New Fanfic thoughts...

hewhocaves · Post by **hewhocaves** » 2004-02-27 05:49pm

Just a couple of quick things (and backgound) to toss out for general consumption.
Me: college grad with a degree in English. (i.e. you will get neither the simple "shoot em ups", Jedi are c00l, ST/SW blows chunks, etc... that seems so prevelent over the net in general. Neither will I write soft (Oh Chakotay your ears are so... BIG) porn. Having said that...

Idea: To write something with either ST/SW/both in it. as I'm relatively new to the boards, I have a couple of questions re: what people like/want.

1) Is a screenplay format ever done? If not, would people be interested in reading that, or would you reather just straight prose (lol.. or Vogon poetry?)

2) Would you all prefer a finished product to read in one sitting, or do you want it serialized?

Yes, I'm really painfully aware that I could spend the next week and a half running up and down every board looking at every post and trying to get my won consensus... but which would you rather have, a writer writing or a writer thumbing though spam for useful tidbits?

Oh, and if this sounds a tad harsh, I apologize. I really am a softy at heart. I'm also running late (have to me my family) and wanted to get this out so I could start typing ASAP

(PS: Please don't expect me to be able to quote turbolaser yield outputs to the individual joule in my fiction. I have no problem "bending" space and time slightly to remain true to the feel of the universe. )

john

Major Diarrhia · Post by **Major Diarrhia** » 2004-02-28 12:26am

I like cross over stories that are balanced in some way with lots of action and powerfull portraying of characters as the great and powerfull heroes they are. In that regard you don't need to know power levels or anthing. Just keep in mind the basic effects you want the weapons to have and have a balence in mind of what can kick what and to what degree, etc.

I've seen screenplay format several times but never like it because it doesn't read well. So if you're doing this for a movie, do a screeplay, but if you're doing this to be read, don't do a screen play.

I like serialized stuff where the author reads the reader's comments.

hewhocaves · Post by **hewhocaves** » 2004-02-28 11:29am

Ok, well now that I have a little more time...

I think I'll keep it as straight fiction, not a screenplay. Screenplays would be easier to write; however, you lose a lot of the description. I thought of combining the two, but I think that would just fall apart.

I'll try to do it as a serial, but no promises... Reader feedback is always welcome and good, keeping in mind that I am working with a definitive ending already in the back of my head.

I like crossovers too, I think that they have been overdone and saturated the "market", but what the hey

as for my Sci-Fi orientation (to avoid any thoughts of 'he's a closet trekkie' or 'he's a star wars geek') The answer is both/neither. I have a deep fondness for both genres, but don't see either as ultimately superior. I've played both RPGs. For ST, I loved TOS, tolerated TNG, liked DS9, found VOY unwatchable past episode 4 of season 1. I happen to really like ENT, mostly because I watch it as irony (which I feel absolutely certain that B&B do not intend it as). I have little use for the novelisations, comic books, etc..., but will use an element from it if it suits my purpose.
Having harmed ST, I turn to SW. I'm old enough to have remembered SW by the number of times I'd watched it (76, before we got a VCR in 1987). Empire is by far the best of the six, what with character development and everything. I have little use for the prequals, and think that somewhere between 1985 and the present he really lost touch with his own vision. (Actually, that's not true; what did happen was that he detached himself from the world aroeund him in the intervening years. A lot of the 'good' in the original series was through rewrites - One of the things that Lucas and roddenberry have in common is the ability to see a 'big picture'. Another is their inability to scale down to individual episodes/movies. Unfortuantely the hollywood movie system doesn't allow for communication between different levels; this is how you get to the 'bastardization' of ST and the 'demagogury' of SW. (there's a thesis in that somewhere). Briefly what I'm saying is that you had two equally strong visions. In ST, the visionary got slowly pushed out of his vision; in SW, the visionary became obsessed with creative control over his vision. that's just my take.

