Tell us about your new book? What’s it about? Can you tell us about your main character?
Along the Watchtower is about a tragic warrior lost in two worlds.
Lieutenant Freddie Williams war in Iraq ended when an IED explosion left his mind and body shattered. Once he was a skilled gamer and expert in virtual warfare. Now he’s a broken warrior, emerging from a medically induced coma to discover he’s inhabiting two separate realities. The first is his waking world of pain, family trials, and remorse—and slow rehabilitation through the tender care of Becky, his physical therapist. The second is a dark fantasy realm of quests, demons, and magic that Freddie enters when he sleeps.
In his dreams he’s Frederick, Prince of Stormwind, who must make sense of his horrific visions in order to save his embattled kingdom from the Horde. His only solace awaits him in the royal gardens, where the gentle words of the gardener, Rebecca, calm the storms in his soul. While in the conscious world, the severely wounded vet faces a strangely similar and equally perilous mission—a journey along a dark road haunted by demons of guilt and memory—and letting patient, loving Becky into his damaged and shuttered heart may be his only way back from Hell.
Lieutenant Freddie Williams war in Iraq ended when an IED explosion left his mind and body shattered. Once he was a skilled gamer and expert in virtual warfare. Now he’s a broken warrior, emerging from a medically induced coma to discover he’s inhabiting two separate realities. The first is his waking world of pain, family trials, and remorse—and slow rehabilitation through the tender care of Becky, his physical therapist. The second is a dark fantasy realm of quests, demons, and magic that Freddie enters when he sleeps.
In his dreams he’s Frederick, Prince of Stormwind, who must make sense of his horrific visions in order to save his embattled kingdom from the Horde. His only solace awaits him in the royal gardens, where the gentle words of the gardener, Rebecca, calm the storms in his soul. While in the conscious world, the severely wounded vet faces a strangely similar and equally perilous mission—a journey along a dark road haunted by demons of guilt and memory—and letting patient, loving Becky into his damaged and shuttered heart may be his only way back from Hell.
How did you come up with the title?
It’s from the song written by Bob Dylan and made famous by Jimi Hendrix.
Here’s the final verse:
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl
I thought the lyrics represented the mood of the book, the sense a wounded veteran might feel returning to the states to find everything in his life has changed.
Tell us why did you wrote it?
I’ve always been fascinated by how we perceive reality. Think of the film Rashomon, the classic exploration of multiple realities, where several witnesses to a crime describe events completely differently, each bringing their own life experience and biases into play. But it’s when we’re ripped from our normal life and placed in extreme circumstances that our reality becomes totally fragmented. Such is the case with hospitals and war.
At the same time, I’d become engrossed in playing the online fantasy game, World of Warcraft, with my son, an avid player. With me on the east coast on him on the west, he suggested we meet weekly in the fantasy world of Azeroth—an invitation I could hardly resist. For several months, we had a Wednesday evening appointment, where our avatars would meet in this virtual world and go on quests together. I was struck by how totally immersed I could get in the game, how quickly time passed and the surreal mood of wandering around in castles and crypts, solving riddles and following quests.
The fantasy gaming experience has a dream-like quality to it. And I began to wonder: how would this experience affect the dreams of someone whose reality has been fragmented by war, PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
These concepts—war, hospitals, and the fantasy world of online gaming—came together in Along the Watchtower.
When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?
Long walks, bicycling, golf, dinner with a few close friends, time with my family, and travel.
Do you have any tips on how writers can relax?
Naps work well. One writer once said she liked to write in the morning after waking and after naps, so she could go from one dream world to another.
How often do you write? And when do you write?
I try to write two sessions a day, two hours each—that’s about as long as I can concentrate without my writing degrading. Morning is best . . . or after a nap.
Do you have an organized process or tips for writing well? Do you have a writing schedule?
I usually conceive of a new book as a series of scenes, daydreaming about them while I finish work on the prior novel. I maintain a file for the new novel and do a rough draft of these scenes—a very rough draft, what some people call “riff writing” like improvisation in jazz. The file can get pretty chaotic. Every now and then I make a feeble attempt to organize it (when I’m finishing up a novel, I try to avoid distractions and stay focused on getting it out to the publisher). By the time I’m ready to start the new novel, I usually have about 20,000 words of loosely connected prose—20-25% of the eventual word count but probably 80% of the novel’s essence. I take a couple of months to read, edit and organize that file into a dense plot outline. Then I start a new file from scratch, cutting and pasting prose as appropriate.
