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Not So Future News: Author John E. Stith Talks Naught, Science, Writing and Teasers
In this exclusive interview, Naught P.I. Agency's (The Agency) Sarah Chandler (Demeter) talks with John E. Stith, author of All for Naught and creator of the Nick Naught character to be portrayed by actor Ben Browder in the upcoming Naught for Hire web series.
Mr. Stith has written an impressive body of novels and screenplays, and has received many awards and recognitions. His novel, Redshift Rendezvous, was a Nebula Award nominee, and Manhattan Transfer earned a Hugo Awards Honorable Mention. Mr. Stith's complete bio can be found at his website http://www.neverend.com.
Mr. Stith chatted with Sarah to discuss his views on science and technology, the genesis of Nick Naught, collaborating with Jeffrey Berman, adapting Naught for Hire for webisodes, working with Ben Browder, the secrets to a successful writing process... and also shares his secret super power.
Special note: The interview was initiated via Skype, which was coordinated in advance to ensure that all systems were connected to include recording capabilities by the moderator. Alas, a thunderstorm moved into the Rockies and wreaked havoc with Mr. Stith's Internet connection, forcing the interview to go old-school by re-establishing connection via telephone. Oh, the irony. The interview finally got underway without further interruptions, and what ensued was an informative and delightful conversation on a variety of topics we now share with you.
Sarah Chandler: You come from a family culture of science; you have a BA in physics and worked at NORAD, the Goddard Space Center, and various private sector aerospace industries. How much of those day-to-day experiences in the science field drove your initial science fiction stories?
John E. Stith: These experiences are inseparable, really. As a firm believer of "write what you know", naturally these experiences fuel my writing perspective and voice. I regard science as a vital tool, and found myself reluctant to tell a story that sounds anti-science on the surface. I am concerned that there is an effort to teach religion in our science curriculum. I am nervous this will lead to us losing our fundamental grounding in science, and that we may already be losing our position as a leader in the technology world. So Naught for Hire is a comic cautionary tale, a future to avoid if we can, but a future that's already with us in some ways.
SC: The majority of your fiction (Redshift Rendezvous, Manhattan Transfer, Deep Quarry) falls within the category of "hard science", that is to say, you adhere as much as possible to the rules of science. Do you find playing fair with science to be an advantage or a challenge to your creative process?
JES: Both, actually. It is a challenge insofar as adhering to the rules can be rather constraining; you can't change the laws of physics to suit a plot device. It is an advantage in the sense that the rewards are bigger at the conclusion of the story, and the reader doesn't feel cheated by bogus science.
SC: Please talk about your experience collaborating with Jeffrey Berman.
JES: Naught for Hire was written as a screenplay, then shortly thereafter rewritten in prose form and published in Analog magazine in 1990. Jeffrey's company optioned it in the mid 90's, but it wasn't until he renewed his option in the late '90's that we discussed rewriting it as a feature. As time passed and the world changed, Jeffrey reconnected with me early last year with the idea of collaborating to rewrite the script into a webisode format. Our strengths complemented one another; Naught for Hire is stronger for it, and we had great fun doing it.
SC: What difference is there, if any, between writing a novel and writing for a webisode? Is the webisode format perhaps a bit of the tail wagging the dog vis-à-vis fitting the plots and characters to fit the webisode format?
JES: With a screenplay there is less opportunity to allow the viewer to see what the character is thinking. We got around that with limited use of voiceovers for Nick. And writing for a webisode certainly affects the tempo. You still need to follow conventional plot development, but also need to create small cliff-hangers since the webisodes are only five to seven minutes in length. We'll be shooting extra footage for each webisode to provide the maximum editing advantages.
SC: Your characters, both male and female, tend to be very strong-willed and intelligent. The character of Nick Naught possesses a goodly degree of these characteristics, yet also seems an almost whimsical departure from your usual male protagonists. Did you experience a specific incident which provoked you into creating Nick as the Everyman Analog Guy frustrated in a digital world?
JES: Yes, I do try to create equally strong, capable male and female characters. I feel fortunate that I live in an era where the women are on an equal footing with the men, unlike my parents' era, for example. I am lucky in that my wife is a full partner in our marriage. I see men and women fully capable of sharing the same strengths and weaknesses.
To answer the second part of your question, no, there was not any single incident that precipitated writing the All for Naught stories. It was more of a growing sense I had that technology was veering into the realm of being "just good enough" but not totally reliable. A device that works right most of the time can be way more frustrating than something that's clearly defective. Add in cheaply made artificial intelligence with human-like personality disorders, and you have a perfect storm.
SC: Have you met Ben Browder face-to-face yet? Did you know Ben Browder before working on the project? Were you familiar with his work in Farscape? Stargate SG-1?
