Summary: Star Trek cliches. If you'd like an elaboration, read on.
The Hoary Cliche
I'm going to take a wild guess and assume most of the people writing here like Star Trek. But I'm sure we can all agree that, over ten films, four live-action TV series and a cartoon, Star Trek has often indulged in cliches. These included dramatic cliches in general, cliches of sci-fi/fantasy origin, and even some cliches peculiar to Star Trek (such as the holodeck malfunction.)
Of course, moving into the realm we inhabit, that of fan fiction, there are numerous cliches here as well. It was from Star Trek fanfiction that the Mary Sue was born, and how many series have we seen with the brilliant, newly comissioned supership and her ultra competent crew? Or Orion sex slaves? It's acceptable to use a cliche from Star Trek fanfiction instead. Even the novels and comics, but I'll draw the line at games and similar only partly narrative licensed material.
So, for this month's contest, your story must include a cliche. This cliche must also have been used in Star Trek, enough times to count as a cliche, in at least one series, or in fanfiction at large. If your use of the cliche is so clever readers might not pick up on it, please leave a footnote at the end. The same applies if it's a somewhat uncertain cliche, one that exists only in fanfic or licensed materials such that the reader may not be familiar with it.
The actual kind of cliche is as broad as the term means, anything from overused plot devices to overused characterisations and so on. You can use canonical characters, characters from licensed material (novels etc.) or original characters who may be from an ongoing fanfic. You may also use no characters, and if you do, good luck to you on that.
It can be of a reasonable length - no novellas, people, short stories, even fairly long ones.
So, isn't it intriguing to live long and prosper, or is today a good day to die if risk is our business and he's dead Jim anyway?
The Hoary Cliche
I'm going to take a wild guess and assume most of the people writing here like Star Trek. But I'm sure we can all agree that, over ten films, four live-action TV series and a cartoon, Star Trek has often indulged in cliches. These included dramatic cliches in general, cliches of sci-fi/fantasy origin, and even some cliches peculiar to Star Trek (such as the holodeck malfunction.)
Of course, moving into the realm we inhabit, that of fan fiction, there are numerous cliches here as well. It was from Star Trek fanfiction that the Mary Sue was born, and how many series have we seen with the brilliant, newly comissioned supership and her ultra competent crew? Or Orion sex slaves? It's acceptable to use a cliche from Star Trek fanfiction instead. Even the novels and comics, but I'll draw the line at games and similar only partly narrative licensed material.
So, for this month's contest, your story must include a cliche. This cliche must also have been used in Star Trek, enough times to count as a cliche, in at least one series, or in fanfiction at large. If your use of the cliche is so clever readers might not pick up on it, please leave a footnote at the end. The same applies if it's a somewhat uncertain cliche, one that exists only in fanfic or licensed materials such that the reader may not be familiar with it.
The actual kind of cliche is as broad as the term means, anything from overused plot devices to overused characterisations and so on. You can use canonical characters, characters from licensed material (novels etc.) or original characters who may be from an ongoing fanfic. You may also use no characters, and if you do, good luck to you on that.
It can be of a reasonable length - no novellas, people, short stories, even fairly long ones.
So, isn't it intriguing to live long and prosper, or is today a good day to die if risk is our business and he's dead Jim anyway?
