Featured Interview With David Michael Williams
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
While I’ve lived the bulk of my life in Wisconsin, I travel as often as I can. I lived in Zhangjiagang, China for a year. Someday I’d like to live in Louisiana or the Pacific Northwest or Colorado or…
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My older sister was a much more avid reader than I ever was. In fact, I hated going to the library because it meant she would come home with an armload of books and sequester herself away in her room for the next few days. It wasn’t until I found the fantasy genre that I began consuming stories like a fiend.
I’ve always been a storyteller, I think. Writing was just one of several tools I used to create characters. Over time, however, I realized I could say more with writing than, say, sketching or acting. It was a convenience that evolved into a compulsion.
I wrote stories as far back as age 12 and started my first (complete) novel as a freshman in college. That book eventually became the first installment of The Renegade Chronicles. I’ve pretty much been working on novels consistently since 1997.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
The authors of the fantasy novels I read while a teenager motivated me to take a stab at the written word as well as try my hand at world building. They include Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman — not only because of their contributions to the DragonLance saga, but also for the Death Gate Cycle — and R.A. Salvatore, primarily for his DemonWars series. Tad Williams, Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, and J.R.R. Tolkien have also impacted me as a reader and writer.
Beyond fantasy, I try to draw from literature, such as the works of William Faulkner.
For the past couple of years, I’ve enjoyed a renewed interest in graphic novels, from Robert Kirkman’s Invincible and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to older Marvel compilations, such as Squadron Supreme and Fantastic Four. Right now, I’m thoroughly entranced by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staple’s Saga.
Truth be told, stories of all types — from books and comics to television and movies and to video games and miscellany — inspire me.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, If Souls Can Sleep, introduces a hidden world where gifted individuals possess the power to invade the dreams of others. Two rival factions have transformed the dreamscape into a war zone where all reality is relative and even the dead can’t rest in peace.
The story centers on Vincent Cruz, a man who lost his daughter and never recovered from the tragedy. He’s stuck, haunted by a dream that replays the dreadful memory over and over. Then the dream suddenly stops, and he’s faced with a new nightmare that starts to bleed into the real world. There’s also Milton, a partial amnesiac who is on the run and doing his best to stave off sleep forever.
I started writing If Souls Can Sleep on Dec. 31, 2006, and it took two and a half years to compose a complete first draft. I then edited it, jumped into writing the sequel, and worked on a handful of other projects. By the time the book hit shelves, it was more than 11 years in the making.
Fortunately for fans, they won’t have to wait that long to get their hands on the sequel, If Sin Dwells Deep, which will be published in fall 2018.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles
David Michael Williams’s Website