Terry Hayes, author of 'The Year of the Locust' - Acclaimed bestseller talks about using song lyrics, cutting hundreds of thousands of words, and the pressure of the second novel
Writer's Routine
Dan Simpson
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Terry Hayes started his career as a journalist before heading to Hollywood. He found real success there, writing on 'Flight Plan', 'Payback', and penning, 'Mad Max II'. In 2013, he published 'I Am Pilgrim' to international acclaim and success.
10 years later, he's written his second novel, 'The Year of the Locust'. It tells the story of Kane, a CIA spy who can go where other's can't. We discuss the pressure of following huge success, why he's taken 10 years to publish a new book, and why that combination of thoughts made him chuck out hundreds of thousands of words.
You can hear what Hollywood is really like for a writer, why writing novels is more validating than penning screenplays, and why the easiest way to stave off boredom... is to create challenges.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome along to a brand new episode of writers' routine where we're chatting to Terry Hayes. |
| 0:14.2 | Terry has been a journalist, a screenwriter, and he's back with a new book called The Year of the Locust. |
| 0:20.2 | It's his second book published 10 years after his best-selling, highly acclaimed debut, I Am Pilgrim. |
| 0:28.2 | We talk about why this second has taken quite a long time, also why he has no choice in the way that he works, |
| 0:35.2 | and why song lyrics are important in getting him into the story. |
| 0:38.7 | In Pilgrim, it says that the spy world is very interesting because you can check out any time |
| 0:47.5 | you like, but you can never leave. Hotel California by the Eagles. It says also in Pilgrim, |
| 0:53.6 | when you ain't got nothing, it's simple. You've got |
| 0:55.8 | nothing to lose, Bob Dylan. And on and on. So you're looking for an access to an emotion. |
| 1:03.1 | Well, people that write really good song lyrics know how to find an emotion in very few words. |
| 1:11.9 | Well, I don't steal their words, but I look for the emotion. |
| 1:15.4 | I think that's the emotional content of this scene. |
| 1:18.8 | So I start to think like that, and then half the time I have to play the song, |
| 1:23.1 | and then I think this is all hopeless, and who would ever do this job and this is ridiculous. |
| 1:28.7 | So I look on my iMac and I read the newspaper and get really depressed. |
| 1:34.8 | But I've freshened up. |
| 1:37.1 | I put aside everything. |
| 1:39.2 | I think, okay, back on to it. |
| 1:40.6 | There is more with Terry Hayes in this week's writers routine. |
| 1:52.0 | Okay. Back on to it. There is more with Terry Hayes in this week's Writers' Routine. Yes, welcome along to the show. |
| 1:53.4 | This is Writers Routine, where we take a look through an author's working day. |
| 1:57.1 | My name is Dan Simpson, and this week we are sponsored by Ploteter. It's a writing software that does what it says on the tin. |
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