Prime Time Replay:
Walter Jon Williams
on City on Fire
MsgId: *omni_visions(1)
Date: Thu Jan 23 20:11:46 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Welcome back to Omni Visions. Our guest will be sf writer Walter Jon Williams. For background, you can check out this critical biography adapted from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Since the publication of that critical biography WJW has come out with his critically acclaimed "Metropolitan" and its sequel, "City on Fire". Welcome!
MsgId: *omni_visions(27)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:07:12 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Glad to be here.
MsgId: *omni_visions(30)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:10:11 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I suspect that "City on Fire" is not the end of that series . . . Are you planning (or have you written) more?
MsgId: *omni_visions(31)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:12:07 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
The METROPOLITAN series started out as a single volume. But when I was finished with the first, I realized the story wasn't over. About halfway through CITY ON FIRE, I realized there would be a third volume. I'm going to take a break from the series for a while, though, and let the batteries recharge. I've got another book or two I want to write first.The third book WILL contain a lot of the information that people have been nagging me about, such as who (or what) is on the other side of the Shield, why the Shield was built, and why it's still there.
MsgId: *omni_visions(34)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:16:21 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Your work has always struck me as being very serious on the surface, with you grinning underneath, and another layer of seriousness another level down. (Except for THE CROWN JEWELS, which was a relative romp.) Do you see any validity to that perception?
MsgId: *omni_visions(35)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:19:03 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Well, I AM enjoying myself, and the books are filled with jokes that probably only I will ever see as funny. But much of the humor in the book has to do with irony or cultural contrasts, which the irony-impaired may not quite notice. Some people have told me that my "serious" books are humorless, for instance. But then my humorous books have a serious comment or two, as well.A lot of the subtext of the CROWN JEWELS series has to do with class assumptions, which is a subject I take very seriously elsewhere.
MsgId: *omni_visions(37)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:22:57 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I think those serious books are humorless as well--on the surface, but I always thought I that (as in some film noir) there was fun in the styling of the straight-faced tale.
MsgId: *omni_visions(38)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:23:53 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Another aspect is that I usually allow my =characters= to have a sense of humor. They're allowed to at least grin now and again about the situation they're in.
MsgId: *omni_visions(39)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:25:01 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Might you accept being categorized to an extent as sf-noir?
MsgId: *omni_visions(40)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:25:52 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Well, one is obliged to take one's fiction seriously at least part of the time. But, as the omniscient narrator, I am often aware of ironies in my characters' situation that they do not perceive.
MsgId: *omni_visions(41)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:27:52 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I believe that is how I've always reacted to your books. You mentioned class issues. What would you say are some of the other issues you try to bring to the surface?
MsgId: *omni_visions(42)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:29:01 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
WHOOPS! Netscape just performed no less than THREE illegal acts and shut down. Let me collect my wits for a second, and I'll answer some questions.
MsgId: *omni_visions(43)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:30:11 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Take your time--given this interface, it's a little less than a real-time chat.
MsgId: *omni_visions(44)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:30:39 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Okay. Noir first. A lot of my work is noir, definitely. I grew up reading James M. Cain, Hammett, Chandler. There's something to be said for concentrating now and again on the stripped-down values of survival, betrayal, and trust.WOW! Three more illegal acts! The FBI should definitely arrest my copy of Netscape before it runs amuck!
Much of my work concerns issues of power and caste. Who has it, who doesn't. I've written about the issue from both sides. Gabriel in ARISTOI has enormous power, enough that Genghis Khan would go blue with envy. Whereas Sarah in HARDWIRED has no power at all, and little hope of achieving any. She'd settle for just being left alone, basically, but it's not going to happen.
MsgId: *omni_visions(49)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:38:01 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
If I may ask, is there anything in your life which has particularly led to such observations, or is it just society in general that has prompted you to write of castes?
MsgId: *omni_visions(52)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:42:51 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
I suppose some of it may have to do with the effects of living in dire and humiliating poverty for a number of years. Being screwed over by people with power, and unable to prevent it. Which led to considerable thought being given to the issue of how much the powerful owe to those without power, and how much the powerless should be allowed to hope.
MsgId: *omni_visions(53)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:46:20 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I, too, have had bouts with awful poverty. But as a broadcaster most of my life (albeit an unpaid one) I always had a sense of power that gave me, even though the broadcasting I do is on sf and other arts. Does writing return a feeling of power for you in any way?
MsgId: *omni_visions(54)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:47:16 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Writing doesn't give me NEARLY ENOUGH power!
MsgId: *omni_visions(55)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:48:08 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Now THAT'S what I meant about an underlying grin...