It’s pretty messy in the early going, but I feel I need that amount of writing to get to know the characters and live in the story.
As far as a schedule, I like to set deadlines to complete a draft. I only make them about half the time, but they still help motivate me.
Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it - What keeps you going?
Motivating myself to write is easy when the ideas are flowing. Editing takes more persistence, an intense stubbornness to get the words right.
What do you hope people will take away from your writing? How will your words make them feel?
We may or may not write stories about everyday people, but all successful novels write about a time in the protagonist’s life that is most intense—something in the real world we experience only a few instants in a lifetime. I call these moments the “Rocky moments”, where at the end of the second movie after Rocky finally defeats Apollo Creed, he shouts out: “Next to the birth of my son, this is the greatest moment of my life.” People identify with a character because they want to go along for that ride. By reading a good book, we can experience that intensity far more often—the sense of living life to its fullest—than we ever could in the real world.
Are you a city slicker or a country lover?
I was born and raised in the city but have always loved hiking in the outdoors. So I’d have to say both.
How do you think people perceive writers?
I find about one in four confide to you that they always wanted to write. The rest think you’re a bit odd—after all, the purpose of art is to force people to think differently about themselves. Generally, everyone respects the hard work that went into what you’ve accomplished. People appreciate those who struggle against adversity to follow their dreams. It’s the same reason why readers like the characters in novels.
Can we expect any more books from you in the future?
My third novel, The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky, will be published in May. It’s about a world divided between the Blessed Lands, a place of the spirit, and the Republic, whose people worship at the altar of reason. A mysterious nine-year-old girl from the Blessed Lands sails into the lives of a troubled couple in the Republic and seems to heal everyone she meets. She reveals nothing about herself, other than to say she’s the daughter of the sea and the sky. But she harbors a secret wound she herself cannot heal.
Have you started another book yet?
I’ve begun work on what will be a sequel to There Comes a Prophet. I’ve always wondered what happened to Orah and Nathaniel after their world changing heroics and what became of the contemporaries of the keepmasters who had crossed the ocean. Stay tuned.
What’s the reason for your life? Have you figured out your reason for being here yet?
There’s a quote I’m using at the start of my fourth novel. It’s from the TV Sci-fi series, Babylon 5, spoken by Delenn to the ship commander: ““Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain, perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside—that burn inside the stars themselves. We are star stuff. We are the Universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out.”
I don’t know much, but I believe that writers write because they’re star stuff, the universe trying to figure itself out.
I don’t know much, but I believe that writers write because they’re star stuff, the universe trying to figure itself out.
How do you feel about self-publishing?
There’s no question that historically, major publishers have produced some bad books and some great books have languished on the slush pile. Today, those forgotten books have a path to publication, whether it’s Indie or self-publishing. But there a problem—now the whole slush pile is being published. I’d hope author’s would police themselves better, take the time to do those extra rewrites and edits. But while the gatekeepers of the old order were imperfect, they still served a purpose. Today we need new gatekeepers, a way to let readers distinguish between the wheat and the chaff. This will likely take years to sort itself out. Book bloggers may be a big part of the solution.
WINNER: Readers' Favorite Book 2013 Bronze Award Winner, Drama Category -Fiction
A Tragic Warrior Lost in Two Worlds...
The war in Iraq ended for Lieutenant Freddie Williams when an IED explosion left his mind and body shattered. Once he was a skilled gamer and expert in virtual warfare. Now he's a broken warrior, emerging from a medically induced coma to discover he's inhabiting two separate realities. The first is his waking world of pain, family trials, and remorse--and slow rehabilitation through the tender care of Becky, his physical therapist. The second is a dark fantasy realm of quests, demons, and magic that Freddie enters when he sleeps.
In his dreams he is Frederick, Prince of Stormwind, who must make sense of his horrific visions in order to save his embattled kingdom from the monstrous Horde. His only solace awaits him in the royal gardens, where the gentle words of the beautiful gardener, Rebecca, calm the storms in his soul. While in the conscious world, the severely wounded vet faces a strangely similar and equally perilous mission--a journey along a dark road haunted by demons of guilt and memory--and letting patient, loving Becky into his damaged and shuttered heart may be his only way back from Hell.
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre – Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy
Rating – PG
More details about the author
Website http://www.davidlitwack.com
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