W.D. Kilpack III

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your hobbies and interests.

I am an award-winning and critically acclaimed internationally published writer, with works appearing in print, online, radio and television, starting with his first publication credit at the age of nine. My first two novels, Crown Prince and Order of Light, both received the Firebird Book Award, while Crown Prince received The BookFest Award. Demon Seed was Editor's Choice on BooksShelf. I also received special recognition from L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest for my novella, Pale Face. I have been editor and/or publisher of 19 news and literary publications, both online and in print, with circulations as high as 770,000. I received both my bachelor's and master's degrees from Westminster College of Salt Lake City. As an undergrad, I double-majored in Communication and Philosophy, while completing the Honors Program. As a graduate student, I earned a Master of Professional Communication. I was also a high-performing athlete, qualifying for international competition in Greco-Roman wrestling. I love to cook. I have cooked nearly every type of food on the grill, although I also love non-grill cooking Cajun, Greek, and Italian food, and have been getting better with Asian cuisine. I taught college communication classes for 25 years and I coached wrestling for more than 20 years, earning national recognition. I am happily married to my high-school sweetheart, I have five children, and helped raise five step-children. I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

When and why did you start writing books?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been writing and telling stories. Before I learned how to write, I would draw pictures of spaceships, then act out the battles, drawing in the laser blasts and explosions after erasing parts of the ships that were blown away by enemies. I’ve blown up the U.S.S. Enterprise 10,000 times. I originally wanted to be a cartoonist and start my own line of comic books. I loved superheroes (and still do!) and would draw the comics, as well as write the stories. My first comic-book character was Super Mouse, created when I was 5 or 6. He was pretty much Superman, but a mouse, and he beat up cats. It was very serious stuff, not Tom and Jerry. That was my dream until I wrote my first fantasy novel, when I was 12. I was first published when I was 9, when a teacher entered a poem I wrote into a contest without my knowledge. It won and was published. I was first hired as a professional writer when I was 15, as an editor for a sports publication. Funny thing, the sports publication rescinded the offer to be an editor and changed it to a reporter position when I told them I didn’t have a driver license. I was editor-in-chief of both my high school newspaper and literary magazine, and editor of my college newspaper. Since I wrote my first novel, I always had pencil and paper with me, so I could jot down a few ideas when the need hit me. Since publishing four novels, it’s amazing how many people I grew up with who mention my red, three-ring binder I carried around with me, loaded with lined paper, so I could write down my thoughts as they came to me. That compulsion persists to this day, although I’ve since updated for the computer age.

What made you decide to tackle writing as a career?

I can't not write. Creation. I love coming up with characters and worlds, then breathing life into them. I love taking something and turning it on its ear, giving it a different look, a different perspective that people may not have considered. I love taking contradictions and making them work together. I love learning new things through my research. I love having people tell me the things they love about my books. I love it when people are mad at me because of things that happened in my books, because I want to elicit an emotional response.

Which one of your books or characters is your favourite?

Natharr, Guardian of Maarihk, the main character in the New Blood Saga. One professional reviewer came up with something interesting to describe Natharr: a blend of Aragorn, Alanon, and Teddy Roosevelt.

Which one of your books was the hardest to write and stretched you the most as a writer?

I can't say that any was harder than another. Some might be more time-consuming, because research plays a huge role in my writing. It's challenging, but also very rewarding. In my fantasy writing, I do a lot of research into specific cultures, technology that was available in medieval times, even word usage. I find that it helps make the world more real, aside from giving me great material to use. As a result, I have people ask, “How did you come up with that?” My answer is something like, “I didn’t. It was still in practice in England till the 1880s.” For my science fiction, research plays an even bigger role, researching technology, as well as the latest discoveries in space exploration. I’ve always been a space buff, so I have a pretty significant library. I never took a physics class, but I’ve read some of the most influential books at the time in quantum physics.

Who is your favourite author and book?

I love Homer, of course. Other huge influences on me are Robert Adams, Piers Anthony, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Terry Brooks, Steven Brust, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Stephen R. Donaldson, David Eddings, Robert Holdstock, Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon, Melanie Rawn, S.M. Stirling, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Eric Van Lustbader. Aristotle’s writings are awe-inspiring because he was writing in 350 B.C.E., they’re still relevant and the basis of so much in society. I love William Shakespeare’s poetry and plays (MacBeth is my favorite), and my favorite poet is Robert Frost. For screenwriting, I love James Cameron, Aaron Sorkin, Steven Spielberg, and Quentin Tarantino.

What book are you reading right now?

Reading Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring for the seventh time.

Where do you get your inspiration for your books?

That's not an easy question to answer. It varies. The New Blood Saga was inspired by a recurring dream. For months, the dream would have me in tears when I woke. I finally realized that I needed to write it. Once I started, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to achieve the same level of emotional impact in one book, so I thought I would write a trilogy. However, even then, in building to the point in the dream, creating the gravitas that would really give it some punch, I hadn’t even gotten to the dream in those three books, so I thought it would be six. As I continued writing, it became an eight-book saga. The kernel of the idea for Natharr came to me years ago. When I was an undergrad studying philosophy, I was fascinated by Socrates, who would go into a trance-like state, then emerge with new answers to questions. He called it being seized by the Daemon of Philosophy. Natharr has something similar in his makeup.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons since I was 10 years old. I have since played with my five kids and three stepchildren, and my youngest son and I have revised some of the rules for when we play.

Do you have any new books in the works?

Sci-fi epic Battle Calm, which is in its final editing stage!