“A woman born ahead of her time can be happy…until she realizes it.” – Naomi the Owl
Women in aviation have fascinated T.W. for decades. He has been a writer and filmmaker for 30 years. The Twyla and the Warbirds novels are his first. He also co-wrote Turret, a WWII thriller in development now. As cinematographer and co-producer, T.W,’s short film, Getting Her is currently screening in film festivals around the world and collecting many awards.
T.W. is a California College of Art graduate, with a degree in film/drawing and art history. When not writing, T.W. works much like a carny in Los Angeles, New York and Northern California, as a Director of Photography in television.
Lately, T.W. filmed Amazon’s As We See It, HBO’s Emmy wining comedy, Veep (S5), Good Girls, Rise and About A Boy for Universal/NBC. Most recently, T.W. could be found in NYC on Apple TV’s series Dear Edward (based on the book).
A lifelong student of history and aviation, T.W. grew up on naval bases from Kwajalein, Honolulu and China Lake, California. T.W.’s father would take him to air shows every season where they marveled at the likes of Bob Hoover, Chuck Yeager and the new crop of aeronautical designers.
T.W. has flown in several WWII era airplanes. In 2003, T.W. was at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for the 100th anniversary of powered flight with a motion picture camera in hand.
Twyla and the Warbirds Book I
Motherless, the girl with persimmon hair is raised by her papa and her beloved babushka, on a hardscrabble ranch in northern California. No one in the small town of Boonville ever met Twyla’s mother or spoke of her. All Twyla knew is when she took her first breath, her mother Polina, in the harbor city of Odesa, Ukraine, took her last. At 11- years of age, her family disappears in an incomprehensible aeroplane accident.
Twyla survives three years of indentured servitude on her aunt’s farm. When Lewis locates her, he comprehends his failure to protect her and schemes out a rescue plan. Shortly after, he takes her on her first flight aboard a biplane.
Twyla, now a ferry pilot, hauls P-39 fighters to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Russian pilots convey them to the eastern front. Though her Russian is rusty, she swiftly befriends Marina Khomyakova, a fearless pilot with an odd sense of humor and indefatigable courage.
In a dogfight over the Marshall Islands, Lewis is swarmed by fighters from the Empire of the Sun and is lost. Twyla, surfaces from shock and 14 hours aboard a C-47, to discover she’s boarded the wrong plane. All at once, she is a Yank in Stalin’s court. Arrested and locked in a makeshift jail on the Eastern Front, Twyla will be shot in the morning.
Twyla and the Warbirds Book II
When the aerodrome is attacked, Twyla the Yank prisoner escapes in a spindly biplane with a Russian Elf named Lily.
A bedeviled Twyla is welcomed to an impossibility: an all-female fighter squadron, of which, Marina (from Alaska) is the captain. Seeing a familiar face encourages Twyla to push through her sorrow. Commander Valentine Markov is the competent and handsome leader of the 586th all-female fighter regiment.
Twyla drives the regimental truck to pick up downed pilots. She learns, point blank, the front-line struggles against the Nazi invaders and their vaunted Luftwaffe. She is surrounded by sisters-of-loss, but also, sisters who are expert killers.
Twyla’s world tilts off axis. The American flyer and Commander Markov cannot help their mutual attraction. In spite of the prohibition against Americans in Russia, Lily, (The White Lily of Stalingrad) — wanted by Hitler himself- trains Twyla to fight.
Commander Markov had asked Twyla not to sacrifice her future for him. Will she reveal her Russian-combat-fighter ace status to Jackie, forever altering the course of women flyers – breaking down barriers decades ahead of her time? What’s a woman to do?
The interview
Why do you write in the genres that you do?
I write historical fiction and science fiction (current work) because I love history and science. I wouldn’t know how to write good horror or romance. If I tried, I’d just end up with the most clichéd manuscript or something that resembled a 1980’s television movie. Though, I will argue that historical fiction novels are, in fact, fantasy.
