Walter Jon Williams is the author of over thirty volumes of fiction, in addition to works in film, television, comics, and the gaming field. He’s won awards, appeared on the bestseller lists of the Times and the New York Times, and he’s a world traveler, scuba diver, and a black belt in Kenpo Karate.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Walter recently, spending the first delightful fifteen minutes of our conversation catching up on each other’s lives and discussing the plot tropes we can (or cannot) stand in fiction or movies. Eventually we remembered I was meant to be interviewing him, and after much laughter we settled down to the questions our readers and Williams fans would love to have answered.
Lezli Robyn: The best way to start this interview is to ask, how did you get into writing?
Walter Jon Williams: I have always been into writing. I decided when I was very young—when I was three or four—that I wanted to be a writer. Ever since I knew what a writer was, I wanted to be one.
I became a writer before I could read or write. I would dictate stories to my parents and they would write them down for me.
LR: That’s adorable.
WJW: Yes. Then I would illustrate them with my crayons. We are very lucky not one of them has survived.
LR: *laughs* I don’t know—that could make for a very cute picture book.
WJW: I don’t think that anything in those works would indicate my potential. *laughs*
LR: So when did you start writing with intent?
WJW: I wrote a four-hundred-and-fifty page derivative fantasy novel when I was thirteen. I dropped it at that page count when I realized the plot was that complex I would need another four hundred and fifty pages to resolve it. I didn’t realize at the time that big fat fantasy novels were a thing.
LR: That’s right. You were on track for epic fantasy length.
So that was how you explored writing novels for the first time, by doing it for the love of it?
WJW: Yes. I learned the rudiments.
LR: What age were you when you decided to write a novel that you thought you could sell?
WJW: I was maybe twenty-two, and I wrote an historical novel. I sent it out, and it has not, to this day, sold. And then I wrote a mystery novel, and that one didn’t sell either. These were both completed works.
After that I realized I had spent a year on each of these books and had yet to get money or fame out of them, so it suddenly dawned on me I should just write proposals. *laughs*
LR: Ah! Smart man.
WJW: So I wrote a proposal for a historical series I had in mind, and it sold! So my first professional sale was a three-book deal.
LR: That is also impressive for another reason, because a lot of publishers want to see the manuscript from new authors to be assured they can do the work.
WJW: My agent was able to assure them that I can complete the work, because she had two complete books that she had not been able to sell.
It was also great timing. I was twenty-five years old when I sold those novels. Fortunately, historical series were really huge at the time. Publishers were buying a ton of them, and they overbought. But their overbuying allowed me to essentially do my journeyman work, so to speak, and get paid for it.
LR: That must have felt amazing.
WJW: Yes. They sold for enough money that I made a living. I wrote five books in a two-and-a-half year period—something like that.
And then, because publishers had overbought, the market fell out of historical fiction completely. It never really has come back. So I was obliged to find another way to make a living writing. And because I had already been an author, I looked into game creation and that didn’t really work out. I also started to write proposals in every conceivable genre. Everything except porn and category romance.
Strangely enough, just when I needed it to, a science fiction proposal I wrote years ago got bought. And by the first editor who read it, too. It had been schlepped around for about three years, from one publisher to another. Due to the changes going on in publishing at the time, no one had read it.
It ended up being bought by Jim Baen, who at the time was Tor’s editor.
LR: Oh, fascinating.
WJW: He was my editor for that book, and then he went off to start his own publishing house. I went through a number of editors at Tor in the next years.
LR: Having written previously in different genres, was it a different experience to then write a science fiction novel, compared to the historical?
WJW: No, because in a way I was writing another historical—it was not taking place in our realm and it was not taking place in 1981. It just meant I got to make up all the details.
LR: Oh, that is a good point.
WJW: I didn’t have to do seriously any research for that book. *laughs*
LR: Was it allegorical?
WJW: No, it was a fairly straight forward anthropological science fiction, I believe.
LR: Did you find that you liked writing science fiction more than other genres, because you could create the history in your books?
WJW: It was both easier to write, and then harder to write, for different reasons. Eventually I had to do a lot of research for my books.
