My Strange New Worlds Rejects 2/2
Todd Wels
Alright, so I was going to enter this contest. I am a fairly
prolific writer when left on my own to do nothing, but alas, school
takes up a lot of my time and creative energy, in addition, I found
myself wanting to spend time with my wife, family, etc. Still, I
mean, c'mon, I had NINE MONTHS to come up with some prime material.
So, I decided what I was going to do: I would submit at least one
story from each of the series time periods. Like I said, at this
time, I had cranked out the first draft of the "Mystery Story" and it
seemed all right. There were a few problems with timing and dialogue,
but overall it seemed to tell a good and interesting story. I'd have
to go back and overhaul it a little, but I thought that it was time to
move on.
Like I said, I'd submit one story from each time period...and here's
where it gets interesting...let's bring out TODD'S REJECTED STORIES:
1. BLIND EYES: This was the first story that I conceived after the
"Mystery Story." It was set in the TOS era. Y'know how most episodes
focused on Kirk/Spock/McCoy on the planet, with a few quick flashes to
Scotty in command of the Enterprise...well, this story turns that
convention on its ear by actually focusing on Scotty on the bridge
when Kirk/Spock/Bones go missing, and what he and Chekov do to try to
find them. The problem I had with this story is that it was rather
cliched...Chekov gets shot...screams, etc. It was fun to write until
I realized the kind of story I was telling was not exceptionally
original.
2. RESISTANCE & ASSIMILATION: This was set in the TNG era,
specifically at the Battle of Wolf 359, in which Picard's
consciousness is kept awake even as Locutus uses his knowledge to
destroy the Federation fleet. The story itself takes place in the
span of less than half an hour, as the Borg use Picard's knowledge to
destroy a ship that is commanded by a former lover of Picard's. The
problem with this story is that it actually violated one of Ordover's
rules in a way since one of the principal characters in the story was
Picard's former lover. Still, I like this one, and will probably post
it here if I get around to putting the finishing touches on it.
3. SOLITUDE'S END: This was a Voyager story that dealt with a sentient
planet that lured the ship's crew down and attempted to destroy the
ship. Not great, but not bad. Some great dialogue between
Torres/Paris/Tuvok. Length was a real problem with this one.
4. THE GREATER DUTY: TOS has always been my favorite of the shows, and
I found that most of my ideas revolved around those characters. In
this story, Spock and Bones are trapped when a Federation mining
colony, on a planet jointly settled by the Feds and the Klingons, is
devastated by a mysterious earthquake. Spock is injured and orders
Bones to leave him. Bones tells Spock that he's "a doctor, not a
soldier." Spock replies that he is both, and that his greater duty is
as a soldier. Bones defies Spock's order to leave him and stays.
Eventually, they are found by a young Klingon soldier. The three of
them compare notes, and find that the Klingons blame the Federation
for the quakes and vice versa. With that settled, they settle on a
truce. Unfortunately, the Klingon violates the truce when Kirk and a
team from the Enterprise are the first to locate them. The Klingon
takes Spock and Bones hostage, and is about to kill Spock when Bones
jumps him. The scuffle is brief, but somehow, Bones winds up with the
Klingon's disruptor. When the Klingon refuses to surrender, Bones is
forced to kill him. Spock tells Bones that he succeeded in "the
greater of his duties at the time", but Bones is left wondering
whether if to adequately perform his duties as a soldier, he has to
violate his greatest duty as a doctor: "First do no harm." I liked
this story...it had a lot of dramatic impact on me when I started
writing it. Still, the Spock and McCoy trapped together thing had
been done in both "Galileo 7" and the one with Zarabeth, whose title I
just can't seem to remember. Besides, as I went through this one, I
found myself going back to the "Mystery Story" and cleaning up
dialogue, etc.
5. THE WOLF'S LAST CRY: This was a TNG-era story in which Troi gets
possessed by the "Redjack" entity from "Wolf in the Fold." Why Troi?
Because as an empath, the fear absorbtion is magnified. In the end,
the saucer is evacuated, leaving only her and Data. This was a
sequel, and not a real inspired one. Besides that, there was a
something a little creepy about the fact that the Enterprise-D had
little kids on board, and that a nifty way for Redjack to satisfy his
fright jones was to scare the hell out of them...and, of course, kill
them.
6. TUG O' WAR: This story dealt with DS9 AND Voyager, which I thought
might be a big violation. Y'see, some scientists have come up with a
way to alter the DS9 wormhole so that it leads to other sections of
the galaxy. This would, among other things, end the
Dominion/Cardassian threat. Kira is, of course, concerned about the
prophets. She is assured that the alteration won't hurt them. So,
they head out in the Defiant to work this miracle.
Meanwhile, the Voyager encounters a new wormhole...that is too
unstable for them to use...but that leads back to the Alpha Quadrant.
Kim remembers hearing about some research into the area of trying to
create stable wormholes...and they set about trying to stabilize this
one.
Remember how those scientists said that this wouldn't hurt the
Prophets? Well, they lied. Kira and Sisko both get hammered with
psionic pleas for them to stop...which they try to do...
...except that the Voyager is using its engines/deflector dish and
some pseudo-scientific gobbledygook to shore up the wormhole so that
they can get home.
In the end, the Voyager's engines just can't compare with those
aboard the Defiant, and the Voyager is forced to shut down before they
overload and the wormhole vanishes...back to where it belongs...
