Interview: Compton-based author Mark Edwards talks

From battling nightmare neighbours to a holiday from hell, he definitely takes great delight in making their worlds fall apart as well as terrifying them, and his readers, along the way.

And his latest psychological thriller The Devil's Work, which was published in September, is no exception. It tells the tale of Sophie Greenwood who is quickly rattled by her colleagues on her first day in a new publishing job.

Memories she would rather forget are dragged up by an unnerving encounter, deeply unsettling her both at work and at home with her family.

"I describe it as The Devil Wears Prada re-written by Stephen King," says full-time author Mark who lives with his family in Compton, Wolverhampton.

"I'm interested in the way normal people react to difficult situations and the scary things that happen. I like to create characters and make everything go wrong for them," he adds.

The Devil's Work, which features mentions of Wolverhampton and Banks's brewery, was partly inspired by Mark and his wife Sara's experiences of going back to work after a baby and their own experiences of offices from hell.

Drawing from his own encounters is something all of his novels, including his solo debut, The Magpies, have in common.

"The central idea is always based on something that has happened to me. The Magpies was based on bad neighbours that used to live beneath me.

"Follow You Home is about travel through Europe that goes very wrong. I went interrailing when I was in my 20s and I was robbed on my third day. I ended up stranded in the south of France and having to hitchhike home," he explains.

So, what is the secret to a successful psychological thriller? "People always want a big twist. They will rate the book by whether they liked the twist.

"I don't usually know how it is going to end when I start writing. The ending normally doesn't come to me until the very last minute but I think if you can surprise yourself, you can surprise the reader," says the father of four who lists Stephen King, James Herbert and Clive Barker among his favourite authors.

"I usually have the basic premise and I will have a few of the key scenes I know I want to write playing in my head like little movies.

"I always write the back-story for the bad guy – there's always a bad guy – because you need to understand why they are doing what they are doing and what their motivation is. Some of it will not make it into the book but I find it useful," he explains.

He insists that despite his success, which has seen more than 1.7 million copies of his books sold on Amazon, he lives a 'not very glamorous' life made up of doing the school run, trips to the tip and visits to the supermarket.

"I did get recognised in Sainsbury's in Wolverhampton and then the following day in Telford. Somebody came up to me and asked 'are you Mark Edwards?'. My sister was with me and probably thinks it happens all the time – it doesn't."

Recalling getting ready for a book launch a couple of years ago, he says: "I remember pushing the trolley around Sainsbury's, because I had to buy the drinks and glasses for the launch, and thinking 'I bet J K Rowling never had to do this.'"

Each novel will involve nine months to a year's work after the initial light bulb moment, depending on the complexity of the plot.

"Having an idea isn't the hard part. It's working out what is a good idea. Only one in 10 or one in 20 will be a book-sized idea and something people are going to want to read. You're going to spend the next year working on it so you need to be excited by it. People always say 'I've got an idea for a book' but it's not the coming up with the idea that's difficult it's turning it into something people want to read.

"If you come up with an idea and start telling people you will soon know if it's a good one or not when you hear it come out of your mouth. It might sound ridiculous or boring."

His books have been reviewed more than 10,000 times on Amazon and the 45-year-old admits to having read most of them.

"I think it's important to read the reviews because it tells you what people like and don't like about a book. Swearing, sex and cruelty to animals gets the most complaints.

"Violence against people, children getting abducted – they like all that stuff. If you kill an animal, have too much swearing or too much sex – you get complaint letters.

"I've got less sex and swearing in my books now because I've probably been beaten into submission."

It's not, however, always been easy for Mark. He had previously co-written a series of crime novels with Louise Voss but faced uncertainty over what the future held when their contract came to an end.

He then discovered self-publishing and has never looked back. The success of self-published solo debut The Magpies, which topped the Kindle chart, led to him securing a deal with Amazon publishing imprint Thomas & Mercer.

Now he has almost finished his next book The Lucky Ones, which he expects to be published in June next year and is mostly set in Shropshire.

"There's a serial killer going through Shropshire killing people and leaving them in picturesque places – the first is Wenlock Priory, explains Mark, who is originally from Hastings.

But he's not giving too much away.

Despite the plaudits his novels have received, he tries not to take his success for granted and says he is determined not to rest on his laurels.

"I never thought I would be making a living from it and having number one bestsellers. I just need to sustain it. You're never able to really relax but I don't think J K Rowling or James Patterson ever think 'I've made it' – they're always striving to be better."

By Heather Large