and shares because I saw my father get hurt that way - he lost quite a lot of money when the stock market collapsed in 2001. Mark Billingham

I was never a fan of cozy mysteries of anything set in the countryside, you know. Mark Billingham

You Mysteries Never Countryside Know Cozy Fan Anything Set

In the 1970s, there was a trend for all detectives on TV to have some quirk or gimmick, and this was often physical. Mark Billingham

Trend TV Gimmick Physical Detectives Some Often

I believe that if writers want their readers to care about a character, they have to care themselves. I have to root for a detective who screws up as much as Thorne does, who shares my birthday, my North London stomping ground, and my love of country music, both alt and cheesy. Mark Billingham

Love Music Birthday Character Care Country Believe Detective London About Both Writers Shares Country Music Readers Cheesy Does Up North Want Themselves Much Root Ground Who

My dad was a terrible father. Dreadful. But he had a very difficult childhood. He was fostered - he never knew who his father was. So he had a very different attitude to family and kids. I don't have any issues. I'm not suffering some secret angst. Mark Billingham

Attitude Family Suffering Father Difficult Secret Kids Dreadful Some Angst Never Had He Knew Terrible Issues His Very Any Childhood Different Different Attitude Who Dad Fostered

As crime writers, we put these characters, year after year, book after book, through the most horrendous trauma, dealing with grief and death and loss and violence. We can't pretend that these things don't affect these characters; they have to. If they don't, then you're essentially writing cartoons. Mark Billingham

Death You Grief Book Writing Crime Year Characters Pretend Cartoons Horrendous Through Writers Put Most Dealing Affect Loss Essentially After Then Trauma Things Violence

As a writer, you're making a pact with the reader; you're saying, 'Look, I know and you know that if this book was really a murder investigation, it would be a thousand pages long and would be very dull, and you would be very unhappy with the ending.' Mark Billingham

I think there's as much violence, in a way, as a scene with two women having a cup of coffee in a Ruth Rendell novel - in terms of emotional violence and the violence you can inflict with language - as there is in the most graphic kind of serial killer/slasher novel you can think of. Mark Billingham

Like my fictional protagonist Tom Thorne, I love country. My tastes go back a bit further than his do, and I still listen to stuff from the late '70s and early '80s. Mark Billingham

Love Country Late Back Bit Further Stuff Like Protagonist Still Go His Than Tastes Listen Fictional Tom Early

I find traveling anywhere very stressful. If I ever have to go on tour, I tend to find it all a bit too stressful. I am too much of a control freak with traveling, and nothing is ever on time. The one thing I can't stand is being late. Mark Billingham

Time Too Much Control Control Freak Nothing Too Late Bit One Thing Find Freak Tend Tour Am Go Very Being The One Thing Anywhere Much Stand Traveling Ever Thing Stressful

All writers I know are readers first and foremost, and that's why you become a writer. Mark Billingham

You First Become All Writers Writer Writers Know Readers Foremost Why

If the weather is nice, I play tennis, which is pretty much the only exercise that I do. I try to do that as much as I can. Mark Billingham

Try Weather Nice Pretty Only Tennis Exercise Which Much Play

I discovered reading through libraries. I grew up in a house that wasn't brimming with books. Mark Billingham

Reading Books Libraries Through House Discovered Up Grew

In America, they have specialist mystery book stores with whole sections devoted to cat mysteries, golf mysteries, quilting mysteries. It's a hugely broad genre from the darkest noir to tales of a 19th-century vet who solves crimes, thanks to his talking cat. Mark Billingham

I used to be something of an obsessive when it came to research. When I first began writing the Thorne novels, I would drive to a set of traffic lights in the early hours of the morning to make sure you could turn left. I thought it was important to get even the most trivial details right. Mark Billingham

Morning You Writing Thought Drive First Important Research Would Details Something Trivial Could Obsessive Lights Hours Most Make Sure Came Traffic Left Began Get Turn Used Even Novels Right Early Set

Too much research can be the writer's enemy. You can spend days on end in the British Library or prowling the streets with a Dictaphone, and it's easy to convince yourself that you're working hard. Often, it can be an excuse not to work; a classic displacement activity. Mark Billingham

Work You Library Yourself Enemy Too Much Research Too Spend Easy Classic Writer Days Excuse End Often Much Convince Working Working Hard Hard Displacement Activity Streets British

If something is crucial to the plot, then I'd better be sure I've got my facts straight. Readers of crime novels are smart and savvy, and they'll waste no time letting me know if there's a hole in my plot. Mark Billingham

Whether you do stand-up comedy or write a story, you have a duty to deliver. As a comedian, you walk out on stage, and you have a minute to hook them, or they'll start booing. As a writer, it's very similar. A reader doesn't have time to say, 'I'll give him 50 pages, as it's not very good yet, but I hope it'll get better.' Mark Billingham

Hope Time Good You Better Comedy Walk Duty Stage Booing Say Hook Out Minute Give Similar Write Writer Deliver Comedian Him Reader Very Get Story Whether Them Pages Stand-Up Comedy Start

Mark Billingham Quotes

No more Mark Billingham quotes