Small Universe Syndrome

[Greg Cox]

One also needs to consider just how often this kind of stuff happens in real life. I once bumped into a friend from Boston in the middle of the London. Turns out she was staying in the bed-and-breakfast two doors down from where I was staying! (And, no, there wasn't a science fiction convention in town.)

And when you start dealing with specialized professions, like starship engineering, this sort of thing multiplies like mad. I've actually ended up writing cover copy for the same book twice--at two different publishers! Or discovered that the illustrator for some new story is an old artist friend of my girlfriend's . . . .

Coming soon: "Six Degrees of Jean-Luc Picard."

 

[Dayton Ward]

Here's another real-world example: The Marine Corps' IT community (when I was still in, at least) was a small group. If you stayed in long enough, you were either stationed or went to school with or simply ran into pretty much everyone, or at least knew who they were if they had a reputation worth knowing about (good or bad).

Another level to that: I was stationed in Kansas City for my last tour in the service. Apparently, KC is the place where Marine IT folks go to die/retire/etc. I've run into people I've not seen in 20 years, from when we were stationed together somewhere else. Then, it seems that those same people make the rounds to all the big IT shops around town. Everybody's been to every place worth working (and most of the places that aren't), so the networking is thick and furious, and paths cross all the time.

 

[JarodRussell]

I think my problem is, when such a weird coincidence happens, that the characters don't even think about, although you would think about it in reality. It's easier to swallow for me if the novel/movie "knows" that it's a weird coincidence, and acknowledges it.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I preferred the Excelsior from TUC and the VGR episode, where Rand (and Tuvok) was the only cross-over (though Tuvok being on the ship did sort of annoy me).

So how much did we learn about Sulu's crew in ST VI and "Flashback"? Most of them were played by no-line extras and stunt people. You may have preferred a book about these unknowns, but I know some Rand, Chekov, Tuvok, Akaar and Chapel fans who were thrilled when those characters got plenty to do in a "Captain Sulu" novel.

If you were a Starfleet captain, wouldn't you be tempted to bring aboard people you knew and trusted in positions of importance? Sure, Sulu could have brought aboard some old buddies we'd simply never met before, but then you'd have just as many readers saying, "I'd rather read about characters we saw in canon, but hardly got to know as well as we should."

A novel that must flesh out a whole new cast of main characters is going to have a very different flavour to a novel that can assume the readers know some background and relationships and forge ahead with the mission subplots.

 

[Greg Cox]

I think my problem is, when such a weird coincidence happens, that the characters don't even think about, although you would think about it in reality. It's easier to swallow for me if the novel/movie "knows" that it's a weird coincidence, and acknowledges it.

Something to consider! Although the trick will be to not make it sound like the author is getting defensive . . . .

"I would have never believed that such a thing could happen, except then it did!"

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ That line always works when I write for Penthouse.

 

[Therin of Andor]

"If would have never believed that such a thing could happen, except then it did!"

I loved how Ambassador Spock caught up with Arex and M'Ress in "New Frontier", and was noticed having an animated discussion with them. Good ol' PAD.

 

[William Leisner]

I think my problem is, when such a weird coincidence happens, that the characters don't even think about, although you would think about it in reality. It's easier to swallow for me if the novel/movie "knows" that it's a weird coincidence, and acknowledges it.

But do the characters even know half the time? One would hardly expect Ralph Offenhouse, for example, to keep track of every other officer and passenger to trod the decks of the Enterprise, let alone bring it up in an irrelevant situation.

 

[captcalhoun]

i went out with a college bud's cousin four years after i left college, that's my SUS experience in real life. (never knew her when i was mates with him.)

 

[Greg Cox]

i went out with a college bud's cousin four years after i left college, that's my SUS experience in real life. (never knew her when i was mates with him.)

Likewise, a buddy of a college friend ended up marrying the buddy of a high school friend. Two completely different social circles that I had always managed to keep apart until then . . . !

 

[Elemental]

^Yes, Picard and the Enterprise were in VGR: Homecoming.

I think it makes sense to use familiar, popular characters to launch a new series. It happened on TV; McCoy was in "Encounter at Farpoint," Picard was in "Emissary," Quark was in "Caretaker," and Zefram Cochrane was in "Broken Bow." But with new book series, you want to give them the best chance possible, and that means having cameos by the most popular characters, and in the 24th century, that's overwhelmingly the TNG cast.

Yes, I liked how all the series had a cameo by a character from the previous series (until ENT which couldn't really use a VOY character for obvious reasons). I wouldn't call Quark or McCoy the most popular character from their series, however. And like I said, I don't take issue with the use of any character, but using Picard in the first novel of four 24th century novel series (not including post-NEM TNG)?! That fits my definition of over-doing it.

