Professionalism on Talon and more
Mar 28, 2017 12:34:41 GMT -8
Lieutenant Robin Star, Lt. Commander Liz Sur'Shess, and 3 more like this
Post by Starfleet Command on Mar 28, 2017 12:34:41 GMT -8
I just wanted to clear up a couple of things that I've seen being misused lately.
1. Everyone, civilians and Starfleet officers alike, should operate in a professional manner around others of the crew. This includes calling them by their rank and/or last name when in a working environment, rather than by their first name, even if they are friends from way back. It is understandable that some officers who work closely together may call each other by first names if they are working alone, but in a group with others, they're still going to be professional when referring to their friend.
2. Starfleet Academy, whether on Etimon or Earth, is HUGE. Even if officers went to school in the same years, it is highly unlikely that everyone knew everyone else in their graduating class. If you want to make it so that you were friends with a member of your graduating class, you MUST have the permission of the other character's writer to do so. Heck, my high school class was a group of 500. I knew maybe two dozen of them by name when I graduated.
3. Officers are completely capable of looking up general information on their own and don't need to have others do it for them.
4. While the Enterprise was a very famous ship, it has been a looooooong time since those days. Please do not constantly reference things that happened on the Enterprise. It was not the only ship in the Fleet that did extraordinary things. We all know and love Star Trek, that's why we're here, but we want this to be an ORIGINAL story, not one that constantly references things that happened on the shows.
5. Please watch your character's reactions to things. If you have just been told you're going to die, it's highly illogical if their next reaction is to talk to someone while giggling and smiling. In addition, pay attention to what else is happening in your scene. If someone is yelling and shouting, at least reference that your character notices it, even if they choose to not say anything out loud about it. Ignoring another writers actions is considered rude and is inconsistent story-telling.
6. When something happens, stick to what your character knows. For example, it would be very silly for a security officer to whip out a tricorder and say, "hey, I see that Robin has high levels of Oxycontin in his blood stream." Sometimes, characters have to venture outside of their field, but at least start with what they are supposed to be doing on the ship. View the situation with that profession's eyes.
7. If you have time to write for only one of your characters, write the one that is involved in the main plot.
8. Know the ship. If you don't know already that this is the Talon-A, there's something wrong with your character. If I were a new officer on a ship that is not the original, I'd want to know exactly what happened to the prior one BEFORE I even boarded it.
9. Trying to solve things too quickly. If one character solves the mystery in the first couple of posts, where's the fun in that? Also if the same character is constantly "saving the day", it's taking that opportunity from other characters. Not every plot will have something extraordinary for every character to do, so it is up to you to figure out how to stay involved, even if your security officer is just guarding the door.
Are there other points I've missed? We're all here to create a great story, so please let us know if there are other items that need work.
1. Everyone, civilians and Starfleet officers alike, should operate in a professional manner around others of the crew. This includes calling them by their rank and/or last name when in a working environment, rather than by their first name, even if they are friends from way back. It is understandable that some officers who work closely together may call each other by first names if they are working alone, but in a group with others, they're still going to be professional when referring to their friend.
2. Starfleet Academy, whether on Etimon or Earth, is HUGE. Even if officers went to school in the same years, it is highly unlikely that everyone knew everyone else in their graduating class. If you want to make it so that you were friends with a member of your graduating class, you MUST have the permission of the other character's writer to do so. Heck, my high school class was a group of 500. I knew maybe two dozen of them by name when I graduated.
3. Officers are completely capable of looking up general information on their own and don't need to have others do it for them.
4. While the Enterprise was a very famous ship, it has been a looooooong time since those days. Please do not constantly reference things that happened on the Enterprise. It was not the only ship in the Fleet that did extraordinary things. We all know and love Star Trek, that's why we're here, but we want this to be an ORIGINAL story, not one that constantly references things that happened on the shows.
5. Please watch your character's reactions to things. If you have just been told you're going to die, it's highly illogical if their next reaction is to talk to someone while giggling and smiling. In addition, pay attention to what else is happening in your scene. If someone is yelling and shouting, at least reference that your character notices it, even if they choose to not say anything out loud about it. Ignoring another writers actions is considered rude and is inconsistent story-telling.
6. When something happens, stick to what your character knows. For example, it would be very silly for a security officer to whip out a tricorder and say, "hey, I see that Robin has high levels of Oxycontin in his blood stream." Sometimes, characters have to venture outside of their field, but at least start with what they are supposed to be doing on the ship. View the situation with that profession's eyes.
7. If you have time to write for only one of your characters, write the one that is involved in the main plot.
8. Know the ship. If you don't know already that this is the Talon-A, there's something wrong with your character. If I were a new officer on a ship that is not the original, I'd want to know exactly what happened to the prior one BEFORE I even boarded it.
9. Trying to solve things too quickly. If one character solves the mystery in the first couple of posts, where's the fun in that? Also if the same character is constantly "saving the day", it's taking that opportunity from other characters. Not every plot will have something extraordinary for every character to do, so it is up to you to figure out how to stay involved, even if your security officer is just guarding the door.
Are there other points I've missed? We're all here to create a great story, so please let us know if there are other items that need work.