Such was the case for Steven Piziks after watching a movie he thought got it all wrong-Star Wars: Phantom Menace. He and fellow science fiction author, Sarah Zettel, had gone to see the movie and were horribly disappointed.
"One of us said, 'We should write a book with a galactic empire and do it right.'" Piziks said. They started out writing a book together, the book that would launch Piziks' Silent Empire. Zettel then landed a contract for a fantasy novel and had to bow out of the project.
Piziks picked it up and went on to produce "Dreamer" and the other novels in the Silent Empire series: Nightmare, Trickster (recently nominated for a Spectrum Award), and Offspring. It is a series that took him to a new publisher under a new name-Steven Harper.
Ben and Kendi are two of the Silents in the universe. Silents are able to tap into the Dream, the Dream being what connects all sentient minds in the Universe. Silents are genetically gifted individuals who can access and travel the Dream. They are typically discovered as children and enslaved to do the work of major corporations and political organizations.
"The term Silent came out by accident," Piziks explains. Zettel uses dictation software and her computer transcribed the word 'psionic' as Silent. They both liked the "error" and decided to keep it. "We had a science fiction term created by a computer."
Piziks said he tends to write by creating a situation and sticking characters in it. "I do it by getting to know them so well that it is like watching real people for me," Piziks said. "There is a whole history to Kendi and to Ben and the others which has never made it-and will never make it-into a book. I do that for fun. I like to go out on long walks by myself. I think about my characters and what their backgrounds are. I flesh them out so that when it comes time to put them in the scene, I know what they're going to do."
Piziks said that creating these long, extensive backgrounds helps him develop character arcs for all of the people in his books when he first starts writing them down. "I knew that Kendi was going to shape up and grow up. Even in Dreamer I knew that he was going to be fairly immature at the beginning of the book and by the end he would be forced to grow up. In Trickster, he would deal with being an adult for the first time. Then in Offspring, he is dealing with being a parent. I knew all this was coming and was able to keep an eye on his development that way."
Offspring is due to be released in November, 2004 and Piziks expects it will be the last Silent Empire Book. It picks up where Trickster left off and is a combination adventure, science fiction, and political thriller.
He says if he ever does return to the series, it will be to tell the real story behind Irfan Qasad and why she would marry a total lunatic.
Corporate Mentality was the first book Piziks wrote under deadline and one of the few that he would do rewrites on if given the chance, "There were a couple of things I didn't have time to do that I wanted to do," he said.
Piziks is relishing the opportunity to branch into something new. "When I'm writing in a series," he explains, "it is nice because I know the characters, they are old friends and it's like going on a long vacation with a bunch of old friends from college that you know and like. It's wonderful. On the other hand, you do sometimes get bored. I've been living with Ben and Kendi for four and a half years now. You need a break from these people that you know so well."
"Now," he continues, "when I'm writing with the Irish fantasy book, it's fun to create new ground, to see around the corner. I know Ben and Kendi so well, there aren't any surprises. In the fantasy, we're in the third date stage. I like them, but I don't know them very well yet. They'll surprise me. I have to think more about what my Irish characters will do."
Rarely does Piziks have to feed his muse. "She shows up and wangs me over the head. I don't feed her on purpose," Piziks says. "She usually just mugs me, drags me into an alley and does horrible things to my psyche. I have to write about the ideas to make them go away."
Perhaps it is because he has such an aggressive muse that writing is a compulsion for Piziks. "I can't not write. Some people have to get out in the garden. Some have to workout. Some have to get out in the local PTA. I have to write. It is a release and I have all these stories in my head that I don't want to keep to myself. And other people seem to like them."
Years from now, what Piziks hopes people will remember most about his writing is that he was a great storyteller. He said he wants his books to make people turn pages and stay up past their bedtime, "If one of my books can make you stay up until 3 a.m. and be crabby the next morning, then I think 'Yes! Go me!'"