TMP and Insurrectio novels, worth reading?

[Stephen!]

The TMP novelization is a fascinating artifact, because it's the only novel actually written by Gene Roddenberry himself (don't believe the rumor that Alan Dean Foster ghostwrote it -- it's in nothing like Foster's style). Its writing is often clunky because it's by a first-time novelist

How long does it typically take to write a Star Trek novel?

 

[Christopher]

The TMP novelization is a fascinating artifact, because it's the only novel actually written by Gene Roddenberry himself (don't believe the rumor that Alan Dean Foster ghostwrote it -- it's in nothing like Foster's style). Its writing is often clunky because it's by a first-time novelist

How long does it typically take to write a Star Trek novel?

Typically several months, though I'm not sure what that question has to do with the comment it's responding to. The problem wasn't the amount of time Roddenberry had to write the novelization, but with the fact that he'd never written in prose before. Writing scripts is a different discipline with a different emphasis and style, and screenwriters often have trouble adjusting to writing in the novel format (and vice-versa, which is why you don't see many novelists writing TV shows).

For instance, one of the characteristic quirks of Roddenberry's TMP novel is a very liberal use of italics to emphasize passages of descriptive text. That strikes me as a very screenwritery thing to do, since scripts often use bold or underlining to emphasize important bits of action that need to be called to the attention of the director and production staff.