MsgId: *omni_visions(56)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:49:06 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
The fact that one is able to exercise unlimited power over nonexistent people is an inadequate palliative for being powerless in reality, I find, though it's certainly better than having no power over anything at all. Perhaps if the rewards of writing were more immediate, as they must be in broadcasting, I'd find it more satisfying on that level.
MsgId: *omni_visions(57)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:52:00 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
An interesting point--the immediacy of the medium does have a lot to do with it, I'll warrant. Speaking of which, you've been accessible online for longer than many other writers, I believe, and you maintain your own website. Do you see any potential for online media as artistic expression? One that you could work in?
MsgId: *omni_visions(62)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:55:43 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
There's certainly a lot of potential in the online medium, though I wouldn't say it's quite "there" yet in terms of speed, versimilitude, and (ahem) reliability . . .What the medium will bring--- has brought, as far as that goes -- is a levelling of the information hierarchy. McCluhan observed that with television everything is reduced to the same level of impact. News programs, with war, genocide, and horror, are presented with the same urgency as commercials for Geritol . . .
Online media are the same as TV, only more so. The most strident, looniest paranoid-schizophrenic can produce a web page to compete with that of the White House. It both empowers individuals, but it enhances and reinforces craziness. Every nut group in the world has a web page. The Klan, the National Front, the militias, the stalinists . . .
MsgId: *omni_visions(64)
Date: Thu Jan 23 22:58:14 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Have you thought of straying from the (strictly) written form to other media? Or of seeing your work adapted?
MsgId: *omni_visions(67)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:04:27 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
I can work in any media, once I get a handle on its basics. I've written a couple screenplays and been paid for them, though the movies weren't made. I've been peripherally involved in a couple computer games. I am most at home with straight text, though, and it gives me the most satisfaction. Movies or TV is a collaborative effort, but writing fiction gives me a chance to solo.As for adaptations to other media, I have no problem with the concept, and I think it would be potentially fun. As James M. Cain said when asked what he thought of what Hollywood had done to his books, "Hollywood didn't do anything to my books. They're right there, on the shelf."
MsgId: *omni_visions(70)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:06:08 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Does hypertext hold any intrigue for you?
MsgId: *omni_visions(73)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:10:46 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
ARISTOI was conceived as a hypertext novel, though the medium wasn't really there yet. I'm dubious about this concept in the long run, though. Fiction depends on things like the slow building of character, careful revelations concerning the background, pacing, timing . . . Jumping around at will in the text won't necessarily produce a satisfying read.
MsgId: *omni_visions(74)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:12:17 PST 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 206.80.173.180
I agree with Walter about hypertext. I think it will be far more useful for nonfiction in the long run than in what we currently consider the novel form.
MsgId: *omni_visions(75)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:13:51 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I believe I agree, though I'm always trying to push the envelope. The market aside, do you have a preference for length? (I almost always ask this of those who, like yourself, also write short stories.)
MsgId: *omni_visions(76)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:13:57 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Bumped off again! . . . To actually answer a question, I seem to be comfortable at all lengths, though I am most successful at the long novelet or novella length. The novella seems the right length to develop a good SF'nal idea and explore a character without having to go to the trouble of writing a novel. I really envy people like Robert Silverberg, who seem to be able to come up more or less at will with a story that has a fresh idea, engaging characters, and a satisfying resolution, and do it all in 15 pages or less.
MsgId: *omni_visions(82)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:21:15 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Yet maintaining consistently interesting characters through a series of books is also difficult, and you certainly pull that off well.
MsgId: *omni_visions(83)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:22:46 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
I only wish I had time to write more short fiction. I'd like to take a year off and just write short stories. But unfortunately it's the novels that pay the bills, so I have to spend most of my time at novel length.
MsgId: *omni_visions(84)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:24:55 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Alas, that is an all too common answer. Not to denigrate novels, but I consider short stories to be gems, and wish there could be a way to make them pay for the writer's time.
MsgId: *omni_visions(85)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:25:05 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Thank you for the compliment. It =is= hard work keeping a character fresh through more than one volume.
MsgId: *omni_visions(86)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:25:36 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Getting back to the issue of power, is there any hope? Have you found a way to exercise your own destiny, as it were?
MsgId: *omni_visions(87)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:29:20 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Well, there's always MONEY! There's the famous essay by Virginia Woolf in which she recommends having an income of--- what?--- two hundred pounds per year. (Of course that was in an era when the average working woman earned maybe one-tenth that sum.Basically, one needs whatever it takes to give one independence. But you don't want to be so independant that you're cut off from everyone else, and from ordinary concerns. There's nothing more boring than someone whose entire message is, "Oh, it's so dreadful being rich and carefree!"
Still, I wouldn't mind if Ed McMahon lifts me above all of that . . .
