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Interview with Author Kam Majd
By Hillary Hart
The saying “write what you know” can be a helpful rule to follow with writing. Author Kam Majd writes suspenseful fiction that draws readers in with twists and turns.
His latest novel, High Wire, is about a pilot named Kate Gallagher who faces tremendous obstacles in her profession.
A pilot himself, Kam sets up a riveting story in which the computers controlling the plane get a virus and Kate must make a decision on how to handle this unprecedented situation and then deal with the aftermath.
The book reads much like a movie with its timing and suspense.
Congratulations on your novel, High Wire. When did you first develop an interest in writing? Was this something you’ve always had a passion for?
About 20 to 25 years ago, I was reading a book by John Grisham, The Firm and really enjoyed it. The characters, the speed of the plot etc. I said to myself, I think I can do this. I read a couple of how-to books and grabbed my computer, and put down Chapter 1.
Did you end up completing that first story you started?
I did and it wasn’t great. There was some interest in it, but it didn’t really do much. I kept at it, and the second one got a lot more interest and it went on from there.
Tell us more about your novel High Wire. What was your inspiration for writing that story?
I’ve been an airline pilot - I’ve been in and out of cockpits for close to half a century. I’ve seen the aviation technology change rapidly during that time. The automation and some of the advancements we’ve seen has made the airplanes and flying so much safer, but at the same time, it has made us very dependent on computers.
When I start looking at the flight control system, it’s a fly-by-wire system, which is so simple and yet so complex. Instead of having cables and pulleys like they did in the original days of flying, or hydraulics like on later aircrafts like the 707s and 727s and the bigger jets, they’ve come up with a system that’s purely computerized.
All of that stuff is gone, and all that’s there right now are computers talking to each other, sending electronic signals through some live wires to some electric motors. The pilot isn’t doing anything other than typing on a keyboard.
The machines make you feel as if you’re turning something, as if you’re doing something physical, but you’re really not doing anything other than typing.
When I started thinking about that, and how dependent we are on computers, my mind started thinking that what if the computer does get the wrong kind of information?
We have backups to the backups to the backups, and that’s what makes aviation so safe. But that’s because the backups are there in case of a mechanical or electrical failure, but in my head, I started saying, what if there’s not a failure? What if the computer thinks that everything is fine when it is not?
That’s how the idea was born - if you can put a computer virus in pretty much everything right now, why can’t you put it in something that’s so heavily dependent on computers?
Obviously we delve into the technology and all that’s happened, and with the concept of what I wanted it to be, I needed to have somebody doing it. And who would that be?
At that point, I created a protagonist, and in my world, I created a female protagonist, Kate Gallagher, because I wanted someone who’s facing more challenges than a normal pilot would.
Aviation is still very much a man’s world. Even today, only 6% or so of airline pilots are female, so 94% are male.
So I created an environment where somebody is hired as one of the earlier female pilots on this particular airline and now that things go wrong, they’re considered a scapegoat and told they were the ones at fault and there’s no indication of any problem.
On top of everything else, our protagonist has to go and prove herself - that she’s capable of the job that was given to her.
Did you find it challenging to write from the perspective of a female character?
I did not. The publisher at Bantam asked me that - they said, “I can usually tell when a male writes from the point of view of a woman, but that with yours, I couldn’t tell. How did you do it?”
My answer was simple -I did not write from the point of view of a woman, I wrote from the point of view of a person. What would I do if I was in that position? And that’s what I wrote, and somehow it hit a nerve and people enjoyed that portion.
Is the character based on anyone you know?
Like most authors, you try to get inside yourself when you’re really not sure about things, so a lot of it I based on myself and what I would have done if these circumstances had occurred. It turned out to be one of the easier parts to write because I didn’t have to think about what would a woman think, but what would I do?
The book is about three generations of women - a 5-year-old, the 34-year-old protagonist, and her mother. You have to reach inside yourself for all of the characters. You use your life experiences and everybody else you know and have met. They all help contribute.
Has there been anything that surprised you about the process of writing this book, or writing in general?
Yeah, everything surprised me about it. The process itself, what all it takes, how difficult it is. It’s exhausting for me. I write for two hours and then fall face down on a bed somewhere. Beyond that, once you’re done writing, you’re really not done with the book at that point.
Then comes the marketing and all of the other things you have to do. Agents and publishers.
What I have found in all of this and in any aspect of the entertainment business is that the highs are so high, and the lows are so low.
To be able to keep a steady process and steady thought to all that is something I have not mastered yet.
What advice would you give a writer looking to write their first book?
Follow your dreams. If you want to do it, do it. There are more ways to get your word and your thoughts across to the audience now than there ever was. Don’t be disheartened by all the negatives you hear.
One of the things I dealt with was all of the naysayers - how difficult it is to get published, how difficult it is to write a book, how difficult this and that. If you have a burning desire to put something into words, put it into words. Even if it’s just for yourself, it’s amazing how enriching it is.
It’s so great when it’s done for yourself to have the recognition you’ve accomplished something difficult and monumental and for everybody else who could potentially benefit from something you have in there.
I’ve received letters, and a few I still remember. There was a servicewoman on her first few weeks of employment in Korea and she was part of the U.S. military based there. She said, “It was such a difficult time to get through, but your book helped me so much.” I will remember that forever.
There is that aspect of it. Just for your own satisfaction and gratification, I found it to be tremendous. If you want to do it, don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you couldn’t or shouldn’t.
Are you working on any other projects now?
I am working on two other projects now simultaneously. One of them is called Silent Voice. The synopsis is in the back of High Wire. It’s a storyline that took place in Afghanistan for the most part, 30 days before the American withdrawal from that country in July 2021.
The story is essentially about 2 sisters born in America, but one of them ended up being lost in Afghanistan. The parents took them there and they assume the child is dead, but the child is not.
So you have two sisters being raised that look identical, but one is born and raised in America, and one believes she is born and raised in a rural village in Afghanistan. She’s unsure why she has blonde hair and blue eyes, which gets so much unwanted attention in that part of the world.
They learn about each other and have to find each other, and a whole story unfolds with everything from geopolitics to real human stories of what life is like over there. I’m doing the finishing touches on that one, but it will come out in 2023.
There’s another Kate Gallagher story (the protagonist from High Wire) that will come out. People wanted to see what happens to her, so there’s a second story there.
Where can readers find your book and connect with you?
My website: https://KamMajd.com
You can find my book High Wire on Amazon and places like Barnes and Noble. It’s available as a hardcover, audiobook, paperback, and eBook.
You can find me on social media at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KamMajdBooks
Instagram: www.instagram.com/KamMajdBooks/
Twitter: twitter.com/KamMajdBooks
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