General Q & A Session For The Authors

[Kilana2]

I think it's about time to create a thread for posting general questions for the authors.

I will start.

@Christopher

Where do you find the time to write all your books when you spend a considerable amount of time online here in the forums with all the review threads and topics and such?

And don't tell us....

It's more a question of time management, isn't it?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Do you ever lay awake at night, hating yourself for getting the colour of the phasers wrong when describing the beams?

 

[Christopher]

Where do you find the time to write all your books when you spend a considerable amount of time online here in the forums with all the review threads and topics and such?

It helps to have no steady job and no personal life...

Also, I don't write anywhere near as much as I'd like to. If I were any good at time management, I'd spend a lot less time here.

 

[David cgc]

Do you ever lay awake at night, hating yourself for getting the colour of the phasers wrong when describing the beams?

Why do so many books say 24th century phasers are blue?

 

[Stevil2001]

I can't speak to phasers, but I always misremember photon torpedoes as blue because of the two Interplay TOS games, and that made it into one of my books (Tears of Eridanus, I think).

 

[Christopher]

I think the intention in TOS may have been that stun beams are one color and kill beams are the other. I'm pretty sure that's the case in the Kelvin films, blue for stun and red for kill. (Although it really should be the other way around, since blue is the higher-energy end of the spectrum. But our intuition is that red is fiery and hot while blue is watery and cool.)

 

[Damian]

It helps to have no steady job and no personal life...

I don't know why but that made me think of an old song by the Electric Light Orchestra called "The Diary of Horace Wimp" (no relation to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, BTW--the song was on their 1979 album Discovery). It's about a shy guy who meets the girl of his dreams and fumbles around until he works up the nerve to ask her out--and by the end of the song they end up marrying.

I think what made me think of it is for 2 of the choruses the refrain goes "Horace Wimp...this is your life...now go out and find yourself a wife," but the final refrain is "Horace Wimp...this is your wife...now go out and find yourself a life."

Yeah, my mind tends to wander, and I love music from the 1970s and 80s and am a wealth of useless knowledge so

Anyway, I can relate, at least on the personal life front. I'm recently divorced and am trying to find my own personal life. I'm shy by nature so that doesn't help. I guess I'm lucky I have a steady, secure job at least. I couldn't imagine being a writer. I imagine there are many rewards, you get to do something you love. But I also imagine there is a lot of stress because you don't always know where your next paycheck is coming from. Then you have things like the 2018 Star Trek book exile that I was starting to wonder if it would ever get resolved (and I'm just a reader).

 

[Kilana2]

I'm wondering what @KRAD is doing these days? Regarding orders/contracts/jobs?

 

[Greg Cox]

Where do you find the time to write all your books when you spend a considerable amount of time online here in the forums with all the review threads and topics and such?

And don't tell us....

It's more a question of time management, isn't it?

Honestly, the real challenge is juggling multiple projects at the same time, since at any given point (hopefully), you're doing the final edits and proofing on the last book, actually writing the current book, and submitting a proposal for the next book. Not to mention, in my case, the occasional freelance editing or copywriting job. It's a balancing act, sometimes.


But, yes, social media can be a great way to procrastinate. I actually use a kitchen timer when writing to guarantee that I stay at my keyboard until the chime goes off.

 

[Kilana2]

Honestly, the real challenge is juggling multiple projects at the same time, since at any given point (hopefully), you're doing the final edits and proofing on the last book, actually writing the current book, and submitting a proposal for the next book. Not to mention, in my case, the occasional freelance editing or copywriting job. It's a balancing act, sometimes.


But, yes, social media can be a great way to procrastinate. I actually use a kitchen timer when writing to guarantee that I stay at my keyboard until the chime goes off.

My boss wants us to rotate between multiple projects, too. It all comes down to getting people back into a job. Teaching different topics about healthy food, the local labor market/labor law, time management, work-life-balance and so on. Not to mention creating and proofreading application documents according to German standards. Sometimes a cross between Jobcoach and Teacher. Individual and group coachings...... Too many people with health issues and problems to get back into job - because their company don't have fitting work places anymore. Sometimes former clients would call and tell about their new jobs and how they like it....

 

[Damian]

I sometimes wonder what authors' favorite Star Trek movie and Star Trek series was.

I imagine for most the original series would top their list, but I sometimes wonder if someone has another series they actually favor.

Movies are probably a bigger mix. I think Greg Cox, for instance, has been pretty open about TWOK being his favorite unless I'm mistaken. I'd probably say TMP is Christopher's favorite, but I could be wrong about that (I don't think he's ever come out and said that directly). But for other authors I'm not sure.

I mean, I don't think you can assume anything just by the books they write. Christopher wrote novels that link TMP with TWOK, but he's had some criticisms of TWOK in the past. And just because Greg Cox has written two post-TFF novels wouldn't necessarily mean that was one of his favorites either. Though you are one of my favorite authors for writing stories that take place in that era which doesn't get covered much in the novels .

But David Mack, James Swallow, Una McCormack, KRAD, Peter David and the rest? I'd be hard pressed to think of what their favorite Star Trek film might be.

 

[Greg Cox]

For the record, my favorite Trek movie is Khan, followed closely by the whale movie. And First Contact is far and away my favorite TNG movie. And the 2009 movie is my favorite Kelvin movie, followed closely by BEYOND.

And, of course, TOS is my Star Trek the one I grew up on.

Don't get wrong. I've watched all the latter-day series religiously and enjoyed them all to varying degrees, but they're not burned into my brain like those original 79 episodes.

