Are the Voyager novels not as popular?

[Greg Cox]

Thrawn wrote:

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...all of which makes it a challenge for an editor, because they have to balance both of these totally rational points of view together. The way I figure it, I'm just in it for good stories; if the story is well-told and in-universe-consistent enough, the fact that I know only the lit characters are going to die and the canon characters are probably coming back to life is something I can live with.

Yeah, it's a balancing act. You have to keep one eye on the folks who read every book religiously and are very familiar with the TrekLit universe, and the other eye on the casual reader who picked up the book at the airport expecting something just like the TV shows.

(It was the same thing writing the DC Comics novels, btw. I always tried to write for a hypothetical reader who probably had some familiarity with Batman and Wonder Woman and the rest, but who hadn't necessarily read the last seventeen issues of JLA or TEEN TITANS.)

[Enterpriserules]

Greg Cox wrote:

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Yeah, it's a balancing act. You have to keep one eye on the folks who read every book religiously and are very familiar with the TrekLit universe, and the other eye on the casual reader who picked up the book at the airport expecting something just like the TV shows.

(It was the same thing writing the DC Comics novels, btw. I always tried to write for a hypothetical reader who probably had some familiarity with Batman and Wonder Woman and the rest, but who hadn't necessarily read the last seventeen issues of JLA or TEEN TITANS.)

This does get really hard in in comic for sure because they interlink all of them so if you say want the full Superman story you have to read 5 different comics, very frustrating.


With Star Trek books I like loose connectivity because it does make for a rewarding experience when you read them all.

[Paris]

Enterpriserules wrote:

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This does get really hard in in comic for sure because they interlink all of them so if you say want the full Superman story you have to read 5 different comics, very frustrating.

This is not quite the case anymore at the big 2. Plenty of the comics can be read on their own and you can get a "full story". Take the batman line at DC; you can read any of them on their own and get the full experience. What happens in Detective Comics one week has nothing to do with Batman Incorporated two weeks later. They each have their own story, and reading the other monthlies is not neccesary. Sometimes they have crossover events, but those aren't the norm every month.

On the other side of the coin, books like the various Avengers titles at Marvel are better when you read multiple series, but it's still not neccesary. Each title has it's own storyarcs. A lot of them are way more accessible to the casual reader than trek fiction is

[Therin of Andor]

BillJ wrote:

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Much like I don't really care about Elfiki, Chen and Choudhury in the TNG books, I have no emotional investment in them.

That's a bit unfair, isn't it? If you were reading an original novel you wouldn't have an emotional investment in any characters. As you read through the book, you should start to build an emotional connection to some of the characters. And then carry this through any sequels.

[BillJ]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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That's a bit unfair, isn't it? If you were reading an original novel you wouldn't have an emotional investment in any characters. As you read through the book, you should start to build an emotional connection to some of the characters. And then carry this through any sequels.

My follow-up posts discusses this.

[Therin of Andor]

BillJ wrote:

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My follow-up posts discusses this.

BillJ wrote:

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I just think Trek is a different beast when it comes to novels. I can read a generic novel and care about what's going on. But when it comes to Trek, I want to read about the characters I've loved for multiple decades now.

For me, a big part of picking up a Trek novel is the nostalgia factor.

Or, you're simply not letting yourself enjoy new characters.

Lots of fans rejected the idea of Saavik. And probably would have felt the same about Xon had "Phase II" gone ahead. Had the novels been ongoing series and movies, new characters would come and go. (Guinan and Ro Laren were pretty popular late additions to TNG.) And regulars would leave.

[BillJ]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Or, you're simply not letting yourself enjoy new characters.

Or that's not the reason why I, personally, pick up Trek books.

[JD]

BillJ wrote:

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.

For me, a big part of picking up a Trek novel is the nostalgia factor.

I think this is where we differ. You read Trek novels, I read novels that happen to be set in the Star Trek universe.

[BillJ]

JD wrote:

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I think this is where we differ. You read Trek novels, I read novels that happen to be set in the Star Trek universe.

I don't think Pocket cares why we buy them or what we do with them as long as they get our $7.99.

But I'm a Star Trek fan and end up buying all of the MMPB's. I even have The Eternal Tide, even though I have no plans on ever reading it.

[Therin of Andor]

BillJ wrote:

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Or that's not the reason why I, personally, pick up Trek books.

Sure, but do you also resist allowing yourself to grow to like new canonical characters?

As for the books, I had no intention of liking Bonifay in the "Challenger" books, but wow, what an amazing, quirky character he turned out to be. Chen in the recent TNG books, too. And the aliens in "Ex Machina".

[CorporalCaptain]

The last Trek Lit book I spent money on was The Eternal Tide. I enjoyed reading it, and I'm glad I bought it.

[Infern0]

One of my favorite characters in Trek Lit is Miranda Kadohata, and I hope to see more of her (maybe a writer on here can shed some light on that?) I definitely think that the newer characters can be as interesting as the TV characters,

[Therin of Andor]

Infern0 wrote:

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One of my favorite characters in Trek Lit is Miranda Kadohata

I'm hoping that when we get some flashback stories, set in the seven years of the TV series, we might get some Miranda stories inserting her into behind the scenes of aired adventures.

[Avro Arrow]

Infern0 wrote:

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One of my favorite characters in Trek Lit is Miranda Kadohata, and I hope to see more of her (maybe a writer on here can shed some light on that?) I definitely think that the newer characters can be as interesting as the TV characters,

I'd like to see Kadohata return too. And it would also be nice if Faur got some kind of character development... as it is now, she seems pretty much a cipher.

Generally speaking, I'm all for lit-only characters. I like to see the universe expanded beyond just the TV shows. IMHO Vanguard is one of the best series in recent memory, and it was (almost) all lit-only characters!

[Thrawn]

Faur has had just about as much development as every helmsman the ship had after Wesley left...