DD: So we start with the question around which most author interviews are built - in this case, I suspect the answer is pretty interesting. How did the premise for your novel, The Seven Habits of Highly Infective People, come about?
WTR: The
Seven Habits originally started as an entirely different story. I’d considered writing a novel that broke the
fourth wall with the written word. The
idea was that I myself would be the protagonist and that the things I wrote
about in my novels and stories were things I’d actually experienced while
traveling through space and time. This
is where the term “dimensionally unstable” originated from. I wrote a page or so and realized it just
wasn’t working, so I shelved it. About a
month or so later, I started getting these little snippets of dialogue that
popped into my head throughout the day.
So when I sat down to write, I just let this character start talking and
discovered he was actually the one who was dimensionally unstable. Everything else just kind of fell into place
after that.
DD: Where
do Bosley, The Seven Habits of Highly Infective People's protagonist, and William Todd Rose
intersect?
WTR: That’s a really good question. In all honesty, Bosley is this alternate
reality version of how I may have turned out if I hadn’t changed my paths in my
mid-twenties. I totally lived the Bosley
Coughlin lifestyle, man. Like Bosley, I
worked as a data conversion operator for the Post Office. I was sleeping maybe three or four hours a
night and doing just about any drug I could get my hands on. I spent so much time high that sobriety was
my altered state and, at the same time, was really delving into explorations of
mysticism and the occult. I was running
from and searching for something simultaneously… something that always seemed
maddeningly out of reach. I was riddled
with unfounded guilt and thought if I could re-build my consciousness then
maybe I could finally feel complete. But
it really doesn’t work that way, does it?
DD: Seven Habits involves time travel, which I imagine is a challenge to write and a
beacon for nitpickers. How did you map out the timeline, and what were the
rules governing your version of time travel?
WTR: I’ll start with the rules first, which
are pretty simple. The main rule is lack
of control. Bosley has no say over when
or where he travels. The Eye of Aeons
opens spontaneously and pulls him through.
Since his consciousness, and not his physical body, is what travels
through time he is basically pulled into a host body on his travels. He sees through their eyes, hears what they
hear, feels what they feel, and is privy to their innermost thoughts and
secrets… however, he has no control over that host body whatsoever. He can be thought of as a metaphysical
hitchhiker of sorts.
I think the time travel aspect of the story
was a bit easier because of this. I
didn’t really have to worry too much about crossing timelines… I just had to
make sure that if Bosley knew something about Ocean that the knowledge matched
up with a period of time in which he was sharing her consciousness. As the series progresses, however, the time
travel element will become increasingly more complex, and that is where I’ll
really have to mind my Ps and Qs.
DD: How
important to you is humor in the fiction you write and read? |
| ...like so. |
WTR: With my own writing, it really depends
on the work. Humor can be a great tool
to break tension and what a character finds funny can often tell a lot about
them. Sometimes, though, I don’t want to break the tension. I want it to keep building, to keep turning
those screws like an Inquisitor drunk on power.
I get some sort of sick glee out of writing stuff like that. All of my work is pretty dark and gritty, so
I really can’t see myself ever writing a comedic book. I just don’t think that’s where my strength
lies and I’m okay with that.
DD: I'm
stealing this question from Thom Brannan because it's just so great. What
musical artist would you love to see do a concept album based on your work?
WTR: Wow, that is an awesome question.
Maybe Project Pitchfork or Skinny Puppy.
Perhaps Diary of Dreams. Music is
such an integral part of my writing process that the true answer would depend
on which novel was being covered. For The Seven Habits specifically the answer
is Firewater. I hadn’t heard them when I originally wrote the book, but a lot
of their songs are so Bosley it’s almost scary.
“6:45”, “Another Perfect Catastrophe”, “Dropping Like Flies”: these
songs very well could have been penned by Bosley Coughlin. If you’ve read The Seven Habits, listen to “A Place Not So Unkind” with Bosley and
Ocean in mind as you do. It’s almost as
if the band had traveled forward in time, read the book, and then traveled back
in time to write and record the song. It
really is uncanny.
