Interview with Kristine Williams

TN: Your bio says you were born on April Fools Day. What sign does that make you? Does being born on April Fools Day give you any special abilities?

KW: It makes me Aries the Ram, actually. Able to remark snidely in a single bound. But when coupled with my Blonde Powers, I can deliver a blank stare that causes my enemies to wander off, muttering.

TN: The ability to make your enemies mutter could be a very useful skill. Can you do that at ramming speed?

KW: Actually yes, I can. You just add a little finger-hair twirl and cock your head to the side.

TN: Cool!

Your bio also said that you were working on "reinventing the humble computer keyboard." What does that mean exactly?

KW: Well, I've found a way to merge a hobby of mine - lapidary art - with the dreaded modern necessity of the computer keyboard. After all, even if you prefer to write your novels by hand - with paper and pen - most of us find using a computer a job requirement. And I'd fallen in love with the images of Steampunk Keyboards, but could never afford one myself. So I thought "what's the opposite of the modern, computerized world?" the answer, to me, was The Stone age.

So I started experimenting with tumbled beach rocks, replacing the computer keys with rocks small enough to fit and be used. Then I loved that so much, I figured other materials would work just as well, so I began looking around. Making a computer keyboard out of colored glass balls really got me excited. Then I tried cutting jaspers into squares, and made one that way.

Now I've realized the possibilities are endless!

TN: That sounds... Er... How do they work? Do you have pictures? Have you ever used one to write a novel?

KW: Funny you should ask! I do have pictures, and a blog, at www.primordialink.wordpress.com. And while I do play around with them right after they're made, I haven't used one for any length of time myself. I use a laptop computer at home, and it's not always convenient to have a keyboard plugged in.

But I do have two Beta testers who use them regularly, and I know that one of those Beta testers did, in fact, write a novel with his.


TN: Wow! But, speaking of novels (nice segue, no?), tell me about yours. What inspired you to write Keeper?

KW: Very nice segue! You've obviously done this before.

What inspired me to write Keeper, in all honesty, was this guilty pleasure I have watching those great, perhaps now old fashioned, "buddy shows". You know, two guys - usually cops, or a PI and his pals, or fighter pilots on a space ship - mix that with my love of Science Fiction, easy banter between to characters, and stories that were written for no other reason than to tell a story, and you have my motivation.

One of the authors I adored as a young reader was Alistair MacLean. Remember Ice Station Zebra? Force Ten From Navarone? Books like that were filled with comrades-in-arms, and told simple stories. Like popcorn for the mind. No deep meanings, no navel-gazing. Just pure reading pleasure. And I knew right then that's what I wanted to be - a writer of mental popcorn.

Everyone loves popcorn, right? So with Keeper, I tried to do just that, and build these two comrades up from the day they met.


TN: Do you prefer older stories, regardless of the medium, over newer works?

KW: You know, for the most part, I do. I really do. Maybe it's a matter of looking back through rose colored glasses - but older stories didn't feel like they were trying so hard. They were just there, telling you a story - probably a theme used millions of times before - and not trying to pretend they were the Next Big Deal. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is an old favorite of mine. It was unique without trying to be. It was just a story, about a boy, his friend, and a grand adventure they had. Deeper meanings are there, if you want them to be, but really it's just an adventure tale. Television and movies used to be like that - telling stories just to give the audience an escape and an adventure.

Seems nowadays people feel the need to be socially relevant, talk about important issues, or explore darker regions of humanity.

Maybe we wouldn't have so many dark regions if we had more recess.

TN: It sounds like you think society has lost track of the little things.

KW: I definitely do, yes. Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I believe society as a whole HAS lost track of the simple things. Those basic bits of life that keep us centered and on track. Relying on conversation to entertain you during long family car trips. Dinner every evening, on time, with the whole family at a table. Playing a simple board game with friends, instead of plugging in and texting them. Talking long walks, enjoying what you have instead of coveting what you want.

I think even the ability to sit quietly in a room and daydream is a dying art. The imagination is SO much more powerful than people want to realize!

TN: What's your favorite simple thing to do with friends and family? What about when you're alone?

KW: My favorite thing to do with friends and family is playing games - board games, card games, any kind of games. We often get together and play card games for hours. When I'm alone, if I'm not writing, I love to putter. I'll get some wild idea about creating - say - a computer keyboard with rocks, and I can spend many happy hours trying to make that happen. Or I'll sit in the garage for a long time, drilling polished rock pendants while my mind wanders around.

But sit me in a rocking chair (which is why I don't have one) and I can just rock back and forth for hours, doing absolutely nothing!

TN: That sounds like absolute bliss.

What about your other novels? What can you tell me, and our readers, about them?

KW: Well, Keeper has a couple of sequels, taking the characters on further adventures and watching them grow and change. Then I wanted to explore a version of what I'd call near-future "could have been" where the country we live in was comprised of walled-off cities with minimal communication between them, so I wrote Minefield and it's sequel Identity. I didn't really feel as attached to those tales as I had with Keeper, but they were an interesting change of pace for me.

Lately, though, I felt the need to change up what had become my Standard Operating Procedure - of writing alternate chapter/POVs between the two main heroes. That's when I wrote Ether, a story in which a man accidentally finds an alternate world, and has to figure out how to get back home. The entire novel is told from his point of view, and I had a blast writing that one. Like most writers, I'd have to say the best novel is the one being written now - Anomaly - a tale of alternate realities, time travel, and the ramifications of messing with the two.

TN: Alternate POVs. Alternate worlds. Alternate realities. I’m noticing a theme throughout all of your work. Do you explore alternatives consciously or is it just one of those things that has happened?

KW: I think it's probably more on purpose, on my part. I've always been disappointed that there aren't any new frontiers for us to pioneer, you know? The way our ancestors would explore a new landmass, then pioneering folk would volunteer to leave their settled lives and become members of a new community in a strange, frightening new land. Well now that we've settled the whole planet, pretty much, there's nowhere new and scary to go.

And since I figured I would have done that - been one to leave my settled life and forge a new colony - I'm left to do that in my imagination. So I really enjoy imagining "What If" scenarios. What If the world was completely different? What If I really could explore alien planets and discover new life?

Stuff like that.

TN: If you could explore anywhere, or anywhen, where would it be?

KW: If I had my way, by now, we'd have a colony in the deep sea. Some kind of complex, experimenting and exploring the idea of humans living, working, and colonizing the sea floor. Obviously we'd be living inside structures, but learning to harvest the sea for all of our needs, exploring new species, studying those we know so little about, and who knows what we'd find down there. Maybe there's a cure for cancer in algae. Maybe there's an alternative to fossil fuels in whale poop. We know more about the surface of the Moon than we do our own oceans.

That just seems wrong to me.


TN: Your answers make me have more questions, but I've already taken enough of your time. Is there anything you'd like to add?

KW: Yeah, read my book! :D And read as many books as you can find, new and old. Then go sit outside, without your mp3 players or your cell phone, and reacquaint yourself with your imagination. I bet it has a lot to show you.

TN: Thank you. I hope everyone follows your advice, at least once.