Continuity

[Thrawn]

^ Jeez.

Not to be uncharitable, but Pocket sounds like a total clusterfuck right now. I'm glad you authors are all so good, because I can't imagine this is an especially awesome working environment.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Eh. These kinds of disruptions occur in any office environment from time to time. This is nothing compared to the chaos that gripped my dayjob at this point last summer.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Of course, coming from a Dr Who background I'm always reminded of (former script editor and frequent novelist) Terrance Dicks' edict that "continuity is what you can remember at the time."

In other words, you try not to contradict stuff, but if there's something you've forgotten or didn't know in the first place (such as when you find out the day before the deadline that one of your characters can't actually be where you've got them because of a book you haven't seen yet), then, well, tough luck.

 

[JD]

I've never heard that quote before, but I love it. That seems to sum up the whole continuity issue in about 9 words.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

I would love it if the novels became cannon.

Over in the Star Wars fan's existence, there's on screen canon like we have and then there's "expanded universe" canon which appears to include just about everything in print, novels, comics, tech manuals. I like Star Wars but am not a fan and don't really know how they make this work (if they even do).

Reasonable fans know that only the aired material (and MAYBEE the novelizations thereof) is official canon. Everything else is not, not to mention it being all over the place consistency wise.

UNreasonable fans, like the bridge-dwellers at a certain Vs debating forum, try to throw everything and the kitchen sink into it so they can use the hideously inflated firepower numbers (written by one of their own by the way) to make Star Wars look like the ultimate bad-a** and Trek look weak.

[/OT]

 

[ICW]

Never understood some fans' obsession with canon.

I'd rather have a good , well-paced, exciting Trek story (a rarity these days, sadly) that is a solid adventure in its own right than some mess with lots of ret-cons and an obsession with "fitting in".

And does it make your life better or the book more enjoyable if somebody else declares "this is canon; go on, you can enjoy it now"?

For me, I would love it if that were the case. But that's just me

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Reasonable fans know that only the aired material (and MAYBEE the novelizations thereof) is official canon. Everything else is not, not to mention it being all over the place consistency wise.

Reasonable fans don't care because its all fictional and "canon" has no meaning except to those controlling and/or creating the franchise.

 

[Christopher]

Reasonable fans don't care because its all fictional and "canon" has no meaning except to those controlling and/or creating the franchise.

Actually it doesn't have much meaning for them, because it's not something they have to think about any more than a fish has to think about water. Anything they do is canon, automatically, even if it blatantly contradicts what they did before (see: Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower). So it's not really something they have to worry about.

Really, the only people the idea of "canon" has any impact on are people like me, the tie-in authors who are obliged to be aware of canon and stay consistent with it. Even when it's not consistent with itself.

 

[Starbreaker]

I just like a good story. None of it's real to me anyway. There's no way to reconcile all the episodes, books, comic books, short stories, and video game blurbs into a cohesive timeline. Especially when half of the TOS books start off with "we've been monitoring this nebula for the past 6 weeks". The original five year mission probably has 20 years worth of stories.

 

[SicOne]

^ Eh. These kinds of disruptions occur in any office environment from time to time. This is nothing compared to the chaos that gripped my dayjob at this point last summer.

Out of curiosity, Dayton, what is your day job?

Have we had a "Authors, what is your day job?" thread yet? Or a "TrekLit posters, what is your day job?" thread?

 

[Thrawn]

^ That sounds like fun. Make one!

 

[Captain Robert April]

Continuity is little bird chirping in meadow.

Continuity is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Out of curiosity, Dayton, what is your day job?

I'm in I/T. I used to be a software developer for more years than I care to admit, with my fingers in everything in the life cycle from concept to deployment and support.

Now I'm more of an analyst, floating between the production support and development sides of the house. If I'm not creating a slew of billing and reconciliation reports for our monthly invoicing cycle, then I'm writing requirements, analysis, design, and testing documentation, with the occasional forays into software configuration and testing.

 

[Captain Robert April]

No nibbles from the video game industry?

 

[Dayton Ward]

Why would they bother with me? I'm just another business analyst/programmer.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Surely some of that training could be useful...

 

[SicOne]

Out of curiosity, Dayton, what is your day job?

I'm in I/T. I used to be a software developer for more years than I care to admit, with my fingers in everything in the life cycle from concept to deployment and support.

Now I'm more of an analyst, floating between the production support and development sides of the house. If I'm not creating a slew of billing and reconciliation reports for our monthly invoicing cycle, then I'm writing requirements, analysis, design, and testing documentation, with the occasional forays into software configuration and testing.

Thanks for the input, Dayton. Though I can't imagine how you drag yourelf home from a lively and gripping day of information technology just to sit in front of another computer and write for hours!

Is there, or was there at some point (and can anyone provide a link to it) an "Authors day jobs" thread? I am recently returned to the BBS after some time away and find I have missed much.