We caught up with David Mark, following his rather brilliant Festival appearance on the annual ‘New Blood’ panel. Now a firm Festival fixture, each year Val McDermid introduces her personal selection of the crime fiction scene’s hottest new talent in this ‘must see’ panel. David appeared in the line-up alongside Elizabeth Haynes, Oliver Harris and Kate Rhodes. If you missed the event, the ‘New Blood’ author showcase panel is now available to download in full from our e-shop and you can also win copies of all the debut novels, including Marks’s The Dark Winter, in our exclusive New Blood competition.

Hello David! Are you fully recovered from this year’s Crime Writing Festival? Are we right in saying that was your first time at the Festival? What was your favourite moment; your Harrogate highlight?

It took a while and the drive back is a bit of a blur but I’m just about recovered, even though my liver is still sulking. It was indeed my first time and I enjoyed every moment. It felt wonderful just to be in that sort of company. It’s not often I’m in a room with people who think the way I do and it was a great relief to find that most writers are riddled with the same kind of odd thoughts, insecurities and a desperate need to drink heavily and be adored, as I am. The highlight for me was probably being on stage with Val, but I did get a kick out of being on a quiz team with Front Row’s Mark Lawson and hearing my girlfriend tell him to relax and not take it so seriously. I also rather liked hearing a household name shout “t****r” at Stephen Leather. He took the word right out of my mouth.

Your debut novel The Dark Winter, described by the queen of crime Val McDermid as ‘an exceptional debut from an exciting new talent’, was in fact the biggest seller in this year’s Festival bookshop, selling more copies than any other single author. An amazing accolade for a debut! How does that make you feel?

I guess I feel a bit embarrassed, more than anything else. Humble, too, and thrilled, certainly, but my brain hasn’t really made sense of it yet so I’ve decided not to over-analyse. The manager at Waterstone’s did give me a great back-handed compliment when the shop sold out, saying “we hadn’t expected you to be so popular”.

Please tell us, in one sentence only, why people should read ‘The Dark Winter’.

Because I have two children who will starve if they don’t.

A little research tells us you had your first finished novel at the age of 21. For other aspiring writers out there, how did you find the publishing process, and can you pinpoint that ‘big break’ moment? Tell us about the journey – agents, editors, and getting signed by Quercus…

As anybody who has heard me speak can testify, I have endured quite a long road to get here. I’ve written all my life but getting a foot in the door when you don’t know anybody in the business and didn’t go to school with somebody whose daddy runs a publishing house, is damn hard. I just kept writing books, sending them off to agents, then getting rejected. Then I finally got an agent and thought that it was all about to happen, but no publishers offered a deal. After a few frustrating years I was put in touch with agent Oli Munson, who thankfully loved the book that would become The Dark Winter. Within a fortnight there was a multi-house auction and other countries were offering too. It all happened quite quickly. Getting phonecalls from editors trying to persuade me to go with them, was one of the best feelings of my life. I loved Quercus from the off. They just seemed to understand what I was trying to do and I haven’t regretted that decision for a moment. The ‘big break’ came when Oli took me on. Everything has come good after that. I don’t know where he gets his powers, but I believe they involve a complicated ritual and a goat.

The Dark Winter is set in Hull, where you worked as a crime reporter for 15 years. How has your real-life journalistic experience inspired and helped your writing of fiction?

The most important thing was that I met people at extremes of emotion. I interviewed a lot of grieving families, right when they were at their most raw and the characters I write about tend to exist in those moments. I know how the room tastes in that particular situation. A lot of the police procedure is research and guesswork but in terms of the victims’ families and witnesses, I feel able to write with some degree of integrity. Being a journalist also helps you understand that almost anything can happen and everybody is fascinating at some point in their lives.

Is David Mark the writer different to David Mark the journalist? Any frustrations between the two – we guess the world of journalism moves much faster than the world of publishing?

I’m much more of a git as a journalist. You have to be. You kind of leave your soul at the door. You don’t care if people like you and if you have to be brusque to get an immediate answer, so be it. Me as a novelist is more like me as a person. I over-think things. I get very deferential and respectful in my correspondence with editors and agents and whatnot. As a journalist you just bark at people until you get an answer. In the book world, you wait ages and try not to show your impatience. I haven’t really got used to that yet. Journalism moves very quickly and publishing moves like an arthritic tortoise carrying a fridge. But I prefer being a novelist. When people don’t like what you’ve done, they’re usually quite kind about it. As a journalist, your mates will lean over your shoulder, look at your computer screen and say “that intro is crap”. I’m pleased to be out of it, to be honest.

Which authors have been your biggest inspirations, and have you ever met them?

I have a real mixed bag of inspirations. Agatha Christie got me into reading crime fiction but John Connolly showed me the possibilities within the genre. Ian Rankin is the king of what we do. More than anybody, I’d say Reg Hill. Truly, I can think of nobody so effortlessly brilliant with words and characters. I’ve met John and very briefly spoke to Ian at this year’s festival. Both were terrific. I’ve since appeared on the same bill as John and we got on great. He’s a charming and very intelligent chap and had the good grace to say nice things about me. He also bought me a Jameson’s and some crisps, so he has earned a lifelong debt of friendship.

When can we expect to see the return of DS Aector McAvoy?

Very soon. The paperback version of Dark Winter (sneak peek of the jacket cover right) is out in February then the second McAvoy book is out in March. It’s called Original Skin and is a bigger and darker book. I can’t really give too much away, but it’s all about the lengths we will go to in order to hide our secrets and desires. Throw in some steaminess, tattoos, swinging parties and dogging and you end up with  McAvoy blushing quite a lot.

If someone wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?

I’m tempted to say 101 Dalmatians but my girlfriend would kill me. Probably Veni, Vidi, Vino, or Working Class Zero. Something with a pun. I love a pun. It must be a hangover from the tabloid years.