JES: I have not met Ben in person yet, although of course we have spoken. Yes, I was familiar with Ben's work prior to collaborating with Jeffrey, and am familiar with his work on both Farscape and Stargate SG-1. When it came time to start thinking about casting the webisodes, Jeffrey and I compared notes and found that Ben was at the top of both our lists.
SC: Does Ben Browder's personality personify your mind's eye vision of Nick Naught?
JES: Yes, absolutely! I agree with the fans' comments and sentiments that Ben is a wonderful choice for this part. He's an extremely talented actor, and even his deadpan expression can reveal his exasperation with events.
SC: Ben wrote a couple of episodes for Farscape. Does Ben provide any input to the script or character development?
JES: Working with Ben is a real pleasure. He is thoughtful, intelligent and committed. The fact that he is an Executive Producer is such a wonderful buy-in to the success of the project.
Yes, Ben has already shared a number of valuable insights and lends a great perspective to the entire process.
SC: Remembering John Glenn's sardonic quote when he was asked what it felt like sitting atop a rocket, ready to launch..."I felt about as good as anybody would, sitting atop a capsule on top of a rocket that were both built by the lowest bidder." Is All for Naught a study of the mentality of the lowest bidder? Or do you just really mistrust your toaster?
JES: I say the stories illustrate the convergence of "lowest bidder" notion and mass market pressures to create new models without adequate time to test, so they exaggerate what could possibly happen if we continue down this path of settling for less-than-acceptable technology. When even a stellar company like Apple can have missteps, as with the recent IPhone reception issue, it's easy to see there's much room for error. We see lots of excitement for cutting-edge technology that doesn't always deliver as expected. This kind of thing seems to be happening more and more, and since there is a steady influx of cheap, poorly-designed products, there will always be an abundance of fodder to write about .
Oh, and I am still on a first-name basis with my toaster. Sometimes it's even more informal, as in "Not that dark, you son of a ..."
SC: I was amused at your comment about your early attempts at fiction writing; that you thought about writing all year long but only wrote one day a year. Then the penny dropped and you began your prolific and hugely successful writing career, producing an impressive body of work and garnering many awards along the way. What changed your attitude towards writing? And what advice can you offer to those at a similar crossroads?
JES: For a long time I held the notion that I needed to devote 2-3 hrs per day to writing, and this just never happened. I came to the eventual realization that I could regularly commit to 15 minutes per day. This was the key thing for me. Once I started writing every day for 15 minutes, I found that 15 minutes steadily grew. It varies from writer to writer, but this worked for me.
SC: Do you have any future projects in progress at the moment?
JES: I always have ideas percolating. However, right now Naught for Hire is demanding my full attention. Ben and Jeffrey and I are currently developing a Naught prequel in comic book form.
SC: Any other thoughts on the future for Naught for Hire?
JES: This isn't directly part of the story, but I enjoy thinking about all aspects of the project, including advertising and marketing. Naught for Hire, with all its defective appliances, could seem like a tough sell for advertising dollars, but I think back to the ads airing on TVLand ending with lines like, "Wow, I coulda had a V8" and think it would be a blast to see Naught tie-in ads showing the Joneses with a complete screw-up for some home entertainment device looking over at the neighbor's better choice and saying, "Man, I coulda had an Apple." (Or a Sony, etc.)
SC: So many of us are so excited to have discovered Naught for Hire, and like many others, I have read the Nick Naught short stories and am eagerly awaiting the webisodes. Can you share any teasers about the directions you hope the characters and plots will take?
JES: The Naught for Hire story will still be recognizable to readers of the original novella, but there are significant changes. As one recent example, we changed the CEO character from male to female, based on the casting of Chase Masterson. Many but not all of the key characters remain the same. But the story has evolved, both in the 1990s rewrites with Jeffrey and in the rewrites this past year with Jeffrey. Even if some of our frustrations with technology remain constant, there is an endless supply of new models to tease us briefly in thinking all our problems have been solved with the latest release. In this future, the voices of appliances, rather than being faceless voicemail menu voices for instance, are clones of recognizable personalities, and we suspect people will enjoy figuring out who the voice is behind the machine. A number of those picks for voices have evolved since the early 90s.
SC: One last question: if you could possess any super power, what would it be?
JES: (laughing) I have always wanted to fly.
SC: Thank you, John! It has been a pleasure talking with you today. We are grateful you created such a wonderful character and for your efforts with Jeffrey and Ben in bringing Naught for Hire to life. We are eagerly awaiting that first webisode! Your interview will generate a lot of buzz in the forums over at The Agency fan-site. See you there!
JES: Thank you, too, for all your efforts on the fan-site. I enjoy stopping by there, which I do frequently, and look forward to reading the fans' questions and comments.