with Terry Hayes
We are delighted to welcome thriller writer Terry Hayes to Omnimystery News today.
An accomplished screenwriter, Terry's debut novel is I Am Pilgrim (Atria Books; May 2014 hardcover, audiobook and ebook formats) an espionage thriller that depicts the collision course between two geniuses, one a tortured hero and one a determined terrorist.
We recently had a chance to catch up with the author to talk about his new book.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to I Am Pilgrim. Into what genre do you place it, and is it the first of a series?
Photo provided courtesy of
Terry Hayes
Terry Hayes: Well, I sort of fall into a strange category when it comes to the use of a recurring character as opposed to a stand-alone. As this is a debut novel, I'm just hoping it does well enough so that I get a chance to decide! My plan — and of course it is nothing more than a plan — is to take my character code-named Pilgrim through three epic novels, revealing more and more of his background and developing his character. Interspersed with those I intend to do stand-alone novels.
The reason for this approach is relatively simple. I Am Pilgrim is a crime mystery wrapped with an espionage thriller, which crosses countries and continents. It also has a quote at the beginning from Raymond Chandler, so you can see that I like things that can be pretty hard-boiled too. I didn't give it any particular label, as such — I just sat down and tried to tell the absolute best story I could. For that reason, I don't think it easily fits into any category except "thriller". If I couldn't see that each page wasn't leading to something really gripping then I went back and re-plotted it. Successfully, I hope, but other people's mileage may vary, of course.
I love the character and I would like to take him on a full journey until, at the end of the third book, he finds some sort of peace. A safe harbor, if you will. At the same time, I want to write other tales, invent other characters. I suppose, if I had my choice, I don't want to be confined to crime mystery or espionage stories — I would prefer to be known as somebody who just writes, gripping, thrilling tales.
OMN: Tell us something about the book that isn't mentioned in the publisher's synopsis.
TH: How about, it was far harder to do than I ever imagined? I had written quite a few movies, some of which became pretty well known, and a lot of long-form TV, so — quite foolishly — I thought I knew what I was in for. Boy, what a learning curve! Anyway, it got done and I suppose the one thing the publisher hasn't mentioned — probably for good reason — is that it can be pretty confronting, pretty violent in places. There is one scene which involves what is known in medicine as an enucleation which some people have said caused them a few sleepless nights. Well, I say to myself, at least one scene worked!
OMN: Give us a summary of I Am Pilgrim in a tweet.
TH: Don't you just hate Twitter! I tried to write an epic story and I only have 140 characters?! I'll try. From a seedy hotel in New York to Roman ruins called The Theatre of Death, a desperate race against time to prevent a cataclysmic attack on America. One man to take the journey. Pilgrim. ( I think it's more but if I keep rewriting it, we'll be here for a month.)
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the book?
TH: I think my main character — who uses the code-name Pilgrim — is attractive, charming and intelligent: so, of course, I figure he is totally based on me. My wife, on the other hand, says I am completely deluded and he bears no resemblance whatsoever! So, leaving aside the physical attributes, I believe that a lot of his attitudes — the moral system he follows and the things in life which he really values — are very similar to my own. He is a bit of a loner, an outsider to some extent, and I think those qualities are very common among writers. I guess it helps when you have to sit alone in a room for such long periods of time. Yes, there are a number of events which are drawn directly from my own experience — I have traveled extensively, visited or lived in many of the locales, and have drawn greatly from that. For example, the main character visits a little known Nazi concentration camp on the French border and sees a photo there that never leaves him. That was taken directly from my experience. Unfortunately, I can't forget the photo either.
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
TH: I have to know the characters well — whether I wrote the stuff down or just keep talking to myself about them, is immaterial to me. As long as I can tell what they would do in any given situation. Working with some really fine actors on characters in movies has been a great help. The plot is much the same — I keep telling the story to myself, picking holes in it, trying to push it farther out on to the edge. Sometimes I have to take extensive notes to try to keep sequences and chronologies straight. Did I mention it is sort of epic? But I have to leave myself room for the story to start telling me what should happen — otherwise it sort of becomes more just typing than writing. Still, if there is one thing I have learned — everyone has their own system; there is no right or wrong way. There is just a method that works for the individual.
