To:
From: "Steve Oostrom"
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com
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>Anyway, to get back to the point, I've been trying to work out the main ch=
aracters for the stories. The thing is that I'm trying to work out what
sor= ts of information I should have worked out about the characters (and
have w= ritten down) before I start writing stories featuring them.
Some time ago, Jay (I think) posted a "Kitty sheet" that one can
fill in an= d create characters. I use a modified version of this
(combinging "strengths" and "weaknesses" into
"character traits," reco= gnizing that a trait may be a strength
or a weakness, depending on the situation). I don't fill everything in in
the b= eginning. With the Athena characters, I came up with the physical
details on appearance, height, weight and so on, along wi= th birthplace.
As for the backstory, I just filled in what came to mind immediately
(Captain Thorpe, for example, having lost = both parents, both Starfleet
officers, in the line of duty) and what I needed for the early stories. As
I went along, I = filled in more backstory, and eventually wrote a detailed
accounting of Thorpe's career. I'm not going to post it, because = the
only parts that are "official" are those that appear in the
stories, and the rest is changeable. The idea here is that t= he
impression of a character can change, and I can think that a person might
have done something, or has a personality t= rait, that he or she does not
have. With lots of stories and characters ("Athena" is pushing
seventy stories now, plus th= e novel), it can be difficult to remember
every- thing, so the sheets are useful.
>Making a story work is never easy. some of them can be less hard.
And sometimes, it is easy. Sometimes the story just falls into place.
Per= haps the easiest story I've written is "The End Game." It
just seemed to come.
>I am experimenting with a five-page methodology where I try to block out
scenes so they happen roughly in five pages and make their point to advance
the story line. I don't know how this is working yet, but we'll see.
Usually when writing an "Athena" story, I do a four-stage process.
1. I come up with the idea, something I want to write about, a character
o= r situation I want to feature. I condense the idea into the "TV
Guide Summary," a couple of sentences that would describe=
the story in TV Guide if it were a
television show. Some ideas never get beyond this stage.
2. I get a piece of paper and divide it into six parts, for the teaser and=
the five acts (unless I already know it is going to be
a two-parter, no story ever started off as a single story and became a
two-= parter), and for each space, I put in the basic scenes, a basic idea
of what is happening, what the conflict is, things lik= e that. The story
does not proceed to the next stage unless I know how it is going to end.
If I don't like the story at t= his stage, I can abandon it.
3. If I am still satisfied with the story, I'll go to "detail
plotting." = On separate sheets of paper, one for each act, I detail
the plot, what happens, who's involved, even key lines of dialog. This is
= my first draft, in essence. In doing this, I can figure out what needs
to be researched (either "real" research, checking th= e
Trekpedia, or previous stories) and developed (new characters, new aliens,
new starships, that sort of thing) a= nd named. With the draft complete, I
can look over it, and see if it holds together, if the story works and says
som= ething, or advances the overall arc. I can make changes in the draft,
such as moving scenes around, and making sure that th= ings essential for
the story later on are introduced early enough.
4. If I am still satisfied with the story, I'll sit behind the computer
an= d write it. At this stage, an Athena story would take about two weeks
to write. The pilot took just five days (basically one day=
per act). "The End Game" was written in
twenty-one consecutive days in July 1999 (also twenty-one consecutive days
= on the job too). However, I do not necessarily write the story right
away. I may wait weeks or even months before writing=
it. I'll review the story before writing it, and
make further changes. Right now, the detail plotting for "All's Quiet
On t= he Antispinward Front" was done in October 2001, but I still
haven't written it. I did the detail plotting for "Confluence"=
(a two-parter that I'm excited about) last November,
but probably will not write the story until the summer.
New ideas constantly come along. I'm toying with something called
"Trouble= d Tribbles," a mix of a humourous episode when
Bayanhong has to deal with tribbles (the Klingons did not get all of t= hem
in their Great Tribble Hunt) and Thorpe has to deal with the consequences
of the previous story (someone died, and = he has some explaining to do).
Right now, this one is between steps one and two, as I put ideas together
and make sur= e I have a worthwhile story to go with. I'm not the kind of
person that can just get behind the keyboard with some vagu= e notion of
what I want to say and start pounding away. It just doesn't work that way.
>Personally I am a pack rat. I never throw any character, idea or
situation I make up with all the way away.
I rarely come up with characters unless I need them, but I have a whole
fil= e folder full of ideas. For every story I write, I have two more that
never got fully developed simply because I could not g= et it to stage two
or three. Nevertheless, these ideas are there, and they're on the back
burner waiting for a sudden burst = of inspiration. Not every idea will be
used, however. I have some Dominion War story ideas still in the file, but
it is=
extremely unlikely I'll go back to those. I've
moved beyond that war now.
Steve
The Universe Unbounded.
