Tim Weaver, author of 'The Blackbird' - Thriller writer talks about learning from your second book, welcoming the worry, and making people disappear

Writer's Routine

Dan Simpson

Arts, Books, Hobbies, Leisure

4.9 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2023

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tim Weaver is a Sunday Times million copy bestseller, he's been nominated for a National Book Award, is a Richard and Judy Book Club Pick, and has been shortlisted for a CWA Dagger Award.

He's just published his 12th David Raker book, 'The Blackbird'. It follows the story of Cate and Aidan Gascoigne, whose car plunges into a ravine, but the couple vanish. We talk about the challenges writing disappearing persons thrillers, how do you have new ideas about what's happening, and who might be next. We talk about why this is a whydunnit, rather than a whodunnit.

His 13th Raker book, 'The Last Goodbye' is out later this year, and he's currently half way through another one. You can hear how he copes having so many plotlines in his head at the same time, and given he's right in the middle of writing... how he deals with the baggy middle.

You can hear how much he knows about the plot, why he doesn't like to plot too much, and what happens when it all comes together. We get some details about book contracts too, the low-level anxiety he's currently feeling, and why every author always gives the worse advice possible.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to a brand new episode of writers' routine where we're chatting to Tim Weaver.
0:13.8	His newest novel is The Blackbird. It's a missing person story, the 12th in the David Raker series.
0:20.0	We talk about why you learn a lot more in
0:22.5	your second book than you ever do in your first. Also, what sets his teeth on edge while he's writing,
0:29.2	and why actually he welcomes the worry. Part of the learning process with writing is that
0:34.2	the more you do it, the more you realize that it's not this book, it's every
0:39.4	book where you will have this worry about it and doubt about it. I'd actually be deeply
0:46.1	suspicious of any writer that gets to an end of a book and says, do you know what, that was a
0:51.0	wonderful experience, where I, where I had, and I haven't, I don't doubt for one minute that this book is going to be an amazing success. You know, like, I think writing is just a series of small battles with yourself.
1:04.2	There is all that on the way. It's a brilliant episode this week with Tim Weaver on writer's routine.
1:16.9	Yeah. Tim Weaver on Writers' Routine. Yes, welcome along to the show.
1:19.0	It's Writers' Routine, where we take a look through an author's working day.
1:23.1	Now, this week's episode is brought to you by Plotter.
1:26.2	Very excited for a little while.
1:28.6	Plotter are helping to power this show.
1:31.1	I've really enjoyed talking to you about them for the last few weeks and hearing your
1:36.3	experiences with the software.
1:38.0	It does everything that you need on the back end of writing so you can focus on actually getting the words down on the page.
1:46.4	It does what the title says. It plots. It helps you plan your book the way that you think.
1:50.8	It lets you outline faster, organize smarter. It helps you turbocharge your productivity.
1:56.2	And if you're a visual writer, and if you look around you right now wherever you're working if it's
2:02.7	quite a busy colorful scattered space i think this will really help and streamline that process for you
	...

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