DD: Maybe
they’re some of those metaphysical hitchers you hear so much about…
What's your preferred writing routine? What does your ideal writing space look
like?
 |
| ...like so. |
WTR: I’ve got to have a cup of strong, black
coffee and, preferably, some music playing that synchs up with the atmosphere
I’m trying to convey. At one point, I
would have said a pack of smokes as well but we don’t smoke inside anymore and
it’s a habit I plan on breaking anyway.
Just give me a desk, my computer, a comfy chair, and my coffee and I’m raring
to go.
DD: Any
weird totems you like to have around when you're working on stories?
WTR: I have a furry little tribble on my desk
that coos when you squeeze it.
Sometimes, I’ll sit there playing with it as I turn things over in my
head. If I get frustrated with hardware
issues, I’ll give the computer a blast from my replica sonic screwdriver and
I’ve also got a plush Darth Vader wearing bunny ears that I like to look
at; but I really try not to have any
“lucky charms” or anything like that. Part
of me fears creating a psychological dependence on totems to the point where if
I didn’t have the object, I wouldn’t be able to write.
DD: I've
had the pleasure of meeting your family, and they are nothing if not supportive
of what you do. How do they figure into the writing process? |
| Artist's representation of what Darth Easter might look like. |
WTR: My son is an awesome beta reader. He’s not afraid to tell me if something is
utter crap and to give his honest opinion.
My wife, though, is more involved in the actual process. We’ve stayed up all night, bouncing ideas
back and forth, exploring characters and universes, hashing things out. Other than myself, she’s the only person who
knows the complete story arc which began with The Seven Habits and she is just as emotionally involved with these
characters as I. Once I finish
something, she is the first person who reads it and she does so with a critical
eye. She makes notes in the margins,
highlights misspellings, checks for continuity errors, and so on; after she’s
had her time with the manuscript, we sit down and discuss her thoughts and
findings and then it’s on to the second draft.
She’s my muse, initial editor, alpha reader, manager, and everything in
between.
DD: Has a piece of fiction ever moved you to tears?
WTR: Good god, yes. I tend to get emotionally involved with my
characters and it’s not uncommon for me to sit at the keyboard with tears
streaming down my face as I write. This
is especially true with Bosley and Ocean.
DD: I know this may be a complicated question (and one I couldn’t answer myself)
but why do you think you’re drawn to dark fiction? Is it that cathartic nature?
WTR: I’m not really sure. I suspect that it’s as much a part of me as
my eye color. For as long as I can
remember I’ve been infatuated with things of a darker nature. Before I could even read, my favorite stories
were always ones told around campfires: escaped mental patients with hooks for
hands, phantom hitchhikers, and what have you.
As I grew older this interest only deepened. I discovered Poe, Algernon Blackwood, HP Lovecraft,
and Ramsey Campbell. Later, I started
creating my own tales.
DD: Tell
us about a short story of which you're particularly proud.
WTR: I really like “Losing Control”, which is
in my Box of Darkness
collection. It’s a blend of sci-fi and
extreme horror which centers around a man whose job is to free passing souls
who become entangled in “crossfades”; a cross fade is basically a bit of dead
space between dimensions which a spirit can become entangled in when trying to
cross over to the other side. He does
this through astral projection and technology, using a terminally ill man who
is in a medically induced coma as an eavesdropping device into the afterlife to
help identify where problems lie. The
third member of the team is a woman he only knows as Control, whose job is to
help guide and center him when he’s out in the void. The thing about crossfades, however, is that
extremely willful souls can get their hooks into them and start creating their
own reality. At that point, the
crossfade becomes a Cut Scene and has the capability of luring passing souls
into it like a trap. And this is exactly
what happens when the soul of executed serial killer Albert Lewis passes into
the beyond. He creates a nightmare world
brimming with torture and perversion and it’s our narrator’s job to go into
that world and bring it to an end.
I like this story so much I’ve been toying with the thought of expanding it into a novel. I really like the universe it’s set in and the way technology interacts with metaphysics.
DD: Sounds like a world that’s dying to be explored further! Todd thanks
for taking the time to let me probe your lobes.
No comments:
Post a Comment