The main thing was I was getting paid less. For the first few science fiction books I was not getting paid as much as the previous historical series. And, unfortunately, I can’t write fast.
LR: Not everyone can.
WJW: I am very consistent, however. I don’t write fast, but I do write every day. That is how I have turned out nearly forty volumes of fiction in my career so far.
LR: That is impressive!
Since you write every day, what is your process? Are you a morning person, or an afternoon person?
WJW: I’m a late-night person. I start writing from the minute my wife goes to bed and finish around one or two in the morning. Then I will chill with a cocktail or something, because by then I’m generally really wound up at that point.
I really wish I were a morning writer, because I think I would get a lot more accomplished that way. I could get up, get a cup of coffee, and then write five hundred to one thousand words, and then have nothing to do but enjoy the rest of the day.
What happens now is I spend the whole day getting anxious about what I am going to write later on.
LR: Do you go through and edit your work at the same time, or do you do your edits at another time of the day?
WJW: I do both. I start my work day by revising the words I wrote the previous day, and everything will end up going through three or four drafts by the end of the book that way, in daily sections. Then I do a big final draft at the end of the project to make sure everything is consistent.
LR: Which book publication, or milestone in your career, made you realize you definitely have a career in this field?
WJW: The first three-book sale convinced me I had a future as a writer, but unfortunately not that future, in that genre.
Writing Hardwired was a huge liberation. That book just seemed to explode. I was committed to writing another book, but Hardwired wouldn’t let go of me, so I wrote a few chapters just to get it out of my system. Then I could finish Knight Moves.
Selling Hardwired was very difficult because it was it could be viewed as a downer. So I think my editor just said, “Okay, Walter . . .well . . .never do this again.” *laughs* And it ended up being my most successful science fiction novel.
LR: *laughs* It obviously made people think.
WJW: Actually, it made people feel. I wasn’t trying to make them think. I just wanted to grab them by their intestines and twist.
LR: *laughs* That really is how writers capture readers.
Would you say then that is your favorite book, then?
WJW: I have several favorites, but that is one of them. It is consistently my favorite.
LR: You had said the idea for Hardwired just would not wait until you had finished your other book, demanding to be written immediately. Has that happened often in your career?
WJW: That is the only time that specifically happened. There are times I had to put a novel aside to write a short story, however, that I have committed to. But I am pretty disciplined in just doing the work.
The entire time I am writing a particular novel—if it takes me six or nine months to write it—I am spending a lot of that time also thinking about what my next projects will be. So by the time I finish the current novel and can start a new book, I know already where I am going and can take a good leap into the next book.
LR: This means you are definitely not a writer that has two novels going at the same time, switching between them.
WJW: I have done a book and as screenplay at the same time, because they are different enough mediums so I don’t get punchy. *laughs*
LR: Do you find you have a favorite writing medium? Do you love doing dialogue-heavy screenplays, or do you prefer expansive novels, or love the rush of doing a shorter story?
WJW: I think my best writing is at a shorter length. If it is at a shorter length, you can actually make it perfect. If it is a novel, something wrong slips through. Every time a box of books arrives, I will open my latest novel and find something that just shouldn’t be there.
LR: I can understand that.
WJW: I think, “My god—did I actually write that passage? This is what I meant to write.” *laughs*
LR: When you write a short story, you have to keep cutting out the miscellaneous words to keep it short, so all that is left is (usually) the best words.
WJW: Yes, exactly.
LR: Do you find your writing pace is different if you are writing a short story versus a novel?
WJW: My writing pace can fluctuate from project to project, from chapter to chapter, but it is unpredictable. There are some books that are just a joy to write, all the way through, so I am quicker. And there some in which every day feels like going over the top in the western front in 1917. I mean, it’s just trench warfare—me rolling around on the floor with the text, and we’re trying to stab each other.
And I can’t predict that. A few years ago I wrote a series of three books that began with This Is Not a Game, which was wonderful to write. And the third book was The Fourth Wall. I just loved every day, going to work. But the middle book was just such a hideous slog. I don’t think it shows, thankfully.
LR: Do you know why?
