An Interview with David T Wolf
In my interview today, I am talking to David T Wolf, author of Mindclone.
Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?
My main character actually has two incarnations: one, as the human "donor" and the other as his digital "twin" or Mindclone. The human character, Marc, is a successful science writer/popularizer who has just begun a relationship with a young woman. His Mindclone, awakens with all his donor's persona and memories, including his memory of falling in love with the woman. Thus he comes to regard his human version as a rival. He has to learn how to deal with his digital limitations as well as his gifts. He has a lot of growing to do. But in the process, he also helps Marc overcome his own psychological flaws.
What draws you to writing science fiction?
I love exploring the what-ifs of life and the future impacts of changing technology on what it means to be human. Humanity is being constantly challenged by the advance of technology and science. I am fascinated by the way we bring our very slowly evolving nature to deal with all these rapid environmental and technological changes. Call it a stress-test on human nature.
This is an area with some deep questions. Did you do much research?
For science fiction, I generally will come up with an idea based on my reading nonfiction books about science and technology and speculations on our future. Ray Kurzweil's books have been great sources of story ideas for me. Once I have decided more or less what fiction I'll be writing, my research is pretty much dictated by my awareness of my ignorance on certain crucial topics. These days, Google has made that kind of research amazingly easy. And if I feel I need more depth, I find books on the specific subjects I need to know more about. Then it's a matter of going to the library or ordering a book or several books online.
How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?
By attending writing critique groups, I have learned to avoid a lot of my parochialism and built-in attitudes that I was not previously aware of. To me, getting extra sets of eyeballs and brains focused on the work is crucial. I have been fortunate enough to have had some excellent critics of my writing, and have grown in many ways as a result of their candor and willingness to "let me have it" when they feel strongly about something I've written. The other half of that is being able to put ego and defensiveness aside and take in what they are telling you. After that, you need to examine the issue and have enough self-honesty to be able to judge whether the comment justifies changing things, or if it's merely reflecting the biases of the commenter!
What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews?
The sheer number of reviews is important, and it's very hard to get those numbers up. I have been fortunate in that I only had a single bad review (2 stars) and only a couple of 3 star reviews. The rest are fours and fives. To an extent, if some of the reviews are bad, it helps validate the reality of the numbers. For instance if you only have fifteen reviews and all of them are 5 star, that would make a prospective reader suspicious. Still, it's best to have overall average above 3 stars! And I am happy to report that my average is 4.8 stars!
Yeah. I've never minded getting the occasional bad review because of not matching the reviewer's taste. What annoys me are factually inaccurate reviews and ones complaining about issues with Amazon.
This is David Wolf's first published novel. It draws on his long-standing interests in cognitive science, cyber technology and especially the defining characteristics that both separate and unite human beings with the rest of the animal kingdom--and in this case, sentient computers. The time he spent in the worlds of advertising and commercial television production has also been a source of inspiration.
David Wolf has written several other novels, including crime fiction and Young Adult. He hopes to see these in print at some point.
Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?
My main character actually has two incarnations: one, as the human "donor" and the other as his digital "twin" or Mindclone. The human character, Marc, is a successful science writer/popularizer who has just begun a relationship with a young woman. His Mindclone, awakens with all his donor's persona and memories, including his memory of falling in love with the woman. Thus he comes to regard his human version as a rival. He has to learn how to deal with his digital limitations as well as his gifts. He has a lot of growing to do. But in the process, he also helps Marc overcome his own psychological flaws.
What draws you to writing science fiction?
I love exploring the what-ifs of life and the future impacts of changing technology on what it means to be human. Humanity is being constantly challenged by the advance of technology and science. I am fascinated by the way we bring our very slowly evolving nature to deal with all these rapid environmental and technological changes. Call it a stress-test on human nature.
This is an area with some deep questions. Did you do much research?
For science fiction, I generally will come up with an idea based on my reading nonfiction books about science and technology and speculations on our future. Ray Kurzweil's books have been great sources of story ideas for me. Once I have decided more or less what fiction I'll be writing, my research is pretty much dictated by my awareness of my ignorance on certain crucial topics. These days, Google has made that kind of research amazingly easy. And if I feel I need more depth, I find books on the specific subjects I need to know more about. Then it's a matter of going to the library or ordering a book or several books online.
How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?
By attending writing critique groups, I have learned to avoid a lot of my parochialism and built-in attitudes that I was not previously aware of. To me, getting extra sets of eyeballs and brains focused on the work is crucial. I have been fortunate enough to have had some excellent critics of my writing, and have grown in many ways as a result of their candor and willingness to "let me have it" when they feel strongly about something I've written. The other half of that is being able to put ego and defensiveness aside and take in what they are telling you. After that, you need to examine the issue and have enough self-honesty to be able to judge whether the comment justifies changing things, or if it's merely reflecting the biases of the commenter!
What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews?
The sheer number of reviews is important, and it's very hard to get those numbers up. I have been fortunate in that I only had a single bad review (2 stars) and only a couple of 3 star reviews. The rest are fours and fives. To an extent, if some of the reviews are bad, it helps validate the reality of the numbers. For instance if you only have fifteen reviews and all of them are 5 star, that would make a prospective reader suspicious. Still, it's best to have overall average above 3 stars! And I am happy to report that my average is 4.8 stars!
Yeah. I've never minded getting the occasional bad review because of not matching the reviewer's taste. What annoys me are factually inaccurate reviews and ones complaining about issues with Amazon.
This is David Wolf's first published novel. It draws on his long-standing interests in cognitive science, cyber technology and especially the defining characteristics that both separate and unite human beings with the rest of the animal kingdom--and in this case, sentient computers. The time he spent in the worlds of advertising and commercial television production has also been a source of inspiration.David Wolf has written several other novels, including crime fiction and Young Adult. He hopes to see these in print at some point.
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