You Like the E-E bridge crew?

[Nathan]

Totally agree with you Chris that it normal/natural to "retain a sense of fun and exuberance", but there is a time and place for that too. My brother is a cop, and off duty he is almost a comedian, and I suppose I've heard stories that sometimes that permeates through when he is on duty, but he is mostly all business and has the reputation of being the professional, upstanding in the department.

Bottom line, you can make Chen all fun & games, but when dealing with foreign govenrments (when she is the aide), or doing some serious problem solving, leave the silliness at the door.

If you want to make defy stereotypes, I suppose it would work if Chen was the "Nancy Drew" of Vulcan, the Sound of Music Maria from Vulcan!!!!!


And I guess, if you want to read about silly characters, that is what New Frontier is for!!! Have to admit, NF was never my favorite line of books, but I always wish to read more of Shelby, Soleta, and Kat Mueller (or should I say I wish they would pop up in other venues more often.).

 

[Christopher]

I have to say that I agree a ton with this entire post. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from C.S. Lewis in "On Three Ways of Writing for Children".

To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

Awesome quote.

 

[TheAlmanac]

There's always a fine line between writing a character that's in any way "eccentric" and one that seems "zany" in a forced way--what I would call the difference between a David Tennant and a Matt Smith.

I've also admittedly known a number of people in real life who would probably call themselves "exuberant"...but that I would just call "annoying."