CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2024 – Interview with T. J. Newman
Next week will see the announcement of the winner of the 2024 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and in the run-up we’ve been talking to some of the shortlisted authors to find out more about their novels. Today we’re sharing our interview with T. J. Newman, author of Drowning.
How does it feel to be on the shortlist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger?
I’m genuinely shocked and incredibly grateful. The list of books and authors I’m a part of is truly humbling, and to be in the same breath as the legacy of Ian Fleming is overwhelming.
How would you summarise Drowning and what inspired you to tell this story?
Flight 1421—a flight from Honolulu to San Francisco—crashes into the ocean six minutes after take-off. The passengers immediately evacuate, until an explosion forces those who didn’t get out in time to close the doors. But it’s too late. The plane floods, and sinks, with twelve people trapped inside, including a father and his eleven-year-old daughter. Their only hope of survival lies in an elite rescue team on the surface led by her mother and his soon-to-be ex-wife.
I was a flight attendant for ten years. Red-eyes were my favorite flights to work. I remember one red-eye while flying back to the mainland from Hawaii, it was the middle of the night and I was looking out the small porthole window in the forward galley at…nothing. In every direction, as far as I could see, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness and water. And in that moment, I realized how truly isolated and alone we were. So I started thinking: What if we went down out here? Who would save us? How would we save ourselves?
What is your writing process?
I typically start with a ton of research and once I feel like I have a good understanding of the world the book will operate in, I start piecing together the story. I’m a plotter. I outline everything. So when I go to sit down, I can take the outline and just execute.
Of course, then I write draft after draft after draft. Because even the best laid plans go awry.
What advice would you give to aspiring thriller writers?
Write the story you know how to tell better than anyone else. Everyone comes to the table with their own experiences and tastes and journey— and there’s a story in all of it. I was a safety and security obsessed flight attendant who grew up on massive summer blockbuster action films. It’s how I see the world, it’s what I know, so it’s what I write. What is your unique view of the world that only you see? Write that.
What is your favourite thriller and why?
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. It latched onto my imagination and creativity and cracked it wide open. It was bigger than anything I’d ever thought up and it made me want to chase those kind of massive, epic stories—first, to read and enjoy. Later, to write.
Our thanks to T. J. for answering our questions! The 2024 Daggers winners will be announced on 4 July. Find out more about past winners of the Steel Dagger on the CWA site here, and learn more about the rest of the Daggers and shortlists here.
