Mark Bickerton - I'm Inspired By Ordinary People, Who Always Amaze Me With Their Indomitable Strength (Author, UK)

TV can be quite lucrative, but making money is not necessarily the be all and end all. I don't see any reason why it's imperative for a writer to be rich. Poverty can be as vital a source of material as wealth.

1. Tell us more about your background and journey & When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I grew up in Cheshire UK with four brothers in a happy household. My mother and father were very hardworking because they had to be in order to feed hungry mouths. After attending Grammar School I became an engineer, following in my father's footsteps. But I always wanted more. I wanted to travel, to see the world. I wanted to write. So I wrote. I started writing stories when I was in my teens, then realised my passion was to work in TV, and in particular for my favourite programme, the world famous Coronation Street.

2. Is it a financially stable career?

This naturally depends on how successful you are. TV can be quite lucrative, but making money is not necessarily the be all and end all. I don't see any reason why it's imperative for a writer to be rich. Poverty can be as vital a source of material as wealth.

3. Who is your favourite writer and why?

William Trevor. Because he is the master of the short story. He wrote beautifully and neatly, with lots of warmth and humour in his study of the human psyche.

4. Where does your inspiration lie?

I'm inspired by ordinary people, who always amaze me with their indomitable strength to experience nightmares and wake up fighting. I lived and worked in Genocidal Rwanda, the job I'm probably most proud of, and the Rwandan people astounded me with their ability to cope with the result of atrocious acts.

5. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring writers?

Start writing and never stop. Most importantly, don't stop if anyone says you can't do it.

6. Which is your favourite book and why?

This will sound like blatant marketing, but my favourite is my own - Day Return to Cocoa Yard.  I choose this because it saved my life. I've lived with depression all of my life, and writing the book took me through a very series episode leading to a suicide attempt. The fact that I failed in trying to end my life led me to writing the book, and to realising life was not so bleak as I thought. The book's imperfections are tolerable to me because its loosely-connected stories and anthologies mean so much.

- Mark Bickerton (Author)

Mark Bickerton has many writing and producing credits in TV, radio and theatre. He is known principally for his work on British soap operas such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale, but is now working with his first love of prose. Day Return to Cocoa Yard is his debut book. As a storyteller and writing consultant, Mark has lived in remote and often troubled parts of the globe including Rwanda and the African Great Lakes Region. His permanent home is in Cheshire England, where he lives alone with a part-time lodger called depression and many full-time friends. He has been married twice and has four children and two grandchildren.

- Interviewed By Pratibha Sahani