INTERVIEW: Tad Williams

If there's one phrase that perhaps describe Tad Williams its Mr Itchy-Feet (not that we're insinuating Athletes Foot or anything but rather the huge amount of jobs that he's had at one time or another.) Everything from singing in a band to selling shoes (well he did have a lot of "sole" in both), from managing a financial instituton to designing military manuals. Yet he never seemed happiest than when writing, so its perhaps without a doubt why he's become such a success. Now tackling a Young Adult series its perhaps fortunate that his original Fantasy, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is also seeing a resurgence in a new print by Orbit. Here we chatted to Tad about his work, his pets and his insatiable appetite for pickles...


Falcata Times: Writing is said to be something that people are afflicted with rather than gifted and that it's something you have to do rather than want. What is your opinion of this statement and how true is it to you?

Tad Williams: I'm less that way than many folks. Storytelling and entertaining are certainly in my blood, but I could find other ways (theater, art, music) to scratch the itch and amuse people. That said, I wouldn't be happy if I weren't creating SOMETHING.


FT: When did you realise that you wanted to be a writer?

TW: It actually happened long after I had already become a professional. For a while it just seemed like the first of my many creative interests to bear fruit, but after a while I realized it was the one for which I was best suited. I love the freedom and I love the fact that I get to put on the whole show myself.


FT: It is often said that if you can write a short story you can write anything. How true do you think this is and what have you written that either proves or disproves this POV?

TW: I don't know. I would say it's more likely that if you can write an intelligent genre novel that non-genre readers also enjoy, then you can write anything. But that could just be personal prejudice...


FT: If someone were to enter a bookshop, how would you persuade them to try your novel over someone else's and how would you define it?

TW: I would tell them that we believe in a good story first and foremost, and that we are second to none in imagination. It's a fantastical adventure set in the real world, but with a lot of magical, unreal happenings that we do our best to make extremely realistic...


FT: How would you "sell" your book in 20 words or less?

TW: We've got everything in here -- monsters, magic, mysteries, crazy science, fascinating characters, danger, drama -- you name it!


FT: Who is a must have on your bookshelf and whose latest release will find you on the bookshops doorstep waiting for it to open?

TW: I read many, many writers and have many favorites in lots of genres -- and in non-genre as well -- but I'm never impatient for the next anything, no matter how good, because there's so many other good things I haven't read yet that I can easily find other things to do until then. Not to mention all the research reading that I do, too...


FT: When you sit down and write do you know how the story will end or do you just let the pen take you? ie Do you develop character profiles and
outlines for your novels before writing them or do you let your idea's develop as you write?

TW: Both. I've found it helps to have a definite shape of the story in mind, including the main points of the ending -- it makes for better internal structure -- but it certainly grows in the telling, and characters appear seemingly out of nowhere and hijack the story all the time.


FT: What do you do to relax and what have you read recently?

TW: I play basketball, listen to music, play music, and hang out with my kids. I've been reading my usual weird assortment, Norman Cantor's book on John of Gaunt, THE LAST KNIGHT, Roddy Doyle's WILDERNESS, Jonathan Lethem's THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, books on genetics, just finished Jeff VanderMeer's FINCH, some books on music, comics (PHONOGRAM), lots of other stuff I can't think of right now.


FT: What is your guiltiest pleasure that few know about?

TW: Pickles, but it's not that guilty. All kinds of pickles. Pickled green tomatoes. Pickled okra. Hot pickles. Good old fashioned dills, kosher and otherwise.


FT: Lots of writers tend to have pets. What do you have and what are their key traits (and do they appear in your novel in certain character
attributes?)

TW: We have three dogs, which my wife refers to as "the Shakespearian clowns" for the way they come tumbling in no matter what's going on, steal attention with bad behavior and body-function humor, then amble offstage once more, job done.


FT: Which character within your latest book was the most fun to write and why?

TW: In the Ordinary Farm book, I'm having a good time with all of them, but so far I'm most intrigued by Mr. Walkwell. Later, I think I'm going to enjoy writing the villains a great deal, but they're just being established now and they haven't entirely revealed themselves yet.


