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[anaerin]

Conversation with BalticAmberSmith (Maureen McHugh) in #bk

[Aerosurge]

This is a condensed version of the conversation from above... i have stripped out most of the background conversation, all of the time tags, and only left in what i saw as questions and answers. I tried to pair up all the questions with the answers, but im not perfect. If the mods see something that should be changed... go ahead and change folks. Im all about getting this out to the community.

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<strifey> You're a PM?
<BalticAmberSmith> Junior PM
<BalticAmberSmith> On the credits.
<Frobbe> junior PM?
<BalticAmberSmith> Maureen McHugh
<strifey> Wow, nice to meet ya
<BalticAmberSmith> Nice to be able to speak


<Anaerin> I bet. I bet you've been aching to say something all this time
<SilentAvenger> Indeed.
<BalticAmberSmith> Well, it doesn't actually say Junior PM on the credits. It says Managing Editor, writer and puzzles.

<ONI|CdrGabriel> Writer and Puzzles, eh?
<BalticAmberSmith> Not much on puzzles.


<ONI|CdrGabriel> So you're the demon responsible for turning us all into pawns?
<BalticAmberSmith> I'm really lousy at puzzles. NO! NOT THE PAWN!
<BalticAmberSmith> I hated that puzzle.
<SilentAvenger> So did we
<BalticAmberSmith> I did the puzzle that had calculus in it. And the puzzle with Whistler's Mother.
<strifey> It was the only bad puzzle though, which is amazing
<BalticAmberSmith> you're too kind, strifey


<ONI|CdrGabriel> So, the question I'll bet everyone's dying to ask is... did you really have anyone on the inside, in here? Keeping a close eye on us?
<BalticAmberSmith> sometimes. sometimes I was here. sometimes other people.


<strifey> I'm surprised we didn't drive you insane
<ONI|CdrGabriel> Bet that was hilarity in and of itself.
<BalticAmberSmith> no, you guys were great, actually. we were mostly here when the waves were being released. And if something was screwed up, we reacted.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: Where is 4orty2wo based from? What city?
<BalticAmberSmith> I'm in Ohio, crispy. And FortyTwo is sort of a distributed company, some people in California and some in Seattle.


<Cortana> Looking to hire a few more?
<BalticAmberSmith> I wrote a lot of the wavs. I'm hoping they'll hire me again, Cortana. I wrote most of what Hiro said, a lot of Kamal, almost all of Rani except for 12. I wrote very little of Jan, except for Cavetti's and pumpkin ice cream. Everything was re-written a lot though, so it's hard to say who really wrote what.


<Crispy`> BalticAmberSmith: Where were you guys when I went screaming at you to put some damn axons in Miami?
<BalticAmberSmith> Well, I live in Ohio, so I put them in Kent and Cleveland and scouted Rochester NY...but I was nowhere near Miama, Crispy. Sorry


<ONI|CdrGabriel> You're the reason we love our characters so much. Or should I say.. "your" characters?
<BalticAmberSmith> No, Sean Stewart is the reason you love the characters so much. He's a genius.


<Cortana> how did you guys choose the phones?
<BalticAmberSmith> We scouted as many as we could, and then used payphone directories. I think. I didn't do that much with phones. I know they had a list of universities at the beginning where they wanted to place phones...


<strifey> Well thank whoever put one 3 feet outside my office building. That was both creepy and cool Though I'd guess its a coincidence
<BalticAmberSmith> There are no coincidences, strifey. (Okay, I'm kidding.)


<ONI|CdrGabriel> According to the credits, there were Axon scouts, did they actually scout virtually all of the locations?
<BalticAmberSmith> Yeah, there were Axon scouts. Finding payphones is tedious and frustrating. I checked eleven in Rochester to find one that acceptedincoming calls.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: So did you send Brain Ninjas to stalk us?
<BalticAmberSmith> I invented Brain Ninjas! (I wrote that line!) I wrote first drafts of a lot of Jersey and Durga.


<Crispy`> OH. I've been meaning to ask the PMs. : Did YOU guys do the Spartan Power Coke Machine thing?
<BalticAmberSmith> I don't think so Crispy. I wish we had.


<ONI|CdrGabriel> So how many writers were actually working on it, and how were you structured?
<BalticAmberSmith> Structure? Surely you jest. There were four writers. Me, Alex Irvine, Wil McCarthy and Sean Stewart. Alex, Wil and I wrote the first drafts of all the wavs, Sean wrote almost all the website text (although I wrote most of the SP's communications when she was using pieces of your emails.) Then I would edit Wil and Alex's for continuity and stuff, and pass it on to Sean, then he would re-write it and then he and Elan would go over it line by line at 2:00 in the morning. And then I would log on and see someone remarking that the PMs were having an easy morning.