 

[Elemental]

One also needs to consider just how often this kind of stuff happens in real life. I once bumped into a friend from Boston in the middle of the London. Turns out she was staying in the bed-and-breakfast two doors down from where I was staying! (And, no, there wasn't a science fiction convention in town.)

I bumped into my ex-girlfriend when I was visiting Las Vegas last summer.

 

[Christopher]

Yes, I liked how all the series had a cameo by a character from the previous series (until ENT which couldn't really use a VOY character for obvious reasons). I wouldn't call Quark or McCoy the most popular character from their series, however. And like I said, I don't take issue with the use of any character, but using Picard in the first novel of four 24th century novel series (not including post-NEM TNG)?! That fits my definition of over-doing it.

The thing is, this is a business. Sometimes, concerns of popularity and profit take precedence over story balance. Like it or not, TNG is by far the most popular 24th-century series. Therefore, if you're introducing a new 24th-century series, it makes sense to have a TNG cameo to launch it.

Anyway, I think you're overstating things by citing Picard as the featured character in the SCE launch. That was actually Geordi, who was in the first three SCE installments. Not to mention Scotty, who was virtually a regular for a while. Picard and the rest of the Enterprise crew had a more peripheral role to play in books 1 and 3.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

A novel that must flesh out a whole new cast of main characters is going to have a very different flavour to a novel that can assume the readers know some background and relationships and forge ahead with the mission subplots.

There's a lot of truth to that, but it also depends on what kind of story you're trying to tell. The New Frontier "pilot" and Titan's Taking Wing have what I'd call "the first day at college" feel. Half of both books is involved with getting characters introduced and situated. While Resistance, which is itself a bit of a pilot, has a completely different feel because the book starts out in media res as regards the Enterprise's mission. Harbinger (for Vanguard) falls in the latter category as well.

Different approaches. Do you want to introduce the characters, then start running with the story? Or do you hit the ground running with the story, and expect your audience to keep up with you as the characters are introduced?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Here's another real-world example: The Marine Corps' IT community (when I was still in, at least) was a small group. If you stayed in long enough, you were either stationed or went to school with or simply ran into pretty much everyone, or at least knew who they were if they had a reputation worth knowing about (good or bad).

Another level to that: I was stationed in Kansas City for my last tour in the service. Apparently, KC is the place where Marine IT folks go to die/retire/etc. I've run into people I've not seen in 20 years, from when we were stationed together somewhere else. Then, it seems that those same people make the rounds to all the big IT shops around town. Everybody's been to every place worth working (and most of the places that aren't), so the networking is thick and furious, and paths cross all the time.

Funny, my uncle is an ex-Marine who worked with computers and he currently lives in KC.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^

PM me with his name. Maybe we've crossed paths

 

[PaulSimpson]

^ That line always works when I write for Penthouse.

You tried it on the Star Trek Mag Facebook page!!

 

[BillJ]

I think for me there is room to see characters that we've crossed paths with before. But there is a fine line where it can become too much. I also think there is something of a cumulative effect as well. If you're seeing it book after book after book then you get tired of it. For me it was Borash in Losing the Peace. After seeing the Borg and Q and McCoy and the Columbia in a very short space of time, it was just too much seeing yet another nod.

After waiting a few months and going back it probably won't seem so bad.

 

[LightningStorm]

Yes, I liked how all the series had a cameo by a character from the previous series (until ENT which couldn't really use a VOY character for obvious reasons).

Well, they could have used a Voyager character... But I hazard a guess that had they done so, "Broken Bow" would have been as bad as "These are the Voyages."

 

[TerriO]

Said it before, and I'll say it again: Truth doesn't have to make sense. Think about how often the "well I ran into [fill in the blank]" actually happens. Rarely, right? (Of course, if you've got a consistent group of people working toward the same goal, then they'll probably have the coincidental encounters a bit more often. There's just a higher chance of them being in the same room at the same time.)

If it happens rarely in the real world, then that's how often it should happen in fiction, IMNSHO. Not just Trek fiction, ANY series fiction. That's when you start stretching credulity. If you've got a ship escorting an ambassador to a diplomatic negotiation, unless you've got a story purpose for including an established ambassador, why use them? The diplomatic corps can't possibly be that small. If you want to use them, find a story purpose. Otherwise it's just a gratuitous in-joke that is just there for fan service and nothing more.

Not that I've had this same discussion with KRAD in the past or anything. *innocent whistle*