*~Star Trek Books FAQ Latest Edition~*

[JarodRussell]

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply!

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Of course you'd submit your "proper idea". Hand in your best idea as a proposal, not your second best idea.

But they clearly say they don't want a story with great changes, or a character dying, or a story focussing on new characters, not the familar TV characters, for example. So I would have to hand in my "second best" idea, in order to do what I really want at a later stage, wouldn't I? As Christopher said:

The submission process is a test of your ability to follow instructions, to adapt to what's asked of you. If you get through that process and prove yourself, then later on you can gain the trust of your editor and have the opportunity to pitch the more experimental stories you want to tell.

And again, it's not the specific story you're selling, it's you. The guidelines are a demo process. If you prove yourself by coming up with a good story that fits the guidelines, then you can earn the opportunity to do a wider range of stuff later.

[Christopher]

^Again, don't fixate on a single idea. Ideas are the easy part. What matters is the execution. You need to give them the best work, both in concept and execution, that you're capable of.

So don't think of an idea as "second best" just because it isn't your personal dream. Instead, find another idea that fits the parameters and inspires you just as much, and put as much care and effort into it as you would put into your dream idea. Remember, this isn't a hobby. This isn't an exercise in personal gratification. This is a job. If you're applying for a job, you need to show your prospective employer that you're committed to doing your best possible work no matter what they assign you.

And if you look beyond that one single idea and see what else is in you creatively, you may be surprised at just how much is there. You may find better ideas that hadn't even occurred to you because you were spending all your time thinking about just one idea. You may discover a new idea that you want to do even more than this current dream idea of yours.

Years ago, I had an idea for a trilogy I wanted to do about Picard's missing years between the Stargazer and the Enterprise. When Marco Palmieri invited me to do the Lost Era novel doing just that, naturally my first thought was to do the story I'd originally planned. But when I took a close look at it, I realized it wouldn't work. And then I came up with something that turned out to be far, far better. I got to do my dream story, but in a totally different, much more satisfying way than I'd originally imagined.

So just because there's one idea you really want to do now, don't assume it's your "best" idea. If you really have what it takes to be a writer, and are willing to do the hard work to make it happen, then your best ideas are still ahead of you.

[Therin of Andor]

JarodRussell wrote:

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So I would have to hand in my "second best" idea, in order to do what I really want at a later stage, wouldn't I?

No editor (or paying audience) wants to read your "second best" idea. But the editor does want to see that you can follow the strict rules of the guidelines for new writers, to see if you have much more than two ideas in you.

Ideas are the easy bit.

As many successful writers will say, get some mainstream, commercial writing credits behind you before taking the huge gamble of proposing something for a licensed tie-in.

[teacake]

I am about to finish Full Circle. What should I read next out of these books:

Soul Key, Losing the Peace, The Neverending Sacrifice.

(They are all in my bookcase waiting to be read!)

[captcalhoun]

that's entirely up to you. and not really FAQ material

[teacake]

Well I don't think a discussion of someone's "second best idea" and how to get it published is FAQ material either.

I posted it here because posting such questions as a new thread always gets one pointed back to a FAQ so I figured this was the least annoying place to post it.

Here's a question that got asked on the previous page of the thread:

Quick question about post Destiny reading order. Should I read A Singular Destiny before I read Full Circle? I don't want to run into any Singular Destiny spoilers in FC.

And guess what, it got answered without snippiness.

[Therin of Andor]

teacake wrote:

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I am about to finish Full Circle. What should I read next out of these books:

Soul Key, Losing the Peace, The Neverending Sacrifice.

(They are all in my bookcase waiting to be read!)

Publication order - when all else fails.

[Christopher]

teacake wrote:

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I am about to finish Full Circle. What should I read next out of these books:

Soul Key, Losing the Peace, The Neverending Sacrifice.

It doesn't matter. The two DS9 books both take place years before Full Circle, and Losing the Peace takes place roughly simultaneously with the latter half of Full Circle but has hardly any references to its events. The Destiny crossover aside, the various series are still pretty much self-contained and each one can be read without worrying about the others. The logical next book to read after Full Circle is Unworthy, its direct followup.

[teacake]

Thanks Christopher. I think the Destiny crossover muddled me quite a bit, LOL. Unworthy hasn't hit the shelves yet here so I will read Soul Key.

[snakespeare]

Someone should poke around in the FAQ again. The sixth Titan novel is on bookshelves now, and another editor was laid off a few months ago.

[Thrawn]

I would be happy to update it, if one of the mods will tell me how to do that.

[Marie1]

You start with a blank page... and you start typing... using the old one as a ref for the old stuff that is unchanged... edit the stuff that's changed... and add new stuff. You end up with 12 pages or something... as first draft.

[LightningStorm]

If you guys want to keep the FAQ fairly regularly updated that's fine by me so long as it's not as frequently updated as to be overkill (subjective I know).

But get yourself a good final draft start a new thread name it accordingly and one of us will unstick the old one and stick the new one -- and if necessary remove any posts that end up accidentally in between your posts since the whole FAQ won't fit in one post.

Best way to go about it though is probably as Marie1 says to start it in a separate document (Word, or Notepad, or some such) and then once it's ready copy and paste it in parts into multiple posts in a new thread.

[Thrawn]

Ok, cool. I'm having a busy week, but I'll take care of it over the weekend.

Do you embed the links into the table of contents post, or should I figure that out when I post the new thread?

[Rosalind]

how much change is required? if it's just one or two things, then the easiest would be for either LS or myself to edit into the current posts. usually we go two years before there's a need for a brand new FAQ thread.

as for links for the first post, you post everything, and then edit the links in.