For the writers.....

[PhoenixIreland]

How do you avoid clashing with each other?
or do you?
Just occured to me when the writer of A Buried Age explained one of the reasons for not going into a big scene when Picard was offerd the enterprise as someone else has already done it.

Do you keep read on all the other novels?

Say if some character like Robin Lefler was killed in someone elses in x year or was doing something else, would you respect that and not use them, even tho your under no obligations?

 

[TGTheodore]

How do you avoid clashing with each other?
or do you?

Well, Dayton and I have that "500 feet away from each other" order since the Ogden, Utah "I thought it was a starter pistol" incident.

Actually, I believe the continuity conflicts and so forth are handled at the editor level when initial outlines are submitted, etc.

The "conflicts" problem did not apply in the Strange New Worlds anthologies, though, as occasionally some short stories were variations on similar themes. Still, they all had to be okayed by Pocket and Paramount prior to being accepted.

--Ted

 

[Christopher]

Usually it's the editors' job to make sure things stay consistent, but sometimes we coordinate directly with each other as well, particularly if various authors are working on closely related projects.

Say if some character like Robin Lefler was killed in someone elses in x year or was doing something else, would you respect that and not use them, even tho your under no obligations?

Generally we try to stay consistent with the other books in the main novel continuity, but sometimes a book will go its own way if that's what's best for the story. See, for instance, the Crucible trilogy or the Shatnerverse.

 

[William Leisner]

How do you avoid clashing with each other?
or do you?
Just occured to me when the writer of A Buried Age explained one of the reasons for not going into a big scene when Picard was offerd the enterprise as someone else has already done it.

Do you keep read on all the other novels?

Say if some character like Robin Lefler was killed in someone elses in x year or was doing something else, would you respect that and not use them, even tho your under no obligations?

Eh, fuck what the other writers do. They're all a bunch of two-bit hacks, anyhow...

 

[Richard White]

Hey, I'll have you know I'm a third-rate hack . . .

Wait, that didn't come out right . . .

 

[KRAD]

How do you avoid clashing with each other?

Part of the job description of "editor" is to keep such things from happening. God knows, I did that a lot editing Corps of Engineers, and Marco and Margaret do it, too.

How-some-ever, as Christopher said, we talk to each other, and sometimes Marco or Margaret or whomever will put authors together to coordinate. For example, Dave, Christopher, Kirsten, and I (as well as the author of the next TNG book) are all keeping each other in the loop regarding Destiny and its various aftermaths.

 

[Csalem]

...(as well as the author of the next TNG book)...

Is it really wise to throw info like that out in this forum if you can't share the details?!

 

[Man of Steel]

Didn't you know that KRAD's a big tease?

 

[KRAD]

...(as well as the author of the next TNG book)...

Is it really wise to throw info like that out in this forum if you can't share the details?!

Wise for who, exactly? It's no skin off my teeth.........

 

[Bob Greenberger]

The others covered the basics but I do want to stress that the majority of the active writers keep in touch through cons or e-mails to varying degrees. We therefore have some idea if we're working on something that might impinge on something they have cooking.

I'm outlining something now and wisely approached several of my peers to make certain I wasn't stepping on their toes or to seek out information to help bring the outline to life and work in harmony with the bigger picture.

 

[garamet]

The others covered the basics but I do want to stress that the majority of the active writers keep in touch through cons or e-mails to varying degrees. We therefore have some idea if we're working on something that might impinge on something they have cooking.

I'm outlining something now and wisely approached several of my peers to make certain I wasn't stepping on their toes or to seek out information to help bring the outline to life and work in harmony with the bigger picture.

As someone who's not all that active, I rely on the editors to say "Nope, already got one of those" or "Yes, you can do that if you keep in mind that..."

The exception was the Mere Anarchy series, when hardly a day went by without some sort of - often hilarious - back and forth showing up in my inbox.

It would be great if somebody could find the 26th hour in the day without moving to Bajor to host a message board/chat room for the writers to check in with each other and find out who's doing what.

 

[Christopher]

^^Ooh, that would be neat.

 

[Dayton Ward]

The exception was the Mere Anarchy series, when hardly a day went by without some sort of - often hilarious - back and forth showing up in my inbox.

I still have a great deal of that e-Mail. I didn't keep every single piece - particularly those that had nothing at all to do with the topic du jour, but if there was some hilarity mixed in with the actual work-related discourse, then it's in my archive.

(And, there was a lot of hilarity mixed in with the actual work. )

 

[garamet]

^Please tell me you kept all the monkey-related stuff.

 

[KRAD]

^ If he didn't, I did.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

...and sometimes Marco or Margaret or whomever will put authors together to coordinate...

And here I thought it was Norman's job to coordinate.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

^Please tell me you kept all the monkey-related stuff.

Inquiring minds want to know more!

 

[captcalhoun]

26th hour in the day

when did we get a 25th? did i miss a memo?

 

[garamet]

26th hour in the day

when did we get a 25th? did i miss a memo?

That's the hour I use for non-work related things like sleep, hanging with friends and family, that kind of thing.

As for the monkey-business, I had an email meltdown recently, so I'm glad a few of the other culprits saved it.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Maybe you could ask for a writers-only forum here on the board which us mere mortals do not have access to. That way, all posts are kept and if you need clarification, you have the other writers and a search function.