What have we learned from the T'nT sites?

[evcake]

If only the writing in some of the books were as good as some of the stories here.
IMO

[CoffeeCat]

^ will never happen until those in charge realize that they have no control over genuine creativity. The real writers take risks that the publishers aren't willing to take.

[TPoptarts]

I can use the smileys to the left, but I can't seem to use the smileys that come up when you click on "view more smileys." I must be doing something wrong...

In the window that comes up when you click on "view more smilies" you click on the smiley you want, then it'll post the code in that small window, top left corner and you have to like copy it from there and paste it in the text box. Might seem like the small smiley window closes after you click the smiley if it jumps back to the main window like it does for me, but it's still open just go back to it and copy the code.

[evcake]

Wheeee! Thanks! I wonder who designs smileys. I still think the one that blows up should make a tiny mushroom cloud.

[Elessar]

Wheeee! Thanks! I wonder who designs smileys. I still think the one that blows up should make a tiny mushroom cloud.

apparently nobody as tweaked as our evcake

[Reanok]

I love the new smilies that Monkey one is disturbing I think it's nice to have a variety to chose from.

[evcake]

Actually, I usually feel like this:

[M.M]

I like this one

[Shakabutt]

If only the writing in some of the books were as good as some of the stories here.
IMO

I understand ,but you got to realize that they try to please everybody ,while the fanfic here pleases us very much ,they have to think about us ,about those who want some politics and those who want action/adventure ,not just romance .
The one group that was left out ,was the Archer/T'Pol cult ,and thats why i love margaret clark

[Reanok]

Margaret Clark is terrific I enjoyed her comments about The Good That Men Do and the upcoming Enterprise books. Andy & Micheal did a great job with that book.I just wish Kobayashi maru was coming out this year instead of December 2008 . She will be giving updates and hints about the book once we get closer to it's release date or Andy will post book excerpts again I sure hope he does.

[Linda]

Has anyone from this site been submitting short stories or novel proposals to Pocket Books? Now that the Strange New Worlds contest is over, I am kind of at a loss for what and when to submit things to, for trying to one day break into the professional science fiction writers' market. I find it hard to wean myself away from the Star Trek universe where we are using known characters and backgrounds. I read the threads on Dean Wesley Smith's site and the tips people give there are a help. But I have heard so much about watching out when trying to find a literary agent to work with. And it seems a lot of publishers want you to submit through an agent.

[Distracted]

Linda, from what I've seen, in order to get a contract with Pocket Books to write Star Trek you've got to be an established writer with an agent. I'm not sure they'd even look at an unpublished writer with a ST manuscript. Why don't you try writing some original non-ST short stories and sending them to magazines? That's what I'm trying now, and once I finish season six I'll be devoting more time to it. All I've gotten so far are rejection notices, but I'm trying. Once a few of us get some non-ST related sales under our belts, then maybe we can get an agent and market ourselves as a group to Pocket Books.

[Linda]

Good advice, Distracted! I have some anecdotal nonfiction pieces under construction as well as some sci fi non ST ideas. I guess I should concentrate on those, though I have several ENT stories in various stages of construction which will be submitted to Triax or some other site eventually. I did have a short article on Robert Burns published in the international Burns clubs' quarterly journal a couple of years ago. Don't know if that qualifies as being 'published' to a fiction agent. I guess it does, in an academic way. You know, with footnotes and all. But it would be esoteric and dull to an agent unless they were into poetry and Burns.

[Jedikatie]

^
My uncle's been trying to get published for over 10 years (though not in the sci-fi/fantasy market; he started out writing a kid's story, but it kept ending in murder, so he changed to writing a more adult novel). And he's had several publishers interested in his stories, he's had actual meetings with those publishers. And yet... nothing so far.

Someone once told me that something like 1000 new books are published a year in this country (I have no idea how true that is, mind). And only a very, very small number of those books are by new authors.

So yeah, try and get something published in magazines or something first if you want to try and make it as a writer.

And definitely come up with your own characters--using someone else's established characters in a story doesn't mean that you are a good author, just that you're good at using someone else's characters. (Sorry, not trying to offend anyone with that statement). I say that because you didn't have to establish a background, personality, motivations, etc., for that character or a setting for them to be in when you use characters created by someone else. They've done that work for you. Coming up with your own little universe, with its particular rules and the like, is much harder...

(And I freely admit that I couldn't come up with something like that from scratch. I'm definitely in the category of someone who has to write using someone else's established characters in a universe that's already set up for me.)

[Linda]

Good advice, too, Jedikatie. When I look at what I have written, I seem to pick on minor ST characters and expand their personalities and situations. Then, I have some original characters that I throw in to interact with the regulars. Guess that is good practice, a way to get my feet wet, so to speak. And it is fun, even if I don't get any further with it. But writing is like an adiction, it is hard for me to stop, LOL.

They say that first novels are usually autobiographical. Well, I am sure most are. The one I have in mind definitely is so autobiographical that I am afraid the place and characters would be recognized, LOL. But I think it could be exciting because it involves first responeders - search and rescue within the Coast Guard extended family (regulars, reserve, auxiliary). AND, if I actually did it as non-fiction, I would have to run it by the Coast Guard for approval, let along an agent and publisher! Talk about hoops to jump through. Sometimes I think it would be better to turn it into a story about near-Earth private space yachts and the stupid things people do with recreational vehicles. Sometimes I think my pet rabbit is smarter than some people! Now there is something else to write about, how smart rabbits are. Oh, darn. Someone already did that. Its called 'Watership Down'. Nothing to do with water or ships by the way, but everthing to do with rabbits. And Human politics.