UNC employee Mark Nielsen launches debut mystery novel

Computer programming, theater and novel writing are three seemingly unrelated fields.

But these three practices came together in UNC alumnus Mark Nielsen’s first novel, “Hotlanta!”

While he has an MFA in playwriting and a master’s in theater history and criticism, Nielsen works as the information systems director for UNC’s Study Abroad Office and is also a novelist. Nielsen is a man of many trades, who brings together various interests using a technical writing approach.

“Programming is basically a big logic puzzle, and what I write are mysteries, which are also logic puzzles,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen’s writing style is unconventional. Unlike many writers who first develop the characters in their story, Nielsen begins his novels by writing the plot and then adding in the characters.

“I’m very logical; I like to organize things. Before I sit down to write, everything is completely outlined,” Nielsen said. “I’ve always rebelled against what I was taught.”

While Nielsen is relatively new to the novel-writing world, he seems to have completely jumped the learning curve.

Patti Wood, who works for Headline Books Inc., said she was impressed by “Hotlanta!”

“When I got Mark’s manuscript, it only took three pages before I knew for sure that it was a book that was at the top of the list for publishing,” Wood said. “It was amazing, just in that short amount of time to see what quality the writing was and how intriguing the story was.”

Nielsen, who will hold a book launch Friday at the FedEx Global Education Center, said his desire to reach more people with his work steered him toward writing novels as opposed to plays.

“A serious, straight play really has a very, very limited audience, and so it occurred to me that if I was going to spend all that time and energy, what I really wanted to do was write something that might reach a wider audience than I could hope to reach in playwriting,” Nielsen said.

Cathy Teets, Nielsen’s publisher, said his background in playwriting is an advantage and attributes his playwriting to be one of the reasons “Hotlanta!” is so well written.

“In a play, you have to get to the message across really quick, you don’t have that much time,” Teets said.

“I’m sure that affects his writing because his book really is a page turner, there’s not a lot of fluff. You don’t ever really drift off.”

Nielsen said his desire to write mystery novels is fueled by his love of good mysteries with unpredictable endings. He is fascinated by some authors’ ability to present all of the facts in a mystery novel while still making it almost impossible for readers to guess the ending before reading it, and that he wanted to write a piece that had the same effect.

“I think mystery writers and mystery readers are playing a game,” Nielsen said.

“You open that first page, and you say ‘I’m going to figure this out before I get to the end.’”

arts@dailytarheel.com