A.R. Williams has always wanted to write, and she embraces
the politics and available opportunities offered by living in Washington, D.C.
She also appreciates making a “killer” salsa.
Q: How did you
conceive of the plot line for THE CAMELLIA RESISTANCE? Is it a story that has
to be told?
A.R. Williams: THE CAMELLIA RESISTANCE started as a strange conversation with a friend back in 2009.
We were talking about writing naughty stories and he suggested superheroes
having sex. As the conversation evolved, that turned into superheroes and
their origin stories. There's always some accident, some
government-engineered scientific mishap. Why not a virus, and since we're
talking about superheroes and sex, why not a STD?
I wish I could claim JK Rowling's discipline when it comes to
plotting, but the plot and the ideas behind it have evolved over time. I
started writing in November of 2009 and the last big idea fell into place in
the beginning of 2012. As a writer, this is the story that hasn't let me
go. From my perspective, it had to be told.
Q: What draws you
to write in your genre? Would you characterize THE CAMELLIA RESISTANCE as
SciFi, fantasy, dystopian fantasy?
A.R. Williams: It is probably a
cop-out, but I never set out to write in a particular genre. It was the
characters and the world they live in that came first. Then it was a
focus on "oh dear, I've got to live up to this concept." Where
the book would fall in the groupings at Barnes and Noble was the last thing on
my mind, at least while I was writing it.
That being said, it turns out that the trilogy falls solidly in the
dystopian fantasy genre.
Q: How do you
create credibility for a world set in 2044? How important is back story?
A.R. Williams: Back story is
crucial. Where we come from sets us the parameters for where we can
go next. Our history informs everything. Our assumptions about the
world we live in, the things we take for granted, everything rests on the
foundation of what comes before. In the writing process, the back story
weighs as much as the current activity. I think that will become more
evident as we move into the second book.
As for creating credibility, I may have taken the easy way out. A
pandemic flu wiped out most of the population in 1987, an event that was
followed by the disintegration of the constitutional government of the
United States. That's pretty much going to grind technological progress
to a halt. I didn't put myself in a position of having to build a world where
flying personal space suits are the norm. I think that puts the burden of
credibility with the characters living in the culture with its norms
and expectations instead of adequately describing the technology.
Q: What makes us
care about Willow Carlyle as a character?
A.R. Williams: Well, I've found
out that Willow isn't universally likable. She's been a bit
sanctimonious and judgmental, she doesn't understand herself very
well, she thinks she has things under control and she doesn't. But
what happens to her - not just the specifics, but the experience of hitting
rock bottom - is a pretty universal experience. She gets to this thing
that she never thought would happen to her, this experience that is the end of
her world, and it doesn't kill her. Much to her surprise, she keeps going,
imperfectly, of course, but she keeps going.
Some readers can't stand Willow, but really like one of the other
characters. Which is okay with me, because although Willow is the
introduction to the world of the Camellias, it is a bigger world than just her.
Q: Are there
villains in THE CAMELLIA RESISTANCE? What makes an effective villain?
A.R. Williams: There are
villains, but it depends a little on your perspective. There are people
in the book who do bad things, who hurt other people carelessly, who kill.
Back when Veronica Mars was still on TV, the actor that played Logan
(Jason Dohring) said about his character "no one thinks of themselves as
the bad guy." The quote is paraphrased because it's been so long ago
even Google is having trouble finding the exact quote, but that idea really
stuck with me. I think he was right. We all do stuff other people
don't like, but none of us thinks of ourselves as bad people.
From the internal perspective of a "villain," you're just
doing what you have to do, right? We all have our reasons. When you
cut someone off in traffic, you never think of yourself as the asshole, it is
always the other schmuck that wouldn't let you in.
So to me, an effective villain has some ambiguity, believes in whatever
course of action he/she is pursuing, and has moments of likability.
Q: Why
write a trilogy instead of just a standalone book?
A.R. Williams: There are two
answers to that question, one has to do with the story itself and the other has
to do with impatience.
The trilogy structure, at least as I'm planning to use it, allows me to
widen the aperture to this world a little with every book.
Willow's perspective is the first one we meet, and THE CAMELLIA RESISTANCE is about her understanding of the world she lives in. Books two and
three will each take a step back, widening the perspective until the whole big
world, back-story and all, comes into view.
