by Walter Jon Williams
Dagmar Shaw is one of the world's hottest designers of alternate reality games. She is the Puppetmaster and thousands of gamers are dancing on her strings. But when the campaign she is running in Turkey comes into conflict with the new, brutal regime, she realises that games can have very real consequences. When an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project so insane, so ambitious, she can't possibly say no, she is plunged into a world of spies and soldiers. A nation hangs in the balance and in a world of intrigue and betrayal, the master player must face the possibility that she has, herself, been played. Dagmar is the Puppetmaster, but when the bullets are real and her 'puppets' start dying, is any cause worth it?
1. What started you writing, and is it the same thing that still inspires you today?
What started me writing was an irresistible compulsion to write. It hit me when I was about four or five years old, and I don't know where it came from.
The compulsion drove me for thirty-five years or so, and then it went away as mysteriously as it came. Now that I'm no longer compelled to write, I find that I have to inspire myself, somehow, every day. This turns out to be more work than the actual writing.
2. How many novels did you write before you got published?
I wrote two spec novels before I sold a third book. Those two novels remain unsold to this day, a lesson in the fact that literary ability is something that is learned, day by day, through constant application. By the third book, I was good enough to sell. Before that, not so much.
3. What was the first thing you did when you found out a publisher wanted to print your work?
I called all my friends for a party. Unfortunately it was New Year's Day, and they'd all partied themselves out the night before. So I ended up having a quiet dinner with one friend.
4. What books, or authors, would you say have most influenced you in the type of writer you've become?
I find myself deeply attracted by autocratic writers who warp realities into alignment with the contours of their own skulls. Pynchon, Delany, Zelazny, Nabokov,
5. What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?
The most challenging thing is finishing what you begin. A lot of writers make a brilliant start on the first 100 pages, and then inspiration runs out. A working writer won't be inspired every day, but has to work anyway.
6. Do you use an outline when you write, or are you more of a discovery writer?
I outline thoroughly. I always know the ending before I start, and that way I can write to that ending without having to waste time writing thousands of words exploring ideas that don't work out.
7. How much research do you do, and is it before or during the writing process?
It depends on the project, but if I'm working on something that needs a lot of research, then I'll research as much as possible before I start, and then continue the research as I'm writing. I do massive amounts of research that never end up in the book--- maybe that's because research is often much more fun than actual work.
8. Do you ever base your characters on people you know or have known?
Generally speaking, no. The few times I've used people I know, I've been told that they're the least convincing characters in the book. I think that's because they're intruding from another reality, one outside the fictional construct I'm creating.
9. What is your work schedule like when your in writers mode?
I seem to be at my most creative and energetic in the early hours of the morning, between midnight and 3am, so that's when I work. I wish my schedule were more in conformity with that of the rest of the world, but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it.
10. What do you do to relax, when you're no in 'writer's mode? (are you ever not in writer's mode?)
I have far too many hobbies. I've trained in Kenpo Karate for nearly thirty years, I do as much travel as the budget can stand, I play games with my friends, I'm an enthusiastic scuba diver. All these occupations give me a lot of material for fiction, fortunately.
11. When you look back on writing career, is there anything you would've done differently? If so, what and why?
If I had it to do over, I'd go to Hollywood when I was young. I'd make a pile of money writing for television, then retire and write novels free of the necessity of having to earn a living with them.
That's the fantasy, anyway. It may have been completely unworkable in reality, but then I'll never know.
12. Do you ever regret being 'self employed' (self motivating) and look longingly at people with 'normal' jobs?
Every so often I get mopey about the insecurities of my profession, but then I contemplate my friends who work in cubicles eight hours each day, and I realize that I'm in one of the few professions that gives me the freedom to be the person I actually am. So would I trade this for a job in an office? Absolutely not--- not unless I was extremely desperate and had large-caliber weapons pointed at my head, anyway.
13. How do you balance what you're reading against what you're writing?
Between work, research, workshops, and so forth, I seem to do very little reading for pleasure. I love getting lost in a good book, but unfortunately that's become a rare pleasure.
14. And finally, what future novels/ideas do you have in the works?
DEEP STATE, the sequel to THIS IS NOT A GAME, is out right now, a near-future thriller about a social media-inspired revolution in a Middle Eastern country. Imagine my surprise when I turned on the television and saw scenes from my novel being enacted in Egypt! I wonder if they got an advanced reading copy or something . . .
The third book in the series, which deals with the influence of digital technology on more traditional mass media, will be out about this time next year. I've gone around with the publisher about titles, and I only found that the discussion had been settled when I saw that amazon.uk was offering advanced purchase for something called THE FOURTH WALL, which seems to be by me. Life is full of surprises!--- which all things considered, is how I'd prefer it to be.
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