First-time author Torri Newman refused to give up
First-time author finds persistence pays off with thrilling results
Falling
T.J. Newman
Avid Reader Press (Simon and Schuster)
JAMIE PORTMAN
She was in a job she loved, working the red-eye shift on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. But on that night, a terrifying thought suddenly entered flight attendant Torri Newman's mind — a thought that would spawn a fictional thriller that veteran crime writer Don Winslow recently described as “Jaws at 35,000 feet.”
Falling, Newman's debut book about terror in the sky, would land a seven-figure publishing deal with Simon and Schuster, and days later be snapped up for filming by Universal. Now as sales to foreign countries continue to mount (more than 25 at last count), Newman, 37, has one word to describe her emotions: “surreal.”
It's a word that applies not only to the present — as she tries to deal with the fact that after years of struggle to make it as a writer, she finds herself as the author of perhaps the hottest book of the summer — but also to her memories of that overnight Virgin America flight when she was seized by the idea for the novel that would become Falling.
She was standing at the top of the aisle, in effect blocking access to the cockpit, a required procedure when a pilot had to take a washroom break.
“I was looking out at the passengers,” she remembers. “The cabin was dark, quiet and still, and I had this thought that their life, also the life of my crew mates, are all in the hands of the pilot. And with that much power and responsibility, how vulnerable does that make him?”
The question nagged her after she was back on the ground. “It was a thought I couldn't shake.”
So a few days later, while working another flight, she summoned up the courage to ask her captain a question: “What would you do if your family was kidnapped and you were told that if you didn't crash the plane, your family will be killed?”
Newman will never forget his response.
“The look on his face was terrifying because he knew he did not have an answer. He did not know what he would do. At that point I knew I had the makings of my first book.”
And yet 41 literary agents turned down her manuscript before she found one who believed in it.
“I thought of giving up after every single rejection,” Newman confesses on the phone from her home in Arizona. She realizes now that for a fledgling author seeking to break into print, the world of publishing is something of a crap shoot. “You feel those rejections. Every single one stings. But I kept telling myself that I hadn't come this far just to come this far. I believed in the book and I believed I just needed the right person to say yes.”
She found that person in late 2019 when Shane Salerno, a Hollywood screenwriter turned agent, spotted the book's uniqueness and signed her up immediately. By this time, Newman had done at least 30 drafts of Falling, but after Salerno took her on, there was more work to be done.
“We wanted it to be in the best version of the story possible, so we worked for a while making some tweaks. Then when we decided it was ready to be taken out, the first publisher we took it to (Simon and Schuster) wanted it.”
Simon and Schuster didn't just want it — it was prepared to pay big bucks for the rights. Shortly afterward Universal came on board.
“It all happened within a week and it was one of the most incredible weeks of my whole life,” Newman says. “Gratitude and disbelief were my two strongest emotions. I couldn't believe it was happening and I was just so grateful that it was.”
Falling arrives this month in North American markets, accompanied by a volley of rave reviews from Britain, Australia and India, where it was published several weeks ago.
The starting point of her novel was etched in her mind when she began work on Falling.
The passenger aircraft's first officer, Bill Hoffman, is in flight when he learns that his wife, son and baby are being held hostage. And the message from their captor is clear-cut: “Crash your plane or I kill your family. The choice is yours.” But what would happen next?
“Those were the first pages that I wrote because it was the only thing I had,” Newman says now. “I only knew the concept. I did not know what would happen or where the story would go, so after starting there, I kept writing until I figured it out.”
Airborne suspense fiction is nothing new. But although Falling is no slouch at delivering a succession of nerve-racking moments, it has other significant virtues.
One is an unexpected depth of characterization, and this extends to the motivations of the terrorist leader.
Furthermore, Newman's own years in the sky give her novel a particular freshness and authenticity — indeed it emerges as a stirring celebration of the people who care for airborne travellers, with perhaps its most endearing character a resourceful middle-aged flight attendant named Jo.
“If I'm being honest, she's my favourite character,” Newman says. “Jo is a force of nature, a consummate professional able to handle whatever situation is thrown at her with grace and strength.”
All this makes for compulsive reading, but Fallen has a further strength in giving readers what Newman calls “a backstage look” into a world she knows well.
“Aviation is very unique and specific and nuanced and different from most jobs. It really is a world in and of itself, and it's a strange world to try to understand from the outside looking in.”
Most important of all for Newman is her hope that readers will better understand the world of the flight attendant.
“It's a common misconception that we are just on board for service. I think flight attendants are often portrayed in the media not as a valued and respected part of the crew but rather as waitresses in the sky.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Service is something we gladly provide, but our main job is the safety and security of every passenger on board that aircraft. That is what we are on board to do, so I hope when readers take a flight next time maybe they'll look at the flight attendant in a different way, with a little more respect and admiration.”
You feel those rejections. Every single one stings. But I kept telling myself that I hadn't come this far just to come this far. I believed in the book and I believed I just needed the right person to say yes.
Author Torri Newman