Visit "Star Trek: Athena" at http://ussathena.iwarp.com
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>Anyway, to get back to the point, I've been trying to work out the
main
characters for the stories. The thing is that I'm trying to work out what
sorts of information I should have worked out about the characters (and
have written down) before I start writing stories featuring
them.
Some time ago, Jay (I think)
posted a "Kitty
sheet"
that one can fill in and create characters. I use a modified
version of
this (combinging
"strengths" and "weaknesses" into
"character traits," recognizing that a trait may be a strength or
a
weakness, depending on the
situation). I
don't fill everything in in the beginning. With the Athena
characters, I came up
with the physical details on
appearance, height,
weight and so on, along with birthplace. As for the backstory, I
just filled
in what came to mind immediately
(Captain Thorpe,
for example, having lost both parents, both Starfleet officers, in
the
line of duty) and what I needed
for the early
stories. As I went along, I filled in more backstory, and eventually wrote
a
detailed accounting of Thorpe's
career. I'm
not going to post it, because the only parts that are "official"
are those that
appear in the stories, and the rest is
changeable. The idea here is that the impression of a character
can change, and
I can think that a person might have done
something, or has a personality trait, that he or she does not
have. With lots
of stories and characters
("Athena" is pushing
seventy stories now, plus the novel), it can be difficult to remember
every-
thing, so the sheets are
useful.
>Making a story work is never easy. some of
them can be less
hard.
And sometimes, it is
easy. Sometimes the
story just falls into place. Perhaps the easiest story I've
written is
"The End
Game." It just seemed to
come.
>I am
experimenting with a five-page methodology where I try to block
outscenes so they happen roughly in five pages and make their
point toadvance the story line. I don't know how this
is working yet, but we'llsee.
Usually when writing an
"Athena" story, I do a
four-stage process.
1. I come up with the
idea, something I
want to write about, a character or situation I want to feature.
I condense the
idea into the "TV Guide
Summary," a couple of
sentences that would describe the story in TV Guide if it were
a
television show. Some
ideas never get beyond
this stage.
2. I get a piece of
paper and divide it into
six parts, for the teaser and the five acts (unless I already know it is
going to be
a two-parter, no story ever started off as a
single
story and became a two-parter), and for each space, I put in the
basic
scenes, a basic idea of what is
happening, what
the
conflict is, things like that. The story does not proceed to the
next
stage unless I know how it is
going to end.
If I don't like the story at this stage, I can abandon it.
3. If I am still
satisfied with the story,
I'll go to "detail plotting." On separate sheets of
paper, one for each act, I detail
the plot, what happens, who's
involved, even key
lines of dialog. This is my first draft, in essence. In
doing this, I can
figure out what needs to be
researched (either
"real" research, checking the Trekpedia, or previous stories)
and
developed (new characters, new aliens, new
starships, that sort of thing) and named. With the draft
complete, I can
look over it, and see if it holds
together, if the
story works and says something, or advances the overall arc. I
can make
changes in the draft, such as moving scenes
around,
and making sure that things essential for the story later on
are
introduced early
enough.
4. If I am still
satisfied with the story,
I'll sit behind the computer and write it. At this stage, an
Athena story would take
about two weeks to
write. The pilot took
just
five days (basically one day per act). "The End Game"
was written in
twenty-one consecutive days in
July 1999 (also
twenty-one consecutive days on the job too). However, I
do not necessarily
write the story right
away. I may wait weeks
or even months before writing it. I'll review the story before writing it,
and
make further changes.
Right now, the detail
plotting for "All's Quiet On the Antispinward Front" was done in
October 2001,
but I still haven't written
it. I did the
detail plotting for "Confluence" (a two-parter that I'm excited
about) last November,
but probably will not write the
story until the
summer.
New ideas constantly come
along. I'm toying
with something called "Troubled Tribbles," a mix of a humourous
episode
when Bayanhong has to deal with
tribbles (the
Klingons did not get all of them in their Great Tribble Hunt) and
Thorpe
has to deal with the consequences
of the previous
story (someone died, and he has some explaining to do). Right
now,
this one is between steps one and
two, as I put
ideas together and make sure I have a worthwhile story to go
with. I'm
not the kind of person that can
just get behind
the
keyboard with some vague notion of what I want to say and
start
pounding away. It just
doesn't work that
way.
>Personally I am a pack
rat. I never throw any character, idea orsituation I
make up with all the way away.
I rarely come up with
characters unless I need
them, but I have a whole file folder full of ideas. For every
story I write,
I have two more that never got
fully developed
simply because I could not get it to stage two or three.
Nevertheless, these
ideas are there, and they're on
the back burner
waiting for a sudden burst of inspiration. Not every idea will be
used,
however. I have some
Dominion War story
ideas
still in the file, but it is extremely unlikely I'll go back to
those. I've
moved beyond that war
now.
Steve
The Universe
Unbounded.
Visit "Star Trek: Athena" at http://ussathena.iwarp.com;">http://ussathena.iwarp.comhttp://ussathena.iwarp.com">http://ussathena.iwarp.com;
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