Terry Tyler – in conversation with Lorna Hunting

Thank you very much, Terry, for agreeing to be my “in conversation” guest this month. With 28 books to your credit and more forthcoming, you’ve written Sci-Fi, Murder Mystery, Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic and Contemporary drama novels. Personally I particularly enjoyed ‘Where there’s Doubt’ ‘Tipping Point’ and ‘Hope’ – here’s my blog review for ‘Hope’ from March 2022. wordpress.com/post/lornahunting.com/1394

All your books can be found on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

UK BOOKS amazon.co.uk/stores/Terry-Tyler/author/B00693EGKM

US BOOKS amazon.com/stores/Terry-Tyler/author/B00693EGKM

You also write a blog covering – Writers and writing, TV Reviews, observational humour and general ranting, social media, nostalgia, The Walking Dead, relationships, and short stories.

BLOG: terrytyler59.blogspot.com

X (formerly Twitter) https://x.com/TerryTyler4

Let’s begin with your early years, did you read a lot as a child?  

Yes, my parents encouraged it.  We were taken to the library every Saturday, and I remember feeling there was something magical about all those as-yet-unread pages.  Still do.

What is your favourite childhood book? Do you still have it?

Not just one.  I can never answer those favourite book/film/author questions; I have too many. I do have one of my favourites, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but it was re-bought when I was eighteen.  I don’t have anything from childhood aside from my toy fox – I belong to a family of chucker-outers, alas.

Did you always know you wanted to be an author? Did you write/tell stories/put on plays as a child?

Yes, to the second part, and no, I don’t still have any of them, thank goodness!  As far as ‘being an author’ is concerned, no; I never thought about it much.  There’s a difference between wanting to ‘be a writer’ and wanting ‘to write’.  I’m in the second camp. Yes, having the compulsion to “put pen to paper” is an important part of my process.

THE WRITING PROCESS

Do you find time to write every day?

Sadly no; all too often life gets in the way.  When I have a lot on, I usually think, right, I will do A,B,C and D for the next three days, then I’ll be clear to write without thinking about all the other stuff I need to do.

Are you most inspired at a certain time of day?

Yes – I’ve always thought of myself as a morning person, but lately I’ve found that I really get into my stride at around seven at night.  Which is inconvenient, as that’s when I need to be cooking dinner, winding down for the evening, etc.

Do you write chronologically – start at the beginning and work through to the end?

Almost always.  I imagine that to not do so must invite all sorts of continuity problems.

What is your favourite part of the writing process? eg getting down the first draft, editing, researching?

Opening the MS up for the second draft, and knowing that the raw material to work on is waiting for me.  The story as told to myself, to misquote Terry Pratchett.  Then, I start the job of turning it into something other people will want to read, too.

What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you?

The first draft.  Agony. From what I’ve heard and read you ar not alone in this.

Do you plot in advance or let your work evolve?

I plot in advance but I always get different ideas as the process begins.  I know the basic story before I start, and will outline the next few chapters as I go along, but I no longer worry if I’m not sure of the actual ending.  It always comes to me eventually, and then changes at least once.  So it’s a mixture, really.

Was there ever a moment when you felt like giving up on your writing?

Not really.  Sometimes I think how nice it would be to take the (self-imposed) pressure off and just read and review, have more time for other stuff, but I always feel kind of rudderless and frustrated if I don’t write for longer than two weeks or so.

YOUR BOOKS

  What was the inspiration for your first novel?

I wrote my first novel in 1993, not published.  Hard to remember; I’d thought of some characters based on people I knew, and invented a story around them.  I wasn’t working at the time, and one day I thought, I wonder if I could write a novel.  So I sat down at the kitchen table with some paper and a pen, and found that I could.  I knew I had a long way to go before I wrote anything publishable, but the basic ability was there.

There are some wonderfully descriptive passages in your books. I wonder, do you write a hurried first draft and then return to edit in depth, or do you take your time in getting the initial outline on paper and edit carefully as you go along?

A mixture of both.  I write the full story in the first draft – I never think, oh, I’ll go and add more weight to that later.  Because I think you have to battle through, even if it’s one of those parts that you’re finding difficult to write.  Get it all down, even if you fear it might not be much good.  When I open up the document I always do a bit of a rewrite of what I did yesterday, so I suppose I do edit as I go along, yes. 

At a book group talk recently I was asked about the themes in my writing and whether I had a message or messages I wanted to get across. How would you respond to such a question?

Sometimes I have, sometimes I haven’t.  When I wrote Tipping Point in 2016 and Hope in 2018, and then the rest of each series, I was inspired by all I’d read about Agenda 21, as it was then (now Agenda 30 or the Great Reset).  Yes, I wanted to write about possible dystopian futures, because I’d become so interested in the way in which public opinion is manipulated by the media, which I find fascinating, and how the government would implement total surveillance, digital currency and a social credit system (in Wasteland and Megacity), and targeted depopulation, in Tipping Point and Hope.  I admit, I do want to put a message across sometimes, but generally, I just write a story. 

FUTURE PROJECTS

What can readers look forward to in your next book/series?

I’m currently working on a series of novellas/novelettes on the subject of revenge.  I have started four of them, and have notes for others.  I plan to finish two or three before I publish.

How do you think you will evolve as an author in the next decade? For example, do you envisage writing in new genre?

I have no idea!  I keep saying I’ll write some historical fiction, but I continue to find the prospect daunting.  I don’t think of genre much, really; the revenge novellas are varied in theme.  I tend to think, I want to write a story about such-and-such, and worry about what genre it is when it’s time to publish.

Do you prefer to read in print or digital?

Digital.  It’s just easier.  The tapping of the screen, the writing of notes, the ability to buy the next one in a series from one’s bed at 11 at night.  I love my Kindle!

How do you feel about audiobooks?

I like them, but I have to be doing something else while I listen to one or I fall asleep – they’re like bedtime stories!

Do you play an instrument?

No, I don’t have an ounce of musical or singing talent in my body.

Do you think writers can improve their craft outside of writing by following other activities? For example, by travelling?

Yes, in that anything you do away from your desk will give you more life experience to draw upon for stories, characters, cultures, settings, etc., but no, when it comes to the actual writing itself.  The ability to write good sentences is a talent that you’re born with, or not.  Travelling probably makes you more understanding about different cultures, and is certainly an experience worth having simply for the joy in seeing the world, but, as with any other talent, you improve your writing by actually doing it.  Remember, Jane Austen scarcely left the village in which she was born.

Thank you very much for joining us in conversation today, Terry, and sharing your life as an author.

Many thanks, Lorna, for inviting me to your blog, and I hope this has been of interest to your readers!