MsgId: *omni_visions(89)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:32:48 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
In that regard, do you envy the lifestyle of any of your characters? The lead in THE CROWN JEWELS always held a particular fantasy for me.
MsgId: *omni_visions(91)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:35:57 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
The world of THE CROWN JEWELS would be fun if you had the money to support the lifestyle (which my character doesn't, by the way). Being Gabriel in ARISTOI would be a blast. (Hmmm . . . think I'll make a world today, and finish that opera I started yesterday . . . )I would like to at least visit almost all the worlds I've written about, even the bleak ones. Though I'm not sure I'd care to be any of my characters--- as their creator, I'm more aware of their problems and limitations than anyone.
MsgId: *omni_visions(98)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:45:46 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
A question from Schenectady (as in where do ideas come from): When a novel/story germinates, does it begin in any one place? A character, a theme, an idea?
MsgId: *omni_visions(99)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:47:20 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Most of my stories have begun with a character. Sometimes a character in a given situation. Once I know what character I want to write about, I try to devise a scenario, or world, that will put that character under pressure to reveal itself to the reader.Lately, though, my novels have begun with a world or a landscape. Once I thoroughly develop a world, as in ARISTOI or METROPOLITAN, I then devise characters that reveal the world to the reader (and presumably themselves along with it).
MsgId: *omni_visions(101)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:49:48 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
How do you tend to relate to your characters? Do you like most of them? Are they distinct from you or a part of you, or all of the above, etc.?
MsgId: *omni_visions(105)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:53:30 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
I am pretty cold-blooded about my characters on the whole. I do develop a fondness for some of them, but it's sort of the fondness one has for one's pets, not the fondness one has for a friend. After all, I live with some of these characters for a year or more. By the time the project is finished, I usually want to punch them in the nose.
MsgId: *omni_visions(106)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:53:34 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I found the landscape of METEOPOLITAN most disturbing, being a native NYawker. I pass through the World Trade Center each day going to work, and I keep an eye out for people bursting into flame...
MsgId: *omni_visions(109)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:56:23 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Imagine New York if it was, say, two thousand years older, and there's METROPOLITAN. After all, the World Trade Center DID burst into flame, and it didn't need the magical system from METROPOLITAN to do it!
MsgId: *omni_visions(110)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:57:13 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I guess that assures an end to certain series, at any rate. Are there any (besides METROPOLITAN) that you might revisit?
MsgId: *omni_visions(113)
Date: Thu Jan 23 23:59:54 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
I'd like to write a sequel to ARISTOI one of these days. The ARISTOI future is broad enough to carry another volume or two. There are some shorter works to which I'd like to write a sequel, or at least another story set in the same world.
MsgId: *omni_visions(115)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:01:31 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
ARISTOI's premise holds limitless potential, I would say. There'd always be a new facet to explore, if you chose.
MsgId: *omni_visions(117)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:03:24 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
I'd like to write an ARISTOI from the point of view of someone who isn't an Aristos, who doesn't have all the power, and who can't quite control all the sub-personalities and daimones that an Aristos can manage. Who has to actually struggle with the technology a bit.
MsgId: *omni_visions(119)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:04:31 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I owuld like to read that book, so I hope hyou have an opportunity to write it soon. We only have a few obligatory minutes left, but I'd like to ask who you consider your literary antecedents.
MsgId: *omni_visions(120)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:05:33 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Literary antecedents? Oh jeez, everyone back to Homer, I guess. Shakespeare, Conrad, Nabokov, Austen, Pynchon, Chancler, Cain. Samuel R. Delany, Robert Heinlein, Roger Zelazny, Michael Moorcock, Alfred Bester.
MsgId: *omni_visions(122)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:07:58 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
A fine and admirable list, and one with which I would agree. You're in good company. Before we sign off, is there anything you'd care to share/say/emote?
MsgId: *omni_visions(123)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:10:59 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
Well, I'd like to thank you and Ellen for the chance to appear. Despite the software weirdness, I've enjoyed myself.
MsgId: *omni_visions(124)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:11:57 PST 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 206.80.173.180
Walter, thanks for joining us. And Jim, thanks for your usual great job.
MsgId: *omni_visions(125)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:12:14 PST 1997
From: WalterJonWilliams At: 206.206.98.77
And everyone out there go out and BUY MY BOOKS, or I'll set the World Trade Center aflame!
MsgId: *omni_visions(128)
Date: Fri Jan 24 00:13:15 PST 1997
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Thanks for being here, Walter. It was a pleasure. Perhaps I can get you to be on the radio someday... And thanks Ellen for this wonderful schedule of events. A reminder to all: Walter Jon Williams' METROPOLITAN is available in paperback, and CITY ON FIRE in hardcover. (And he has a lot of other fine books in print as well) Good night.
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