hi tom. personally, i don't see anything wrong with being inspired by other tv series. to be inspired isn't to copy as long as it's done in a way that shows it's your own work. i mean, what's the difference between a tele porter, transporter or transmat beam?
however if you want a bit of original science fiction i can point you in the right direction. try the commonwealth series. first starting with pandora's star. you should find it on audible. also stormwarden that's the start of another series. both very cleverly written. either of those books should help to add some additional ideas there. Sent from my iPad On 11 Aug 2012, at 02:54, Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Dark, > > Sounds fair enough. Heaven knows I could use an extra person to help > me develop ideas for a great space exploration adventure. Its not that > I'm out of ideas precisely but that I've gotten set in my ways. Over > the years I've been heavily influenced by other people's ideas and its > hard to separate that from my own ideas. > > What I mean by that is I'm a child of the 70's and 80's. I was around > when Star Wars was introduced to the public, I became a huge fan of > that particular science fiction storyline, and it has become a major > influence in my life. I've read books, collected action figures, > watched the movies, and now its a part of my life. > > At the same time I was around when Star Trek made its major come back. > When the show was canceled in 1969 everyone pretty much assumed that > it would fade away, be forgotten, and never be heard of again. > Throughout the 70's though a strange thing happened. As Star Trek went > through reruns it became more popular in syndication than during its > original 1966 to 1969 run. Inspired by this serge of new viewership > Paramount came out with Star Trek the Motion picture, and the other > sequels. Eventually, Paramount would go on to create three new > series: Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager, and Enterprise which > were more popular than the original show that started it all. > > Bottom line, you can pick any classic SF author from the 40's, 50's, > and even the 60's and they all could think out of the box. There was > no extremely popular science fiction movies or weekly television > series to influence their writing and compare their work to. In fact, > all of the early science fiction movies like War of the Worlds, the > Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, the Blob, etc were given > B movie status. No producer or film studio was going to go out on a > limb to make a big budget film dealing with aliens, UFOs, and space > travel. Big budget SF really didn't come into its own until movies > like Star Wars put science fiction on the map for the average person. > > The end result of all this is growing up my primary sources of science > fiction were Buck Rodjers, Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, > Lost in Space, the Invaders, and V.That's not such a bad thing per > say, but certain things like Star Trek have both inspired my > imagination and dulled it at the same time. > > To give you an example of what I mean I'll take you back to a high > school class assignment. My teacher posted several pictures on the > board and we were suppose to pick one and write a story about it. As > it happened one of the pictures was a spaceship, and I naturally > picked that one. > > Now, I obviously wasn't allowed to write a story about Buck Rodjers, > Star Trek, Star Wars, or any other well known sci-fi series. I > remember spending a couple of days struggling to think of something > original.In the end I couldn't do it. What I ended up with is a Star > Trek wannabe with some Star Wars references thrown in for good > measure. > > For example, instead of the Star Trek communicator I decided to borrow > the Star Wars comlink for my crew. Instead of carrying phasers my crew > were carrying around hand blasters. Instead of ship phasers I think > the ship had ion cannons. Like where have wee seen this technology > before? > > Of course that was Star Wars contribution to the mix. Warp drive, > transporters, tricorders, and several other things were from Star > Trek. The Cydonians was an obvious reference to the Cylons from > Battlestar Galactica. On and on I could go. I think I probably lifted > every good idea anyone ever had from some sci-fi series or another. I > didn't invent or create anything on my own. It took me several years > before I realized why I disliked the story so much. > > When I got into college and took a creative writing course the > instructor taught us how to outline our thoughts, flesh out ideas, and > give them substance before we sat down and wrote any kind of story. He > taught us how to filter out ideas that were used by someone else and > either improve it or replaceit with something more unique. As it > happened that course did improve both my writing and my next attempt > at a science fiction story was much better. > > It was about this time when I realized exactly why I didn't like my > earlier attempts at a science fiction story. First, they were not well > thought out. I was just writing by the seat of my pants, and I threw > things together as I went. Second, when I couldn't think up some new > technology on the spot I borrowed some idea from another SF series and > hoped I wouldn't get caught. Finally, when I turned in the final draft > of my story I knew it was a mosaic collection of stolen ideas and I > hadnt written anything original. It was,as I said before, a Star Trek > wannabe without being the authentic article. > > I guess the point of all of this is that while I can sit down, outline > a new story, create new and original content, I've always felt like it > is substandard work. In my mind I'm trying to compete with Star Trek, > Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, for attention. Who is ever going to > want to read a book I write when Star Trek etc is so much more > popular? > > As a result the majority of my creative writing has been focused on > writing Star Trek fan fiction. I've written hundreds of pages of Star > Trek fan fiction over the past 10 to 15 years, written some Star Wars > fan fiction, and I've gotten set in that mode of thinking. It seems > even harder now than it did 15 years ago to write something totally > new and out of the box so to speak. I've gotten set in my ways, and > have gotten use to relying on someone else's ideas for a crutch. > > That is why I think I've been so dissatisfied with Mysteries of the > Ancients. While the game's storyline is my own the idea for the game > was inspired by Tomb Raider. I've always felt like I have been > competing with Tomb Raider, and that my own efforts at it is a cheap > knock-off or wannabe. What I'd really like to do is start over with a > totally new character, storyline, and really rewrite the game from > scratch. However, I'm not at all sure the VI gaming community would > like it if I changed the game that much. Not to mention it would be > expensive if I had to purchase new sounds, music, and everything else > it would take to create something totally unique and original at this > point. > > Cheers! > > > On 8/10/12, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: >> hi tom. >> >> Actually I might take you up on that once my thesis in finished, ---- though >> >> sinse I'm thirty soon myself hopefully I won't lose all my! mad ideas :d. >> >> Actually I did have an sf plot for a game and setting in mind, but I'll >> discuss that with you off list as and when I have time to write a full >> synopses. >> >> Beware the grue! >> >> Dark. > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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