Question for authors: Rejected ideas, are you allowed to share?
- Thread starter Mage
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I've talked about a few on podcasts. Most notably, the original concept behind my 2012 Cold Equations trilogy, of which only the first book's idea was used and the other two completely scrapped and replaced by new-from-scratch ideas.
http://www.trekmate.org.uk/ten-forw...nd-cataclysm-david-mack-talks-cold-equations/
http://www.trekmate.org.uk/ten-forw...nd-cataclysm-david-mack-talks-cold-equations/
I generally prefer to hold onto my unsold ideas in case I get a chance to rework them into another project.
Honestly, it's hard to talk about rejected pitches without it coming off as sour grapes. "You should hear the great idea they wouldn't let me do!"
Plus, as Christopher noted, you can also recycle them. I once sold a rejected VOYAGER pitch as a FARSCAPE story, for instance. (It's surprisingly easy to turn Seven of Nine into Aeryn Sun.) And I once cannibalized a rejected FIREFLY proposal and used some of the big action scenes in my TERMINATOR novel.
And my TNG story in The Seven Deadly Sins anthology was an idea I first pitched to the VOYAGER tv producers . ...
Waste not, want not.
Plus, as Christopher noted, you can also recycle them. I once sold a rejected VOYAGER pitch as a FARSCAPE story, for instance. (It's surprisingly easy to turn Seven of Nine into Aeryn Sun.) And I once cannibalized a rejected FIREFLY proposal and used some of the big action scenes in my TERMINATOR novel.
And my TNG story in The Seven Deadly Sins anthology was an idea I first pitched to the VOYAGER tv producers . ...
Waste not, want not.
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Both my Titan novels are adapted from failed projects -- Orion's Hounds from a Voyager story for Strange New Worlds and Over a Torrent Sea from an unsold original spec novel.
A good example are the four Alternate Reality novels. Keeping their content under wraps allows the authors to recycle some of the ideas. I remember reading in Christopher's annotations he reused a scientific concept from his halted Star Trek novel in an Rise of the Federation book, IIRC.
Honestly, it's hard to talk about rejected pitches without it coming off as sour grapes. "You should hear the great idea they wouldn't let me do!"
Plus, as Christopher noted, you can also recycle them. I once sold a rejected VOYAGER pitch as a FARSCAPE story, for instance. (It's surprisingly easy to turn Seven of Nine into Aeryn Sun.) And I once cannibalized a rejected FIREFLY proposal and used some of the big action scenes in my TERMINATOR novel.
And my TNG story in The Seven Deadly Sins anthology was an idea I first pitched to the VOYAGER tv producers . ...
Waste not, want not.
Now I have an image of Wash flying a P-47 stuck in my mind. At least I think the plane in Cold War was a P-47.
I was at a convention in NYC in January 1984, and heard Howard Weinstein read an amusing chapter from his Harry Mudd and Saavik novel manuscript, "Treasure's Trade", which ultimately didn't get published.
Honestly, it's hard to talk about rejected pitches without it coming off as sour grapes. "You should hear the great idea they wouldn't let me do!"
Plus, as Christopher noted, you can also recycle them. I once sold a rejected VOYAGER pitch as a FARSCAPE story, for instance. (It's surprisingly easy to turn Seven of Nine into Aeryn Sun.) And I once cannibalized a rejected FIREFLY proposal and used some of the big action scenes in my TERMINATOR novel.
And my TNG story in The Seven Deadly Sins anthology was an idea I first pitched to the VOYAGER tv producers . ...
Waste not, want not.
Now I have an image of Wash flying a P-47 stuck in my mind. At least I think the plane in Cold War was a P-47.
Hey, you read the Terminator book! Cool!
Seriously, the whole business with them trying to bring down the armored, robotic train was pretty much lifted from my FIREFLY outline--and was inspired by an old John Wayne/Kirk Douglas western titled THE WAR WAGON.
The
scenes from Sight Unseen were originally part of an unsold TV pitch for Voyager...
I never throw any story ideas away; there's always a chance you'll find a home for them, even if it is years later.
monster-in-the-replicator
I never throw any story ideas away; there's always a chance you'll find a home for them, even if it is years later.
The story of the DS9/Doctor Who crossover comic was put online by its writer recently.
I believe I mentioned in one place or another that the basic idea behind The Shocks of Adversity had originally been an idea for a Voyager story arc (a ship crippled far from home, forming a partnership with a native race who aren't what they seem at first).
The one "lost story" I kinda regret not getting the chance to do was an alternate pitch for Myriad Universes, in which Wesley Crusher suffered a serious head injury during the Kolvoord Starburst ("The First Duty"), and ends up struggling just to be an average Starfleet officer rather than becoming a Traveler. At the time, Marco Palmieri gave me the choice of doing this or A Less Perfect Union, and though I do think I made the right choice, I still wonder how this other story would have panned out.
The one "lost story" I kinda regret not getting the chance to do was an alternate pitch for Myriad Universes, in which Wesley Crusher suffered a serious head injury during the Kolvoord Starburst ("The First Duty"), and ends up struggling just to be an average Starfleet officer rather than becoming a Traveler. At the time, Marco Palmieri gave me the choice of doing this or A Less Perfect Union, and though I do think I made the right choice, I still wonder how this other story would have panned out.
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^ I love ALPU, but now I wanna read this one too!
Honestly, it's hard to talk about rejected pitches without it coming off as sour grapes. "You should hear the great idea they wouldn't let me do!"
Plus, as Christopher noted, you can also recycle them. I once sold a rejected VOYAGER pitch as a FARSCAPE story, for instance. (It's surprisingly easy to turn Seven of Nine into Aeryn Sun.) And I once cannibalized a rejected FIREFLY proposal and used some of the big action scenes in my TERMINATOR novel.
And my TNG story in The Seven Deadly Sins anthology was an idea I first pitched to the VOYAGER tv producers . ...
Waste not, want not.
Now I have an image of Wash flying a P-47 stuck in my mind. At least I think the plane in Cold War was a P-47.
Hey, you read the Terminator book! Cool!
Seriously, the whole business with them trying to bring down the armored, robotic train was pretty much lifted from my FIREFLY outline--and was inspired by an old John Wayne/Kirk Douglas western titled THE WAR WAGON.
I've read every Terminator novel, and pretty much every Star Trek novel except for a few that came out before I was born or when I was very young which dad never owned copies of and that I've never managed to find copies of in decent condition. I read fast and probably own somewhere in the 1500 to 2000 books with 75 to 80 percent of those being science fiction. And I remember watching The War Wagon at Granny's house a few times when I was a kid.
I've read every Terminator novel, and pretty much every Star Trek novel except for a few that came out before I was born or when I was very young which dad never owned copies of and that I've never managed to find copies of in decent condition. I read fast and probably own somewhere in the 1500 to 2000 books with 75 to 80 percent of those being science fiction. And I remember watching The War Wagon at Granny's house a few times when I was a kid.
Dare I admit I remember seeing The War Wagon at the Midway Drive-In during its original run?
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