Quote:
Originally Posted by bbusybookworm
I'll say no, but such a limitation can does reduce the number of options open to an author.
For good authors its not so much a problem, being able to make the most of any limits, indeed in many cases taking advantage of them.
On the other hand, in a series, if the author is not very creative, what you can end up with is a very formulaic predictable book.
I've ran into this in the past when I used to collect Star Trek novels, and the work was quiet uneven at times, with some authors like D.C. Fontana, Peter David, Diane Duane, etc. doing a great job, but many others not so much.
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Another part of that puzzle was that any book had to be approved by Paramount licensing, who had odd ideas of what a book ought to be. I know an assortment of folks who play in that sandbox, and they all have Paramount licensing stories to tell. (Like the book that got bounced because "The Federation would never
do that!", and the folks I know thought for about 5 minutes and came up with half a dozen
produced scripts from The Original Series where the Federation did
exactly that.
You have to wonder when they don't even know their own continuity.)
The line improved when John Ordover took over as editor. Previously, the attitude seemed to be "It will be a best seller because it's Trek, so we don't
care if it's any good!" John felt that given that, there was no reason
not to make it good as well. He insisted that anyone writing a Trek novel had already published a non-Trek SF work, simply to prove they
could write a salable book. And he promptly went around to everyone in SFWA and said "Why don't you write a Trek book for me? You can probably do it in a month or 6 weeks, and what I pay you will keep food on your table, clothes on your back, and a roof over your head while you work on other things." Unfortunately, even some published writers who were Trek fans and would have loved to write for Trek knew they couldn't write one that would pass muster at Paramount.
But any line based in an established setting has those constraints. You have to maintain continuity, and not violate canon, which can require a fairly frightening amount of research. And you normally can't kill off major characters. In addition, you have to try to maintain the style and tone of the source, which can be a challenge.
It's possible to transcend the boundaries of the form and do something exceptional, and a few have done so, but mostly the best you can expect is competent formula. (There was one Trek novel that had some fans rolling on the floor, because the author had managed to portray Kirk and Spock as "slash" characters, with Spock as an unapproachable ide figure, and Kirk as a passionate diva longing for him. The folks vetting the book at Paramount were style deaf, and completely missed the sub-text.
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Dennis