AvantGuild Member of the Week: Mark Rayner
Age:39
Location: London, Ontario (Canada)
What is your specialty or focus?
Fiction ( I know, I’m a foolish boy). I write both novels and short stories with a leaning towards satire and science fiction. When I’m not writing, I teach web design and architecture, and consult on web issues for a variety of clients.
What’s the latest thing you’ve worked on?
My latest project is The Amadeus Net, which is my debut novel. The premise of the story is that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is alive, in love, and living in the world’s first sentient city, Ipolis. It’s a satire set in the future, and it’s about love, art and identity. (And yes, there is sex in it.) Visit ENC Press for more info.
What has been your most difficult assignment and how did you deal with its challenges?
I’d have to say an opinion piece I just finished for my alumni magazine about the difficulties of getting a first novel published. The assignment was to make it humorous as well as informative, and I discovered that it may have been “too soon” to make fun of my tribulations. This might have been easier with psychiatric help, but the way that I managed it was to play a little game of pretending I was writing the piece about someone else. It still took me eight rewrites to get it (approximately) funny.
What’s the best or most helpful thing that an editor has told you?
Read your copy aloud. I actually learned this training to be a radio journalist, but I do it now for all my writing. If something’s wrong, you’ll hear it before you see it.
What’s the worst writing or freelancing advice you’ve ever gotten?
Start a blog. The damn thing is addictive! I should be working on my next novel, and here I am messing about with memes such as: “The Lost PowerPoint Slides — Nurse on the Set of Lawrence of Arabia: Hyperthermia Case or Peter O’Toole? (slide 10 – conclusion)” I can only hope that readers of the skwib.com will be interested in my other writing, so I can justify the time spent.
What did you learn about publishing your novel that you think will help you your second time around?
I’ve learned so much; working with a professional editor has helped me become a better editor of my own material. When I read a paragraph or sentence that I think is great, I always catch myself by asking, “ok, but what would Olga [my editor/publisher at ENC] think?”
I’ve also discovered that even after many edits, there are some things that may bother you later when you read the finished product. I think the best way to live with those mistakes is to work as hard as you can to write as good a book as possible, and don’t start trying to sell it unless you think it is the best you can do on your own.
In terms of what happens after you’ve finally published, I’m still learning. The main thing that surprised me was to discover the work does not stop after you’ve finished proofing the galleys. In a way, it begins there — after you’ve got the darned thing in print, then there is all this publicity to do. What I’ve learned from other authors is that this is true whether you’ve published with a big house or a small boutique (as I have). Fiction and non-fiction. So, this will help me prepare for the next time around.
Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our 
