One thing I've noticed in writing Trek fanfic

[trampledamage]

Going with more than one, two, or three "canon" characters, (to me) is a cheat of a lazy writer. If you're going to do a Trek story, do one in a known era, but create your own characters/ship/station, et al.

I don't mind cameos every so often, in order to branch-off from canon at a known point in TV/Movies into one's own corner of the Trek universe, but there's enough paid commission writers covering ENT, TOS, VOY, to Titan & TNG/TMP at Pocket Books.

For me the whole point of writing Trek is to use the existing characters. Like tie-in fiction, I want to give these characters more stories.

And the fact that a lot of people in this thread have said they find writing their own characters easier rather puts the lie to your supposition that writing existing characters is for lazy writers.


Anyway, back to the original question - so long as I can hear the voice in my head, I can usually write characters to my satisfaction. It's not so much that I avoid the main characters, but I like writing about the characters that haven't had that much chance to shine in the TV stories.

McCoy is the hardest of them all to write. He has a strong voice and character, but his mannerisms and phrases run dangerously close to caricature so it's very difficult to write him and remain convincing (I just hope I'm managing it )

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Going with more than one, two, or three "canon" characters, (to me) is a cheat of a lazy writer. If you're going to do a Trek story, do one in a known era, but create your own characters/ship/station, et al.

I don't mind cameos every so often, in order to branch-off from canon at a known point in TV/Movies into one's own corner of the Trek universe, but there's enough paid commission writers covering ENT, TOS, VOY, to Titan & TNG/TMP at Pocket Books.

Give me a break.

Like the paid writers are the only ones entitled to have a vision of the canon characters. I might not write the canon characters myself--but I think fanfic writers have EVERY right to write them if they so desire. And who says we all have to agree the paid writers have the BEST vision? Seriously, just because they're getting paid is NOT a guarantee of quality. There are fanfics right here on TrekBBS, both canon and non-canon characters, that I consider to be of much higher quality than most of what Pocket Books has been doing lately. (Now, Pocket Books is NOT a total failure by any means. But their current directions--for the most part, bleh.)

 

[Gojirob]

Going with more than one, two, or three "canon" characters, (to me) is a cheat of a lazy writer. If you're going to do a Trek story, do one in a known era, but create your own characters/ship/station, et al.

I don't mind cameos every so often, in order to branch-off from canon at a known point in TV/Movies into one's own corner of the Trek universe, but there's enough paid commission writers covering ENT, TOS, VOY, to Titan & TNG/TMP at Pocket Books.

For me the whole point of writing Trek is to use the existing characters. Like tie-in fiction, I want to give these characters more stories.

And the fact that a lot of people in this thread have said they find writing their own characters easier rather puts the lie to your supposition that writing existing characters is for lazy writers.


Anyway, back to the original question - so long as I can hear the voice in my head, I can usually write characters to my satisfaction. It's not so much that I avoid the main characters, but I like writing about the characters that haven't had that much chance to shine in the TV stories.

McCoy is the hardest of them all to write. He has a strong voice and character, but his mannerisms and phrases run dangerously close to caricature so it's very difficult to write him and remain convincing (I just hope I'm managing it )

I'm lucky in that my series two main characters sort-of have voices, but they are not so clearly defined as to restrict me. Peter Kirk exists as a canon character, one of the only on-screen blood relations. He has no recorded voice, but one can extrapolate a mix of young Shatner with Merritt Buttrick. In Saavik's case, I kind of mix Kirstie Alley with herself as Rebbeca Howe and Robin Curtiss's turn.

My fave character to write for dialogue-wise, though non-ST, is MASH's Charles Winchester (TNG alum David Ogden Stiers) with Ron Harris (Firefly's Ron Glass) of Barney Miller as a close second.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Yeah I think its definately easier to write when you have some frame of reference for the character AND the actor. One thing I've always done when I create a new character is "cast" them, what actor or actress would best play that character. One of the great things about fan fic is you have no budget to worry about, or if an actor or actress would even go for the role.

Makes it far easier to imagine some of their responses and even their physical manneriesm. And some actors work well for multiple characters. Like Karl Urben, he played a great Ceasar, a wonderful Cupid, an awesome Eomer and an uncanny McCoy and you could have all of those characters in the same room and they would all feel very different. So it really depends on the actor too, some can really change it up, some just can't. Like Jennifer Aniston. She's a one character actress. Sure you can call her different names, give her different jobs, but she's still basically Rachel Greene from Friends. Same mannerisms. Same expressions. Same physicality. Same voice.

To paraphrase Chandler "Could she BE anymore overly same?"

 

[BolianAuthor]

Going with more than one, two, or three "canon" characters, (to me) is a cheat of a lazy writer. If you're going to do a Trek story, do one in a known era, but create your own characters/ship/station, et al.

I don't mind cameos every so often, in order to branch-off from canon at a known point in TV/Movies into one's own corner of the Trek universe, but there's enough paid commission writers covering ENT, TOS, VOY, to Titan & TNG/TMP at Pocket Books.

Give me a break.

Like the paid writers are the only ones entitled to have a vision of the canon characters. I might not write the canon characters myself--but I think fanfic writers have EVERY right to write them if they so desire. And who says we all have to agree the paid writers have the BEST vision? Seriously, just because they're getting paid is NOT a guarantee of quality. There are fanfics right here on TrekBBS, both canon and non-canon characters, that I consider to be of much higher quality than most of what Pocket Books has been doing lately. (Now, Pocket Books is NOT a total failure by any means. But their current directions--for the most part, bleh.)

Exactly.

I am fully capable of writing for ANY of the established characters, from ANY of the Trek shows. I choose not to do it only because I don't like messing with the established canon of what we already know... I don't want to use Kirk or Picard "just because I can"... there are other ships in the UFP, and the galaxy is big enough for new heroes.

When I DO use established characters, it has to be in a situation that FITS, and does so in a very natural and believable way... to do otherwise, is to disrespect the integrity of both the characters, and my readership. But that does not mean that as a general practice, a fic writer has to abandon use of established characters... you just need to know what you're doing, if you use them.

 

[Gojirob]

Yeah I think its definately easier to write when you have some frame of reference for the character AND the actor. One thing I've always done when I create a new character is "cast" them, what actor or actress would best play that character. One of the great things about fan fic is you have no budget to worry about, or if an actor or actress would even go for the role.

Makes it far easier to imagine some of their responses and even their physical manneriesm. And some actors work well for multiple characters. Like Karl Urben, he played a great Ceasar, a wonderful Cupid, an awesome Eomer and an uncanny McCoy and you could have all of those characters in the same room and they would all feel very different. So it really depends on the actor too, some can really change it up, some just can't. Like Jennifer Aniston. She's a one character actress. Sure you can call her different names, give her different jobs, but she's still basically Rachel Greene from Friends. Same mannerisms. Same expressions. Same physicality. Same voice.

To paraphrase Chandler "Could she BE anymore overly same?"

Not only can you ignore budget restrictions - in Ancient Destroyer stories where he appears, George Kirk Senior is 'played' by George Reeves!

 

[Nick Ryder]

Well that's a new one, never thought of George Reeves as George Kirk Sr...

Yeah that's the fun part of fan fic, casting actors/actresses that are long dead, but have the right "character" for the role.

I remember seeing someone do a 'Shop of actors like McGoohan and Steve McQueen as Starfleet Captains... would have been interesting to see a well written Sci-fi with guys like them in it.

 

[Gojirob]

More for his Clark Kent than for his Superman. Plus, I wanted an iconic figure that would really bring home why his loss affected Jim beyond the obvious.