<Cortana> Were there spots when you wanted to smack us around?
<Moriarty_> question I've wanted to ask: What was the thing we did/said that made you laugh the most? cry the most? sit back and go 'wow, they're good'?
<BalticAmberSmith> The most frustrating? THat's hard. But when you guys starting posting about good and evil, I could have cried. You guys got so much subtley and nuance, were so thoughtful.


<Crispy`> BalticAmberSmith: Do you know some of the nicks that the PMs used?
<BalticAmberSmith> Crispy, other PMs have to tell you their nicknames...


<HedgeKnight> so you were editing all through the game or was it mostly done before the onset?
<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: How far in advance were the wavs produced, and how much influence did we have over what happened?
<BalticAmberSmith> HedgeKnight, we were about three weeks ahead of release. Maybe two. Anaerin, you had a lot of influence. Even more over the operator/sp storyline


<BalticAmberSmith> And I'm a writer and people don't usually use my lines as sig files, but damn, every time I see "Science!" on a sif file...
<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: That's a classic line. Mad Props for that.


<elvarien> (wakes up) o.O a puppet master
<BalticAmberSmith> He's quick, that elvarien.
<elvarien> x.X what I just checked my mirc to see what was erm .. currently happening and its 3:00 here ---> netherlands ^^
<BalticAmberSmith> Elvarien, you're one of the Netherlands contingent? Mad props to you guys! We wanted so badly to get you a payphone...
<elvarien> heh if there would have been a payphone here .. me and my crew would have defenitely lit the axon


<johnny_nitro> is someone logging this?
<BalticAmberSmith> Oh god, I hope not.


* Frobbe badly wished for one in Denmark
<SilentAvenger> BalticAmberSmith, any reason why they never caled my axon?
<BalticAmberSmith> Frobbe, we wanted one in Denmark, in Australia, in England...SilentAvenger, we wanted them all to ring, so I'll be damed if I know why yours didn't.


<johnny_nitro> I'd like to know how live calls were determined
<BalticAmberSmith> Johnny, I'm a Jr. PM, in Ohio. I don't really know how live calls were done...


<aab_123> BalticAmberSmith: a semi-technical question for you... what did most people use as the webpage name to find the 404 page?
<BalticAmberSmith> aab, I don't know, all the server stuff was handled by Jim. I saw some of the stats.


<HedgeKnight> so BalticAmberSmith, can ya tell us if 42 is workin on any other "projects"? *grins*
<BalticAmberSmith> HegedKnight, Oh I certainly hope so. (I freelance.)


<ONI|CdrGabriel> BalticAmberSmith: Aside from seeing your lines in sig files, ("Science!"), what specificially was the best part of being in all this?
<BalticAmberSmith> Gabriel, I write novels and short stories. The best part of this was the things it taught me about writing.


<strifey> We'll all write you letters of recommendation BalticAmberSmith
<elvarien> seconded
<Anaerin> Thirded.
<Frobbe> seconded
<BalticAmberSmith> strifey, what we need are clients with deel pockets. make that deep pockets.


<Crispy`> BalticAmberSmith: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/files/domo.jpg <--- ILoveBees has spawned off many great pictures.
<BalticAmberSmith> oh yeah. I read unfiction daily. I love the paratropper guy leaping off the payphone ledge.


<Sep7imus> How much did the story change in response to player actions/interactions? Was it the specific writing that changed, or did the whole plot actually go in different directions?
<BalticAmberSmith> Sep7imus the parts of the story that changed the most in response to players was the website stuff. The Op and the SP.


<HedgeKnight> that's actually an interesting question, what kind of budget does an ARG like this cost? Or rather an involved ARG like this one has been that is...
<BalticAmberSmith> I'd say about a million, HedgeKnight. Most of the money went to studio time.


<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: Here's one for you. Did you really expect the backlash against weephun that came about?
<BalticAmberSmith> Well, we were a little caught out by Weephun ourselves....
<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: Really?
<ONI|CdrGabriel> You didn't expect someone to betray the SP?
<BalticAmberSmith> We never expected he would rat out--I mean spill the beans.
<ONI|CdrGabriel> You created her as what she was expressly to appeal to us and we would protect her as much as possible, didn't you?
<elvarien> her carecter screamed protection yeah lol
<BalticAmberSmith> We all felt a little protective of the SP. We called her lg for Little girl. And Sean has two daughters.
<ONI|CdrGabriel> And yet, in the end, her sacrifice was necessary, for the Op to become whole again.


