F. Paul Wilson

[Continued from page 9]

SUNNI: Now there's a strong temptation to join the forum -- I drop in and read it fairly regularly but haven't joined. Aside from your forum, do you spend a lot of time online? What sites do you regularly visit?

PAUL: I find online time counterproductive, so I limit it. I start off the day with my email, the Repairman Jack Forum, the RJ webmail, the Shocklines discussion board, astronomy picture of the day, and The Feed, which is a clever, different kind of news blog. I read some headlines, then I get to work. I keep Google running in the background for research, but otherwise I try to minimize online time.

SUNNI: Who do you read for pleasure these days? Does any of your colleagues' current work grab your attention?

PAUL: Between researching and writing my novels, trying to stay current with the pertinent medical literature, and maintaining a role as husband, father, and grandfather, I find lately I have almost no time for pleasure reading. What's made it worse these past few months is that I'm a judge for the International Thriller Writers best first-novel award and up to my nostrils in books by people I've never heard of.

SUNNI: So you're another one of those people who never sleeps, it sounds like. In several of your books, Paul, I find things that cause me to think about certain issues or concepts. As I mentioned earlier, in Infernal it's relationships; in The Haunted Air it was epistemology. Sims got me thinking about genetic manipulation and boundaries between species. Do you try to put something in each book to encourage readers to think?

PAUL: I try to put something in each book that encourages me to think. Being a genre-hopping novelist allows me to delve into whatever I find interesting, mine it for cool stuff, write a story about it, and get paid for it. How great is that?

SUNNI: Sounds pretty good, I must say. How do you gauge your position relative to that razor-thin line between stimulating thought and lecturing a reader? I don't recall ever seeing you step over the line and become pedantic, or pushy in any way about your values and beliefs. Do you indulge yourself, then cut it out, or have your years of experience given you an almost-automatic feel for when something is going over the top?

PAUL: I have to curb myself at times. I approach issues with a point of view that I want you to agree with -- convert you even. But the story comes first -- that always gets priority. Readers approaching the subject from a neutral position don't want to feel something's being shoved down their throats. They'll back away. The secret is to show as much as possible and tell as little. Lead the reader to the conclusion but let them make the final leap on their own.

Example: If I tell you "John was the ugliest man in town," I'm pushing my opinion at you. But if I say, "John's face appeared to have been assembled from pieces of cadavers in various states of decomposition, and with no sense of design. Children tended to scream when they saw him." The reader concludes that this must be one ugly dude. What's the difference? Instead of my opinion, the ugliness is now the reader's opinion. A world of difference because they've made the cognitive leap. Takes more work on my part, but the result is worth it, I think.

I'm not immune to lapsing into pedantry, however. The first draft of The Haunted Air was preachy. That's why I have four advance readers that I trust. And when more than one writes a margin note to the effect of "Another speech?" I listen and find a more subtle way to get the point across. But I never forget the readers who simply want a good story well told. So I see to it that if they're deaf to subtexts or simply aren't interested, they come away feeling they've been entertained. I owe some of my readers a message, but I owe all of them a good story.

SUNNI: And you certainly deliver! Paul, I still have loads of questions, but they'll have to keep, because I know I've taken too much of your time already. Thanks for going 'round and 'round with me today, and happy holidays to you and yours.

PAUL: A pleasure, Sunni.