Authors - how do you find all these little nuggets?

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Got a question for the authors - how do you find obscure Trek details to include in your stories?

I don't mean where - Memories Alpha and Beta, as well as various reference books - I mean, how do you pull it all together? Find just that right Easter egg tidbit, or remember details about who and what is available when? That one subtle inference based on two otherwise unrelated details?

 

[Christopher]

It's called research. We find those things out the same way anyone finds anything out -- by studying and doing the work.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Yeah, but there are so many things that you wouldn't think to look for. Is some of of it just the "luck of the draw", as it were? While looking for something, do you find something else and think, "hey, this could fit with ___"

 

[DimesDan]

It's called research. We find those things out the same way anyone finds anything out -- by studying and doing the work.

What a wonderfully unique and novel approach to something.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I was mainly expressing my admiration for the way little detail, even the most obscure, come together. It's just that when I read the finished product, sometimes it seems like you haven't missed a trick.

 

[Dayton Ward]

A familiarity with the subject matter doesn't hurt. I mean, I've been a Star Trek fan for 40-something years. Stuff tends to stick.

For the stuff that doesn't stick, there are all those books and other references I've collected during those 40-something years. An extensive library - Trek and otherwise - tends to come in handy.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Research by fiction writers can be an amazing thing. For example, I'm still pleasantly shocked, years later, at what I discovered the first time I visited Colonial Williamsburg, i.e., the level of research the Stratemeyer Syndicate staff did for The Bobbsey Twins' Red White and Blue Mystery: you can easily navigate CW just from recollections of having read a children's detective novel. (They even got the color of the shuttle buses right!)

 

[David Mack]

Just to echo what Dayton said, I've been mentally invested in the Star Trek universe for pretty much my entire life. I grew up watching syndicated reruns, and then the movies, followed by TNG, etc. In one form or another, I've been thinking about the Star Trek universe for 45+ years.

Consequently, when I'm writing a new Star Trek novel, I'll often notice a parallel or think of a possible connection between something I'm working on and something I already know is part of Star Trek. When that happens, I do some research to double-check my facts and the chronology; if the pieces fit together, and if adding them will lend a bit of improved texture or context to what I'm writing, I put in the continuity bit.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Do you get a lot of criticism for playing "It's a small universe after all?"

That was the impetus behind my idea to create lists of things and characters not elaborated on in shows and films, partly. To help fanfic writers and you guys.

 

[Idran]

Do you get a lot of criticism for playing "It's a small universe after all?"

That was the impetus behind my idea to create lists of things and characters not elaborated on in shows and films, partly. To help fanfic writers and you guys.

I can understand that goal, making research easier for other people in a fandom, either as fans or as professionals.

I can really, really understand that goal.

 

[Greg Cox]

Well, for one thing, you can hang out on Trek message boards and at conventions . . .

Seriously, it's part fandom, part research, and, yes, serendipity plays a part here as well. You start researching a topic (not necessarily a Trek topic) and stumble onto some cool detail or bit of trivia that fits perfectly with whatever vague idea you may have already had in mind. ("Wait. That's the first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness monster? Hmm. . . ")

Plus, when it comes to Trek, my brain is trained at this point to take note of bits of new information that could prove useful later on. ("Wait. Geordi's mom is a Starfleet captain? Okay, file that away for future reference.") And I'm not above picking my Trekkie friends' brains on occasions. ("I can't remember. Has the bowling alley ever appeared in any of the books?")

I also maintain a "brainstorming" file where I keep stray magazine articles and newspaper clippings that might prove handy someday . . . .

 

[JD]

^You know that's actually a good question, has the bowling alley ever appeared in a book?

 

[Thrawn]

^ One of Greg's, actually

...wait, unless that was the swimming pool?

 

[Dayton Ward]

I'm still looking for the disco.

 

[Greg Cox]

^ One of Greg's, actually

...wait, unless that was the swimming pool?

Yep. I used the swimming pool in NO TIME LIKE THE PAST, but I have yet to set a scene in the bowling alley . ....

 

[Christopher]

^You know that's actually a good question, has the bowling alley ever appeared in a book?

I'm pretty sure there was a scene set there in Crossroad by Barbara Hambly.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

^You know that's actually a good question, has the bowling alley ever appeared in a book?

Yep. I used the swimming pool in NO TIME LIKE THE PAST, but I have yet to set a scene in the bowling alley . ....

The bowling alley appears in David Dvorkin's Timetrap, IIRC. It's seen when some bad guys are taking over the Enterprise.

More recently, the bowling alley appeared in issue #10 of John Byrne's photocomic series New Visions, although it was not what you might expect...

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'm pretty sure there was a scene set there in Crossroad by Barbara Hambly.

Oh, crap. Maybe that's the novel I'm thinking of instead of Timetrap.

 

[flandry84]

Is it easier to reference onscreen events rather than events or situations from Treklit?
I would imagine(hell, I know)that events from most of the earlier Treklit books that I've read have slipped from my memory.Not so with the filmed episodes.

Personally I love the call-backs and extrapolations,consequences of previous adventures.The recent "Prey"series being a case in point.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

More recently, the bowling alley appeared in issue #10 of John Byrne's photocomic series New Visions, although it was not what you might expect...

How so?

And I'm not above picking my Trekkie friends' brains on occasions.