Do you keep a notebook of ideas?
I record into my pocket node and write down ideas every day. Usually, they strike whilst I’m in the shower or out for a run. My subconscious loves to pull that on me.
Do you have a muse?
My muse is other authors. Their fearlessness really inspires me.
And music. Music is emotion for the ears. It laments in images, and scenes.
Do I get a useful story from it? Rarely. It just tantalizes and tortures. Doesn’t it?
Are you more of a fan of plot-driven stories or character-driven stories?
The circumstances of a story hook me: time, place, incidents and conflicts. One way or another, however, your characters and plot have got to be on equal terms.
The external and internal conflicts must have enough balancing weight as to dance in step with one another. Hook with the plot, get deep and messy with the character. Of course you can argue the other way, but it turns your log line into a ten-page treatment, which, If I’m not mistaken, is the world’s worst log line.
Fill in the blank: “People will like your book if they like stories about…”
…If they like stories about nobodies from nowhere, stumbling forward and getting caught up in historical events they have no business being part of while discovering secrets about their families and how they belong in this crazy-quilt world.
What are your thoughts on typewriters?
Typewriters are in a second-place tie for the most beautiful machines in the world. Bless them! If you want to know what the three most beautiful machines are, keep reading.
Would you rather own a bookstore or run a library?
I’d love to own a bookstore attached to a library and a coffee shop. Butter Croissant and chocolate-chip cookies only! Does that make me greedy?
How do you name your characters? If you write nonfiction, do you ever change the names of your characters, and if so, how do you decide what names to change them to?
In the case of the Twyla and the Warbirds series, most of my characters are based on real people. Twyla Campbell was a (WASP) Women’s AirForce Service pilot who trained to be a ferry pilot in Texas in mid-1943. She was the auntie of a friend of mine. The others were gleaned from friends and family.
What is your favorite website that you use to promote your writing?
I’ve never promoted my writing before. Failing at screenplays, short story competitions, and hunting the elusive and blind literary agent unicorn, is my closest analogue. Now I’m TikTokigram’n, and you are my first. So far, so good!
If Hollywood bought the rights to your book, would you want it to be turned into a movie or series?
As a filmmaker, you can bet I’ve been scheming on Twyla and the Warbirds in film for many, many years. Originally, I wrote The Warbirds as an action adventure, fighter-pilot film. Cinema is built for horses, trains, and airplanes. The very first “Best Picture” Oscar: Wings, a WWI fighter pilot film.
I put everything I wanted to see in it: A tour-de-force of cliché’s burdened by a novice’s kitchen-sink approach, stuffing waaaay too much into two hours –and no heart. I’m not a good enough writer to make this massive story work in less than 120 pages of mostly blank paper.
Ugh! Series it is. This I can do. I’ll trade you a large stack of cash for a 10-part limited series about female badassery that will rock your soul!
Who is your dream audiobook narrator?
Audiobooks save lives! I am a huge fan. When I called on an actress friend, Anastasia Griffith, to consider reading Twyla, I had no idea the little hamlet of Frome, UK, was a hotbed of talent.
My engineer was the amazing Tristan Powell, of the Georgie Fame musical family. He was ridiculously over-qualified, and of course, brilliant.
Narrators I’d love to work with: Angela Ness, Gideon Emery, George Guidall, Heather Lind and Simon Slater – to name a few performers who make life better!
Do you try to hit a certain page or word count with each writing session? Do you have any writing rituals?
Writing while maintaining a more than full time job means I can’t afford prefabricated ideas about word count, or silliness like: I must be in my comfy chair with my dog on my feet, a tuna sandwich at hand, and absolutely NO NOISE!
Nope. I’ve written on buses, subways, airplanes, crowded, chaotic coffee shops, balconies, bathrooms and bars. Life doesn’t care if you want to write. Just write.
What are your passions/obsessions outside of writing?
I love movies and photography, balancing large rocks on their impossible points (because gravity must be obeyed) and drawing. I love to run, mountain bike, and I am a member of the Unemployed Philosophers Guild—a secret society you can find in every household.
