David Litwack is the author of (amongst other books) Along the Watchtower, a story of a wounded soldier’s long journey to recovery.  He alternates between a fantasy prince Frederick struggling to save his kingdom and Freddie the soldier relearning how to walk.  It’s a touching tale so I was very glad to do an interview with him in conjunction with the blog tour by Masquerade Tours.  Read for our discussion about research, future projects and writing about PTSD.

What was the inspiration behind Along the Watchtower?

I’ve always been fascinated by how our view of reality is subjective, how each of us brings our own experiences and biases into play. But when we’re ripped from our normal lives and placed in extreme circumstances, our reality becomes fragmented. Such is the case with hospitals and war.

A couple of years ago, I became engrossed in the online game, World of Warcraft, thanks to my son. I’m on the east coast and he’s on the west, so we’d meet every Wednesday evening in the virtual world of Azeroth, where our avatars would go on quests together. I was struck by how immersed I became in the mood of the game as we wandered through castles and crypts, solving riddles and vanquishing demons. For a short period of time, I could totally buy into the alternate reality.

The 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 the trauma of war? These concepts—war, hospitals, and the fantasy world of online gaming—came together in Along the Watchtower.

What was your research process like for the physiotherapy scenes, war scenes, etc?  How long did it take?

I spent several months on research while writing this book, including studying about the psychological effects of war on returning veterans. I learned that 30% are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress. That means after six months they’re still dealing with flashbacks, disturbing dreams, depression and difficulty re-assimilating into their former lives. And that doesn’t account for the many others who are seemingly able to adjust but continue to deal with inner turmoil. The war experience changes all forever. Many have suicidal thoughts (the suicide rate among veterans is triple that of the general population). Many struggle with dark thoughts and have difficulty forming relationships, unable to “turn off” the normal flight or fight syndrome, leaving them suspicious in crowds and always on alert.

I read a number of books about post traumatic stress. One of the best is Achilles in Vietnam. Written by Jonathan Shay, a Vietnam War era PTSD counselor, it compares clinical notes from his patients to the text from Homer’s Odyssey, showing how humans have dealt with war trauma across the millennia. He discusses how war disrupts our moral compass, leaving re-entry into normal life as a brutal and agonizing experience.

And then, there are the physical injuries.

One of the ironic successes of these recent wars is the advance in battlefield medicine. The result is that far fewer die of wounds than in prior wars. The ratio of wounded to dead in WWII was 1.1/1, in Vietnam 1.7/1. In Iraq, it’s 7/1. More are saved, but more come home with debilitating, lifelong injuries. And 68% of the wounded have some form or brain trauma, penetrating injuries from shrapnel or non-penetrating concussions from the blasts of IEDs.

To learn more about brain injuries, I read In an Instant, the story of Bob Woodruff. The brilliant Woodruff had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight. Then, while embedded with the military in Iraq, an improvised explosive device went off near the tank he was riding in. Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury that nearly killed him. The book describes his recovery and recounts how fragile the human brain can be. At one point, the erudite Woodruff could rattle off the names of all prior U.S. presidents but couldn’t remember the names of his own children.

Finally, I drew on my own experiences. I’d never had a war injury (I served in the military a long time ago, but never went to war), but I did have a serious leg injury similar to Freddie’s. I recovered after surgery with the help of a wonderful physical therapist. I hope my admiration and appreciation for the work these people do came through in the book.

 

Of all the characters in this book, who was your favorite to write?  Which one do you relate to most?

I’m uncomfortable picking a favorite character—it’s kind of like asking a parent which child is their favorite—but I’ll give it a shot. I enjoyed writing about Ralph, the huge health aid, who doubles as the wise night elf, Malfurion Stormrage in Freddie’s fantasy dreams. In the real world, Ralph is a minor player, neither doctor nor nurse nor physical therapist, but a caring man who does his job and helps veterans.

When Freddie asks him if he’d ever dunked a basketball, he says:

“Naw, Freddie. I wasn’t an athlete like you. I had bad knees, fallen arches, and could barely get off the ground.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Too bad?” His voice rose half an octave, which still left him well within the baritone range.

“Too bad to miss out on a game I didn’t really like? It’s not like I was going to the NBA. No, Freddie. Too bad would be if I never got to help guys like you.”

There are many kinds of heroes, most of them quietly leading everyday lives. Ralph is a good example of them.

 

Can you give us a hint about your future projects?

My most recent effort, The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky, just came out 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 changes 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.

I’m currently working on a sequel to my first book, There Comes a Prophet. I hadn’t planned on writing a sequel, but the main characters, Orah and Nathaniel, told me their quest wasn’t complete and kept nagging me to finish their story. Now, I plan on making it a trilogy.

You can find out more about these on my website: www.davidlitwack.com

 

Throughout the story there are some pretty emotional scenes but you never made them so emotional they were cheesy.  How do you get those emotional scenes just right?  Is finding a balance hard?

Of course finding a balance is hard, but all good writing is hard. The key is to show, not tell. That becomes even more important the more emotional the scene.

Someone once told me the reader of fiction wants experience, not knowledge. Readers read because they want to experience, through the characters, heightened emotion. The more intense the experience, the more heightened the emotion. But readers are wary of having their emotions manipulated by the author.

The key is to create a believable situation and place credible characters into it. Only in that way will the reader be drawn into the story.

When I’m writing an intense scene, I try to describe key details in a way that lets the reader experience a strong emotion without telling them what to feel.

 

Both of your previous novels were science fiction/fantasy.  Do you think that after Along the Watchtower you may explore more realistic fiction?  Why or why not?

As I said in a previous answer, my current work-in-progress is scifi dystopian, and will be followed by the third book in that trilogy. Beyond that, I make no predictions. I write what interests me, with the only common thread being that I’m not bound by the line between reality and fantasy. Genre is far less important to me than the struggle of great characters to reach a worthwhile goal.