OMN: And what about where you write?
TH: Messy. Very messy. A very large circulation newspaper in the city where I live — funnily enough, the same paper I was once a journalist and foreign correspondent for — came to do a story about Pilgrim and they decided to photograph me at my desk in my office. The photographer walked in, took one look, shook his head, and refused. I think I'll leave it at that, if you don't mind.
OMN: How did you go about researching the plot points of the story?
TH: The internet is a fantastic resource and if the author doesn't use it, sure as life some of the readers will. Having spent many years as a journalist, I know the value of interviews and asking questions until you are satisfied you have an understanding of what you are dealing with. Real life so often turns up things which no novelist could ever invent, so it is always useful to keep an observational eye open and to talk to experts. The most challenging topic? The science of virus replication and synthesis action, the "just over the horizon" developments in microbiology and the brave new world we are plunging, more or less blind, straight into. The most challenging — also the most frightening.
OMN: Tell us something about the settings in I Am Pilgrim.
TH: I have been to most of the places featured in the book — with the exception of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, which I thought were just a little too dangerous for someone with four young kids. I try to stay true where I can but sometimes you have to take liberties, to get the story to work or just for the sake of interest. I mean, I don't think there really was a provincial coliseum renowned for its gladiatorial contests known as the Theatre of Death — but it seemed to sum up what happened in the real ones so well, I couldn't resist it. It is called fiction, after all.
OMN: If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, to research the setting for a book, where would it be?
TH: Paris. I like the food, I like the shops, and I get sick of sitting in a room by myself for months on end, staring at a — mostly blank — computer screen. I also like the fact I don't speak or understand French, so when the Parisians are their normal brusque selves with foreigners, I have no idea what they are a talking about.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into your books?
TH: My kids, mostly. They play a lot of sport and I try to encourage and be there for that. I watch movies with them, try to teach them about character development and all that stuff they probably find very boring but are too polite to say so. I ride my bike about sixty or seventy miles a week. I don't like doing it but writing is a sedentary occupation and while I think creativity and art are extremely important, I don't think they are worth dying for. I am also very romantic towards my wife. (This isn't actually true but as I know she will read this, I figured I'd better put it in.)
OMN: What is the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as a writer?
TH: I don't think there is any. Everyone has to find their own path, chart their own course. Like William Goldman once said about movies and screenwriting — nobody knows anything. One person's golden rule is someone else's poison. Follow your heart, I suppose is the only thing that I've learned. If you have a passion to write, then you have no other choice, so even that advice is pretty superfluous. As for criticism — I listen to what people have to say but I have learned that those offering the critique rarely have the right answers. Storytelling is a complex matrix and mostly people's solutions might solve one problem but open up a yawning chasm later on. So, the criticisms may be valid but finding the solution is the writer's problem. And joy.
OMN: How did you come up with the title for the book? And were you involved with the cover design?
TH: I had a hundred titles, some completely cringe-worthy I might add. But working in the movies teaches you that being memorable is extremely important — you don't want something soft or withy-washy. There are too many things competing for people's attention, too much noise, in the public arena, only a memorable title will help break through that wall of indifference. You also need something a little different. Because my story is told in the first person — and I particularly liked the name and description "pilgrim" — I figured that, for an origin story of a secret agent, I Am Pilgrim seemed to tick a lot of boxes. It sort of also told potential readers that they would really get to know this man and I thought that was useful. The publishers agreed, and stuck with it, so that was heartening. They also came up with the cover design — which I thought was simple, visual and powerful. It's so good I would like to take credit for it but I can't.
