Hollywood Jesus reporter Scott Roche took a few minutes to chat with author J. C. Hutchins about 7th Son, self promotion, and pushing the boundaries of electronic media.
Hollywood Jesus: 7th Son is an absolutely brilliant story on several levels. Before we get to the questions, can you just give me the elevator pitch for why the folks that read Hollywood Jesus should check it out?
J.C. Hutchins: Thanks so much for the kind words—I’m thrilled you enjoyed the trilogy! At its core, 7th Son is the story of seven strangers who are kidnapped and brought to a secret government facility two weeks after the bizarre assassination of the U.S. president by a four-year-old boy. These seven “everymen”—who, apart from some minor physical differences—are identical in appearance, and have identical childhood memories. Are they septuplets, separated at birth? No, they quickly discover that they’re clones… unwitting participants in the one of the most secret experiments in human history.
These seven “John Michael Smiths”—each with a very similar but unique personality and skill set—are told by their creators that they’ve been assembled to stop the man behind the president’s murder. Their target: the very man they were cloned from.
These seven clones—our heroes—must quickly learn to come to grips with their origins, and the realization that their past is filled with government-sanctioned deceit. They must also work together to hunt “John Alpha,” their ruthless progenitor. The trilogy descends into a brainbending action-oriented and conspiracy-laden plot that our seven clones are ill-prepared for.
But they’d better learn fast, because—dum dum dum!—the fate of the world hangs in the balance. : )
HJ:I want to pick out one thing from the novels that is particularly relevant to my readers. One of the clones is a priest and his struggles are with the nature of his soul as a clone. You handled that character very well. Where did he come from?
JCH: Thank you! Yes, Father Thomas is one of my favorite characters in the series, for that very reason: the man is a devout Catholic priest, and is rattled to the core when he learns that he is a clone.
As I wrote 7th Son, I wanted each of the seven protagonists to represent either a particular personality type (the cynic, the whiner, the determined warrior) or a specific facet of the philosophical debate regarding human cloning. One character, a geneticist named Jack, represented the ethical dilemmas the scientific community is facing about human cloning. Thomas was meant to represent the religious/spiritual aspect of this issue.
Thomas, while being a priest whose personal politics appear to be progressive, is absolutely dedicated to the church. Based on his interpretation of scripture and the Catechism, he now fears he may have no soul. Due to the unique nature of the experiment’s cloning process, Thomas not only shares the same genes as his wicked progenitor, but the same childhood memories. In Thomas’ eyes, this cloning of the flesh and mind puts his divine “uniqueness” in grave question.
Thomas suffers with this crisis of faith throughout the trilogy. Ultimately, I brought forth many questions I would personally have about my “soulfulness,” were I to discover that I were a clone.
Thomas has been a fan-favorite of the series, and I’m happy to know he and his quandary resonated so greatly with so many people. He got people talking and thinking, and no author could ask for anything better than that.
HJ: How much research did you do into the science behind cloning and the other technology in your works?
JCH: Very little. The mind-melting intricacies of biology and cloning are beyond me, as is the mechanics of the human brain… not to mention the impossible science required to explain the recording of a person’s memories! In the end, I did what I suspect most authors do: I lied through my teeth, as best as I could.
I think the true secret to writing convincing “high concept” fiction—stories set in present day that feature over-the-top technologies—is to deftly use a handful of accurate scientific facts as a foundation for the rest of the story. Since I knew everyone could understand human cloning, I didn’t waste time or effort trying to explain the science of it—I simply created plausible technologies that, were they well-funded and absolutely secret, might exist today.
I approached the recording of human memories, and the storage of them as digital data, in a similar way. Using some information quickly culled from a “Complete Idiot’s Guide…” book about the human brain, I was able to identify a particular region of the brain that acted as the “gateway” for all human memories—meaning, all stimuli are processed through this region before being delegated to short- or long-term memory. I used that tiny scientific fact about the hippocampus as a peg upon which to hang a preposterous pseudo-technology. By focusing on explaining the concepts—and not the science—fueling this technology, I was able to sidestep a lot of complicated and boring exposition. Not one listener has complained about this conceit.
In the end, I didn’t want to tell a “hard science” tale; I’ll leave that to more talented folk. I simply wanted to quickly and convincingly sell the reader on this story—essential pseudo-science—and get on with the action.
While I crafted much of the fake technologies for 7th Son using this method, I did conduct considerable research about “real” things that are seen in the trilogy, including Alaskan oil drilling, Russian nuclear weapons, high-profile governmental buildings, firearms, the economics of the oil industry, etc.
HJ: I know some authors took the podcasting route after running into difficulties getting published, and others write specifically to podcast. What made you decide to podcast your work? Can we look to see it in print any time soon?
JCH: Yeah, I fall into that “running into difficulties” camp—and with good reason. What we now know as the “7th Son Trilogy” was actually written as one enormous manuscript. From 2002 to 2004, I plugged away at this epic story, carelessly ignoring publishers’ guidelines regarding the appropriate length of thriller novels, and wrote the thing until I was done. The result was a phonebook of a novel, weighing in at around 1,200 pages and 300,000 words.
