Two things struck me about most discussions of longevity enhancement: increased longevity tends to be viewed as a luxury product for the rich and the few; and no one discusses the economic and social stresses that a radically longer (even if healthy) lifespan would impose on individuals, on families, and on society at large.
Keith G. McWalter – 17 October 2024
The Back Flap
“Keith McWalter has turned in a stunner of a sci-fi novel with a surprising premise that draws on solid science while weaving a story loaded with twists and compelling characters. It’s a powerful combination that explores the unexpected directions ‘solving death’ may take us.”
-Chip Walter, author of Immortality, Inc. and Doppelganger
About the book
What is the book about?
Lifers is about the social, familial, and political consequences of a sudden, radical extension of the human lifespan caused by an engineered virus. It follows a group of age activists as they navigate violent ageism, the politics of scarcity, love rivalries, and dreams of a centenarian utopia in a trans-generational struggle to redefine what it means to be mortal.
When did you start writing the book?
Late 2021.
How long did it take you to write it?
About a year and a half.
Where did you get the idea from?
Like so many of us, I’m attracted to the idea of living a long and healthy life (I’m in my seventies), so I read widely in nonfiction accounts of longevity science and its practical applications.
Two things struck me about most discussions of longevity enhancement: increased longevity tends to be viewed as a luxury product for the rich and the few; and no one discusses the economic and social stresses that a radically longer (even if healthy) lifespan would impose on individuals, on families, and on society at large.
I wrote Lifers to dramatize those unspoken implications, and to examine ageism from a different perspective in which extreme longevity becomes commonplace and there are so many super-aged individuals that they become a force that must be reckoned with.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
There were three constant difficulties in writing this book. The first was keeping the timeline straight in a story that spans over a century and starts in the near future — who is what age at what point in the story, what year is it when this or that occurs. I developed a timeline with main events and each character’s age at various points, and consulted it constantly.
The second challenge was how to dole out complex information in a way that doesn’t talk down to the reader but also doesn’t overwhelm. Some of this involved the microbiology that supports the premise, but there are also a lot of numbers in the book, mostly about demographics – how the population of the earth would grow as people stopped dying, how many square miles of wilderness you would need to create a home for several million people, how many people would die in the first year if an “antidote” for the new longevity were developed. Lots of numerical data that had to be conveyed in an engaging way.
The third struggle was over the basic structure of the narrative. I originally conceived of the book as a series of first-person diary entries by different characters, and the title was “The Methuselah Diaries.” Writing in the first person comes naturally to me, and the first few drafts were in that voice, but I finally concluded that it was too unbelievable that all these key characters would be writing detailed diaries in the midst of a crisis, and I reluctantly decided to revert to standard “close third person” narrative and still tell the story from different points of view. That shift, after several drafts had been written, took a lot of time – not to mention thousands of pronoun changes!
What came easily?
I closely identified with one of the characters, Taubin, who’s a bit neurodivergent, and his close relationship with his grandparents. I found writing from inside his head and his dialogue with his elders to be a joy, one that came very easily.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
For once, they are entirely fictitious. My first novel was full of borrowings from real life and real people, and in this one I wanted to get away from all that and just create. It was quite liberating.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
My most fundamental influences in writing fiction were John Updike’s early novels; Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety; James Salter’s Light Years; Evan S. Connell’s Mrs. Bridge and Mr. Bridge; and Richard Ford’s “Bascombe” trilogy. My first novel, When We Were All Still Alive, was a conscious homage to that sort of novel, that focuses on domesticity, avoids the current publishing penchant for cultural exoticism, family dysfunction, melodrama, and surreal premises, and instead attempts to capture ordinary lives as they are actually lived, the sacred everyday, what Salter called “the glory of certain moments in life.”
Then there’s Ann Patchett, whose work I truly admire and try to be influenced by. I just read Bel Canto for the first time and was completely blown away by her ability to flit among her characters’ points of view without skipping a beat. One of the most flattering blurbs for Lifers that I received was one that said, “If Ann Patchett wrote sci-fi, this is what it might look like.”
Lifers is categorized as sci-fi, and I certainly tried to emulate some of the greats of that genre, especially speculative novels that straddle genres and can be thought of as social sci-fi or “literary” sci-fi. One of my all-time favorites of this type is Karen Thompson Walker’s The Age of Miracles, and I would argue that Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones also falls into this category. And in writing Lifers I was certainly influenced by Kim Stanley Robinson’s novels, in particular New York 2140, for his remarkable ability to blend technical scientific information with descriptive nuance and fun characters.
