JEESH< I dont need yoru life story bub!

[Garm Bel Iblis]

Ok, i'm going to take an unpopular opinion of Mr. DeCandido with a problem I have with his writing style.

Today I was reading Q&A and there's a part where Q snaps his fingers and makes a cigar appear in Worf's mouth.Then we get a long drawn out explanation about Worf as a child on Gault and that his Uncle Yuri used to wrap this tobacco leafe and smoke it.

I've noticed that a LOT of his books are great dialogue then a bunch of plot summaries from past movies and episdoes, which gives way to small universe syndrome, like all of the Klingons ever seen serving aboard the Gorkon.

It's a safe assumption that Trek fans by trek books, and not many non-fans do, so tell the story, give the names and push on with the story.

 

[Christopher]

^I'm afraid your post is a bit of a non sequitur. While Worf's childhood on Gault was established in canon, the existence of an Uncle Yuri and the specifics of Worf's childhood memories of that individual don't come from the shows at all but are original to Keith. So the thing you're accusing of being just an episode summary is in fact an original bit of characterization.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm not gonna say which book it was or who wrote it (I really liked the book and forgive it entirely) but a couple of times early on in this book I was reading, it went off into entirely unnecassary little tangents. I remember thinking "This is getting like Family Guy!"
It didn't ruin the book at all, but I did think "what was the point of that?" once or twice.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

I just skim when I'm not interested in something, but I LIKE those little bits of extra characterization.

 

[chelly]

I tend to like seeing new information about a character I like. Especially if you didn't get a whole lot about that character like Worf from the show. You really didn't get a whole lot of background info on the characters during the episodes. Like Dax I do skim if I am not interested but alot of times I am interested in the little things.

 

[JarodRussell]

It is a bit tiresome if something like that happens often. Every bit of backstory should have relevance´to the story, otherwise it is redundant (even if it's nice to read). If he talks about Worf's never seen before Uncle Yuri and childhood memories of cigars, then this should have a purpose going beyond filling pages. You should not be able to skip those passages without missing an important bit you need later on, that's what I mean.

 

[William Leisner]

Ok, i'm going to take an unpopular opinion of Mr. DeCandido with a problem I have with his writing style.

Today I was reading Q&A and there's a part where Q snaps his fingers and makes a cigar appear in Worf's mouth.Then we get a long drawn out explanation about Worf as a child on Gault and that his Uncle Yuri used to wrap this tobacco leafe and smoke it.

I've noticed that a LOT of his books are great dialogue then a bunch of plot summaries from past movies and episdoes, which gives way to small universe syndrome, like all of the Klingons ever seen serving aboard the Gorkon.

It's a safe assumption that Trek fans by trek books, and not many non-fans do, so tell the story, give the names and push on with the story.

Here's the line from Keith's book, page 189:

"Give that Klingon a cigar!" Q snapped his fingers, and a lit cigar appeared in the first officer's mouth. Worf had first encountered the vile leaves wrapped in paper as a boy on Gault, when Uncle Yuri had given him one, and he had no wish to relive the experience. Yanking the cigar out of his mouth, he stubbed it out on his hand and glared at Q, who, naturally, was still talking:[...]

Interestingly, this "long drawn out explanation" isn't even half as long as the OP's rant.

 

[JD]

As someone who loves getting to learn new things about characters, both old and new, I've always enjoyed little bits like that, as long as we don't get carried away.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I like it when a bit of backstory pops up here and there. Of course, you don't need five paragraphs about what that character did in his or her youth (unless it was a major plot point in the story), but I think a little periodic backstory adds extra dimension to a character and is no different from when a character sometimes refers to something in his or her past in a filmed episode or movie.

 

[captcalhoun]

yeah, it's no worse than

Mr. Worf do you remember your zero-gee combat training?
I remember it made me sick to my stomach.

 

[Therin of Andor]

"Give that Klingon a cigar!" Q snapped his fingers, and a lit cigar appeared in the first officer's mouth. Worf had first encountered the vile leaves wrapped in paper as a boy on Gault, when Uncle Yuri had given him one, and he had no wish to relive the experience. Yanking the cigar out of his mouth, he stubbed it out on his hand and glared at Q, who, naturally, was still talking:[...]

Interestingly, this "long drawn out explanation" isn't even half as long as the OP's rant.

Hehehehehe.

Yeah, I don't see how:

"Give that Klingon a cigar!" Q snapped his fingers, and a lit cigar appeared in the first officer's mouth. Worf yanked the cigar out of his mouth, stubbed it out on his hand and glared at Q, who, naturally, was still talking:[...]

is any kind of improvement, plus I'm now looking forward to further references to Uncle Yuri some day.

I see nothing wrong with the rounding out of the many onscreen characters in little ways the shows simply can't do in every episode.