Concerning the novel guidelines

[Christopher]

I also don't know what word building is.

WorLd building. As in, creating and developing the fictional world your characters occupy (or in this case, visit). A book that's heavy on worldbuilding is one that devotes a lot of time and attention to exploring the setting, whether it's the biology and geology of the planet or the society, behavior and beliefs of the natives or whatever. Most of my Trek novels feature a lot of worldbuilding.

 

[xortex]

Oh, thanks, guys. I'm in awe of writers. From now on I'm gonna refer to you guys as the titans. BTW, it was originally a fifty minute episode.

 

[TGTheodore]

(One more anecdote: I once submitted a BUFFY outline to an editor--and ended up writing three ALIAS novels for him instead! And I never did sell that BUFFY proposal . . . .)

That's exactly how television works. You never submit a script for a show to that show itself. You submit a spec script for a similar kind of show and, if good enough, you're invited to come in and pitch to the original show.

Contrary to unknown rumor, I'm not dead. Good to see so many old familiar names again.

--Ted

P.S. Currently working on a post-Voyager era TV Trek pitch for CBS ... we'll see ...

 

[RookieBatman]

Here's rooting for anything that puts Trek back on TV!

 

[Christopher]

Except that a TV show in the post-VGR era would pretty much scuttle the modern book continuity, unless it were way post-VGR and didn't have the Borg in it.

Oh, well, we'd just start another one. Plenty of alternate timelines in play already.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^Well, best-case, one of you guys might be given the reigns--and the show would actually follow the book continuity....

I'm up for a "Star Trek: Aventine" myself--complete with Nicole deBoer voicing the intro: "Space...the final frontier...", etc.

 

[BrotherBenny]

^Well, best-case, one of you guys might be given the reigns--and the show would actually follow the book continuity....

I'm up for a "Star Trek: Aventine" myself--complete with Nicole deBoer voicing the intro: "Space...the final frontier...", etc.

She's too cute. i doubt she could put the "command" voice into it. Have you heard, Bakula do it? It sounds terrible.

 

[RookieBatman]

She's too cute. i doubt she could put the "command" voice into it. Have you heard, Bakula do it? It sounds terrible.

I think Bakula's problem was that he seemed to be making a conscious effort to not sound similar to Shatner's delivery. Stewart didn't have to worry about that, because he's got the English accent, and Nimoy's just got a completely different type of voice from Shatner, but Bakula's is pretty similar. It's my opinion that he was conscious of that and just ended up trying way too hard to put something different in the performance, and in consequence, it just ended up sounding awkward. It's a shame, too, because I really like "Archer's Theme."

 

[Rush Limborg]

Yeah. Scott, bless his heart, just emphasized the wrong places: "To boldly go...where no human...has gone before."

In all seriousness, I honestly could see (or rather, hear Miss deBoer give a good voice-over. And to be honest, a "soft" tone, with the quality of a near-whisper, would give a "wonder" element that would, I think, more than compensate for any percieved lack of "command" tone.

 

[Dayton Ward]

So, about those guidelines....

 

[JD]

Guidelines? What guideline?

 

[xortex]

sshh, were getting free advice from experts.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Yeah. Scott, bless his heart, just emphasized the wrong places: "To boldly go...where no human...has gone before."

Could be worse. Can you imagine Christopher Walken doing this?

"Space...the final...frontier...These are...the voyages...of the starship...Enterprise...Her ongoing...mission....to explore...strange...new...worlds..."

 

[Thrawn]

^

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Except that a TV show in the post-VGR era would pretty much scuttle the modern book continuity, unless it were way post-VGR and didn't have the Borg in it.

Oh, well, we'd just start another one. Plenty of alternate timelines in play already.

I wouldn't mind if it were set in the Star Trek Online era. I love it Borg and all.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Update on my "proposition": I have finished the synopsis (which came to EXACTLY 12 pages!) and the sample, as per the guidelines.

Next step: The agent....

 

[BrotherBenny]

Update on my "proposition": I have finished the synopsis (which came to EXACTLY 12 pages!) and the sample, as per the guidelines.

Next step: The agent....

Do you need an agent to submit to Pocket?

 

[Dayton Ward]

Yep. It's in those guidelines we've been (occasionally) talking about

 

[Rush Limborg]

Yep.

The guidelines state, and I quote:

Agents exist to assess an author's writing before it goes to a publisher. This helps us to keep the volume of submissions low.

BTW--I've been searching Pocket's website--and it doesn't seem to have a Trek section anymore, let alone the guidleines. Anyone know if they still have it--and where they are?

 

[Dayton Ward]

The links I had for the new/revamped site don't work anymore, and the search engine at the site is...well...less than helpful.

I did find a general "author info" page about submissions at http://simonandschuster.biz/author-resources/manuscript-submissions:

Manuscript Submissions

Unfortunately, due to the workload of our editorial staff, we cannot accept unsolicited manuscripts. If you are seeking publication, we recommend you have an agent represent you and your work.

You can obtain a list of agents by searching the Internet for literary agents; another great source for information is Authorlink. We regret that we aren't able to recommend a specific agent, but we wish you success in finding a home for your manuscript and we thank you for thinking of Simon & Schuster.

EDIT: I found another site which copied the detail from the old manuscript submissions page at http://www.writeralley.org/a,33,Simon-&-Schuster-looking-for-Star-Trek-Novels.htm