Bear Witness

For the new Star Trek the Movie, see my posts: Star Trek: Movie Review and

New Star Trek Movie Trailer and the Power of Myth.

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Okay. I’m not gonna be a self-help guru here, but I will tell you what happened to me.

I think my number one thing I’ve always wanted to do was to write for Star Trek. Or for some TV sci-fi series. I think I liked the idea of developing characters through adventures together, and writing with a team of people. And seeing that each episode became something that added to a whole. Maybe, too, I was disappointed by the squandered potential of Enterprise. I felt like Season One was underdeveloped; no one died at all and this was our first time into space…. The characters had potential but they were never utilized and the plots were dull. When the season finale came up, and the new season premiere completed it, I was sure that the problem was the writers–or the writers had been hemmed in by too many rules, I don’t know….

So, today I was complaining about how little time I have to write and that I’m working too much, and I told a colleague about my silly dream of writing for Star Trek, and she said, pulling out a notebook and a pen: Okay, let’s write for Star Trek.

The next two hours were a blast! We created a whole cast of new characters drawn from the Star Trek universe, and some from my own brain, and then created a series—what we do in season one, season two , season three. I had high hopes for the series—hehe. I learned that without a series going on, of course, selling a new series would be very difficult, and two, that Pocket Books really wants books with major characters who have appeared on the show–not your own. Who knows if one can write “similar” Federation type settings for books that are not Star Trek, but obviously borrowing the universe-structure. If anyone knows if publishers can’t stand ST-like books, let me know….but I may write this up as a novel pitch.

I have nothing to lose for trying. And that’s kind of what today proved to me. Laurie, my colleague, proved to me by pulling out the notebook and pen that sitting around and complaining does little good, and that it’s better when you just do it. If you want to write for Star Trek, do it. Create what you want. Perhaps with some positive energy, I can a) sell a TV series! or b) sell a book. Who knows? But I do know I’m several steps closer than I was. And I loved brainstorming with Laurie. It picked up my mood, and made me feel as if I were closer to my goals.

So, maybe don’t look at all the obstacles–just do it. You might as well have fun–and who knows–the product might be salable outside the frame you thought you wanted to work within. It was fun creating, and maybe that’s the whole point.

(I’ve just, of course, shown my complete geekness to the world….but multiple character arcs, episodic TV and science fiction are fun. Maybe I should just go ahead and create the Television Station that will run my show! Hey, Laurie—get out that notebook!)