OMN: You are also a successful screenwriter and producer. Suppose I Am Pilgrim were to be adapted for television or film, who do you see playing the key roles?
TH: I have given this a lot of thought. In fact, I have written a whole article about it. Without repeating that here, suffice to say it has to be a real movie star; one of those ten or twelve people who can open a movie. Why? Given the potential budget of the story that is told in the novel, that is the only way to have some sort of guarantee that the movie would be made. Without that, I think it could end up being stuck in development hell forever. There is an added complication — because it is, for the most part, an espionage thriller both Daniel Craig and Matt Damon would be pretty difficult to attract because they have both played covert agents in recent years. Thankfully, Brad Pitt and Daniel Day-Lewis, and a number of other great actors, haven't. Not so thankfully, they usually have their work schedules mapped out several years ahead and I long ago learned that what type of roles an actor would like is almost impossible to predict. You write your novel and you take your chances, I guess.
OMN: As a screenwriter, how much interaction have you had with the authors of the source material? And would consider adapting your own novel?
TH: Having adapted other people's novels to the screen, and spoken to many other prominent screenwriters who have, I can honestly say: not much interaction. It is really a dialogue with the director, sometimes, the producer, the studio always and equally with the lead actors. It is an unfortunate fact of life that if the novelist is not also the screenwriter — or unless the novel is such a huge success that the author can insist on something more meaningful than "consultation" — the team involved in turning the story into a script nearly always have their own views and opinions. If that is going to cause too much anguish, or the author is not the screenwriter him/herself it would probably be better not to sell the movie or TV rights.
OMN: What's next for you?
TH: Another thriller, but as I mentioned earlier — not one in the Pilgrim saga. Who knows if Pilgrim will be successful, who knows if it will fulfill all of my most heartfelt ambitions for it? But this next one — called The Year of the Locust — oh, it almost certainly will. You see, I think that is one of the things about writers, an essential ingredient that keeps all of us going, no matter how misguided we might be: hope for our work springs eternal.
And thank goodness, it does!
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Terry Hayes, a former journalist and screen-writer, began his career at The Sydney Morning Herald and later wrote the screenplay for Road Warrior/Mad Max 2 with George Miller. His other credits in Australia as co-producer and writer include Dead Calm, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and a host of mini-series — among them The Dismissal, Bodyline, Vietnam and Bangkok Hilton.
In the US, he has written or co-written Payback with Mel Gibson, From Hell starring Johnny Depp, and Vertical Limit with Chris O'Donnell. He has also done un-credited writing on many other movies including Reign of Fire, Cliffhanger and Flightplan.
Terry lives in Switzerland with his wife, Kristen, and their four children.
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I Am Pilgrim
Terry Hayes
An Espionage Thriller
Pilgrim is the code name for a world class and legendary secret agent. His adversary is a man known only to the reader as the Saracen. As a young boy, the Saracen barely sees his dissident father beheaded in a Saudi Arabian public square. But the event marks him for life and creates a burning desire to destroy the special relationship between the US and the Kingdom. Everything in the Saracen's life from this moment forward will be in service to jihad.
The story opens with woman lying face down in a pool of acid, features melted off her face, teeth missing, fingerprints gone. The room has been sprayed down with DNA-eradicating antiseptic spray. All the techniques are pulled directly from Pilgrim's book, a cult classic of forensic science written under a pen name.
In offering the NYPD some casual assistance with the case, Pilgrim gets pulled back into the intelligence underground. What follows is a thriller that jockeys between astonishingly detailed character study and breakneck globetrotting. The author shifts effortlessly from Pilgrim's hidden life of leisure in Paris to the Saracen's squalid warrior life in Afghanistan, from the hallways of an exclusive Swiss bank to the laboratories of a nefarious biotech facility in Syria.
The inevitable encounter between Pilgrim and the Saracen will come in Turkey, around the murder of a wealthy American, in a thrilling, twisting, beautifully orchestrated finale.
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