Fan fiction

Nov

2013

Starts

So starts matter as much as endings.

Boldly Reading asks us, now, about Beginnings.

First sentences, first kisses, first missions, etc. – what are some of your favorite ‘firsts’ on Ad Astra? What sorts of openings and firsts and premieres get you to keep reading?

I enjoy a good beginning as much as anyone else does, I suppose. Crafting the perfect opening line is a challenge, and some writers do a better job of it than others, just like anything else. Here’s a great one.

“I was sure I was going to die, but was so afraid I wouldn’t in time.”

Little Black Dog’s Aftermath cuts right in, immediately, and you realize that something awful has happened, and is being (maybe) recovered from.

Here’s another.

He spoke flawless Federation Standard, possessed perfect visual acuity and hearing abilities unmatched by human ears.

kes7’s Year One opens not necessarily with a bang, but it’s obvious that whoever this is, he’s physically superior to humans. Is he an Augment, perhaps?

DHA Molecule (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And here’s one more, if you’ll indulge me.

“I … I think …(that) I need to see a doctor.”

trekfan’s While You Were Unconscious pulls two people together, although the details are a little … tricky. Yeah, there’s a good word for it.

Bonus questions!

How do you convert blank pages and blank computer documents into works of art? How do you get first ideas? What gets you started, or re-started?

I find that, for me, getting a story started is difficult but of course it’s necessary. Otherwise, nothing is ever produced! But sometimes the ideal opening is elusive. When that happens, I try to write the middle, or even the end. And I will go over and over again, in my mind, when it comes to the opening line of a story. I want the reader to continue, of course, but what I also want is to set the tone.

Reversal

Reversal‘s opening line was written on the fly (as was nearly all of that story). It is, simply, this –

It didn’t hurt.

I really, really hope the reader’s question is – what didn’t hurt?

It is, possibly, the best opening I have ever written, and it colored the remainder of the story. Other stories have had good openings. I particularly like the ones for Paving Stones (“He’s too young.”) and for Brown (They were both pregnant at the same time.). Both of these opening lines defined the stories that followed, and shaped them.

The Week Never Starts Round Here (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Often a good opening line can get me going, and can really sustain me. However, sometimes I need to get a restart. This is especially after I’ve had to leave a story for a while, for some reason or another.

One thing I try to do is to keep writing (this includes blogging). More or less continually getting ideas onto paper or pixels means that it takes a while for all ideas to dry up. But sometimes that’s not feasible. When it isn’t, I also like to just reread my work, and not necessarily the work I’m trying to finish. I just need to, I feel, review past successes, at times, to remind myself that I can still do it.

Here’s to new beginnings for us all.

Nov

2013

Portrait of a Character – Thomas Grant

Thomas Grant comes from a very long time ago in my writing history.

Origins

When I was first writing a series of original murder mysteries back in the 1980s, I wanted a character who would essentially be the perfect guy. Now, of course, I know that better characters have flaws. But no matter; that’s how Tom was born, and ended up in my Star Trek fanfiction.

Portrayal

Barking up the Muse Tree | Jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Thomas Grant | Tom

Josh Duhamel as Thomas Grant (Tom) – image is for educational purposes

Tom is played by actor Josh Duhamel.

I like his look although I confess I was thinking of Tom as being darker when I first pictured him. But I like this clearly very good-looking man who is also extremely intense.

Personality

Straight-laced and methodical, Tom is ex-military, and it shows in almost everything he does and says. He does not pursue any of the women at work, as he feels it would be improper. He is there to do a job, and nothing more.

But he still wants someone so, when he is introduced to, he feels, the perfect woman, he hems and haws and frets but eventually they are able to get together.

Tom is another distant descendant of Doug and Melissa, and is a very distant cousin of Kevin O’Connor and Rick Daniels.

Relationships

Eleanor Daniels

That perfect woman is Rick’s sister, Eleanor. They meet at the end of Ohio, when the department goes out together. But he hesitates, and she wants him to make the first move. It takes him a few books to get his act in gear enough. He also tells her he loves her under what, to him, are the least favorable circumstances, but it’s even more endearing. When he proposes, she gives him the Cuff of Lo, meaning that their love will endure.

Mirror Universe

Barking up the Muse Tree | Jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | MU Thomas Grant | Tom

Josh Duhamel as MU Thomas Grant (Tom) – image is for educational purposes

With little discipline, but a lot of intelligence and will, I can see Tom in the Mirror Universe as being, potentially, an emotionless psychopath. He would almost be the reverse of Marisol.

He would certainly be a far cry from the moral, upstanding hero he is in the prime universe.

Quote

“You were; it was supposed to be, we would go out for a nice dinner. And you’d look beau – uh, more beautiful than you usually do. I would be, uh, wearing a, a suit. And we’d go walking some, some place pretty. And I, I would tell you. But it, it’s not like that. The conditions are, they’re all wrong.”

Upshot

Stories need heroes, and Tom is definitely one. He will return.

Nov

2013

Focus – The Earth-Romulan War

The Earth-Romulan War is canon but was not a part of Enterprise.

A focus (unlike a spotlight) is an in-depth look at a Star Trek fanfiction canon item and my twist(s) on it.

Of course, all of fan fiction is like that, but the idea here is to provide a window into how a single canon concept works in fan fiction.

