The Terminal List

Test the story as a one-page back cover before committing to it. In December 2014 Carr laid six to ten one-page summaries on his kitchen table and picked The Terminal List. He asked whether it was worth a year and a half of his life, and whether a stranger at an airport shelf would buy it from the back cover.

If the answer is yes or probably, the summary becomes an outline, then the narrative, and the summary is discarded. The other summaries were saved for later books, such as Savage Son. He has used the method for every book since. "Is the story intriguing enough for someone to spend time in that they know they're never going to get back?"

How I Write▶ 9:19

A theme of a few words keeps the book focused and named it. Carr wrote 'revenge without constraint' on a yellow sticky note by his computer, and everything in the book had to tie back to it. The phrase gave him the title The Terminal List almost immediately.

He describes the theme as something he is "not beholden to it, but guided by it," which stops him wandering into ideas that don't fit. The idea came from a playwright who kept a few sentences on theme beside his typewriter.

How I Write▶ 7:53

Remembered feelings from real combat made the ambush scene feel authentic. Carr did no research for the Los Angeles ambush in The Terminal List. He applied his memory of being ambushed in Baghdad in 2006, recalling the strategy, constraints and feelings rather than rebuilding the sensory scene.

The plot needed an attempt on Reece's life so the reporter would believe the conspiracy. He says readers sense the authenticity even without knowing his background, and a former car dealer writing a sale could do the same. "I can remember the feelings and I can take those now and apply them to a completely fictional narrative."

How I Write▶ 3:10

The TV team improved a character enough to earn a spin-off. Amazon Prime made The Terminal List into a series starring Chris Pratt. The writers' room and Taylor Kitsch gave Ben Edwards empathy and compassion, making him much better than the book version, which led to the spin-off Dark Wolf.

Unlike the novels, where his publisher, editor and agent give no notes, every word at Amazon goes to the top for notes, and around 350 people work on set. Carr says actors bring what the page didn't have and are allowed to ad-lib: "the enemy gets a vote."

How I Write