<SilentAvenger> BalticAmberSmith, who came up with Flea Speak?
<BalticAmberSmith> Jim, the tech guy did some, and then Sean Stewart wrote most of the rest.


<Sep7imus> How hard/tricky/fun was composing stuff by the SP made out of the emails and literature that people sent to her? (BTW, the picking up of emoticons and the "When I X I do this..." was wonderful!)
<BalticAmberSmith> Sep7imus, making coherent comunication out of emails that primarily say, 'Is this the Halo 2 Demo? I need to know pleez!' was tough.


<Dewback> Is it true that PF is running for president in 2008?
<BalticAmberSmith> Yes, on a platform of Reveal the Truth, Dewback.


<DM> There seemed to be an overall theme with ILB. Sacrificing the good of the singular to make the good for the whole.
<BalticAmberSmith> DM, themes arise from work, we didn't actually try to impose one.


<Sep7imus> BalticAmberSmith, I believe it! (Thanks for using my little contribution - "The Waste Land").
<BalticAmberSmith> Sep7mus, The Waste Land rocked.


<Jorell> i was hoping for a halo 2 demo on this dvd
<BalticAmberSmith> yeah, well, bungie wasn't likely to do that.


<DM> True, Amber. And some of the stuff that came from ILB-the infamous "Preopositions" puzzle-sorta made it grow its own theme altogether. I suppose as a PM, that's something you can't predict.
<BalticAmberSmith> DM, exactly. The culture that grows out of a search opera is pretty much whatever it is.


<HedgeKnight> i wanted a "behind the scenes" documentary... 42 should do one just to capitalize on the buzz... it'd probably go along way to explaining this thing to non-beekeepers
<BalticAmberSmith> HedgeKnight, we wanted to do one. But you know, at two in the morning, typing Standish telling Herzog that "results are results" after teaching until 9:15 at night, I was just too tired to document.


<ONI|CdrGabriel> How many of the crew did you get to meet, BalticAmberSmith?
<BalticAmberSmith> Gabriel, none. I'm afraid.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: By the way, how were we supposed to know "upon" was the preposition we needed to use? lol
<BalticAmberSmith> Cripsy, I told them that puzzle sucked.


<Dewback> Ooo Ooo Amber. Were there any halariously wrong voicemail messages ont he Dana VM?
<BalticAmberSmith> Dewback, I'm sure there were.


<Cortana> What's the genesis of the term Search Opera?
<BalticAmberSmith> Cortana, Sean Stewart.


<Sep7imus> Has the Press Coverage been as good as you had hoped, assumign that was part of your goal?
<BalticAmberSmith> Sep7imus, no.


<Cortana> BAS> what's next for you?
<BalticAmberSmith> Cortana, until I get a call again, probably working on the next novel. I have a collection of short stories out in June of 2005.


<Dewback> I think Orson Welles's radio drama was sort of an ARG XD
<BalticAmberSmith> Dew, unintentionally, yes.


<HedgeKnight> i think that's one of the best things (among many) that came out of this ARG, the whole radio drama thing is really almost a lost art and this has got to be one of the very few mechanisms where such a thing can be delivered and accepted anymore
<BalticAmberSmith> HedgeKnight, I think Jordan Weisman, Elan and Sean are geniuses. And that's how the whole payphone radio drama thing came about.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: How long did it take you guys to fix the LiL_C on the blogspot thing?
<BalticAmberSmith> Crispy, not my balliwick, so I don't know.


<Sep7imus> So, BalticAmberSmith, you were largely responsible for the SP's character? what about Melissa's? (BTW, great job onthe writing...)
<BalticAmberSmith> Sep7imus, Sean Stewart is really responsible for SP and Melissa.


<Sep7imus> okay... what were you writing?
<BalticAmberSmith> I wrote some of SP's earliest communication, but he wrote everything else, including the Widow's journey, all the shipwrecked text on the site and the clockwork rat. I wrote almost all of Rani, a lot of Jersey and Durga, pretty much everything Standish or Hiro said, and a lot of Kamal and Sophia.


<johnny_nitro> BAS: who wrote "cool out Janissary James"?
<BalticAmberSmith> I suspect either Alex Irvine or Sean stewart wrote 'Cool out' But I wrote, "We could be a band!'


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: You will forever bee known for "DAAAMN!" then.
<BalticAmberSmith> nope, Sean wrote 'team jersey' and the actor made 'daaaaamn.'