As for the impatience, my experience with the real world has taught me
about the importance of getting started. You can do something now or you
can wait and do everything later, but if you're going to do everything later...
well, later never shows up. Now is here. Now is about all you
can count on. I've spent too much time waiting for the perfect conditions,
waiting to have everything 100% ready, and really, that's just fear talking.
Do what doesn't take permission. Do it now. To quote Janis
Joplin, tomorrow never happens man.
Q: Do your
characters push you around and lead you to write something you never intended?
Or do you stick to your outline?
A.R. Williams: I'm not much of a
planner, but I did start out with ideas about who my characters were - and
pretty strong ideas at that. Sometimes they comply, sometimes they don't.
Ianthe started out as a side-kick, Marshall started out as a nice guy
100% of the time. Warren, at least, was always Warren. And then
some characters showed up wholly formed without invitation. I
keep talking about Morrigan, who shows up in the last half of the book.
She arrived all by herself and pretty much pointed her cane at me, waved
her joint around, and said "listen lady, this is how it is going to
be." A lot of things have happened in the process that I didn't
intend, but that's why you write... as much as the reader, I want to know
what happens next.
Q: Do you write to
entertain your readers and/or do you want to deliver a message or educate?
A.R. Williams: The two aren't
mutually exclusive in my view. We engage with stories to entertain
ourselves, but that doesn't mean that the entertainment doesn't contain a
thread of truth or doesn't serve a purpose in our lives. Some of the best
stories we've got teach us that we can survive, that others have experienced
what we're experiencing - again, rock bottom is pretty universal - and have
found a way to carry on. Other authors have been with me through that
rock bottom experience, have held my hand and shown me that it is possible to
keep going. If I can be that for someone else, even just a little bit,
then I can count myself as a success.
So if there's a dogma to be found in the book, it is in the value of
showing up, as imperfect as you are, as ill equipped as you may be. It is
in making peace with the way life is inevitably going to scar you, and learning
to find the beauty and the strength in those scars. It is that living
unafraid is going to get you hurt, but hurt and alive is better than walling
yourself off from everything because you're afraid of pain.
Q: What’s
next?
A.R. Williams: I'm about 75%
done with the next in the Trilogy - The Camellia Reckoning. Then there is
the editing and the re-writing and the early reader feedback and the perfecting
to do. That should keep me busy for a while, and when I'm done with that,
book three. I'm booked for the foreseeable future.
Literally.
Q: Tell
us about A.R. Williams. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
A.R. Williams: I'm afraid the
most interesting part of me is what happens when I'm not paying attention to
what the thoughts in my head are up to. Other than that, it is all pretty
normal. Work. Swimming. Music. My 13 year old dog that
has no idea she can't see, can't hear, and can't smell anymore. Making a
killer salsa. This is another quote I can't find, and I don't even know
who said it, but it applies: I live a restrained life so my imagination can run
wild.
About A.R. Williams
A.R. Williams is obsessed with language and myth, not just
playing with words and making up stories, but with the real-world impact that
our words have on the way we live. Words are the only puzzle that never gets
boring, and writing is the only thing she has wanted to do consistently. Other
interests, such as sewing and photography, become alternate means to feed the
writing habit.
Ms. Williams feeds her obsession with curiosity: people, philosophy, technology, psychology, and culture. Living in Washington D.C. is a good source of inspiration. From the sublime heights of arts and achievement available for free at the Smithsonian to the bureaucratic banality of Beltway politics and scandals, it is a great city for fantasy, possibility, power, and consequence—ideal fodder for the fictional life. She lives between an ordinary external life filled with time cards, meetings, and deadlines; and an extraordinary imaginary world where anything is possible and everything is fueled by music.
Ms. Williams feeds her obsession with curiosity: people, philosophy, technology, psychology, and culture. Living in Washington D.C. is a good source of inspiration. From the sublime heights of arts and achievement available for free at the Smithsonian to the bureaucratic banality of Beltway politics and scandals, it is a great city for fantasy, possibility, power, and consequence—ideal fodder for the fictional life. She lives between an ordinary external life filled with time cards, meetings, and deadlines; and an extraordinary imaginary world where anything is possible and everything is fueled by music.
About THE CAMELLIA RESISTANCE
2044. Willow Carlyle is the youngest cultural epidemiology
research director in the history of the Ministry of Health and is on the
fast-track for further promotion until a night of passion shatters her
carefully constructed life.
Marked and unemployed, Willow falls in with a band of
dissidents. Everyone wants something. In the process of discerning friend from
foe, Willow begins to unravel secrets that will shake the New Republic of
America to its foundation.
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