Have you made any public appearances to promote your book?
The only “public” reading of my books was to family and friends over Zoom during the pandemic. It was a great way to polish the final drafts. I love my characters; they are a lively bunch.
Who, living or dead, would you most want to read your book?
My grandmothers and my son, who passed away five years ago.
Who is on your Mt. Rushmore of greatest/inspirational authors?
Neal Stephenson, Christopher Marlowe, Richard Brautigan, Hillary Mantel.
I ONLY GET FOUR? That’s cruelty. Perhaps you mean four authors per week. Right?
Sir Isaac Asimov, Amor Towles, Andy Weir, E.L. Doctorow… Don’t get me started on screenwriters!
What is your favorite bookish possession?
At university, I got to know the amazing illustrator Ralph McQuarrie. At that time, I was stupefied by futurist designers/artists like Mr. McQuarrie and Syd Mead.
Mr. McQuarrie (Star Wars, Star Trek, Cocoon, ET etc.) took a shine to me, let me visit him in his studio, and sent me hand-drawn Christmas cards for a few seasons. I will treasure them always. Look up these two visionary artists. You will recognize their work.
Have you ever mentored another writer with their writing?
I have read many friends’ screenplays and short stories. I can’t say I mentored them, only gave my notes and encouragement.
I do tend to emphasize positivity. Negativity and detraction are the very air we breathe. The repeated doing of something sorts it out. Encouragements are glittering jewels.
Is there an idea that a non-writer has pitched to you that you have written or considered writing?
My wife is a non-writer, yet simultaneously a stenographer. Riddle me that, Batgirl!
She regales me with the most amazing superior-court shenanigans and has suggested a dramedy series titled: Below the Bench, set in county court. However, this would center on the staff of clerks, reporters and bailiffs – not the lawyers! Funny and eye-opening. I’ve made some preliminary notes.
In the meantime, the television/streaming-verse has gone out of its effing mind. The corporate algorithm eats all good ideas and makes them disappear. A pit of despair, if I ever stepped in one.
What is the most unique way that an idea for a piece of writing has come to you.
I was daydreaming about seeing beauty for the first time. I wrote, produced and directed a short film based on this simple idea of the very moment an 11- year-old blind girl sees with her repaired eyes.
It was not at all simple. My optimistic idea of beauty and wonder was replaced by the reality that a mature brain does not know what all the colors and objects mean.
These poor souls are confused and depressed. Sight is in direct conflict with the specific world a blind person has built. Many reject the interference outright, and become depressed, and worse. That’ll teach me!
Are you a big reader? Do you own a large collection of books, or are you more of a borrower?
I own hundreds of books and audiobooks. Mostly reference, historical fiction, and science fiction. I collected a small WWII library while researching Twyla and the Warbirds series.
I usually have two audiobooks cued up to listen to while running, walking or driving the ridiculous length of California. I will often buy both the printed book and the audiobook. I love supporting authors and narrators.
Have you ever gone away to work on a piece of writing? If not, where would you go if you could?
I used to “go away” to coffee shops to write and be “that guy” with my latte and noise canceling headphones. Also, Southern Oregon for a week, and Sea Ranch, on the Sonoma County Coast for three days. The important part for me is to be away from the house and all the chores and to-do lists that interrupt thought.
What is an annoying thing that a non-writer has assumed about writers or the act of writing?
I annoy myself about writing more than others do. The head-chatter is exhausting.
How do you measure the success of your writing career?
Success as an author would be a large readership. I want to share my stories with as many people as possible.
I dream of bringing those moments of magic, wonder, and emotion that authors have brought to me – momentarily divorced from your body and life. This is true magic. I guess this means I would need to hear direct feedback from readers.
As promised
The most beautiful machine in the world is an airplane (Spitfire, Mustang) for example. Tied for second place as most beautiful are the typewriter and the piano. Both play jazz.
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