 

[David Mack]

My favorite Star Trek television series? That would have to be a tie between The Original Series — first loves being what they are — but I think Deep Space Nine is, overall, a superior show, and the best Star Trek TV series to date. (Though I think the upcoming Star Trek: Prodigy series will give both TOS and DS9 a run for their money.)

As for how I'd rank the various series, based solely on my enjoyment of them (or lack thereof)?

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Star Trek: The Original Series
• TIE: Star Trek: Prodigy (anticipated) / Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: Discovery
• Star Trek: Picard
• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek: Enterprise
• Star Trek: Lower Decks

Favorite Star Trek feature film? No question, Wrath of Khan. If I had to rank them based on my preference?

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek Beyond
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek (2009)
• Star Trek Generations
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek: Nemesis
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek Into Darkness

These are, of course, merely my opinion and are not intended to represent any kind of objective evaluation. YMMV.

 

[Tuskin38]

(Though I think the upcoming Star Trek: Prodigy series will give both TOS and DS9 a run for their money.)

Oh man, you're really making me want to watch it now.

 

[Damian]

I see David has given this a lot of thought

I know my movie preferences have fluctuated a bit, except for my top 3 and bottom 2. I always have TMP, TWOK and First Contact as my top 3 in that order. My bottom two have always been Insurrection then TFF in last place. Though I always add I don't hate any of the movies. I can watch TFF and have a good time watching it.

My middle films tend to fluctuate. As time has gone on I've actually dropped TUC and Star Trek (2009) a notch or two. I loved both films when they came out, but neither has aged as well for me. For some reason each time I watch Star Trek (2009) I like it a little less. It's just not holding up as much for me.

But then, I'm a bit out there. TMP is my favorite Trek film, which is a bit unusual, Beyond is my favorite Kelvin film and I liked Nemesis--to this day I don't understand the hate that movie gets. I mean it's not a masterpiece of science fiction, it has its flaws, but I really don't understand why so many people seem to hate it.

I'm not surprised the original series ranks at the top of many lists. There's just something fun and pure (from a Star Trek perspective) about it, I guess because it was the first. Hell, I even get a kick out of "Spock's Brain" despite how ridiculous the entire premise is. I agree with David Mack that DS9 was a great series, definitely top 3. When it started I wasn't so sure. A Star Trek show on a space station. But it really turned out to be one of the best sci-fi shows out there. I loved the Dominion as adversaries too. The Borg are a great villain, but by their very nature there is only so much you can do with them. The Dominion is far more versatile as a villain. And, well, Gul Dukat--a huge amount of credit goes to Marc Alaimo on that--equal parts evil, creepy and charismatic. And all the twists and turns. Ditto for Garak, another great job by Robinson in that case. They had a great cast and supporting cast, probably the best of all the series. As goofy as they can be, I even enjoyed the Quark episodes.

Honestly, though, I've never come across any Star Trek that I actually hate, though I have to admit Enterprise's finale, TATV comes perilously close.

As for the new Kurtzman series? I'm still considering those I think. There are things I liked about Discovery and Picard, and things I'm not sure about. But I'm trying to keep an open mind. See where they go. I'm currently watching the first season of Lower Decks for the first time. I'm having a hard time getting into that series. I expected it to be different, looser and more comical. But I'm about halfway through and the funny parts aren't as funny as I thought they'd be and the stories themselves aren't really grabbing me. But we'll see. I don't hate it, I'm just having a hard time getting into it.

 

[Damian]

Oh man, you're really making me want to watch it now.

Yeah, it's interesting that he seems so exciting for that show. I hope it lives up to his expectations.

I actually haven't given Prodigy a lot of thought. I'm aware of the premise and all, and I'll watch it when I can, either on Nickelodeon or on Blu-Ray. But I'm not anticipating it quite like I did when Discovery and Picard were announced, or even Lower Decks.

 

[JD]

What programs do our resident authors use for their writing? Since my writing is something I do for fun, I just use the free Micrsoft Word Online, but if I decide to focus on it more, I think I'm gonna want to get something more professional.

 

[Christopher]

What programs do our resident authors use for their writing? Since my writing is something I do for fun, I just use the free Micrsoft Word Online, but if I decide to focus on it more, I think I'm gonna want to get something more professional.

I did use MS Word because it's the industry standard, but they've stopped supporting Windows 7, so they no longer recognize my registration. So until I can get a new laptop (or maybe upgrade to Win 10 on my current one, I dunno), I'm using the free LibreOffice suite, which is Word-compatible and pretty similar to use. It's actually got some features I prefer to Word, like an easier way to access the symbols menu, and the fact that it's only one program to open all kinds of document instead of a different program for each as in MS Office. But it's got some shortcomings too.

 

[David Mack]

What programs do our resident authors use for their writing? Since my writing is something I do for fun, I just use the free Micrsoft Word Online, but if I decide to focus on it more, I think I'm gonna want to get something more professional.

I write prose in Microsoft Word (Mac OS subscription version). I write scripts of various kinds in Final Draft (currently on version 12). Sometimes I will do preparation for a large original project in Scrivener, but I am more comfortable drafting my manuscripts in MS Word.

 

[Greg Cox]

Word is pretty much mandatory these days since it's the industry standard. I clung to WordPerfect for longer than I probably should have, but my editors eventually held a gun to my head and told me switch to Word. In their defense, the WordPerfect thing was causing all sorts of problems with Track Changes, digital editing and copyediting, etc. Once editing was no longer a matter of red pencils and post-it notes, my days using WordPerfect were numbered.