Star Fleet Battle Writers Group Archive By George M. Ebersole (George) on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 09:29 am: Edit To all authors and would be authors, is anyone here interested in forming a writers' group for SFB and GURPS PD fiction? This can be a local thing where we meet in person, or an email discussion group. Post your thoughts here or email me By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 04:06 pm: Edit Good idea! Count me in. By George M. Ebersole (George) on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 04:28 pm: Edit Thanks John, but it was Sean Bayan Schoonmaker's (Schoon) idea. He bought a TOS DVD from me the summer before last, and suggested the idea. Unfortunately I was too busy with other things to really entertain the idea. Some questions to consider; 1) What kind of fiction should be written? (themes, etc.) 2) What're the easiest stories to convey? 3) Experimental fiction? 4) How should we communicate with one another? By George M. Ebersole (George) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 03:13 am: Edit Well John, it looks like it's just you and me. Where do you want to start? By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 12:09 pm: Edit My basic goals in writing a SFB fiction story, in approximate order of importance. 1) to entertain the reader with an interesting story and good characters; 2) to expand the history and background of the SFB universe, by filling in the blanks of things not yet established or fleshing out those things that exist only in skeletal form; 3) to take advantage of a unique opportunity to make some small contribution to this corner of the larger universe of trekdom. By George M. Ebersole (George) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 02:19 pm: Edit Those are good motivators. I also just want to write good stuff. I'm not big on the whole historical thing. I've written a lot of action oriented stuff, and I like that genre, but I'm more of an episodic kind of guy (albethey long episodes). What do you like about the GW history that attracts you? By Jon Berry (Laz_Longsmith) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 02:26 pm: Edit I'll sign. I have been woriking on an Orion story, and am suffering from writers- block. -- JonB By George M. Ebersole (George) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 05:15 pm: Edit Cool. By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 05:43 pm: Edit George: Well, the whole universe attracts me. I got into SFB because of TOS, and I think the history that's been worked out over the years makes more sense in most ways than what the franchise has done. The GW is interesting simply because I'm interested in military, political, and diplomatic history. But the rest of the history, not just the GW stuff, is fascinating too. I especially like the Fed/Kzinti War, and really want to do more with that in terms of scenarios and stories. I'm often more interested in developing background and a history that makes sense rather than the action stuff, although I like that too. But I find the history/background easier to write than the action scenes. That's one reason I've been so excited about GPD...because we can do fiction and stories and background without having to worry about it fitting into a SFB scenario. I'm working on a GW story now though. By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 05:48 pm: Edit Continuing on a theme: One of the things I like most about TOS is that Star Fleet is a muscular military in the service of a liberal state. Although Roddenberry in his later years became a pacifist, back in the mid-60s he was a more traditional somewhat hawkish liberal, at least if the scripts to "A Private Little War", "Omega Glory," and many other episodes are any indication. Since "somewhat hawkish liberal" is my own orientation, I appreciate this. Of course, maybe that's my orientation because I grew up watching TOS and it influenced me! The franchise shows (with the exception of DS9) have forgotten the pro-military flavor of TOS, but SFB has not. By George M. Ebersole (George) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 06:37 pm: Edit Yeah, I can see that. I was particularly excited about the GURPS PD move because of the huge amount of venues it opens up. One of the drawbacks is that not all of the source books are usable as such, but for myself they provide a good deal of inspiration. I came up with approximately ten storie concepts after the announcement for GURPS, only five of which really fit inside a SFB/Trek frame work. But even those stories are more about exploring the possibilities of "going way out there" as opposed to venturing through a domesticated galaxy (a-la TNG). I think your observations on Roddenberry are spot on. I think I would take those thoughts a step further and might label him as a Wig. For myself his "liberal" politics, from the way I was raised, fall more in line with the classic definition of the word, and not the political connotation it's taken on in the last century. That being said I think he kind of lost track of himself, and his shows followed suit. And yeah, I guess we've discussed the politics of Trek and all that on the other thread. Ever since I saw Klingons yell up at the sky when one of theirs passes on I've always thought real Star Trek to be dead. I'm glad DS9 has such a huge following, and it seems to be favored by a lot of folks. I have to confess I never saw much of it, but what I did see was pretty decent. Getting back to GURPS: I talked about this with a couple of other folks (two in my current gaming group, and a few others via email), and one of the thorns in my side was the restriction put on some of the usage of the GURPS moduals. And where I can totally understand why that's there there's still a part of me that wonders what it would be like to put Kirk and Spock on Planet Krishna Call it an evil fantasy. I don't know if you or anyone else'll remember, but I wrote an e-novel on the old fiction thread before the site got revamped. It was about the old Fed-CVA (or CVA(O)) battlegroup venturing corewards, where they ran into a bunch of races off of Sean Young's Core Worlds website. I had fun doing that because I got to write stuff that I had always wanted to, and I didn't feel myself restricted to Klingons and their various ship classes and idiosynchrosies. I like Klingons. I think they're fun to write about. But back then I wanted something different. Yeah, Star Fleet's a military organization. In Jeremy Grey's words "they're not a peace corp with guns" By Randy O. Green (Hollywood750) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 07:33 pm: Edit Too late to join? If not, count me in also. By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 08:14 pm: Edit I wouldn't mind finding a proof reader for some stuff. By George M. Ebersole (George) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 08:17 pm: Edit More coolness. Welcome guys. By Donovan A Willett (Ravenhull) on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 10:17 pm: Edit I'll step forward too. Now if I can just get those revisions in. ;) By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:31 am: Edit I've tried to write fiction for years. Unfortunately, it comes out really stinky. Maybe I can figure out what I'm doing wrong with help. MJC: I'd be happy to proofread for you (or anyone). Use my regular email. By Piotr Orbis Proszynski (Orbis) on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 11:37 am: Edit I am interested. However, given personal issues between George and me, I am quite willing to observe only, without commenting, for the sake of the group. Writing criticism can all too easily be taken personally, and given how each of us is the red flag to the other's bull... Until being asked to shut up, though: GE: Some questions to consider; 1) What kind of fiction should be written? (themes, etc.) 2) What're the easiest stories to convey? 3) Experimental fiction? 4) How should we communicate with one another? 1) No preference. PD should be opening whole new vistas of stories possible to be told. 2) the ones for which there is the most background already, i.e. General War battle fiction. 3) Yes please! But what does it mean? Experimental in technique or experimental in setting or... 4) a Yahoo Group should be easy enough to start and manage. JS's goals: 1)to entertain the reader with an interesting story and good characters; 2) to expand the history and background of the SFB universe, by filling in the blanks of things not yet established or fleshing out those things that exist only in skeletal form; 3) to take advantage of a unique opportunity to make some small contribution to this corner of the larger universe of trekdom Of these, 2 would be my primary motivator. For 1, I only try to entertain myself, and for 3, I don't really feel like a fan of Trek as much of SFB proper.