An Interview with Tony Domaille, Author of The Thing About Time

I’m a playwright who has been lucky enough to be a winner of the Derek Jacobi Award for New Playwriting, two-time winner of the UK Community Drama Festivals Federation for Best New Script, three-time Pint Sized Plays winner, and a range of other scriptwriting awards. I have also had short stories published by The People’s Friend, Your Cat Magazine, Cafe Lit, Writing Magazine, and more in over a dozen anthologies. Now it’s time for that novel.

I’m a lover of short-form writing and an admirer of people who can write a whole book! But my ambition is to see my plays performed more often on the professional stage and to one day sit down and write that book I’ve been planning for too long.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

Willie Russell and Richard Curtis are my writing heroes with their ability to make people laugh and cry in the same story. They have the ability to tell such human stories.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

I reached a point in my life when I questioned if I had lived my life well and done the right things. Like most people, the answer isn’t always yes, but I then wondered what life would be like today if different paths or decisions had been taken in the past. Would we trade what we have now for something else? And if we did, what would we give up?

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Time is a thief. It sneaks up on you and takes parts of your life while you aren’t looking. So the title, The Thing About Time, came easily because my story is all about if we were able to change time and where it has taken us.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

In the book my protagonist moves between the present day and the nineteen eighties, so tracks like Yazoo’s “Only You,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and Spandau Ballet’s “True” might feature.

Describe your dream book cover.

A clock and calendar flying through space!

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I worked in international banking. I was a police detective. I had my own training and consultancy business. And now I write.

What books did you read (for research or comfort) throughout your writing process?

I read all kinds of fiction, but books that stand out are Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time—not because they inform the subject of my book but because they inspire the kind of original writing I want my book to be.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

That life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, if you’re not careful.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.