This is around two-thirds longer than any salable thriller should be.
I spent much of 2005 trying to find a literary agent for this beast, and received deserved universal rejections for my efforts. I have no doubt that its egregious length was the primary reason for these rejections; authors who overwrite to this extent are perceived by industry folk as amateurs who have no understanding of how publishing works. In my case, they were right.
As 2005 came to a close, I was left with a stack of rejections, and two years’ worth of work sitting in a drawer. I was absolutely convinced the novel wouldn’t find a publisher, and so—based on the attention and feedback such podcasting trailblazers as Scott Sigler, Teem Morris, Mark Jeffrey, Jack Mangan and Matthew Wayne Selznick were receiving at that time—I decided to release the work as a serialized audiobook podcast. I reckoned if I couldn’t sell this thing, I could at least share it with the world.
I chopped up my monstrous manuscript into thirds and began releasing the first book, titled Descent, in early 2006. Its sequels, Deceit and Destruction, have also been released. Since its debut—and thanks mostly to the incredible support and evangelism of my fans—the audience size of 7th Son grew and grew. Based on this success, the first book in the 7th Son series will be published by St. Martin’s Press in Fall 2009. It’s an incredible success story, and a personal dream come true.
HJ: One of the biggest reasons I wanted to interview you is because I admire your creativity when it comes to self promotion. You’ve done some ground-breaking work in getting the word out about your podcast. Talk about the importance of fan-created content in that process.
JCH: Thanks! And thanks for the question—it gives me another opportunity to brag about 7th Son fans.
As I released my story into the wild, I quickly received priceless and positive feedback from listeners; emails and instant messages, mostly. But as the story progressed, a few fans sent me a different breed of feedback: fan-created stories and artwork. I was humbled and impressed by the work, but I was also quick to realize the power of what was truly happening here. These were more than “thank yous”—I believed they represented a keen interest from fans to contribute in some way to the collective experience.
Looking back, I don’t recall this being a conscious realization. I remember seeing it as something very cool, and my gut told me to run with it.
So I ran with it. I actively invited listeners to send me artwork, fan fiction, photographs, music… anything they wanted, as long as it was inspired by 7th Son in some way. I posted this content on my site, and thanked contributors on the podcast. What unfolded in the ensuing months was miraculous in my eyes: dozens upon dozens of files, photos, illustrations, songs and videos poured into my inbox. Somewhere along the way, we’d created a community around this crazy book that I thought would never get published.
It’s hard to fully articulate how flattered I am by all these contributions. I think it’s because I ultimately hail from the cynical school of thought that “the world doesn’t owe you anything,” and the only way to achieve a goal is to do everything you can to make it happen. Waiting for pennies from heaven is a fool’s errand.
That said, I see the contract between author and audience to be very straightforward: the author tells the tale, and the audience experiences it. That’s it. An author should have no other expectations from his audience. And that is why the generosity of 7th Son fans continues to—and will always continue to—amaze me. Even now, long after the trilogy has concluded, I still receive fan-created content, and emails from listeners who still spread the word about the books.
It’s a blessed life, man.
HJ: Your background is in journalism and you’ve recently channeled that into interviewing what you call Ultracreatives. What is an Ultracreative and how do you chose them?
JCH: The “UltraCreatives Interview Series” was a series of audio interviews I conducted with people whom I greatly admire—folks who are stunningly brilliant at what they do, and shine brightly in their fields. I’ve interviewed authors, filmmakers, businessmen and social media mavens. The intent of the series was not only to learn about these creative influencers’ works, but also to learn something about them personally, whenever possible.
I’ve chatted with such technology entrepreneurs as Guy Kawasaki, Jeff Pulver, and Jason Calacanis; within the microcosm of tech-based businesses, these guys are the cream of the crop. I’ve had the good fortune to befriend extremely talented authors such as Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty, Matt Wallace, and others, and was tickled to interview them for the program. All told, around 20 people will be profiled on the UltraCreatives series before it concludes later this summer.
How do I choose these “UltraCreatives” to be interviewed? At its simplest, it comes down to my familiarity with their work, a deep admiration for what they do and how they do it, and a desire to share their remarkable stories with my listeners. I know all too well that there are thousands upon thousands of UltraCreative people out there, worthy of exposure. Sadly, I only had so many hours in the day to interview them!
HJ: In 7th Son: Obsidian, you’re putting out stories written and read by other podcasters that take place in your universe. That’s in addition to the fan generated content, both video and audio. There’s an awful lot of cross-promotion that goes on in the podcasting community. What’s your philosophy behind that and where does that sort of cooperation need to go and where do you see it going in the future?
JCH: Thanks for mentioning OBSIDIAN; it’s my current podcast fiction project, and I’m very proud of it. As you mentioned, it is an audio and video short story anthology featuring contributions not only from “pro” writers, but also from 7th Son fans from across the globe. Nothing like this has ever been seen in podcast fiction—or dare I say fiction anywhere—and I believe it will set a precedent in storytelling.