7. WHEN HARRY MET CYRANO: This was a great one as well...yup, another
TOS story. Basically, Cyrano Jones gets an early parole from Station
K-7, and is duped by Harry Mudd into joining him in a dubious
enterprise that may upset the balance of power with the Klingons.
This one was quite fun ("Oh, pish-tosh, Captain Kirk; the Federation
Penal System has forgiven me my sins, why can't you?"). Length was
the problem with this one too...and the fact that the "Mystery Story"
was still whirling around the back of my mind, demanding more and more
attention probably had a lot to do with the fact that I just plain
didn't feel like trying to shorten this one up.
Finally, a week ago, last Monday, I made up my mind. I could either
try to finish many of these up...or I could concentrate on getting the
ONE that had kept bouncing around in my head, though I had "completed"
it countless times to a successful resolution. I decided that _one_
story that I felt was the absolute best that I could do would be
better than 2 or three others that might not pass my own muster, let
alone Ordover and the other guy's...so I took the "Mystery Story" down
to the post office and sent it in.
I realize that no one wants to blab about what they _did_ send in to
the folks at Pocket Books, but I thought that it might be interesting
to see what other folks decided was not good enough for them to send
in. I'd also really be interested in knowing how some people felt
about having to conform to Pocket's guidelines. For me, it wasn't too
difficult, save for that damned length thing...
Anyway, I hope that people either post or email me with responses.
Thanks...
--
"Rich men think that happiness is a million dollar bills
So how come half of them OD on sleeping pills?"
--Motorhead "No Voices In The Sky"
"We desire the almighty dollar, the pound of flesh,
The golden collar--
Lick the hand,
We leave our land for dogs!"
--Motorhead "Dogs"
"Don't say that word, I know it's only fools
Who do not know that fate is just.
All the justice in the world
Is not enough to buy my faith and trust."
--Motorhead "Don't Believe a Word"
JBiters
> I realize that no one wants to blab about what they _did_ send in to
>the folks at Pocket Books, but I thought that it might be interesting
>to see what other folks decided was not good enough for them to send
>in. I'd also really be interested in knowing how some people felt
>about having to conform to Pocket's guidelines. For me, it wasn't too
>difficult, save for that damned length thing...
> Anyway, I hope that people either post or email me with responses.
Tod,
Wow, how wonderful that you came up with so many good ideas. If any of them are
actually written, or partly written, I hope you'll consider finishing them and
submitting them to ASC.
During most of the time period I could have been writing for Strange New
Worlds, I was really tied up with Last Dance - not just my time, but my mind.
I knew I'd never be able write anything for the anthology until I had that
story out of my brain.
I had a good TOS story idea, and wrote nearly 4000 words - at which point I
realized I'd never be able to do the story justice in 7500 words. I possibly
could have done it in 10000, but even then I'd be sacrificing a lot. I do
plan to still write the story. It will be another long one. I don't want to
go into the plot since I do still plan to write it. But it's not a romance of
any type, it's post TMP, and will have a lot of action.
Overall, writing within Pocket Books guidelines is a bit challenging, but the
greatest challenge was the length, which for me proved impossible. I can
understand why they set such a tight limit. It helped assure a tight edit of
the story submissions, I think.
Congratulations on getting something submitted, Tod, and anyone else who did as well.
Beth
Gabrielle Leanne Lawson
JBiters (jbi...@aol.com) wrote:
Actually Tod wrote what I'm replying or what the person who I'm replying to
replied to. This is confusing, huh?
: > I realize that no one wants to blab about what they _did_ send in to
: >the folks at Pocket Books, but I thought that it might be interesting
: >to see what other folks decided was not good enough for them to send
: >in. I'd also really be interested in knowing how some people felt
: >about having to conform to Pocket's guidelines. For me, it wasn't too
: >difficult, save for that damned length thing...
: > Anyway, I hope that people either post or email me with responses.
I submitted one too. But only one. I didn't have a problem with the guidelines,
either. But if anyone read my If It's Not One Thing.... (and for the few who've
read the now finished Oswiecim) you know that keeping my stories under 750 KB
is hard let alone 7500 words. But I did it. Rang in at about 7464. Cutting it
close.
: During most of the time period I could have been writing for Strange New
: Worlds, I was really tied up with Last Dance - not just my time, but my mind.
: I knew I'd never be able write anything for the anthology until I had that
: story out of my brain.
This was my problem too. I've been working on Oswiecim, a DS9 story I'm going
to submit, for over a year. and I wanted to finish it by Sept. 28th. My passion
was there. But I did manage to write a decent short story (I can write short,
really. It just depends on the story.) which I submitted. You can rest assured
that if either of them are rejected, they'll more than likely end up here.
: Overall, writing within Pocket Books guidelines is a bit challenging, but the
: greatest challenge was the length, which for me proved impossible. I can
: understand why they set such a tight limit. It helped assure a tight edit of
: the story submissions, I think.
My philosophy is that each story has a length. Most of my Trek ideas are
long--very long. Both of my finished stories are around 600 pages double-spaced.
But that's what the story demanded. I purposely looked for a shorter plot for the
contest. I didn't want to miss that opportunity. If I can get published there,
it my halp my chances with the novel or even with (I really dont' like the fact
that my newsreader can't keep up with my fingsers, so I 'm not going to go back
and fix all the typos anymore, you'll just have to try and translate it into real
English on your own.) other writing.
: Congratulations on getting something submitted, Tod, and anyone else who did as well.
Thanks. It woul be great to see one our own asc writers in that little book,
wouldn't it? Or more than one perhaps.
--
--Gabrielle