Do you have a target reader?
If I’m honest about it, my real target reader is me. If I don’t enjoy what I’m reading, I’m not going to finish writing it. But I’d be foolish not to hope that Lifers will be attractive to a broad range of readers, including middle-aged to older readers with interest in advances in longevity enhancement, fans of high-concept sci-fi and more literary, socially critical dys/utopian fiction, and female readers attracted to stories of transformational female empowerment.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I write intermittently, spontaneously, and from the gut, in spurts that can last from a few minutes to a few hours, usually in the afternoon. I write directly on my computer, since I’m a good typist and I find editing and tracking word-count progress much easier on a word processor.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I do not outline in detail. I have a general sense of the story arc, and a clear sense of the major characters, but I follow that arc very organically and it usually takes some unexpected (even to me) turns.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
Both, though probably 90% of my editing occurs while writing. I can spend an hour editing a single paragraph as I write it, then race along for a while and only edit on a re-reading. The most significant form of editing for me is, once all or most of the book is finished, to review the scene sequence to try to improve it to make sure the reader is drawn forward in the narrative at the right pace, and that characters have been fleshed out enough. On Lifers I ended up adding quite a few new scenes.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No, I’d find it very distracting as I tend to sing along.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Yes, close to a hundred, which I consider a baseline effort.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
I had prior (good) experience with the publisher of my first novel, so naturally returned to them even though this book is in a very different lane. Fortunately they were receptive.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
Professionally, through the publisher. I had created a cover that I and a lot of advance readers were crazy about (which I’d be glad to share with anyone who’s interested), but was convinced that it wouldn’t fly in the world of scrolling through thumbnail graphics. The designer of the final cover, Kim Glyder, did a wonderful job. Swooping graphics, great color, arresting typography.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I have a publicist, Books Forward, who have a very detailed plan, if only I can keep up with it.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Stop and ask yourself why you’re writing what you’re writing. If it’s mainly a commercial venture in the hopes of making money, then the odds of that outcome are so long that any rational person would stop and go open a stationery store instead. If you’re doing it for the sheer love of writing, or because you have a personal stake in a story that you think needs or deserves to be told, or simply to entertain yourself and some friends and relatives and network pleasurably with like-minded people, then that’s a different (and better) scenario, though still daunting. The one thing you must never, never do is assume you’ll be the one-in-a-million exception and actually make money by publishing a book.
All of this presumes that you’re a solid, competent, well-read writer and self-editor; many people are not, but have been led to believe by what I call the wannabe author exploitation industry that they are or easily could be. Read heavily in the genre you’re writing for and try to objectively observe how your writing compares. If you don’t passionately believe in the quality of your writing and the interest of your subject matter, it’s almost certain no one else will. The hard truth is that most of us are far more competent at something other than writing, and most of us can’t put our lives on hold for a couple of decades to better hone our writing craft. If you think you might need it, don’t hesitate to hire a reputable editor or “book doctor” to evaluate your manuscript and suggest revisions. Don’t rely on friends for this, as they too easily compromise their objectivity, their frankness, or both.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Detroit; Philadelphia; St. Louis; Monterey, Mexico; Mexico City; Pittsburgh.
Where do you live now?
Granville, OH, and Sanibel, FL.
What would you like readers to know about you?
I’m a recovering lawyer who loved writing as an English major at Denison University, and dreamed of having a career as a writer. Then practicality intervened and I went to law school at Columbia and worked as a lawyer in New York and San Francisco for the next 45 years. One good thing about being a practicing lawyer is that it requires you to learn to write clearly, concisely, and persuasively. One bad thing is that it keeps you from writing for yourself.
It’s only in the last fifteen years or so that I’ve devoted a significant amount of time to “creative” writing (though one can argue that any writing that’s readable is necessarily “creative”). In that span of time I started and continue to write two blogs, Mortal Coil (personal essays and opinion) and Spoiled Guest (travel), compiled half a dozen self-published books of essays, and completed two novels, the first, a “literary” domestic novel, When We Were All Still Alive, and the second, a much more commercial book in the speculative fiction/literary sci-fi genre, titled Lifers, which is coming out this fall.
What are you working on now?
A sequel to my first novel, When We Were All Still Alive, and a compilation of my recent essays from Mortal Coil.
End of Interview:
For more from Keith G. McWalter, visit his website and check as well as subscribe to his blog, Mortal Coil, that was mentioned above.
Get your copy of Lifers from Amazon US.