posted
No, Ron Moore was a Cornell-educated writer of considerable talent who happened to be a big Star Trek fan and was one of two (2!) writers of several thousand to be picked up thanks to the unsolicited script policy.
And I think we're playing favourites when we start single-handedly placing the mantel of "saviour-of-Trek" on the guy a lot of people can most readily empathize with without realizing that television is a team effort, and good Trek 99 times out of 100 comes from having half a dozen good writers around a table rather than half a dozen superfans.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I would argue that inventing a crew doesn't necessarily make people "not care". I haven't read much unpublished fanfic, but, speaking from the published stuff I've read, I sometimes find it annoying when the author doesn't quite write the characters the way they've been established. Not to mention that things can be hindered by the simple act of trying to write to an already-established character. At least w/ brand-new characters, the author has a lot more freedom.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Yeah well, with existing characters, you run the risk of writing them Out Of Character, depending on your skills. It's usually not that hard to prevent OOC, if you really understand the character you're writing about. In fact, it's easier usually.
If you create new characters, you have to provide them with a plausible background story and *actively* stop them from becoming a Mary Sue by slapping them down every now and then. You're constantly having to balance between the amount of time you spend on these characters, which is even worst if they have to co-exist with established characters. You don't intentionally create Mary Sues, they create themselves if you don't pay attention. Plus the OOC problem applies to Author Created Characters as well.
I never wrote Trek fanfiction, but I did do a fairly good anime one so I had to deal with all those problems. Not a single complaint or flame mail in 3+ years.
One of the reasons I stopped doing Trek "simming" on IRC was because every mission seemed like a badly written fanfic. I think the worst was being on a Norway class and destroying 3 Warbirds with its "photonic cannon". Yeah, highly original.
[ April 01, 2002, 22:24: Message edited by: David Templar ]
-------------------- "God's in his heaven. All's right with the world."
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
For a while, I've planned out characters to use if I ever write a story. Unfortunately, I can't write worth crap, so all my stories never even get up to a whole chapter...
BTW, is it still considered a "Mary Sue" character if you actually base it on yourself? Like, the character sucks as badly as you yourself? :-)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
As someone who pitched scripts to TNG back in the 80s, let me tell you that the closed-door policy of Enterprise isn't such a big roadblock. It just stops fans who don't want to do the legwork any other wanna be writer in Hollywood has to go through.
When I submitted I didn't want to go the fan route, so I made a dozen phone calls and within one day found several agents who were willing to read my work and who had connections with the show (there's a simple trick to it). One particular agent asked to see my work, so I sent her a script and a list of 13 episode concepts. Within two weeks my work was submitted. I still have a letter back from Eric Stillwell around my filing cabinet somewhere.
(No, I didn't make a sale, but that's whole 'nother story.)
The point is, if you can write a good script and you do a little legwork, you can get an agent and get your script submittedand read by the show.
And, as to the "union" -- it's better known as "The Writer's Guild", and it can actually be a friend more than a foe if you know how to use it.
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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quote:Official Challenge from The_Tom: Present me with some Star Trek fanfic that I would rather read then have a drill placed against my temple.
I've been involved in a fan fiction endeavor for the past fourteen months. It started with the simple question, "Can fans do better than TPTB in writing for Star Trek?"
(Now that I think about it, that's a pretty naive question. Of course Berman and Braga and the others can write better stories -- that's why they get paid to do it, and why we watch their television show. Our preference only matters in individual reactions.)
Nevertheless, I think that the group that I'm a part of has made a pretty good effort over the past year. (In my admittedly not-so-humble opinion, of course.) We are writing a series of stories in full television script format, and publish on a regular schedule. We created an original cast of characters and a fairly detailed background.
The series is Star Trek: Renaissance. It is set at the beginning of the 25th century, and is intended to address the aftermath of the Federation's experiences in the Dominion War. So far we've published 18 episodes, and we've got 8 more planned for the remainder of the "season."
There are eight of us who are working in this group -- each of us contributes to the discussions in planning the series on a whole, and we all write episodes individually or as a team as our real life allows.
I personally hold no illusions that this is a actually professional-level endeavor, although we try to emulate the professional format. Every contributer is an amateur writer, so this is still definitely "fan fiction." However, I think that we've made a much stronger effort than your average fanfic that's published en masse on the web, and created an interesting and consistent story.