<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: Was there anything you didn't think we were going to get?
<BalticAmberSmith> Anaerin, I don't exactly get the whole Melissa faked the Herzog thing.


<Jets> And who wrote the chicken scene?
<BalticAmberSmith> I wrote the chicken scene!


<elvarien> hmm did you do the jersey audit ?when durga .. interveined ?
<BalticAmberSmith> I did the jersey audit. Who's the guy with the big gloves.


<Sep7imus> BAS, if we're gonna by your work, what's your real name? (Sorry if I missed this earlier!)
<BalticAmberSmith> Maureen McHugh But it's not as fun as this, Sep


<strifey> BalticAmberSmith: I don't know if this has already been asked, but do you have any books/stories etc. that we can search out and read? I really liked your writing style, and hey, free plug
<BalticAmberSmith> strifey, put my name in amazon, or put it in google and my website pops up. Maureen McHugh


<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: A simple one, really. Just how full DID Dana's G-Mail (And the hotmail) account get?
<BalticAmberSmith> I saw the ladybee account, but nothing else, so I don't know.


<HedgeKnight> http://my.en.com/~mcq/fiction.html is that you?
<BalticAmberSmith> that's me.


<Moriarty_> BAS: Might I ask who created the line 'immensely powerful dispenser'?
<BalticAmberSmith> Moriarity, I'm not sure on that one.


<BalticAmberSmith> But a lot of Jersey's best stuff wasn't me. It was Sean. Sean did Gilly, for example.


<ONI|CdrGabriel> BalticAmberSmith: Any moments where you felt like giving up? Something we screwed up, something we didn't get..?
<BalticAmberSmith> Gab, the moments I felt like giving up were moments where I didn't think I could write up to the level that the game required. Or fast enough.


<BalticAmberSmith> If you want to read something I've written, http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/mchugh2/


<elvarien> (dubbing is not good x.X)
<BalticAmberSmith> elvarien, the first waves have to be really solid, since they were sort of gateways. But game designers tell you, don't start at the beginning, because you'll know the story better later, start in the middle.


<BalticAmberSmith> The hardest thing to write about all this...well, Elan and Sean just kept saying, funnier, smarter. So we re-wrote the first Jan wave over thirty-five times. But we couldn't do that, because we had to write it all so fast. We started writing scripts in May.


<SkilletAudio|Splotch> I gotta know. What was the story behind the "heartbeats" in the sound files? Every 6 seconds a heartbeat beneath the mix. Its been driving me NUTS since Axon Day.
<BalticAmberSmith> I don't know about the heartbeats. Ask Sean and Elan.


<Dewback> BalticAmberSmith> why did the whole Thinkinkle thing take place anyways? Just to create a reason for character interaction?
<BalticAmberSmith> Dew, it was allways part of the overall plot. Jan had to learn that with great powers come great responsibilities.


<BalticAmberSmith> Wil McCarthy invented Cupid's Knife. He wrote a lot of the structure of the scenes, for example, he mapped out the whole first draft of Beat 11, Heroes. So often, Wil's contribution is pretty invisible, but really important.


<Sep7imus> Did you find the voice actors adding to the characters in ways that you hadn't anticipated? Were those additions always welcome? Did you then make use of those changes and write for them in later wave files?
<BalticAmberSmith> Sep7imus, I don't know how much the voice actors changed things, but I know they did.


<elvarien> jans torture wavs ........ it almost sounded like .. well snuff or something very very evil and emotional
<BalticAmberSmith> elvarien, yeah. It's was tough listen to.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: Were really big celebrity voices over the budget or you just wanted it to be more realistic by us not really knowing who it is?
<BalticAmberSmith> I never met any of the voice actors, though, and didn't much hear wavs until about the time you did. Sean did the voice directing.


<DM> How much planning for characters goes into something like this, Amber? I would imagine for the 'interactive' characters there had to be some flexibility.
<BalticAmberSmith> DM writing isn't planned out really. We had a template for the episodes, but we threw a lot of it out as we went along.


<SkilletAudio|Splotch> Was there any kind of grand archetype that this audio story was intended to follow, sort of a "Epic in the tradition of ___" that we could serve to draw from for deeper appreciation?
<BalticAmberSmith> Skillet, the theme was the Battle of Britain.


<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: I bet it's a relief for this all to be over... You can have a decent night's sleep now, instead of pulling all that O/T
<BalticAmberSmith> Anaerin, my part has been pretty much over for about three weeks, but the rest of the guys. Particularly the tech guy, Jim. I call him Magic Man. Lots of 24 hour Tuesdays for him.