Sorry to get off-topic. Basically, what you have here is a slightly jaded writer who has no trouble doing both the rosy and the cruddy side of each world. I'll try to have the prologue up here ASAP.

John

Major Diarrhia · Post by **Major Diarrhia** » 2004-02-28 12:44pm

Nothing wrong with free form discussion.

I agree with you on Star Trek and Star Wars problems. Fortunatly for Star Trek it seems that Paramount may end up firing Brannon Bragga, or maybe the other B, I don't remember. Plus Backula (Archer) might be taking a more active role in production. Fortunatly for Star Wars, if there are any other movies I don't think GL will play a part and in the final movie (ep3) he finaly realised his strengths. It's going to have absofrikn'lutly huge fights, hopefully with very little diolauge.

So, without giving anything away, what's the over all idea of your story?

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » 2004-02-28 01:32pm

You sound like you have a head on your shoulders. I'm interested in seeing what's inside it.

hewhocaves · Post by **hewhocaves** » 2004-02-29 12:18am

I hope I do, at least...

at least I hope it serves a better purpose than just as someplace to hang my hat.

Been working off and on on the prologue today. Of necessity it's in spurts as I research, check facts, get the groundwork laid and trying to keep up with the real world. It'll be quite a bit longer than a page or so, sorry 'bout the length. I like to do things like set the mood, explore the beginnigns of stories, etc... you'll all see

John

hewhocaves · Post by **hewhocaves** » 2004-03-01 12:19am

as promised.. the first page or so of the prologue. heh.. apologies beforehand to everyone whose view of the galaxy I've disrupted. best to get out the bad news first.

On Stardate 8473.2 the USS Magellan, the first transwarp-capable craft signaled from within the edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its crew had just completed measurements of the remnants of the supernova explosion 1987A. Its final transmission was "Are about to enter galactic disk. Magellan out."

On stardate 9753.6 the USS Magellan was listed as "missing; presumed lost." The loss of the Magellan combined with the failures in the "great experiment" that was Excelsior set back Federation warp technology fifty terran years. By the time the Federation had the technology to consider returning to the LMC to look for Magellan it had been long forgotten. Forgotten, but not lost...

The immense, shimmering star field soothed Captain Tellern’s frayed nerves. She liked to watch the stars go by at the end of the day. It was cathartic. She would sit in her quarters against the side of her bed and slowly let her mind unravel the never ending series of forms, tasks and duties that came with commanding a Strike Cruiser. Patrolling here, in the Outer Rim, at the edge of Empire space was enough to make anyone antsy; to do it in this day, when any moment could bring some Rebel attack – well, she suspected the grey hairs would come soon enough. If she survived, that is. They were very alone out here.

The all too familiar chirp of the ships intercom system disrupted her solitude. "Captain. Would you please report to the bridge?" Tellern sighed and climbed up from the floor. Straightening her dress uniform she walked across to her workstation and tapped the intercom.
"What is it, Maius?"
"Scans have picked up an unusual craft ahead. It seems to be derelict."
"Did you run it through Compscan?"
"Yes ma'am we did. Nothing like it in the database."
"It's probably some indie or smuggler playing possum." In the back of her thoughts a more sinister idea was forming. It could be a Rebel trap. Since the destruction of the Death Star the Alliance had gotten bolder. Reports of whole craft gone missing had begun to trouble the Naval General Staff. The Rebellion was gaining in numbers and strength. She hoped to never see the day when the Alliance overthrew the Empire. Especially here, in the outer rim she would have to be cautious.
"All right, Maius, I'll be there in a moment."

“That is the weirdest thing I have ever seen”, she thought to herself. "Bring us in closer... Science station, Mr. KaAng- any signs of life?"
"No ma'am. We have some carbon-based humanoid corpses over there; but nothing alive. Do we pull alongside it?"

