J.S. Law: Diving into a Life of Crime

photo: Simon John

J.S. Law spent 20 years in the Royal Navy, with the latter part of his career in the submarine service, where he served as senior engineer and nuclear reactor plant supervisor, as well as senior lecturer in nuclear reactor engineering and mentor to future submariners.

His debut thriller, Tenacity, is set in a world he knows well--a submarine on patrol. The twist? His protagonist is a woman, Lieutenant Danielle "Dan" Lewis from the Special Investigation Branch, looking into a suspicious death as the only female on board the HMS Tenacity.

Tell us about your road to publication. How did you find the tenacity to keep going after initial rejections?

Like a lot of authors, I've been writing for as long as I can remember. I think that's such a cliché, but it's a cliché because for most of us it's true! I'd always write; if I hadn't been picked up, I'd still have carried on writing because it's what I love to do. Anyhoo....

About four years ago I decided that I really wanted to make a living from writing and I took steps to make that happen. I looked at what a writer in my genre does--normally a book a year--and I started making that my goal. I'd write a book to deadline, edit it, get feedback from friends and readers, and then send it out. I'd then get a mixture of rejections and silence. I'd dust off my bruised ego, tell myself I needed to work harder, and then go and do that. I've said before that writing a book is an emotional and creative endeavor, but getting an agent and a publishing deal isn't. I separated the two, treating the latter as a project, and just worked at trying to improve my writing. Eventually, it came good.

You experimented with several genres, including fantasy and erotica, before writing Tenacity. How did you discover crime fiction is the right fit for you?

You know, I think it was obvious from the start, because crime and thrillers are what I always read. I love fantasy (erotica, not so much, but it was before Fifty Shades of Grey and I thought it might be a good market), but when I looked at my bookshelf, it was full of Ludlum, Clancy, Child, Patterson, McDermid, Billingham, James, etc. I think I just had to recognize that I wanted to write a book I'd love to read, and that was what I was reading, so I'm always surprised it took me so long to settle down into a life of crime.

I did also have a chat with an agent about my last book [before Tenacity], and he felt my writing was good enough, but I was lacking that something that would make me stand out. He asked me what I did for a living and when I shrugged and said, "I work on submarines," he got quite animated and asked why I wasn't writing about that. I guess I just hadn't realized that something I did every day could be all that interesting. Who knew??

Why did you decide to write from a female point of view? What were the challenges, if any?

Dan Lewis came about because of a short story and I think the theme was set. After my conversation with that agent--see answer above--I revisited that story and just really liked her. She was gutsy, smart, driven and I liked the cut of her jib. Then I started to imagine what it would be like to put someone like Dan into a hostile submarine. From this, Tenacity was born.

Writing from a female POV is quite different and challenging at times, but I get a lot of help from female readers on early drafts. I really wanted to do it, and I think the genesis was after a conversation with my big sister about her time in the Royal Navy. It became clear to me that we had very different experiences in the services, and over time I came to wonder how much of that was due to gender. I wanted to understand how the environment might look through a POV different from my own, and so Dan Lewis became my eyes. I love writing Dan, but she's not easy to write--probably because she's so damn stubborn!

When you were in the submarine service, how common were female investigators? How were they generally received and how did that compare to Dan's treatment?

I've never served on a submarine with a female. After I left the service, or certainly very near to when I left, the first female submariners were just going through submarine qualification in the U.K., but I wasn't there. I do hear lots of stories about how it went on that first patrol and most are positive. I have, however, served with women on ships and I think that as more and more talented women take up senior roles on board, it becomes more commonplace and, as it should be, completely accepted.

How has the feedback been from the submariner community about Tenacity?

This was what worried me more than anything else, but it was needless worry. The feedback from the U.K. submarine community has been overwhelmingly positive and that is such a relief for me. We're quite a close-knit community, and the opinions of submariners--indeed all veterans and serving personnel--is something that matters to me very much. So when those first few reviews arrived that started with "I served for twenty years on submarines...," I was holding my breath. But as I say, a positive response, and I receive mail from current and former service personnel regularly passing on their thoughts about the book.

What can you tell us about life on a submarine that most people might find surprising?

Hmmmm. We eat eggs for a very long time into a patrol, and I mean a very long time. Once I went looking for the chicken, certain there had to be one, but it wasn't on board! I had a rule: when the chefs stopped eating eggs, I stopped eating eggs, because eggs don't last for three months....

Got it. Don't eat eggs more than three months old! What's been your favorite experience post-publication?

The best bit for me is the people I get to meet and chat to. Playing poker with Mark Billingham, grabbing a drink with Peter James, sitting and chatting with Lee Child. These authors are among those that inspired me to write, so just being accepted by them and chilling out is very, very cool. I still want to meet John le Carré, but there's time.

How about weirdest experience?

Getting the [author] pictures done! Jeez, why do we have to do that? "Okay, James, tip your left shoulder forward, chin up, eyes over here, right shoulder back. Give me more lips, tilt your head!" I was like, "I'm a twenty-year time served military veteran, not a contortionist. Just take the damn picture!"

Ha! The perils of being a published author. Since you mentioned in an interview with Shots magazine that you wished to be asked about your singing ability, what's your go-to karaoke song, and why that one?

Good question. If I have a willing partner, then I'd go with "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." Love really letting go to that bad boy!

If I'm alone, maybe "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" or "Hey Jude." If I'm a cappella, then I'd go with some Mac Davis, because it is always hard to be humble... If I'm feeling blue, a bit of "Lady in Red."

If I've just plain had too much to drink, I'd go for "American Pie." Got to love that track! But if I'm really looking to hit the spot, you can't beat "Heart of Oak." --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd

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