What do you imagine when you read?

[JD]

I have a couple questions about what other people imagine when read the books, or what the authors intended.
First off, I was wondering how other readers imagine the sets and such when you read Vanguard? Do you picture it as it probably would have looked if it had been made along with TOS in the '60s, or do you imagine it more like it would look if made today? I know this is a weird question, but I've always pictured it as alot modern day high tech than TOS (in fact when I was reading it today I tried doing it with the stuff we've seen from the new movie, and it worked really well).

In the books featuring the Federation Council, is their meeting chamber supposed to be the same room we saw in The Voyage Home? I've been imagining it as something more along the lines of either the US Congress or the UN General Assembly Hall. but then while reading Destiny, I realized that that was the UFP Council meeting in TVH, so I started wondering about this.

 

[captcalhoun]

i imagine TOS as looking like TOS. not that Abrams crap. i imagine the TV characters based on their appearances on TV, usually. new characters, i tend to imagine as best i can based on their descriptions. same with environments.

 

[Jbarney]

The descriptive abilities of the writers goes a long way for me. The situations too. This might be an odd example but I loved the events in Pamela Sargent's and George Zebrowski's "A Fury Scorned". When the planet Epictetus III travels through the man-made wormhole and a large portion of the northern polar region gets shaved off. I could just imagine it happening, with creepy background music....

Generally I have fun trying to picture the space battle scenes, but some writers are better at this than others.

 

[Christopher]

First off, I was wondering how other readers imagine the sets and such when you read Vanguard? Do you picture it as it probably would have looked if it had been made along with TOS in the '60s, or do you imagine it more like it would look if made today? I know this is a weird question, but I've always pictured it as alot modern day high tech than TOS (in fact when I was reading it today I tried doing it with the stuff we've seen from the new movie, and it worked really well).

When it comes to appearance, "high tech" is a subjective assessment. Truly high tech will be able to look like anything, even like no technology at all (which was the idea behind TNG's hotel-lounge bridge set with its understated, minimal consoles). Also, for a spaceship control center, you don't necessarily want cutting-edge technology; you want basic, reliable manual controls that you can fall back on if the fancy electronics fail. Look at a photo of a Space Shuttle cockpit -- it's full of old-style switches and knobs and dials, most of which are just emergency backups. The TOS bridge design may not have looked all that advanced by today's standards, but that probably makes it more realistic -- for any century -- than its successors.

The way I imagine TOS-era tech is pretty much the way it was depicted in "In a Mirror, Darkly" -- the same basic designs, but with updated execution, so that the wall screens have actual animation in them rather than wrinkled starscape posters, things like that. For the Vanguard control room, I imagine a bigger, more elaborate version of the same design -- sort of a cross between the TOS bridge and the Dr. Strangelove war room.

In the books featuring the Federation Council, is their meeting chamber supposed to be the same room we saw in The Voyage Home? I've been imagining it as something more along the lines of either the US Congress or the UN General Assembly Hall. but then while reading Destiny, I realized that that was the UFP Council meeting in TVH, so I started wondering about this.

I imagine it as based on the TVH set, but bigger. I sort of pretend that the TVH set was a pared-down version of the in-universe "reality."

 

[Dayton Ward]

First off, I was wondering how other readers imagine the sets and such when you read Vanguard? Do you picture it as it probably would have looked if it had been made along with TOS in the '60s, or do you imagine it more like it would look if made today?

Well, when I write it, Vanguard is firmly rooted in the style of the original series in terms of how it "looks", though with some minor tweaks (ex. the Defiant bridge from "In A Mirror, Darkly" has some subtle updates, but is unmistakably TOS in origin). I tend to describe the computer tech as more interactive, more active displays at workstations, etc, but I do try to keep the general "feel" of the era.

(I try to avoid mentioning the waist-high foam mountains in the distance on alien worlds, though, and I prefer the CGI remastering for the effects )


EDIT: Christopher beat me to some of these comments.

 

[JD]

First off, I was wondering how other readers imagine the sets and such when you read Vanguard? Do you picture it as it probably would have looked if it had been made along with TOS in the '60s, or do you imagine it more like it would look if made today?

Well, when I write it, Vanguard is firmly rooted in the style of the original series in terms of how it "looks", though with some minor tweaks (ex. the Defiant bridge from "In A Mirror, Darkly" has some subtle updates, but is unmistakably TOS in origin). I tend to describe the computer tech as more interactive, more active displays at workstations, etc, but I do try to keep the general "feel" of the era.

(I try to avoid mentioning the waist-high foam mountains in the distance on alien worlds, though, and I prefer the CGI remastering for the effects )


EDIT: Christopher beat me to some of these comments.

Ah, cool. That was pretty much the vibe I was getting, although I do tend to picture things alittle bit more streamlined and interactive. I try to picture within the TOS style, but still alittle closer to the kinds of stuff you would see if it was a TV show made today.

In the books featuring the Federation Council, is their meeting chamber supposed to be the same room we saw in The Voyage Home? I've been imagining it as something more along the lines of either the US Congress or the UN General Assembly Hall. but then while reading Destiny, I realized that that was the UFP Council meeting in TVH, so I started wondering about this.

I imagine it as based on the TVH set, but bigger. I sort of pretend that the TVH set was a pared-down version of the in-universe "reality."

The size was the main reason I was asking actually. I was thinking that it did seem rather small for full meethings of the council. Then there was also the fact that there appeared to be quite a few Starflett officers in the seats, while in the books all of the people in the council are civilians.