How to Write a Star Trek book

So you want to write a Star Trek novel, and you want to know how to go about it. What would maximize your chances for success? How can you get your proposal read and evaluated by a Star Trek editor? Well, read on and know that Star Trek is alive and well with a new movie coming in winter 2008.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper and Pencil
• or a computer

1. You should propose an original Star Trek story that doesn't rely for impact on bringing back guest characters or following up on old plotlines from the various TV series and films. Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, wants to see something new and creative that fits into the existing Star Trek universe and mind-set.

2. Star Trek books are looking for exciting science fiction stories featuring Star Trek characters established on screen, in either The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, or Star Trek: Enterprise. So pick the series universe you want to write your novel. Then watch the shows for that series so that you really know your way around.

3. Write a premise for your novel. One of the best ways to do this is to write the cover blurb that will be on the book when its published. Go to your local library or bookstore and read the blurbs on some Star Trek books.

4. Now decide on your series and the characters in that series you want to focus on in your story. Then write the step outline for your book. A good way to do this is to tell what happens in each chapter.

5. Write the first three chapters of your book based on your outline. This is what you will submit to Pocket Books, plus a synopsis of the rest of the book.

6. Unless you are a previously publisher author, you're going to need an agent. A comprehensive list of agents can be found in The Literary Marketplace available in the reference section of any library.

Tips & Warnings

• Read Star Trek Fact Files, magazines and other books about the various Star Trek series to learn everything you ever wanted to know about the Trek world.
• All manuscripts MUST be submitted in 12-point type, double-spaced, on one side of standard white printer paper. The page number and your name MUST be at the top of each page. Your full name and address should appear on the first and the last page of the manuscript. (Yes, include your phone number and your email address.) These are the rules of Pocket Books, the Star Trek publisher.
• Do NOT submit proposals for stories focusing on your own original characters, or characters invented for previously published novels. Star Trek novels are generally 100,000 words in length (about 400 manuscript pages).

Resources

• The official Star Trek home
• Home of Star Trek books

[AudreyBrown]

on 9/29/2008 5 stars, I'm mostly a non-fiction gal, but I always say to my husband, "There's SO much more Next Gen we could've seen!" Maybe I'll just have to cross over into fan-fiction. I'm marking this as a favorite and will share it with others!