WJW: No.
LR: I was wondering if it was related to a particular plot point.
WJW: No, and I had outlined the entire novel before writing it, and I had no inkling then.
LR: So that brings me to my next question: are you an architect (planning out all the chapters in your book ahead of time) or a gardener (writing your novel without a set plot, just seeing where things evolve)?
WJW: I’m a super architect.
LR: Do you have all the chapters plotted out in detail then?
WJW: I’m not that much of an architect. *laughs* I know all the main characters, I know their arcs, I know their plot. In one case, with a three book series, I knew the last line of the entire trilogy before I wrote the first line of the first book. But that hasn’t happened again.
My being an architect is possible because I am a slow writer. I have a lot of time to think about the next project while I’m writing the current project. It makes me a good planner.
LR: It doesn’t sound to me like you are a slow writer as so much as a consistent one. You are just not the type of writer to put out five books a year. I think the people who can do that are mutants.
WJW: *laughs* Indeed.
LR: By this stage in your career you are quite well known in the science fiction and fantasy field. Would you have expected the current success of your career as a 13 year old writing that derivative fantasy novel?
WJW: I don’t think I thought of writing in terms of a career back then, but as a hobby. I just wanted to write something, so I did. I had not made any plans to do anything with the book after I’d finished it.
LR: You wrote the book purely for the love of writing.
WJW: Yeah, exactly.
And I still write for the love of it. Some days it can be harder than I wish, but I wouldn’t really want to do anything else with my life.
LR: When you are writing a trilogy or a series, do you find that you sometimes wish, “I would just love to do a standalone book”?
WJW: Yes. All. The. Time. I am completing two multi-book series right now. I’m so looking forward to writing a singleton. *laughs*
LR: *laughs* I can imagine. Wow. Two series.
When you write a series, and you know it is going to be four or five books, do you get series fatigue towards the end, or do you get an adrenaline rush, knowing you are nearly finished?
WJW: Often both at once. When I know what the ending is, and I know I am approaching it, I am blissed out. But on the other hand, I am so sick to death of this world and all the characters. I want to kill them all. *laughs*
LR: *laughs* I suspect killing all the characters is not the best way to reward your readers for buying all your books in the series up to this point.
WJW: Perhaps not. *laughs*
LR: When you reached a certain state in your career, you started Taos Toolbox. How did that come about?
WJW: I was reading a lot of work by younger writers, and I saw the same mistakes over and over again. Professionally published books don’t always get a lot of editing anymore. Just very cursory editing. And I thought, I want to teach people not to do this—not to make these mistakes. They were very obvious mistakes—very simple mistakes—and there’s a very simple solution to all of these mistakes. And so I started my own workshop.
I currently teach it with Nancy Kress, who is an insanely wonderful teacher, by the way.
LR: Everyone who has talked to me about Nancy’s teaching has told me how amazing she is at it. I also saw her in action at one of our “Sail to Success” cruises, and she was incredible.
WJW: Oh, I can imagine she was. And the other thing is—she line-edits every one of the submissions. I wouldn’t do that if you paid me. *laughs* I am not a line-editing type of person.
Anyway, it was my way of paying forward. There were people in this field who helped me. This was the way I could try to help other people.
LR: Taos has quite the reputation now, which you must be very proud of.
WJW: I am gratified by the number of really excellent writers that have come out of that program. Hugo nominees and winners. Nebula nominees and winners.
LR: I love seeing the excitement of the participants online.
I always find workshops and conventions to be a fascinating aspect of this field that binds us. In one way, the act of writing is a very solitary event—you are alone a lot of the time. Your goal is to sit in your own little world, and try to put what is in your mind out onto the page, to share it with the rest of the world and—
WJW: It’s a solitary job, but it doesn’t have to be lonely.
LR: Exactly! Workshops and conventions remind us that we do belong to a community.
WJW: What I try to do at Taos Toolbox is to make sure that everyone involved realizes that they are part of peer group and they should be able to call on each other for help.
LR: It’s like creating a buddy system, in a way.