FT: How similar to your principle protagonist are you?

TW: I don't think I've ever written a book where I wasn't in several if not all the protagonists. That's because one tends to look for real emotions the closest place one can be sure -- one's own.


FT: What hobbies do you have and how do they influence your work?

TW: I like to learn new things, including languages (I speak Spanish and French and I'm learning German) and that's certainly part of who I am and why I write. I'm also fascinated by science and history, which both show up in my work all the time. And I like sports, which keeps me from going crazy or getting hugely unhealthy.


FT: Where do you get your idea's from?

TW: Everywhere. Seriously. They're just there all the time, like wasps at a picnic. I have to fight some of them away so I can concentrate on the ones I'm already using.


FT: Do you ever encounter writers block and if so how do you overcome it?

TW: I think writer's block is usually a crisis of confidence. You can't expect to solve every writing problem or plot problem immediately -- some of them take weeks. Many writers panic when this happens, go into a whole "I'm a fraud!" sort of spin, which just makes things worse. Athletes have slumps. Artists have brilliant periods and less brilliant periods. Stop worrying. Just keep jiggling the neurons and the answers will come.


FT: Certain authors are renowned for writing at what many would call uncivilised times. When do you write and how do the others in your household feel about it?

TW: I write mostly in the daytime now because I have children, and they suck the juice out of my brain and exhaust me so that there's not much I can do but think after midnight. But in the old days I was a middle-of-the-night writer.


FT: Sometimes pieces of music seem to influence certain scenes within novels, do you have a soundtrack for your tale or is it a case of writing in silence with perhaps the odd musical break in-between scenes?

TW: I'm very susceptible to music with lyrics and especially with certain artist's cadences and meters, like Elvis Costello, so I don't listen to much pop music when writing. I'm fine with ambient or classical though. However, I often share the office with my wife, and she hates music of any kind when she's writing -- in fact, distractions of any kind -- so more often than not it's silent around here when writing's happening. I could wear earphones, and do sometimes, but since I'm up and down a lot (research, snacks, walks around the house to think) it's usually not worth it.


FT: What misconceptions, if any, did you have about the writing and publishing field when you were first getting started?

TW: I didn't understand how complicated the process was between manuscript and finished book in reader's hands. But that's mostly because I'd never thought about it much. Now I know better.


FT: If music be the food of love, what do you think writing is and please explain your answer?

TW: Writing is the closest we can come to being another person -- to sharing their imagination and thoughts, even if they are long gone. As such, it is the greatest cure for loneliness and solipsism and the greatest life-multiplier that humanity has ever devised.


FT: What can you tell us about the next novel?

TW: Everything ramps up even bigger. Lost of new weird and/or fabulous animals. Unexpected threats. Revelations about how the magic/science of Ordinary Farm works.


FT: What are the last five internet sites that you've visited?

TW: Facebook. My local baseball team's box score from last night on ESPN. A magazine-type site for the weird and entertaining. A friend's website, to write a sympathy note. And Google, about seven hundred times a day, mostly for research.


FT: Did you ever take any writing classes or specific instructions to learn the craft? If so please let us know which ones.

TW: I learned first by reading, then by doing, and by being a fairly good self-critic. That doesn't mean I wouldn't have benefited from more formal training, but it didn't work out that way for me beyond high school and a few college classes.


FT: How did you get past the initial barriers of criticism and rejection?

TW: Didn't have that many, to be honest, but I've always tried to separate myself from my work -- people can dislike the work but it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with me. Also, I've come to realize that people can like or dislike your work quite inexplicably, and you just can't worry about it too much. Enough people like it that I make a living, so I must be doing something decently, but you'll never convince every reader.


FT: In your opinion, what are the best and worst aspects of writing for a living?

TW: The only bad one is that it's sometimes a little hard to draw a line between work time and personal time, since my writer's head never stops. The best aspects are too numerous to be listed, but include freedom, pleasure, satisfaction, and the cachet of having a genuinely cool job -- maybe the best job in the world!