While I believe the truly innovative aspect about OBSIDIAN is the tremendous amount of fan-created content it features—I’ve received more than 100 audio and video stories for this project; the line between “author” and “audience” has officially blurred, which I think is awesome—yes indeed, there is considerable collaboration and cross-promotion between the authors who were invited to write short stories for the anthology.
My decision to invite short story writers and storytellers came early in my conception of OBSIDIAN, and hailed directly from the lessons I learned in releasing the 7th Son trilogy. During 7th Son’s run, I discovered how powerful cross-promotion with other podcasters could be. I collaborated with author Scott Sigler on two ambitious cross-promotion contests, both of which were designed to get our respective audiences to check out the others’ work. I also understood the power of personal endorsements from podcasters, thanks to the invitations I’d made to several of them, to appear on my podcast in cameo “recap reader” roles. Nearly all of these folks mentioned their 7th Son appearance on their programs, which boosted awareness of my work.
Using these lessons as a foundation, I thought, What if I created the ultimate podcast fiction cross-promotion? By inviting the “rock stars” of podfic to write stories for the OBSIDIAN project—and asking each author to endorse and promote their appearance to their own engaged audiences, I knew that word about OBSIDIAN would spread quickly. But more important, I knew that a new, varied audience would come to listen to OBSIDIAN and would be exposed to other contributors’ work—authors they’d never heard before.
It was a win-win-win-win situation: buzz surrounded the project, authors received accolades for their work, those authors benefited by acquiring new listeners based on the strength of their OBSIDIAN tales, and the audience is experiencing some of the best stories the podosphere has to offer.
I absolutely believe that this “strength in numbers” tactic will become a savvy standard in podcast fiction, and we’ll see more collaborative projects like OBSIDIAN in the months ahead. It personifies the notion that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that by working together, we’ll make that tide rise all the faster. I’m eager to see how this breed of cooperative storytelling will mature in the future.
HJ: Your next book, Personal Effects: Dark Art, is another instance where you’re pushing boundaries and mixing things up. What can you tell me about that?
JCH: This is a fascinating project that was presented to me more than a year ago by David Moldawer, an associate editor at St. Martin’s Press. David knew my work from 7th Son, and thought of me when the Personal Effects project came to him.
I’m the co-author of Dark Art, the first book in this series. It’s a story that combines the hard-nosed, rationally-based sensibilities of a TV program like CSI with the supernatural and conspiratorial elements seen in such shows as The X-Files. Set in a mental institution for hopeless dead-enders, Dark Art chronicles the life of Zach Taylor, a young and optimistic art therapist. Gifted at his job, he uses his patients’ personal effects—the personal items that were cataloged during their admission to the hospital—to help decipher the secrets of their mental problems. But Zach gets far more than he bargained for when a new patient is admitted to the facility: a man who is a suspected serial killer.
While the novel’s plot is intriguing and scary, the presentation of this tale is positively game-changing. The universe of Personal Effects is the creation of Jordan Weisman, a brilliant game designer famous for creating the role-playing game company FASA in the 1980s, and the genius “HeroClix” collectible tabletop game in the ’90s. However, he’s best-known for being instrumental in the creation of “transmedia” storytelling experiences, commonly called Alternate Reality Games.
ARGs are immersive stories, told mostly online through various websites and services, that blur the lines between fiction and reality. People experiencing these stories become active participants, and in a way, protagonists: they solve riddles, they “hack” email accounts to obtain critical information to further propel the story, they IM chat with characters mentioned in the tale… they can even receive phone calls and faxes from these characters. The words “ambitious” and “jaw-droppingly cool” don’t even begin to describe this style of storytelling, which Jordan helped create.
I call Jordan the “Steven Spielberg of the gaming industry,” and while he’d probably kick my butt for saying such a thing, I’m confident in saying this because I understand how groundbreaking Personal Effects is. I think the landscape for fiction is going to change when this book is released.
See, when you purchase a copy of Dark Art next summer, you won’t just receive a book. You’ll receive an envelope of real, tangible “personal effects”—the same patient personal effects that are mentioned in the book. Think business cards, documents, etc. These items serve more than just interesting trinkets or props, however: based on clues found in the text of the novel—and in these items themselves—readers can unearth an entire storyline on the Web that enhances the novel in ways the reader—and even the characters in the book—may never suspect. We’ve taken great care to create an experience that stands on its own within the pages of the book, but have included some incredible plot twists that can only be experienced beyond the book.
Like the ARGs Jordan is known for creating, Personal Effects is intended to make the reader an active participant in the story. It’s pretty frickin’ cool.
My involvement in Dark Art and the Personal Effects series has not only been creatively rewarding, but it’s made me a true believer in the notion that a story need not be bound to one medium. Done right, a unified, satisfying narrative experience can transcend the pages of a book, or the screen of a television, or the audio of a podcast.
Like the innovative multi-media experience currently seen in OBSIDIAN, I think this kind of storytelling is the future, and I can’t wait to further experiment with it in the months and years ahead.
HJ: Thanks for your time, JC!
Hutchins’ work can be found at http://jchutchins.net/