Background

The Earth-Romulan War is a part canon never actually on screen. For a lot of fans, it is a missed opportunity in Star Trek: Enterprise. If the series had gone onto seven seasons instead of just four, undoubtedly they would get to the war.

Occurrences

Dispatches from the Romulan War

A few years ago, I became part of a project called Dispatches from the Romulan War. Dispatches has been posted in a lot of locations. My two contributions are Soldiers’ Marriage Project, which introduced character Rona Moran, and Prison Break, which was intended to give some hope that some people thought dead at the start of the war were actually alive. Further, it had a prison called Gemara, at Berren Five. I have used this on several occasions and it was first mentioned in The Puzzle.

Before the War

As a run-up to the war, in The Further Adventures of Porthos – The Stilton Fulfillment, the NX-01 hosts the Caitian ambassador and his family. However, the ship suffers some damage in a quick hit and run. This is much like hostilities can ramp up in prelude to a real war.

The Beginning of Hostilities

After some more leisurely exploratory moments, such as are in The Light, Intolerance and Reversal, things get down to business in Together. While the ship speeds toward Earth to deliver Jennifer Crossman to her wedding to Frank Ramirez, things are at a bit of a lull. But when ten people are kidnapped off the ship, T’Pol needs to work with her allies in order to find them again. There isn’t a lot of time to divert to this mission, but she still needs to try.

Breaks in the Action

Broken Seal follows a few short incidents of hijinks even during the hostilities. The same is true of first contact with the Daranaeans, in The Cure is Worse Than the Disease. Another case of hijinks is in Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before. But all is not right, and the reason why Chip and Deb are alone in his quarters at all is because Aidan is hurt enough that Phlox keeps him in Sick Bay overnight. In Temper, the war is again on interrupt as Malcolm, Jonathan and Tripp need to work to protect the NX-01 from damage from an errant pulse shot.

Aftermath

Achieving Peace shows the last of the treaty negotiations. Laura Hayes is there. And in Shell Shock, protesters are angry with Starfleet’s involvement in two wars in such a short period of time. A part of Malcolm’s problems during that story are his memories of the war. This includes the particularly brutal death of an anonymous crew member.

Upshot

For this huge gap in canon, there was no reason to not cover it. Hell, it’s the elephant in the room, when it comes to the ENT era.

Why not show it?

The Earth-Romulan War will be back in my writing; I guarantee it.

Nov

2013

Portrait of a Character – Marisol Castillo

Marisol Castillo comes from an older character of mine, Marisol of Castile.

Origins

I wanted a Star Trek fanfiction character who would be a femme fatale. From the very beginning, Marisol was meant to be a villain.

Portrayal

Marisol is played by actress Vanessa Marcil. I like the actress’s air of practicality, or at least that how I see her. Maybe I’m wrong.

Vanessa Marcil as Marisol Castillo (image is for educational purposes)

Marisol is ruthlessly efficient and has few feelings. Why not?

‘Cause she’s a psychopath.

With no qualms against taking what she needs, the actress’s air of practicality works for the character.

Personality

Brilliant and beautiful, Marisol should have it all. But there’s something a little bit off about her, and Carmen does not initially want to hire her. Instead, Carmen looks to hire Helen Walker to be the time traveling doctor on the team. When Walker is apparently killed, Carmen turns to her second choice, Marisol, particularly because Boris Yarin is pushing for her to be hired.

Efficient, but with little bedside manner, Marisol even jokes about disabling Polly Porter while Porter is undergoing surgery. Of course this horrifies Boris, and so she does nothing. But he begins to have some doubts.

When the Perfectionists need for her to be an assassin, she eagerly does her job, or tries to, consequences be damned. A major timeline change even occurs, during You Mixed-Up Siciliano, because she is too busy wreaking havoc that she does not bother to protect the timeline. For Marisol, that’s a job for someone other than her.

Relationships

Boris Yarin

Boris is less of a relationship than he is a job for her to do. Marisol already works for the Perfectionists, and so her task is to seduce Boris. This she does at a medical conference. Soon enough, he’s wrapped around her little finger. All she has to do is allude to the idea of sleeping with him and he’ll come running. Despite his marriage, he does not care about anyone else.

As for Marisol, she behaves a lot more like a hooker and does not care for Boris one whit. Her mistake, as she blackmails him, is telling him so. And he makes sure that that’s the last mistake she ever makes.

Theme Music

Marisol’s theme is Venus. There is every reason why, one of the first times she shows up, you hear Shocking Blue‘s version. And one of the last times she shows up, you hear Bananarama’s version.

Mirror Universe

Portrait of a Character – Marisol Castillo

Mirror Marisol (Vanessa Marcil)

There are no impediments to Marisol’s existence on the other side of a proverbial pond.

I like to think that she could find a way to be and do good. She would be smart enough to have a life and a career beyond pleasing men, and would be independent enough to maybe even make it.

Marisol in the mirror, I feel, could be like Doug – one of the few people to really have a conscience and a soul.

Quote

“That timeline is tyrannical, all we ever do is follow it. What if it isn’t the correct one, after all?”

Upshot

Stories need bad guys, and Marisol can provide quite a wallop in that area. She’s even restored to life in He Stays a Stranger, although she ends up in custody. Will she be back? Not unless it’s in something earlier than that story.

Nov

2013

Fan fiction

Starts

Starts