Concerning Continuity and Story Ideas

[Rush Limborg]

I must admit, my sketchbooks are choc full of Trek-story ideas that were, literally, inspired by observations of contradictions (big and small) of continuity between the Trek-novels: sometimes with canon, more times with each other.

See, it goes like this: I come across a contradiction in a book (such as Dark Mirror, which has the Terran Empire survive into the TNG era), stop short, and rack my brain for a possible explanation. And...if the rationalization is interesting enough, it piques my interest even more--and I reach for the notebook and jot it down....

Anyone else face that sort of situation--where an error leads to a story?

 

[Christopher]

Just a reminder: no discussion of specific story ideas here, please, unless they're published professional works.


A lot of Trek literature has been inspired by the wish to resolve inconsistencies in the canon. My DS9 Prophecy and Change story was written to explain why Quark's Klingon girlfriend disappeared after he won her heart. My VGR Distant Shores story was partly done to explain why the Doctor would go along with B'Elanna's self-destructive wishes in "Barge of the Dead." In Greater Than the Sum, I tackled a number of inconsistencies in how the Borg have been portrayed and worked out a way to explain them. Other writers have done the same. Much of the String Theory trilogy is about addressing inconsistencies in VGR, for example.

 

[Stevil2001]

It is just a load of continuity navel-gazing and never results in anything worth reading.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Just a reminder: no discussion of specific story ideas here, please, unless they're published professional works.

Ah, technically, I didn't say what my solution was, per se, but...I get the point.

Thanks, Chris. I'll be more careful in the future.

 

[Rush Limborg]

It is just a load of continuity navel-gazing and never results in anything worth reading.

Indeed? Well, personally, I find Chris's books quite interesting....

BTW, Chris, wasn't Ex Machina hailed by the critics as explaining some conflicting things in canon and the books?

 

[Geoff]

It is just a load of continuity navel-gazing and never results in anything worth reading.

Indeed? Well, personally, I find Chris's books quite interesting....

Given the core motivations behind Steve's own story The Future Begins, I must assume that he's being a wee bit facetious.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

It is just a load of continuity navel-gazing and never results in anything worth reading.

Indeed? Well, personally, I find Chris's books quite interesting....

Given the core motivations behind Steve's own story The Future Begins, I must assume that he's being a wee bit facetious.

Yeah, he's clearly joking around.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^OH, REALLY!

(Jack Sparrow voice) Well...that's interesting....

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

I must admit, my sketchbooks are choc full of Trek-story ideas that were, literally, inspired by observations of contradictions (big and small) of continuity between the Trek-novels: sometimes with canon, more times with each other.

See, it goes like this: I come across a contradiction in a book (such as Dark Mirror, which has the Terran Empire survive into the TNG era), stop short, and rack my brain for a possible explanation. And...if the rationalization is interesting enough, it piques my interest even more--and I reach for the notebook and jot it down....

Anyone else face that sort of situation--where an error leads to a story?

Not really. And I decided there's an alternate universe in which the Empire survived to the 24th century, and one in which it didn't, so there's no contradiction. Can do do the same with all of them - they're all slightly different universes diverging just a bit at different points.

 

[JD]

^That explanaition works fine for me too, plus we've already seen alternate Mirror Universes where there is still an Empire. In Fearfull Symmetry, when Sisko was talking to the alternate versions of himself, there was a Fleet Captain Sisko from a Terran Empire. Then in Q&A, there was an ISS Enterprise with Lore as Picard's First Officer.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

Exactly.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^Good point.

Just bringin' up a random "conflict"....

 

[Jbarney]

Good question. It is always nice when the writers expand and explain. It provides a lot od depth to the universe.