Tad held a discussion with Dr Matthew Sangster of the University of Glasgow, himself a huge fan of Tad’s work and an academic of fantasy fiction, and then answered questions from fans.
Matthew Sangster introduces the fantastic @tadwilliams to our audience before a reading! pic.twitter.com/xjSw2yYwLC
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams notes that @MrsTad warned him against his tendency to pick up accents… Let's see how that goes!
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams balances his monumental tome on his knees giving his reading… But no singing, only reciting. We're disappointed! pic.twitter.com/WFh7zKV1YR
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams has a fantastic growl, and does great voices for his characters, in his readings
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
Matthew is going to try to avoid spoilers… @tadwilliams says "Everyone dies, I learned it from George."
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams, asked about where Osten Ard came from, talks about the way his books start: a single idea, in this case the meaning of epic
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams says Betsy Wollheim of @dawbooks wouldn't let him write his 18th Dynasty Egyptian saga!
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about how Osten Ard came out of an interest in the failure of a dynast; was going to be about the death of Prester John
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
Then… It stopped being about that, grew its own world, changed and mutated into a whole different series
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams describes his approach as kaleidoscopic, with different narrators and viewpoints with no single truth
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about being in dialogue with Tolkien in his writing: the degree of immersion of Middle Earth fascinates him
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams' disagreement was not with Tolkien, but with those imitating him, the next generation of writers who didn't leave the mould
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the way the whole of Middle Earth is built on myth and ideas that resonated with, were important to, Tolkien
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams was disappointed by the way critics didn't pick up on his dialogue with Tolkien… it's how he learned not to fight critics
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about transformation, and stealing, of stories you've encountered as key to writing
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
"If you don't recognise it, you think I'm smarter than I am, and that's OK! If you do, you know it'll go differently!" – @tadwilliams
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
Nice discussion of different kinds of buffoon with reference to Falstaff here
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the way he used epigraphs to expand the world beyond what one might expect
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about making cultures Other for the characters we're following, and with resonance
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
In the new books, @tadwilliams wanted to reposition the readers to empathise with people they had thought of as simple villains
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams loves Tolkien, has nothing bad to say about Tolkien… but the orcs aren't exactly culturally developed
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the importance of confronting the reality of the interiority of the Other
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about where The Heart of What Was Lost came from: honestly, money! But also a good bridging point
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams blames @MrsTad for the thirty year jump between the original series and Last King
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the importance of the way HE has changed between the first and second series being written.
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams had plans for the next half decade… which the new Osten Ard trilogy just climbed out of his brain and strangled
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the joy of returning to his characters, rather like coming back to an old friend and seeing how they've changed
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the most important thing writing these books being reacting to the state of the world and treatment of the Other pic.twitter.com/FhjrKVbEgI
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the difference between realising someone is human, and justifying their actions; understanding versus accepting
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
Audience wonders how @tadwilliams gets a story to end; partly it's about the length of the projects – can't totally blueprint, but can't not
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
Audience member wonders if it's hard not to be derivative; @tadwilliams talks about the joy of being able to adjust on the fly while writing
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams resists watching or reading most modern media with @MrsTad because he can't shut off analysis of the work
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about how much EXTRA work has to go into writing fantasy because you don't just have the world there, familiar pic.twitter.com/Vz29xLlAmn
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
Audience wants to know @tadwilliams' favourite character. Indrawn breath is his first response!
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams talks about the joy of writing funny characters; and of the absolutely worst ones, which let him explore the worst of himself
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
.@tadwilliams' final answer? The main character of the Bobby Dollar books, who is most like himself
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017
A queue of enthusiastic fans with impressive stacks of books for @tadwilliams to sign! pic.twitter.com/Wm47RsvsfC
— Waterstones Argyle (@WStonesArgyleST) October 25, 2017