"Yes. Please do." As the cruiser pulled up, it dwarfed the other craft. She noticed some squiggly lines along its hull. "Registry designation, I would guess.”
The ship looked like an egg on a tripod. Three metal shafts protruded from it’s widest point. At the end of each metal shaft was a long tube parallel to the main axis of the ship. Propulsion units? Who would be daft enough to stick them way out there where anyone could shoot them off? She scratched her head. The craft was definitely lifeless. No tell-tale lights or even an energy pattern. The hull was pockmarked with micrometeorites. This ship had been out there a long time. How long? Who could tell. Every now and then you heard of a ship five thousand years old, ten thousand years old appearing out of nowhere. Up until now she figured those stories were apocryphical – urban legends to scare new cadets. But this… this was beyond old. This was unheard of.

hewhocaves · Post by **hewhocaves** » 2004-03-03 05:20pm

(another page or so.. sorry 'bout the slow feed... school)

“Captain. We’ve found a hatch. There”, he zoomed in his screen to a point midway down the egg.
Captain Tellern walked over to the viewscreen. “Is it large enough to take in the zero-Gs?”
“I believe so.”
“Then get the boarding squad ready. Deploy the assault shuttle as soon as they are set. Sound battlestations. This could still be a rebel trap. We’re not going to get caught out here with our pants down like the Vendetta.”

Captain Tellern watched intently as the assault shuttle nosed alongside the hatch of the foreign vessel. Silently, it began to disgorge it’s compliment of spacetroopers. The troopers glided silently towards the strange vessel’s hatch, separating into individual detachments to provide cover fire and fallback positions. Two troopers carrying several pounds of electronic apparatus each went directly toward the hatch.
“It’s a shame the docking clamp won’t work on that ship”, the science officer commented. “We can’t take the chance”, Tellern said. “We know nothing about that ship. Even if it did work, I’m not sure I’d want to mingle our atmosphere with theirs.”
The two spacetroopers at the hatch had placed a series of magnetic devices around the entrance. The communications officer in touch with the assault team announced, “They are having trouble opening up the hatch manually.”
“Blow it.” Tellern said. “Get repair to fashion a new one for them.”

SX1356 thought the sound of the explosion was a little hollow. It probably means that their hull is thinner than what we’re used to; something to remember when I file my report. However, the charges did their job and the atmospheric generators did theirs. He looked over his handiwork briefly before stepping inside the craft. Inside, he found himself in a small room which clearly served as an airlock. There was atmosphere in here, stale but breathable. He quickly scanned the other airlock door before neatly cutting the restraining portion out with a laser. Then he was able to force the door open with the massive strength his suit provided.
SX1356 checked his status. He had little more than a hour’s power left in the suit. Quickly he stepped through the open hatchway only to bang his head on the ceiling inside. Ducking as much as he dared, he found himself able to continue on into the vessel. Two other Zero-Gs followed him.
“Status, please”, the voice crackled over his comlink.
“I’m inside the craft. Hull seems thinner than we thought. Zero-Gs are going to have a tough time of it. We should probably proceed with regular troopers. We need someone to repair their interior airlock as well; I had to cut through that.”
“Understood. We see a corpse approximately 15 meters to your right, take a right at the next intersection.”
“I see the intersection. Going right. Are you getting the video feed?”
“Yes we are. Is that the corpse up ahead?”
“Affirmative. Am kneeling at the side of the corpse. He certainly looks Imperial standard. No deviations, no disfigurements. I certainly don’t recognize his clothing. Looks like a uniform to me. He’s been dead a long time. SX7655, hand me the scanning tool. Am scanning the corpse for time of death. If he is Imperial standard, then he’s been dead for… this is weird. Only eighty five years?”
“Eighty five. We received that. Stand by…..”
“What do you think they’re up to?” SX7655 asked on a private channel.
“Beats me. Have you ever seen a uniform like that? With all that red?”
“Nope.”
The voice crackled over the comlink. “SX1356, retrieve the corpse. Keep the airlock secure. We will send a squad of troopers and a repair crew over.”
The two Zero-G troopers looked at each other and sighed into their microphones. Dragged all the way out here for corpse duty…