Some tips for writing
Fifth Fleet Stories:
·
Conflict drives drama:
No one wants to read a
story about the main character getting up in the morning, having breakfast,
going to an average job, having an average day, going home, reading the newspaper,
and going to bed to have pleasant dreams.
That’s boring! Whether it’s
fighting the Klingons, butting heads with diplomats, or fisticuffs between
Starfleet officers, conflict between the characters draws the interest of
the audience.
·
Don’t make your characters all-powerful:
Sure, it sounds fun to
make your character a member of the Q Continuum, but where is the danger
and drama when your main character can simply snap their fingers and the
danger disappears? Try to avoid
putting ridiculous constraints on your character just to help the stories
make sense by not making the character all-powerful to begin with!
·
Flesh out your characters, but not to excess:
Give your character an
interesting background, some hobbies and interests, and perhaps a deep dark
secret or two. But do not fill in
every blank regarding your character right from the start! You will merely be painting yourself into
a corner story-wise. You want to
leave some room for growth.
·
Your character isn’t the most important person in the
universe:
Additionally, don’t
make your character the crown-prince of their home world, smartest person
to ever exist, with riches beyond imagine, and a personality capable of
melting the heart of a Horta. Your
character can be a better focus for a story being the ordinary every-man
who overcomes adversity rather than the Übermensch
who is expected to win against all odds every time.
·
Your character should make sense:
It is highly unlikely
that a Borg Drone or a Romulan is going to be in command of a Starfleet
starship. While there can be rare
exceptions, try not to place characters into situations that make no
sense. If you REALLY want to create
a Klingon character, why not create the Klingon warship he or she is
assigned to? Or write a situation
that would logically explain your character’s presence in an unlikely
scenario. (Starfleet officer
exchange program, for example or a former Borg rescued from the
Collective.)
·
Ask for permission when using another member’s
character:
I don’t mean you have
to ask every time you write a character created by another member into
routine everyday scenes, but if you are going to write something that will
drastically alter another’s character in any way (ie.:
death, serious injury, marriage, birth of children) in a permanent fashion,
get permission first! Exceptions to
this rule can include fantasy or dream sequences, but the general rule is
“No killing or maiming another’s character without permission”
·
Use TV/Movie series characters sparingly:
We are fortunate to be
able to play in the sandbox created by Gene Roddenberry and many other
creative writers and with almost 50 years of TV and movie history to
support it. But this is the Fifth
Fleet, not Star Trek: The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. Our stories – for the most part – do not
‘star’ the characters created for those franchise installments. While characters like Picard and Janeway might make occasional cameo appearances or even
guest roles in our stories when the need arises, the Fifth Fleet Adventures
published to our Stories Archive should star our own characters, our own
starships, our own fleet.
·
Do not be afraid to create new races:
You do not have to
have your characters fighting the same old enemies every time. For every Borg, Romulan, or Cardassian that appears in a Fifth Fleet Adventure, we
also have a Kairn, a Morain,
or a Zaqri.
You can add any qualities you like to a race you create yourself,
plus not have to worry about being restrained by things that go against
established canon or may be contradicted by future productions!
·
Know your audience:
The Fifth Fleet
Adventures are written BY Star Trek fans FOR Star Trek fans. When you write your stories
you do NOT need to explain every little detail, like the entire plot of the
Next Gen episode you are borrowing a background character from or exactly
how a phaser weapon works. Gene
Roddenberry did not have one of his characters explain exactly how a
transporter beam works when he wrote “The Cage” in 1964, and you don’t need
to either. We all know Star
Trek. If any of our readers need
more information on a character or concept, there are plenty of websites
out there that they can refer to. Memory Alpha and Ex Astris
Scientia are among the best.
·
Be Descriptive:
Assume your audience
has never read a previous Fifth Fleet story before the one you are
writing. Make sure they know who and
what they are reading about. This
may sound contradictory to the previous rule, but the previous rule is in
regards to setting – the Star Trek universe (or at least our own small
portion of it). The audience may not
be completely familiar with the specifics of your story, so describe who
you are writing about… “Fleet Captain Peter J. Koester, commanding officer
of the Fifth Fleet Flagship USS Dauntless…”; the location you are setting
your scene in… “Kalin Kale lifted the old book off the shelf and gently
blew the layer of fine dust off the top of it before placing it down on the
table beside the emergency beacon and padd he had
just deactivated…”; and identify your characters… “K’danz
talked to her first officer Tom Paris as the pair walked down the
corridor…” vice “She talked to him as the pair walked down the corridor…”
·
Contractions:
Title contractions
(Lt, Dr, Mr.) are fine when used in regular sentences, but should be
spelled out when used in dialogue (“Lieutenant”, “Doctor”, “Mister”). However, never use words like didn’t,
wouldn’t or shouldn’t outside of dialogue.
Use did not, would not, or should not, etc.
·
Grammar and Punctuation:
Most computer word
processing programs come with a built in
spell-check and grammar review. If
you aren’t sure, ask! (Which leads
to…)
·
Everyone needs an editor:
Nothing gets published
on the Fifth Fleet website without the story going through story and
continuity editor Peter J. Koester, creator of the Fifth Fleet. The Fifth Fleet Adventures follow a
specific format and style, and must be edited to match that format prior to
publishing. The Story Editor also
makes sure (as best as is humanly possible) that stories do not contradict
one another (continuity). Once
edited, Peter will return each story to its author for final approval
before being published to the Archive.
Stories for
publication to the Stories Archive should be submitted to FifthFleetCaptain@gmail.com
