Questions for David Mack or others?

[HOoftheKinshaya]

I believe I have read all the Vanguard books/ebooks. I might have missed any Mirror Universe or crossover books. David, could you or any other share any information on the Nalori, or Tarmelites? I know one of the books has some brief description in a glossary section but I would love more information on Zett Nilric and Morikmol's species. As a general question, do you flesh out species with a lot a background info when you introduce them in a book?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

 

[David Mack]

^ The Nalori are a species I created several years ago for my first work of prose fiction, Star Trek: S.C.E. #7 & #8, Invincible, Parts 1 & 2, which I wrote with Keith R.A. DeCandido. Those can now be found in the S.C.E. paperback collection Miracle Workers. Check it out and you'll learn a lot about the Nalori and their relationship to the Federation.

As for the Tarmelites, I never developed them past, "Large, furry, angry, strong." Which begs the question, "Would a Wookie by any other name still smell like a wet dog?"

 

[captcalhoun]

^ LOL

 

[BrotherBenny]

^ The Nalori are a species I created several years ago for my first work of prose fiction, Star Trek: S.C.E. #7 & #8, Invincible, Parts 1 & 2, which I wrote with Keith R.A. DeCandido. Those can now be found in the S.C.E. paperback collection Miracle Workers. Check it out and you'll learn a lot about the Nalori and their relationship to the Federation.

As for the Tarmelites, I never developed them past, "Large, furry, angry, strong." Which begs the question, "Would a Wookie by any other name still smell like a wet dog?"

I think I need to reread that one, since I do not remember the Nalori at all. As an aside, it could either be my failing memory or the fact that I have probably read several hundred books since then.

 

[JD]

^ The Nalori are a species I created several years ago for my first work of prose fiction, Star Trek: S.C.E. #7 & #8, Invincible, Parts 1 & 2, which I wrote with Keith R.A. DeCandido. Those can now be found in the S.C.E. paperback collection Miracle Workers. Check it out and you'll learn a lot about the Nalori and their relationship to the Federation.

Ah, that must be why the named sounded so familiar when I read Harbinger.

 

[HOoftheKinshaya]

^ The Nalori are a species I created several years ago for my first work of prose fiction, Star Trek: S.C.E. #7 & #8, Invincible, Parts 1 & 2, which I wrote with Keith R.A. DeCandido. Those can now be found in the S.C.E. paperback collection Miracle Workers. Check it out and you'll learn a lot about the Nalori and their relationship to the Federation.

As for the Tarmelites, I never developed them past, "Large, furry, angry, strong." Which begs the question, "Would a Wookie by any other name still smell like a wet dog?"

Thank you, I will check those out. Any tidbits you can divulge on the new Vanguard-Declassified book that will be out next year?

 

[HOoftheKinshaya]

^ The Nalori are a species I created several years ago for my first work of prose fiction, Star Trek: S.C.E. #7 & #8, Invincible, Parts 1 & 2, which I wrote with Keith R.A. DeCandido. Those can now be found in the S.C.E. paperback collection Miracle Workers. Check it out and you'll learn a lot about the Nalori and their relationship to the Federation.

As for the Tarmelites, I never developed them past, "Large, furry, angry, strong." Which begs the question, "Would a Wookie by any other name still smell like a wet dog?"

Thank you, I will check those out.

Is Ganz exclusively in the Vanguard series, or does he appear any of the TOS books?

Any tidbits you can divulge on the new Vanguard-Declassified book that will be out next year?

 

[Dayton Ward]

Ganz was created for the Vanguard series, and so far that's where he's remained.

Any tidbits you can divulge on the new Vanguard-Declassified book that will be out next year?

Not much beyond what's already been said. Patience, grasshopper.

 

[garoo1980]

Has anyone ever suggested a general "Ask the authors" section? Or can we throw general ones in here? I'll start and see what happens

How long does a novel take to write generally?
How long from the time you finish till it hits the market?
Is the relationship with the editor(s) collaborative or are they really hands off?

As always, thanks for your time guys.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Not to be flippant, but the answer to all of those questions is, "It depends."

Different writers work at different speeds. Some writers might work farther in advance of their book's publication date because they only write part-time while maintaining a full-time job elsewhere, and the editor schedules things accordingly. What might take me 6 months to write, Dave Mack or Keith DeCandido can do in three (or less), because they write full-time and need those checks to eat and pay rent, so their incentive to write faster so they can get more work is higher than mine. On the other hand, I work full-time, and my writing income pretty much is just for wasting on booze, drugs, and strippers.

The time between a manuscript being turned in and when it's available for sale can vary, sometimes wildly, from one project to another. I've written books that didn't come out for more than a year after I turned in the manuscript, and others where the interval was six months. Media tie-in fiction -- generally speaking -- tends to have a longer lead time than original fiction, because of the added layers of approvals from the studio at both the outline and manuscript stage.

The editors I've worked with all have different (and distinct) styles, but all have been involved in the process from start to finish. While the actual level of involvement has varied, they've all always been "there" throughout the process.

 

[Thrawn]

I've been wondering how long, wordcount-wise, the Typhon Pact books are. Are final or quasi-final numbers in on that?

 

[Dayton Ward]

The draft of Paths of Disharmony I submitted to Jaime came in at just under 125,000 words.

 

[Thrawn]

Sweet

You tend to write a little longer though, if memory serves; Open Secrets was similar, yes?

 

[David Mack]

I've been wondering how long, wordcount-wise, the Typhon Pact books are. Are final or quasi-final numbers in on that?

I think that Zero Sum Game has a total word count of approximately 81,000 — give or take a few during editing.

 

[Thrawn]

Cool, thanks for answering.

...now cue DRG3, arriving with "mine is 1,976,324 words long"...

 

[Dayton Ward]

Sweet

You tend to write a little longer though, if memory serves; Open Secrets was similar, yes?

Open Secrets edged out Counterstrike: The Last World War, Book II as my longest work to date, coming in at just over 139,000 words.

(139,000 words = DRG's "Chapter 1 - First draft")

 

[BrotherBenny]

(139,000 words = DRG's "Chapter 1 - First draft")

If DRGIII had written Lord of the Rings it would have been about 5 times longer.

Question for Mack, have you written 1,000,000 published words yet?? You must be close or just over by now.

 

[David Mack]

^ Yes, I'm fairly certain I passed that mark a while ago.

 

[Christopher]

That question inspired me to figure out my own sold/published word count, and I posted the figures on my blog:

http://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/how-many-words/

Counting everything I've sold, fiction and nonfiction, and including things not yet published, I'm at 974,360 words. Total published word count to date is 874,660. Leave out Seek a Newer World, which might never see print, and my total sold word count is 892,360.

So odds are that Star Trek DTI will be the work that puts me over a million published words.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Here is a goofball question. Do you have any say so in the art on the cover of your books? Or is that done after the work is turned in?

Rob