WJW: Yes. I know, for example, that the 2011 workshop participants created a workshop of their own that still meets with each other regularly. I think that goes for the 2012 participants, too.
LR: Speaking of another peer group: you are one of the writers of Wild Cards. What is it like writing your own solo pieces, but pieces that are part of a shared world with shared characters who have been created by different authors?
WJW: It’s a lot more work. You end up with a lot more editors than you can ever imagine. Every time you have used a character created by another author, that author has to approve everything you do with their character.
LR: So if you have five characters created by different authors, that leads to a very time consuming approval and edit time.
WJW: Yes, but on the other hand there is a wonderful dynamic when you have multiple authors all contributing to the one project at the same time. That can be quite exciting.
LR: So would you say writing one of those Wild Card pieces takes a lot longer than your regular fiction, because you are mindful of how you depict the characters? Or is it just the editing stage that takes longer?
WJW: Well, it depends on how much you have to end up rewriting. Some people have to rewrite for months before their piece meshes with the other stories.
And sometimes the overall plot arc can change in the middle of the project. Sometimes George or Melinda decides that “This is not what I really wanted. What I really wanted was this whole other thing.” And then everyone has to start all over again.
LR: Wow.
How has the pandemic changed your writing life?
WJW: It hasn’t changed it at all. If anything, it’s made me concentrate more on writing, because I spend less time out of the house.
LR: I was wondering, because I see authors online saying they can’t concentrate on writing because they are distracted by all the horrible news updates.
WJW: Well, see, they have made the mistake of actually watching the news.
I do read some newspapers, but it is sufficiently distant. If I had to watch the country actually falling apart, I probably would have a nervous breakdown and never write again.
LR: Has there ever been a massive event that has ever impacted your fiction, or can you keep your fiction separate from the stresses of the world around you?
WJW: The way I approach fiction, I suppose, is peculiar to me. So the stories I write are the stories only I can write, so it stays separate from the rest of the world. It’s the way I express myself.
Despite that, I have been rather successful in predicting some events in my fiction. But it is all the rather depressing stuff. The world has not reflected my happy endings at all. *laughs*
LR: *laughs* Okay, then please do not write about devastating plagues in the near future. We’re having enough problems as it is.
WJW: It’s already been done to death. *laughs* Mary Shelley’s The Last Man has never been surpassed in my view.
LR: When you are not writing, what inspires you and rejuvenates you, to help you feel more refreshed when you go back to writing?
WJW: I am a scuba driver; I have travelled all over the world on scuba expeditions. I have been a small boat sailor; not something I am currently doing. And I am a martial artist; I have a black belt in Kenpo Karate.
They are all means to get me out of the house, and to learn some interesting stuff. Being a writer doesn’t have to lead to loneliness.
LR: You can’t just be a writer and only a writer. It’s not healthy.
WJW: Agreed. I have also set stories in places that I have traveled to. I wouldn’t have been able to write a book almost entirely set in Turkey if I had not taken two trips to that country—taking very detailed notes and thousands of photographs for reference.
LR: As a funny aside, Mike Resnick once wrote a book set in different African countries, where every restaurant, hotel or place that the lead character had an enjoyable meal or good events happened, those were places he and Carol had physically loved visiting on their travels. But everywhere the character got shot up, or bad things happened, those were the venues and places the Resnicks didn’t enjoy on their travels.
WJW: Oh, wow. *laughs* That is actually pretty cool.
LR: So if you read the book, and knew this little factoid, it was like a hidden review guide.
WJW: *laughs* That’s actually really cleaver. I shall have to think about that.
LR: So now we’re getting to the last, inevitable question of the night: what’s next for you?
WJW: The Best of Walter Jon Williams. Two hundred thousand words of short fiction. It will be out in September by Subterranean Press.
LR: Oh, a great Christmas present!
WJW: Yes! Lavishly illustrated by Lee Moyer.
LR: Ohhhhhhh!
WJW: Yes, indeed!
The second of the reboot of my Praxis Series will also be out in September: Fleet Elements. It’s a far future space-operaish sort of series.
My most recent book, just published, is Quillifer the Knight.
Copyright © 2020 by Lezli Robyn.