Interview with Crime Writer Dana Haynes: S. 6, Ep. 11 The Crime Cafe

Debbi Mack interviews crime and thriller writer Dana Haynes on the Crime Cafe podcast.



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And, once again, we have a transcription of the show notes. Click here to download a copy in PDF.







Debbi (00:02): Hello everyone. My guest today is an award winning journalist who spent more than 20 years in Oregon newsrooms. I like that. He is not only a thriller novelist, but also a screenwriter. In fact, his first screenplay, an adaptation of his first thriller novel Crashers made the Nicholl Fellowship semifinals in 2005. That's pretty impressive. It's my great pleasure to introduce thriller author, screenwriter, and Pacific Northwest native, Dana Haynes. Hi Dana. Thanks for being here.



Dana (01:16): Hey, it's good to be here.



Debbi (01:18): I'm so glad you're with us. Oregon is just a beautiful state and Portland's an awesome town. Do you do a lot of signings at Powell's? You know, back when you could do signings?



Dana (01:31): Yes, we are incredibly fortunate to have many good independent bookstores in the Portland metropolitan area. We have several, so I will do one at the Powell's downtown or the Powell's in the suburbs or at Annie Bloom's. We are very, very fortunate to have this ring of independent bookstores that go from the coast up into the mountains.



Dana (01:49): And it's one of the blessings of being in Oregon, how many independent thriving, independent bookstores we have. Quick story. My wife and I went to Powell's the other day on a Saturday and everybody stood outside six feet apart and everybody had masks on, everybody was patient and they're on the phones. You finally got to go in. The lines inside were very, very long. Nobody was kvetching, nobody's complaining. The luxury of having a bookstore, a world-class bookstore like that in the heart of downtown is something we just don't ever kvetch about.



Debbi (02:18): I think that's awesome. That is so awesome. I love it. All of it. I'm interested in how you decided to branch out into writing thrillers from journalism to thrillers. What brought you from one to the other?



Dana (02:33): I'm not sure it was that order because my father was a huge fan of thrillers. And so when we were growing up, Dad would read books that he thought were exciting and terrific, and he burst into your bedroom and throw them on your bed and say, "You've got to read this!" My father was a high school basketball coach. They talk like that. Quick, you got to read this. And so early on I was reading Gunga Din and Beau Geste and The Four Feathers, and I was being brought up with those stories cause my dad thought they were incredibly cool. So when I was, this is a true story. When I was in high school, I thought I was either going to have a career in journalism, which was my first love or as a novelist writing the kind of stories my dad would read, and lo and behold, I'm doing them both. I'm the most fortunate guy in the whole world.



When I was in high school, I thought I was either going to have a career in journalism, which was my first love or as a novelist writing the kind of stories my dad would read, and lo and behold, I'm doing them both.