November 2017 Group Read Author Interview: Matthew S. Williams

[Quantum]

Thank you, Matthew, for taking the time to participate in our interview and help people get to know you better.

Members: If you have any follow-up questions for Matthew, please feel free to post them.

Tell us about your writing.

Why do you write?
I guess it all comes down to my desire to create and share. For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with creating worlds, stories, and taking the things that inspired me and trying to recreate that same feeling. When I was young, I would build things out of Plasticine, Lego or whatever else I had on hand. Then I took up drawing to create the kinds of worlds I waned to inhabit. By the time I was a teenager I took to writing. And that's where I've been creatively ever since.

When did you decide to become a writer?
I was 18 or 19 when I made the decision. After reading and learning about some of the great minds of literature, I began to feel inspired to create something myself. I wanted to write a book that would capture the intellectual trends or zeitgeist of my age the way people like Orwell or Huxley had done. Or, failing that, something that people would just enjoy reading.

What are your ambitions for your writing career?
Mostly, I just want to create as many stories and universes as I can and hope that they become a recognized and respected body of work. I want to know people were inspired by them in the same way that I was inspired by others' works of literature.

What books have you written?
My first published novel, The Cronian Incident, was released last September. I have several independently-published titles as well, but it is this latest work which I am most proud of. It represents the culmination of many years of work and research and is the first in a planned series.

The Cronian Incident by Matthew S. Williams

What genre(s) are your books in?
With the exception of some indie titles that were of the Zombie Apocalypse/Military Adventure genre, my books are entirely science fiction. Where possible, I have tried to emphasize the science part of SF, writing what is typically known as Hard SF.

Are there any correlations between the books you write and your life experiences?
There are a few, but mostly they relate to research I'm actively involved in. For years, I've been studying climate change, technological innovation and its impact on society, space exploration and astronomy.

Do you adhere to an outline or go wherever your imagination takes you?
Kind of both, really. I prefer to write an outline to being with, but will keep it bared boned or on a shoestring. I find my imaging works best when I writing along, and I can't really predetermine how all things are going to work out.

How do you withstand critiques of your masterpiece?
I don't know. I guess I just try to take it in stride and stick to the positive and constructive feedback.

Do you put messages in the books you write and, if yes, what are they?
I'm not sure I would call them messages. But I do try to relate things I consider particularly true or important. For example, in my latest book I put a lot of thought into how trauma can shape an the individual. I also had a great deal to say about how climate change and technological change will be the greatest factors shaping our future, and how human beings are not likely to survive cataclysmic change unless we start making other wolds our home.

You know sales can be a little tough until you make it big time. If I told you now, that you'd sell up to 1,000 books within the next 30 years, would you still write?
Gee, that's tough! But I believe I would, since its not really the number of sales as much as the impact you have on individual hearts and minds that count. I would die happy knowing that just a few hundred people read what I wrote and got something from it. And there's always the possibility of being discovered after you pass on :)

Put yourself in the place of a reader (not easy, I know). Why would s/he want to read or have to read your book?
I would say curiosity. I know that there's quite a bit of wonder right now as to where humanity is headed right now, and what the size and the shape of our future will be. I myself did my best to tackle that in my book, and I would very much hope would be interesting in seeing what I came up and offering their own thoughts and opinions.

Who are your bestselling competitors in the genre and what can you offer that they can't?
Wow, hadn't really thought of it that way. But I would definitely say James S.A. Corey, author of the Expanse series. So far, my work has been compared to that series, even though I have not read a single one of those books. Also, there's Alastair Reynolds, the great space opera writer who was a major influence. Lastly, there's Kim Stanley Robinson, the man who literally wrote the book on terraforming in fiction!

Does writing interfere with reading?
For me it does. Aside from writing my stories, I also write as part of my day job. It seems like I have a preset word limit in my mind of a few thousand words a day, and both reading and writing use this up. By day's end, if I haven't exhausted the word limit, I might just get some serious reading done ;)

If you needed to make a choice in your literary career what would it be: glory and literary recognition or lots of sales and steady income?
I'd say the former. Recognition is the most rewarding aspect for me. I could stand not selling that many copies, provided people in my field and fellow fans of Hard SF read my books and thought they were good.

The visual is encroaching on the written word. Do you think the written word will retreat and disappear or remain steady?
I think the written word will certain evolve and adapt, and that it already is, to become part of the new digital economy. While print may be going the way of the dinosaur, I think the written word will be with us indefinitely. At least until we perfect the ability to upload information directly into our brains. But even then, I imagine literacy will still survive as a rare and novel skill.

Any valuable marketing tip(s) for fellow authors?
The best advice I can give is to promote yourself. Even if you have a publisher, you need to get your name out there and connect with people who will be able to appreciate your writing it share it with a wider audience.