<HedgeKnight> sorry if this was asked before (if so just say so I'll scroll back) but how much interaction did Bungie have in the writing?
<BalticAmberSmith> Bungie had to approve every script, Hedge.


<aab_123> Sean's probably asleep - it's still super early out east.
<BalticAmberSmith> aab he gets up early.


<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: I take it you're "Allowed" to talk to us about the game now? Sean won't go ballistic, will he?
<BalticAmberSmith> I hope not. But the credits are out, so anyone who wanted to find me could. My email's on my website.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: Where is Sean? East or West coast?
<BalticAmberSmith> west, crispy


<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: How hard was it to not get involved with the players? And did any of the PM's try and nudge us in the right direction?
<BalticAmberSmith> Anaerin, it was excrutiating, but no, we never nudged.


<ONI|CdrGabriel> Except for Prepositions?
<BalticAmberSmith> Gab, we just gave a second clue. That's not a nudge.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: I know you guys wan't to rush the room yelling "IT'S A_PAWN. A_PAWN, DAMNIT!"
<BalticAmberSmith> Crispy, I wanted to rush in the room and say, it's not your fault, just use 'a_pawn'. No, but Sean always said you would eventually, not to worry.


<Aerosurge> i know this has probably been said already, but i wanted to extend my thanks to all of the PMs Amber. You all did a wonderful job, and as a small part of the community i wanted to extend my thanks.
<BalticAmberSmith> Aerosurge, the thanks goes to you guys. You made it happen.


<strifey> BAS: Did we offically find everything there was to find?
<BalticAmberSmith> strifey, far as I know you did.


<Cortana> Was it hard to see us "blame" weephun or Chappy for what happened to the Princess?
<BalticAmberSmith> Cortana, it was like watching a story unfold. One we really didn't expect.


<johnny_nitro> so the baloons puzzle was created for that?
<BalticAmberSmith> yeah, the balloon puzzle was created in the twenty-four hours before you guys solved it.


<johnny_nitro> BAS: what was the original story arc for the SP?
<BalticAmberSmith> Originally, we expected that the queen would eventually capture her, but that was supposed to happen later than it did.


<Crispy> BalticAmberSmith: Do you know what the last puzzle on the DVD is?
<BalticAmberSmith> Crispy, I haven't seen the dvd yet. I'm waiting for my copy in the mail.


<Anaerin> BalticAmberSmith: How frustrating was it when the two recepie 3 wavs wouldn't light? I know the UK Axon team worked their arses off to try and activate "the_labyrinth"...
<BalticAmberSmith> It was sooo frustrating, because I wrote those and they had stuff in them I wanted you to know. And I so wanted the Brits to have an axon...


<Moriarty_> BAS: Was this your first ARG? How did you get involved in it?
<BalticAmberSmith> Moriarity, I followed The Beast. But this is my first ARG behind the curtain. And I got involved because I'm an sf writer and so I was asked.


<BalticAmberSmith> Guys, I gotta go. But I've been dying to talk to you. Sitting here watching you has been a delight. Red balloons to all of you!
<Cortana> Come back soon you're always welcome here
<Anaerin> Good talking to you, BalticAmberSmith. Come back soon. <SkilletAudio|Splotch> Thank you so much, for the game, and for the chat.
<SilentAvenger> See ya. Get Sean in here
<darkphan> thanks for popping in BalticAmberSmith
<ONI|CdrGabriel> Thank you, from all of us, and from those who followed, and couldn't make it here.
<johnny_nitro> thanks so much for everything
<nawoR> Thank you Amber
<laard> thank you
<HedgeKnight> thank you!
[14:58] *** Signoff: BalticAmberSmith (Quit: )

[edit] to narrow window -bill

[Dewback]

I'd like to give credit to Crispy for all my insane and totally time-wasting questions. PF 2008!

[Scott]

Re: Conversation with BalticAmberSmith (Maureen McHugh) in #

[HitsHerMark]

She wrote all of the funniest stuff!

I'm gonna have to buy her books now!

[krystyn]

I was just sayin' this in IRC, but I love China Mountain Zhang. It's been one of my favorites for years.

Yay Maureen McHugh!

Science!

[Phaedra]

I really wish one or more of the PMs would come here to Unfiction. We could have a better in-depth discussion, and I don't know about anyone else, but chat gives me a headache.

[DreamOfTheRood]

I concur. I only read about halfway through the original post before I started scrolling down. Let's start emailing them and see what happens.

[MrBeefy]

MM