When I was reading The Autobiography of James T Kirk, I imagined Kirk looking/sounding like Pine's Kirk until the five year mission started. At that point my brain morphed him into Shatner's Kirk. The same goes for the rest of the crew.
Yes. I was thinking Log Ten, and I was thinking the Klingon captain was Kumara. Memory Beta can be so useful at times, and yet every so often, you find a yawning gap.
One of the main reasons I even read Star Trek novels is because of familiarity with the characters and so I cannot help but hear and see the actors who played them in my mind. If I had never seen a single Star Trek episode though I think I would still enjoy reading them it just would be an entirely different experience. I doubt there are very many people in the world who read the books and have never watched the shows. Kevin
I subconciously picture the original casts, but I'm not a fan of Kate Mulgrew and have been superimposing author Kirsten Beyer who seems an excellent fit : https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61PzIBVfelL._UX250_.jpg Can't do much about Mulgrews voice though...I think I'm stuck with it.
I never intentionally imagine the cast, but in the exceptional cases where the character voice is just right (always the recent voyager books, sometimes the early ds9 relaunch books) it adds to my enjoyment as I start imagining the correct cast because of the writing. The good thing is, this means a book really has to get a character terribly wrong before I notice.
Problem is she's called nan Which tends to bring to mind a nan. Which from my perspective brings to mind Stephanie Cole. Which now leads to me wishing Martin Clunes to take over from Bashir, leading to a logical choice for keikos old job too. In fact....I am mentally relocating Cornwall to deep space nine, and a whole new relaunch just falls into place.
I'm actually listening to a DARK SHADOWS soundtrack album right now while working on the jacket copy for an upcoming DS novel from Tor.
Hmm. I've always liked Ms. Mulgrew's work. I even liked a young Kate Mulgrew in Mrs. Columbo, and by all accounts, even Kate Mulgrew didn't like Kate Mulgrew in Mrs. Columbo!
I'm reading through the TOS novels from the 1980's, and the covers inconsistencies are part of the inspiration for how I visualize them in my mind. It's also partly inspired by my concept of the novels when I was much younger, and those covers evoked a certain look and feel in my head. Back then I had no concept of the first movie The Motion Picture. And a lot of these books seem to take place in a nebulously defined time between TOS show and the movies, but I had only seen Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, so that was how the movies looked. So while I'm reading these 80's novels, I'm often imagining the Enterprise in her upgraded look, but the characters are in their primary colors uniforms (the cover for Dreams of the Raven is the major inspiration for that). The Wounded Sky had a scene in Kirk's quarters and that still looked more like from the original show, but more shadowy. My Enemy, My Ally was curious for having changing the redshirts into orange shirts, so I went with that. There was a flashback to Kirk in his younger days in The Entropy Effect, and I was surprised how natural it felt to have Chris Pine pop up in that role. Sickbay had a totally different look in my head, for The Entropy Effect.
Then, over in the Voyager novels, where she is still alive, I demand a knitting scene. And possibly a scene where she licks a handkerchief and uses it to wipe some grubbiness off someone's face. It must be done. The great nan archetype of the universe would no doubt wish it so.
I definitely always picture the TOS actors when reading books about them. The original actors are pretty inseparable from the characters in my mind (although I haven't read any books set in the '09 trek continuity outside of Alan Dean Foster's novelization of the movie). When I read the first Vanguard novel, I kept picturing Edward James Olmos as Diego Reyes, probably because of Battlestar Galactica. I think David Mack said that he had Tommy Lee Jones in mind, though. I can't recall "casting" any other characters in my head.
I sometimes "cast" actors for my original characters, the better to visualize them in my head. Now it can be told: the alien general in FOUL DEEDS WILL RISE was played by Boris Karloff in my head, albeit under heavy makeup. In particular, I was thinking of the war-weary general he played in ISLE OF THE DEAD back in the forties. (One of the advantages of imaginary casting is that you're not limited by the realities of time and space, so you can "cast" vintage actors like Peter Lorre or James Mason or John Carradine if you're so inclined.)
Writing with actors (or personal friends, family, or whoever) in mind is a good way to differentiate characters' voices so that they don't all sound like the author.
I read all variations of Trek fiction with the voices of the actors in mind. It's the best way for me to judge whether or not the writer has properly captured the voice of the cadence - at least how I perceive it, anyway.
I know I'm reading a well written Garak scene when I hear Andrew Robinson's voice in my head. As far as the nuTrek novels that never came out, I was bummed at the time because some of my favorite authors books weren't going to come out. I'm assuming when they do decide to release nuTrek novels the publishers will again choose at least some of the authors who are my favorites. So I'm not pining away for the lost novels.
Some of the earlier TOS novels from Bantam Books make it difficult to imagine the original cast in the roles. I especially had problems with "Perrys Planet", "Trek to Madworld" and "The Starless World". This persisted after the license changed to Pocket Books, "Mutiny on the Enterprise" and "The Trellisane Confrontation" come to mind. I think in both cases above, Bantam or Pocket, it's because some of the characters in those stories act so out of character! Yet even some of the more unusually set ones, like the Diane Duane novels, with all the alien crew members, or any of Howard Weinstein novels fit perfectly ("The Wounded Sky" and the Rihannsu books are amongst my favorites). And, sacrilege this might be, the Shatnerverse novels seem to capture Kirk, Spock and McCoy well in my head! The one I want to go back and read again is "Ishmael" by Barbara Hambly. Being in the UK, I'd never heard of the US TV series "Here Come the Brides" that some of the past characters are based on! I'd want to read it again imagining Mark Lenards voice as Aaron Stemple! OK, loaded question here! Anyone reading any TOS novels recently hearing James Cawley and Co, or Vic Mignogna and co as the TOS characters? Mark
Plus Robert Brown (Lazarus, "The Alternative Factor") as Jason Bolt and David Soul (Makora, "The Apple") as Joshua Bolt.