Frequently Asked Questons about Mark's Writing
How long did it take you to write Mojave Winds?
I began researching the novel in late 2000. The theme of religious ideology was in the forefront of my mind. The presidential elections prompted many discussions about it. It was surprising to see how religion became a powerful topic in the wake of 9/11.
God suddenly become a powerful political force. More than usual, people began searching for answers to big questions and since they weren't so accustomed to wondering how things happen and why, a vast majority leaned on religion for the answers to questions that the Bible can't necessarily explain, unless maybe you stretch the text.
So, I did more research on the subject of Islam, read a pile of books about it and how it relates to Judaism and Christianity. And, yes, all three religions are tied at the hip.
First, I sketched an outline in pencil, making it easier to change as I developed the story. I could say that some angel, like Gabriel, whispered the story, Mojave Winds, in my ear, but then you might not believe me. People don't believe that sort of thing in these modern days. Though, a long time ago, people made claims about how prophets, spirits, angels, and God talked to them and some people believed such tales and wrote them down. Not these days.
I digress a little, let me answer the question straight out: four years of writing and research and Mojave Winds was done. The first version was in the form of a movie script because it served as a good way to lay out the story—an outline mostly in dialogue. Then I added the flesh to make the novel.
Why did you call it Mojave Winds?
Much of the story is placed in the Mojave. The winds blow through the Mojave desert all the time and pass through Los Angeles, whispering mysteries to the wandering hiker.
I hike in the desert and mountains often in the south west. It's the wind that blows westward off the desert and hits the ocean, if the ocean water is cool, it can cause fog. The weather of a region influences the people, how they live, how they build their houses, how they eat. The land influences the weather and the weather influences the land. It's all part of the big picture. Everything is connected.
How did you find the idea for A Sufi's Ghost?
All the research I put into Mojave Winds gave me the idea. I started writing Sufi's Ghost in 2002 when I had already finished a first, rough draft of Mojave Winds. Once I sketched out a bulk of Sufi's Ghost, I went back to polish up Mojave Winds and finished it around 2006. Sufi's Ghost was pretty much finished by 2007 or early 2008.
You wrote a lot of essays, blogs, why?
It's a great way to work out the ideas, articulate concepts, lay out the facts that help build the story. Most everything in my stories are based on solid facts, but I use imagination to create the characters and plot.
Also, the politics at the time. Mainstream media had become much more insane and corrupt than it usually is. The private corporations sponsor a huge amount of the news. To stay in business, most networks have to buckle under just to keep those corporate publicity accounts.
It's not personal, it's just business, as Donald Dump, no, Donald Duck, huh, Trump, says. All that nonsense about "Freedom Fries" and "France, you are not our friend," said Covuto, the dodo on Fox Comedy. All the huff was made just because France was not ignorant and blind as to join in the mass hysteria to invade a country like Iraq that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.
I'm just a regular guy, not a professional journalist, knowing very little about the inner circles of Washington D.C., but simply by reading books on current events, it was obvious that the rich kid, wanna-be Texas rancher in the White House had gone stark raving mad along with his little group of extremists. At the time, American journalism turned into its worst ever.
It was only the bloggers, the underground news media, that pulled us out of the pits of hell and the darkness of twisted lies, moronic religious blather, and neocon ideology of the Rapture and the Second Coming of only God knows what.
You sound like a free thinker and free talker, aren't you afraid this will hurt you?
I believe that America is built on individual freedom, not on some narrow minded, right-wing nonsense of small minded religious fundamentalists.
I've nothing to lose. Give me liberty or give me death. Blue collar guys and gals are fighting in battle fields right now for many of the wrong reasons. They do it because they believe in the country and its system of government, not so much for the cowardly bastards like Chaney.
Is freedom going to hinder my career goals? I don't know. But I have to say what I think, and not wash it up for some personal income or lost opportunities.
I believe that a writer's job is to look for the truth behind all the blather, politics, and drivel told by people who stand to profit from the lies. A writer's job is to help people, who don't normally have the time or the curiosity to dig beneath the muck to understand how things are not always what they appear on TV or in the mass media. This is some little ideal I learned from the great Russian writers.
There is and always will be people in positions of wealth and influence who will say anything for the sake of their own personal agenda, and not for any common good. Let's not be naive. To maintain and develop our own freedom, our own country, we have to keep our minds sharp. Stay frosty.
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