Do you have a WIP and what’s exciting about it?
Yep! Right now, I am working on the sequel to The Cronian Incident, which will be titled The Jovian Manifesto.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
There are four basic pointers I give to aspiring writers, which are basically all of the most important lessons I either learned over the years, or was the best advice I got from people I look up to:

1. Do what you love, the money will come eventually
2. In the meantime, keep your day job
3. Do your homework, make sure you know your genre and audience
4. It takes 20 years to become an overnight success

Which writers inspire you?
George Orwell, Alastair Reynolds, Arthur C. Clarke, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Vernor Vinge, to name a few.

What are your recommendations for reading and why? For example, which book do you consider a must-read (apart from your own, as it's a must-must, of course -:))?
I have a few books that I will always recommend because of the way they will change how a person sees the world. They include 1984, Captains of Consciousness, Amusing ourselves to Death, Guns, Germs and Steel, Kiss of the Fur Queen, Three Day Road, Regeneration, Neuromancer, The Diamond Age, Accelerando

What non-writing-related things would you like to say about yourself.

Hobbies
I've been doing Taekwon-Do for the past thirty years, so I'm not sure that's a hobby as much as a vocation. But that, and beer tasting, animal-raising, driving up island, reading science fiction, and of course writing it ;)

Things to do where you live:
There's hiking, kayaking, paddling, paddle-boarding, wine, beer and cider tasting, island-hopping, and cross-country driving. And we've got some really awesome museum and an IMAX theater. Other than that, pretty much anything you can do anywhere else.

Places you've visited
Canada - one side to the other
US - New York, New Jersey, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Astoria, Clatskanie
the UK - London
France - Paris, Bayeux, Grangues, Ranville, Courseulles-sur-Mer, Caen, Amiens, Albert, Chartres,
Belgium - Ypres
Spain - San Sebastien, Bilbao, Longrono, Santiago de Compostella, O'Cebreiro, Finisterre
Holland - Utretch, Overloon
Germany - Frankfurt, Munich, Rothenberg aud der Taube
Cuba - Havana, Veradero

Achievements and triumphs
I got my 5th Degree Black Belt in 2015, I ran a 10 km with my wife, the wife and I also walked about 300 km of a pilgrimage route in the Spanish countryside, I did two battlefield tours of Europe, and I taught high-schoolers, middle-schoolers and kids and lived to tell about it. And I wrote a few books. That's about it.

Where can readers connect with you?
Website: storiesbywilliams.com
Blog: (same as above)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/houseofwilliams
Twitter: @storybywill
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattwilliam...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/storybywilli...
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Matthew-S-Will...
Goodreads: hhttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[Matthew]

May I just add that I apologize in advance for the wordiness of this interview. Lots of questions, and I didn't skimp on the characters. Enjoy! ;)

[Scout]

I'd rather have full answers than cryptic ones. A question for you: Is every book like a child? I have no experience with writing, but it seems that if you spend nine months or more creating something, it might be like a child. Or maybe not. Just asking.

[Matthew]

Scout wrote: "I'd rather have full answers than cryptic ones. A question for you: Is every book like a child? I have no experience with writing, but it seems that if you spend nine months or more creating someth..."

That is very apt. In fact, there's a reason authors tell editors "don't mess with my baby!" After becoming creatively and emotionally invested in a story, you can't help but feel like its your child. And every flaw in the book others find is either taken as a severe slight to your person or as something you blame yourself for. It's so similar, it's scary!

[Scout]

I know you have readers who give you input before you submit your work. Do you listen to them?

[Matthew]

Scout wrote: "I know you have readers who give you input before you submit your work. Do you listen to them?"

Certainly! My wife's opinion matters more to me than any editors, and what my friends think about the books as a whole, or recommendations they make along the way, often went towards informing it.

[Nik]

Read with interest, good one, Matt!

[Matthew]

Nik wrote: "Read with interest, good one, Matt!"

You read the book already? Or are you referring to the Q&A? Either way, thanks! :)

[Scout]

What kinds of research do you do before writing a novel?

[Matthew]

Scout wrote: "What kinds of research do you do before writing a novel?"

In this case, it was kind of a multi-year effort. And what's funny is, I was doing all that research to help with my writing long before I got the idea to do this book.

I began with studying the technological singularity and regularly reading and writing about developments in the field of AI, robotics, computing, biomedicine, biotech, nanotech, arcologies, climate change, alternative energies, geoengineering and ecoengineering, etc., etc., etc.

I also started writing for Universe Today full-time in 2014 and that was a regular research opportunity. I got to write all about the Solar planets and to study the history of space exploration, as well as get into the current state of it and proposed, future missions. All that went into this book and those that will follow.