To address some of First of Two's "mistakes" that I think some might find in our work, but I believe can be explained:
Creating your own crew -- Yeah, it's hard to make the reader care about your original characters. But you've only got two options to start with -- established characters or original characters. As we wanted to use an original concept, we always planned on creating our own characters. We approached the story from the perspective of writing a television pilot -- to give each character a foothold and let them grow from there.
Mary Sues -- Well, I can't speak for the other writers, but I consciously tried to avoid the Mary Sue Effect. As far as I know, everyone else has as well.
Megawarships -- Admittedly, the ship of our story can be considered a megawarship with some of the advanced technology that we packed in -- lots of phasers, with refined ablative armor, quantum slipstream, and so on. However, I believe that we address this situation, in the respect that the ship is INTENDED to be a powerful warship. (Also consider that the series is set 25 years after DS9, so the technology has advanced some in the intervening years.) The political state of the Federation and the Alpha Quadrant in our series helps establish the "need" for ships of this kind. It's not just a superior ship for the sake of having a superior ship in our story.
I'd go on, but I've rambled on enough here. I hope that my self-promotion isn't treated as spam, because it's relevant to the discussion.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
The_Tom, didn't you ever read "Star Trek: Gamma Quadrant"?
Hardly a mega-warship -- by the time the series began (right after DS9 ended), the ship was ten-years old and suffering from major structural problems sustained during the war.
No Mary Sue stories. Similiar to MilitaeMan, I approached the characters individually:
Capt. Connor Macy, an experienced veteran of Starfleet, who lost his wife and daughter in the attack on San Fran, and his eldest son (a Starfleet officer) in combat action. Estranged from his middle child, a son.
Lt. Cmdr. Melanie Kline -- XO. Promoted through rank very quickly due to combat losses (had just graduated Academy before war began). Has lots of flaws.
Other characters included a Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian liason; an Andorian security chief; an embittered second-officer; and some other fairly quirky characters.
Actually, The_Tom, except for yelling at me about using "Lieutenant (jg)" too much, you said you rather liked it ... ::sniffle::
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Y'know, extolling the virtues of your own fan fiction and how it's not like the other terrible shit out there is a bit like voting for yourself in the presidential election.
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Well, how would you look if you WEREN'T confident enough in your own ability to vote for yourself in a Presidential Election? Hey, it'd make a great camapaign poster for the other guy:
John Doe For President: He WON'T Vote For Himself!
posted
Well, as like a write-in I mean. Simply because you think you're presidential material, doesn't really mean you are. Y'know, unless you're a TitMonkey.
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Oh come on -- that's cheap. I'm not saying that our story is the greatest thing in the world, or that you're guaranteed to love it. But I am saying that I think it's good. And that's my right. This subject is about fan fiction, so I'm writing about the project that I'm a part of. Why do you have a problem with that?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
I tried writing Trek fanfiction once. I've all but given up on it because there was so much stuff I wanted to do that wouldn't mesh with Star Trek. So, in a way, I guess I found the established canon too constricting for what I wanted. I've given thought to doing a sci-fi series from scratch, but that's more effort than I can put into it at the moment. Plus, a lot of my ideas so far on it seem to be variations of Trek.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
Well the Trek universe is huge, so there is never a shortage of things you could do.. one of the main uses of fanfic is to place characters based on your own reactions into Trek.. such as fan crews or RPG pages.. so basically, everybody can write a fanfic that places themselves in Trek, but rarely does it interest anyone but themselves, since it rarely goes beyond introducing the characters,etc. The next level up of fanfic are people who actually have a story to tell, and the quality depends on their skills as a writer. I've already gone off on semi-leterates once today, so ill stop here... but to create interest, you need a new idea, or a spin on an old idea that people enjoy. (for example, rehashing ST plots but with superb illustrations and passable writing would be enjoyable to me) Another problem is that Star Trek likes to pattern itself realistically (Roddenberry and Justman often commented on imagining if it was on a real navy ship, and seeing if it was plausible) Fan writers sometimes no understanding of life (and severely need to get one, in William Shatner's advice) and so their plots are often convoluted messes of unlikely things, like people being promoted from private to lieutenant in the course of a few weeks (considers classifying Starship Troopers movie as fanfic).
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
Registered: Sep 2001
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