1993 - 02/1993 Meeting

Page Created: 09/18/10. Last Updated: 10/27/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 06/03/08.

JOHN ORDOVER

A list of STAR TREK novels Mr Ordover has written or edited appears at: http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?tab=24&pid=359357

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: February 13, 1993.

Meeting Site: Yeager Domicle, Paramus, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 30.

Meeting Program: Talk by Pocket Books' STAR TREK book editor.

Notes:

Mr Ordover also spoke at the August 1996 meeting of the Association.

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

Our annual winter meeting at the Yeager house was held on Saturday, February 13, 1993. Robert Yeager and parents William and Alice displayed their usual graceful hospitality. The previous day's snow cut into our attendance and complicated the parking situation, but overall things ran reasonably smoothly.

Pre meeting activities were confined to a meeting of the Writers' Critique Group. The first chapter of VARDILISK, a fantasy novel by newcomer Elizabeth Apgar; THE THREE OLD CATS AND THE HORRIBLE WEEK, a YA fantasy novel by Charles Garofalo, and Patricia Nash's Michael Mc Carthy epic (the chapter in which Michael attempts to convince the police that he had been kidnapped by aliens and is laughed out of the police station) were read and discussed.

Philip De Parto, Eileen Madison, Kathleen Morrison, Steve Piva, and Bobbie Smith joined John Ordover and Virginia Wright at Science Fiction, Mysteries & More at 2:20 PM. John talked and answered questions until about 4:00. Among those in the audience were S. F. A. B. C.ers (past and current) Mark Blackman, Ira Donewitz, Susan Stone, and Alan Zimmerman. Before Mr Ordover's talk began, a Lunarian delegation presented Lunacon Honorary Member Walter Cole with his long overdue "Little Lunie" figurine.

Steven Ferrara joined us for dinner at the Ground Round on Route 4 in Hackensack. Cartoons, conversations, and John Ordover's bad puns and jokes kept dinner entertaining. ["How did the zen master order his hot dog? Make me one with everything." An author's write up of the society of hortas was referred to as "hortaculture."]

We arrived at Yeagermanse and were greeted by a civil-war uniformed Robert Yeager who directed us to his driveway. The Paramus Police Department forbade parking on the street because of the snow. The Yeagers had made arrangements for overflow parking at several nieghbors' driveways down the street.

The meeting started a little after 8:00. After the usual preliminaries, Pocket Books Associate Editor John Ordover was introduced, passed around the STAR TREK Books' Writers' Guidelines, and began to explain what they were looking for in a submission.

First of all, the work must be agented. Unagented manuscripts are returned unread. This policy accomplishes two objectives: it filters out a lot of poor manuscripts and it protects the company from charges of "stealing" ideas from new writers.

Pocket Books currently plans to do 14 STAR TREK Universe Books each year. This breaks down as six "Classic TREK," six "Next Generation" and four "Deep Space Nine" books. The company is also producing a half dozen books based on the movie/tv show ALIEN NATION.

One of the things John Ordover was hired to do was to improve relations between the TREK books and the rest of the science fiction universe. Mr Ordover had worked at Tor Books before going over to Pocket, and has recruited a number of well know science fiction writers to work for Pocket including past S. F. A. B. C. guest speaker Esther Friesner, as well as Robert Sheckley, K W Jeter, Lawrence Watt Evans and others.

One of the things that makes TREK novels difficult to write are that they are neither "girls books" (character driven) nor "boys books" (action plot driven), but both. A STAR TREK book must have a plot (something's gone wrong and someone must set it right) and characterization.

When a manuscript first reaches his desk, John reads the first two pages. If they are not competently written, he stops there and returns it on the theory that the author is not suddenly going to learn how to write on page three. His next stop is the outline. If the writer knows how to write but is violating the writers’ guidelines, Paramount is not going to approve the story, so why go on? Assuming that this hurdle has been passed, he reads the three chapters requested in the guidelines. If it grabs him, he'll ask for the rest of it. It it doesn't, better luck next time.

Our guest spent a good deal of time on the guidelines because the subject has engendered a good deal of confusion. Pocket does publish books which violate the guidelines. For example, Peter David is working on three novels set in Whorf's days at the Starfleet Academy. These were plotted by John Ordover and Kevin Ryan (the other TREK editor), cleared with Paramount every step of the way, and given to one of their most experienced writers. When the books are published, they'll become part of the canon. If an unknown author were to submit a book set in the Academy days, it would be bounced for violating the guidelines regardless of the quality of the book.

New writers must stick to the tried and true. The book must be set on the Enterprise or a planet the Enterprise is visiting. It must feature as its main character one or more members of the crew. This is not the place to introduce this wonderful new character who becomes the hero of the book. It must have a menace or danger. It should be written in a commercial, mass market (as opposed to experimental) style.

One thing that the books can do that the show and movies cannot is to let you see through the characters' eyes. Thus, it is never "Whorf walked into the room and sat down." It is instead "Whorf walked angrily into the room. He had had his honor questioned twice that day and had been unable to kill anyone. He sat down, his old hip injury giving a twinge."

One of the amazing things Mr Ordover had to say was revealed at Science Fiction, Mysteries & More. Peter David, an S. F.A. B.C. guest a couple of years ago, has written STAR TREK books in as little as eleven days. He is such a fast and popular writer that Pocket had offered to hire him to write all their TREK books. He would have had his own office, been given a salary, and continued to collect his standard TREK royalties and advances, but he turned Pocket down.

After the talk, Robert Yeager gave a tour of the house. You had to be there. There were about 15 of us at the Forum Diner afterwards.