Creative Writing lecturer publishes debut novel
17 July 2024
Creative Writing BA lecturer Adrian Markle has released his first novel, Bruise.
The story revolves around Jamie, a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter who is forced to retire due to injury just before breaking through to the sport’s upper echelons. As he returns to the impoverished hometown he left as a teenager, he struggles to reunite with his estranged brother and find a new purpose for his life.
The novel was originally written as the creative component of Adrian’s PhD in English by creative practice at the University of Exeter.
We caught up with Adrian and asked him a few questions about the book, and moving to novel writing from short stories.
How long have you been writing the book?
It feels like I’ve been writing this forever! I started thinking about this book in 2013 when I began the process of writing a PhD proposal. I refined the idea over a couple of years (I’m a big planner), started the PhD in 2016, did some more planning, and then wrote the novel in 2017. It got put to the side until I finished the rest of the PhD, then I ignored it for another year, then spent about the same amount of time submitting it to agents and publishers.
Does it draw on any experiences or characters in real life? Are you an MMA fan?
I’ve been involved in athletics my whole life, and martial arts the most. I did MMA a bit in high school and a little again during my undergrad. Never competitively, just for fun. I do Jiu Jitsu now, which is not exactly easy at 40. One of my old friends went professional and fought in the UFC, so I had a good resource for information and detail.
What's your approach to creating good dialogue?
I personally think dialogue has two jobs: 1. Further our understanding of character; 2. Be cool. If it’s not doing one or both of those things, it should get cut. I think dialogue should often feel overheard and the reader should feel a little like they’re eavesdropping. Every character needs their own voice, which has to be authentic to that character’s experience. Also, the writer should make efforts to respect it while also being economical on the page; we shouldn’t waste our readers’ time.
Will there be a follow-up book?
If you’re asking whether I will write another book, yes, I hope so. And I especially hope I won’t take ten years on it. If you’re asking whether I will write another book in the Bruise extended universe, I doubt it. I think this part of Jamie’s story is pretty much finished, and that was the part I thought was most interesting to explore. I won’t completely rule out an “Old Man Jamie” novel in the distant future, but I have absolutely no plans or ideas for that at present.
Any other upcoming projects that you'd like to talk about or tease?
I’m editing two books on teaching creative writing that are in various stages of development with Bloomsbury, which is what I am spending most of my time on now, when I’m not doing promotional stuff for the novel.
After that, I want to start putting together a collection of short fiction, which I’ve loved to write for as long as I’ve been writing.
Bruise is published by Brindle and Glass in Canada. More information, reviews, and purchase options can be found at the links below.
External links
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