Feel of novels

[Trent Roman]

I like the big fluffy novels: when I get sleepy reading them, they can double as pillows.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Desert Kris]

I think I get what the OP is getting at. The Rift and Home is the Hunter felt episodic, and I could see Prime Directive worked into a three part episode. Federation, Vendetta, Imzadi: movies all the way. I can't decide about Dreams of the Raven, it's kind of at the halfway point.

I think part of it definitely has to do with scale, or the feeling that really significant things are happening. The Rift and Home is the Hunter have an adventure may be very entertaining, but they don't change things too much. A book like Vendetta had Federation ships desparately fighting against three Borg cube ships at a time when one was still genuinely daunting on it's own. Federation is like an alternative look at a major turning point for Star Trek's history. I could see Ashes of Eden fitting into the movie-ish category, but I would qualify it as a story material for a movie that would never be made (not because it's not good, but because you get to the point of ridiculousness having one more final voyage after the story that was supposed to be one more final voyage).

If I had to guess, a book like The Final Reflection (and maybe The Romulan Way?) is the case where it's definitely a novel for the novel format, doing what only a novel could do. I have to confess I haven't read it yet, however I have an inkling as to what it's about, I wouldn't have taken the time to get it if I hadn't heard about what it does. You probably would be hard pressed to adapt it for a TV episode. Even if you did, it would be a very different, special episode from the norm, kind of the way the TNG episode, First Contact, is so different (except, exponentially more so).

Perhaps it's just difficult to explain. That's my interpretation of what is being looked for here.

 

[Sci]

Federation, Vendetta, Imzadi: movies all the way.

Actually, given it's structure -- "Overture," "Act One," "Intermission," "Act Two," and "Grand Finale" -- I'd argue that Vendetta is more of a musical or opera.

 

[Sxottlan]

I'm disappointed this thread was not about the actual, physical feel of novels. I wanted to register my appreciation of matte covers.

Seconded, I was quite disappointed with the glossy cover of Open Secrets.

Yeah, I liked the rougher feeling covers to the previous Vanguard books.

 

[JarodRussell]

I think I get what the OP is getting at. The Rift and Home is the Hunter felt episodic, and I could see Prime Directive worked into a three part episode. Federation, Vendetta, Imzadi: movies all the way. I can't decide about Dreams of the Raven, it's kind of at the halfway point.

I think part of it definitely has to do with scale, or the feeling that really significant things are happening. The Rift and Home is the Hunter have an adventure may be very entertaining, but they don't change things too much. A book like Vendetta had Federation ships desparately fighting against three Borg cube ships at a time when one was still genuinely daunting on it's own. Federation is like an alternative look at a major turning point for Star Trek's history. I could see Ashes of Eden fitting into the movie-ish category, but I would qualify it as a story material for a movie that would never be made (not because it's not good, but because you get to the point of ridiculousness having one more final voyage after the story that was supposed to be one more final voyage).

If I had to guess, a book like The Final Reflection (and maybe The Romulan Way?) is the case where it's definitely a novel for the novel format, doing what only a novel could do. I have to confess I haven't read it yet, however I have an inkling as to what it's about, I wouldn't have taken the time to get it if I hadn't heard about what it does. You probably would be hard pressed to adapt it for a TV episode. Even if you did, it would be a very different, special episode from the norm, kind of the way the TNG episode, First Contact, is so different (except, exponentially more so).

Perhaps it's just difficult to explain. That's my interpretation of what is being looked for here.

Thanks! Thanks so much for a useful answer!

 

[Tino]

Jarod, I get the following feelings when I read ...

one hour episode
- Corps of Engineers
- Voyager (novels during the series)

two-parter
- TITAN
- TNG relaunch
- New Frontier

mini-series
- DS9 Mission Gamma (each book = two episodes)
- TNG A time to (each book = two episodes)

Season
- DS9 Relaunch

Movie trilogy
- Destiny trilogy (that one was huge)


To me, I get the two-parter-feeling when things don't change that much after the end of the story but there's a lot to tell. I get the movie-feeling when things change dramatically or when the stakes are bigger.

 

[Greg Cox]

I find my books feel soggy when left out in the rain.

 

[seigezunt]

I like the feel of the ones with embossed titles.

That said, the novels I enjoy the most, I enjoy imagine them as movies. Very looong movies, but still movies. I like imagining all the unfilmed TOS movies made in the 1970s, with the original uniforms, etc., in Cinemascope.

 

[DaveGalanter]

If it helps, I purposely wrote "Troublesome Minds" to feel like an episode of Classic Trek. A long one, sure, but the chapter endings were meant to be "commercial breaks" and the story is supposed to be the scope of a show, as if an episode were being novelized.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I thought this thread was going to be about the feel of holding an actual novel in your hands vs, say, e-books/reading off the net.