After the September 11 , 2001 attacks , with about 100 pages of '' Pattern Recognition '' written , Gibson had to re-write the main character 's backstory , which had been suddenly rendered implausible ; he called it " the strangest experience I 've ever had with a piece of fiction . " He saw the attacks as a nodal point in history , " an experience out of culture " , and " in some ways ... the true beginning of the 21st century . " He is noted as one of the first novelists to use the attacks to inform his writing . Examination of cultural changes in post-September 11 America , including a resurgent tribalism and the " infantilization of society " , became a prominent theme of Gibson 's work . The focus of his writing nevertheless remains " at the intersection of paranoia and technology "
September 11 , 2001 attacks
September 11 attacks
William Gibson