Star Trek: Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion
- Thread starter Patrick O'Brien
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No, I was just pointing out that one was a leisure persuit and the other paid work with many guidelines to follow. AFAIK, the current crop of Pocket writers are Trek fans.
Although there were one or two past writers who admitted to not being fans in Voyages of Imagination. Not that not being a Trekkie is a crime - Harve Bennett and JJ Abrams weren't more than casual occasional viewers when they were brought in to helm ST's II and XI.
Ditto Nicholas Meyer.
Not really. It's a myth that you have to be a fan of something to handle it well as a writer. You just have to be a good writer and good researcher -- to make the effort to get to know the subject before you write about it. I think a lot of people don't realize that -- they hear the bromide "write what you know" and assume that writers just tackle subjects they're already well-versed in. But research is an integral part of the writing process. You don't have to have prior familiarity with a topic, because you can learn about it once you commit to writing about it.
Hmmm, of course you guys would certainly know! But yes, I would have thought one would have to be versed in the universe in order to write well in it. I would imagine that characterization would be the hardest thing to get right. I agree that one can be knowledgable about the universe but not a raving fan.
As for the research that was mentioned by Christopher, is there a Star Trek Bible that a new author entering the world of TrekLit could reference? I know I have seen them for TV series and even some of current authors (David and the Vanguard stuff) created something like this for his slice the world.
Well, the rules for unsolicited manuscripts coming in from new writers (via a literary agent) specifically discouraged them from referencing any Treklit. Your proposal and sample chapters should only reference canonical events, so the TV writers' guides would be all you require for "research". If you are successful in gaining the editor's attention to pitch a novel, that is when links to other Treklit might be suggested/considered.
True confession: I had only seen a couple of episodes of CSI when I was first asked to write for the books. I had liked what I'd seen, but was hardly an expert on the show and its characters.
So I did my homework. I watched every episode I could (thankfully, it was showing about three times a day on cable!), read all eight of the previous CSI novels by Max Allan Collins, researched the show on-line, perused episode guides, picked up a couple of "CSI Companion" type reference books, and basically immersed myself in the show for a month or so. Heck, I even played the CSI board game!
By the time I actually started writing the first book, I knew the show backwards and forwards . . . .
You don't need to be a lifelong fan. You just need to do your homework.
So I did my homework. I watched every episode I could (thankfully, it was showing about three times a day on cable!), read all eight of the previous CSI novels by Max Allan Collins, researched the show on-line, perused episode guides, picked up a couple of "CSI Companion" type reference books, and basically immersed myself in the show for a month or so. Heck, I even played the CSI board game!
By the time I actually started writing the first book, I knew the show backwards and forwards . . . .
You don't need to be a lifelong fan. You just need to do your homework.
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Yes, but you don't need to have been a fan of it for years; you just need to research it thoroughly when you get the assignment. Like Greg said about CSI, you can get well-versed pretty quickly by throwing yourself into the research.
For instance, when I was recruited to write my X-Men and Spider-Man novels, I knew those franchises mainly from their TV adaptations and hadn't read most of the actual comics. But I tracked down every comics collection I could, and for the comics I couldn't find to actually read, I looked them up at online sites and learned as much as I could about them. I was able to get more complete research materials for my Spidey novel, since there was a DVD-ROM collection of the complete run of Amazing Spider-Man available, and I got reviews praising me for my expert understanding of Spider-Man continuity, even though a lot of what I referenced in the novel was stuff I hadn't even known about before I got the job.
It's really the same as with any other job. You don't have to have spent a lifetime being a fan of, say, computer programming in order to earn a job as a computer programmer. You can take a course or a training program and acquire it as a new skill even if you knew nothing about it before. At least, that's what those commercials for vocational colleges and the like keep saying.
Assuming you're brought in by the editor and assigned to contribute to the ongoing continuity, then typically the editor would just send you copies of the books (or manuscripts, if they're not yet published) that are relevant to what you're doing.
There were two bibles for SCE. One was written for the main series, the other was written by Dayton and Kevin for the 23rd-century al-Khaled gang.
^Do they have online links to that material, like Dave posted?
I don't believe so, no. Keith sent me the "main" one when he invited me to pitch, and Dayton sent me the al-Khaled version when I pitched Keith a movie-era 23rd-century SCE tale. (I never got the outline to work, which is why you've never read Towing Spacedock. It was overly ambitious for a novella; the last draft of the outline was itself novella-length.)
^Too bad. Who does not want to read an overly ambitious novella
I hope your Towing Spacedock, outline is waiting for an SCE reboot to be published Allyn?
I hope your Towing Spacedock, outline is waiting for an SCE reboot to be published Allyn?Similar threads
