COLORS: A Trinitarian Quartet in Chromaticity
COLORS: ATrinitarian Quartet in Chromaticity
Author’s notes are a self-indulgence - a gift I give myself after spending hours writing a fic that others can read for their pleasure. I personally, have always enjoyed the chance to get inside an author’s head a bit, and see what influenced the decisions they made in a particular piece. So bear with me here.
This is a NuTrek (Reboot) piece. Why did I choose to set it in Reboot verse? Simple really… that is how it came to me. Now, it would have been easier for me to just shift it and write it as a TOS. Doing so certainly would have eliminated several of the difficulties I have encountered along the way. However, I wanted to compose a long fic in the NuTrek universe. Why? Because, unfortunately, I suspect it may be the only one I will ever write. Judging from comments by the writing team on NuTrek and others, I fear the next film will only further alienate me concerning the direction they are talking about moving. In short, I fully expect my heart to be broken - in which case it is not likely I will ever want to revisit this universe.
Why else is it significant that this is a story set in NuVerse? Because it has a major effect on HOW the characters interact with each other, the universe and the reader. I once read a Trek fic with Kirk and company that was not specified either TOS or NuTrek, and when I asked the author which crew it was written about, she replied, “Oh, it doesn’t matter…whatever you want.”
I beg to differ. It most assuredly DOES matter! It matters a great deal!
I am am old school TOS fan. I won’t apologize for that. Folks like me have kept this franchise going for over 40 years. If it hadn’t been for us, there wouldn’t BE a Trek 2009! When I went to see the new film in 2009, I left the theater feeling as though I’d been watching beloved characters through some kind of distorted circus funhouse mirror - that the characters, though familiar, were just slightly off kilter - some more so than others. Oddly enough, it took writing a long fic using the NuTrek revised bridge crew to really being to see just how different they are from my old friends. Several times while writing, the NuTrek characters acted in ways or said things that their TOS counterparts NEVER would have - at least not without being under the influence of some alien drug or mind probe or parasite or something. Some of this, I suspect, is due to the need to appeal to the coveted “youth” demographic by making the characters younger, edgier, and full of sass, and some may be due to the desire to toss out, “your father’s Trek” in order to allow JJ and Co. to make their own mark. Regardless of the reason for the changes, they left me questioning myself and my characterizations quite closely during the course of writing this piece. Many times, I found myself thinking, “How can Kirk say something like that! If TOS Kirk said something like that, McCoy would have him in Sickbay so fast he’d redshift!” Or “How can Spock be so pissy?” Or “How can Uhura be so insubordinate!” Yet it worked for the NuCharacters. At least, I think it did. I suppose that determination is ultimately up to my readers. It was quite an interesting and enlightening experience!
In addition, there was the whole Spock/Uhura thing. This was very difficult for me to tackle, as I am not a fan of that particular romantic relationship. At the same time, I felt it necessary to deal with it, and not simply ignore or dismiss it. To take either of these options, I felt, would be disrespectful to both characters. I hope I handled it in a way that all of my readers, regardless of viewpoint, can appreciate.
This particular fic grew out of a challenge to myself. I knew I wanted to write a NuTrek piece, but I was looking to do something different than my usual “pick a plot and expand” style. So I started looking around for unusual sources of inspiration - and one day while shopping at Lowes, I found it - a color wheel! Having no more than that to work with, I started putting pieces together. I decided to randomly assign Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels of color to three stories. Then, I used this as a template, and built three short pieces around each triplex of colors. Then I added a forth story based upon a neutral color scheme. In the end, I had four stories, each with three scenes each viewed from three different character’s perspectives! I did have to do some juggling around in that some stories start at the Primary level of the wheel and proceed toward Tertiary, and others flow the opposite direction.
Which brings us to this - a trinitarian quartet - for your reading pleasure (I hope.)
A very special thank you to some key people who helped turn this from simply another story collection, into a multi-media “project.”
- First and foremost, my baby sister (Shmoobiee) and fellow Trek fan, who acted as cheerleader and beta for my first draft.
- The folks at Star Trek Big Bang, who encouraged me to sign up and stick with it.
- KCScribble, who took time to do a fantastic beta job, despite writing her own BigBang fic.
-Xen, my talented artist who agreed to illustrate this piece, and Wyn, my songstress who provided the soundtrack.
Thank you all!
CHAPTER LINKS:
COLORS:Hue
COLORS:Chroma
COLORS:Luminosity
COLORS:Achromatic - Part One
COLORS:Achromatic - Part Two
Author’s notes are a self-indulgence - a gift I give myself after spending hours writing a fic that others can read for their pleasure. I personally, have always enjoyed the chance to get inside an author’s head a bit, and see what influenced the decisions they made in a particular piece. So bear with me here.
This is a NuTrek (Reboot) piece. Why did I choose to set it in Reboot verse? Simple really… that is how it came to me. Now, it would have been easier for me to just shift it and write it as a TOS. Doing so certainly would have eliminated several of the difficulties I have encountered along the way. However, I wanted to compose a long fic in the NuTrek universe. Why? Because, unfortunately, I suspect it may be the only one I will ever write. Judging from comments by the writing team on NuTrek and others, I fear the next film will only further alienate me concerning the direction they are talking about moving. In short, I fully expect my heart to be broken - in which case it is not likely I will ever want to revisit this universe.
Why else is it significant that this is a story set in NuVerse? Because it has a major effect on HOW the characters interact with each other, the universe and the reader. I once read a Trek fic with Kirk and company that was not specified either TOS or NuTrek, and when I asked the author which crew it was written about, she replied, “Oh, it doesn’t matter…whatever you want.”
I beg to differ. It most assuredly DOES matter! It matters a great deal!
I am am old school TOS fan. I won’t apologize for that. Folks like me have kept this franchise going for over 40 years. If it hadn’t been for us, there wouldn’t BE a Trek 2009! When I went to see the new film in 2009, I left the theater feeling as though I’d been watching beloved characters through some kind of distorted circus funhouse mirror - that the characters, though familiar, were just slightly off kilter - some more so than others. Oddly enough, it took writing a long fic using the NuTrek revised bridge crew to really being to see just how different they are from my old friends. Several times while writing, the NuTrek characters acted in ways or said things that their TOS counterparts NEVER would have - at least not without being under the influence of some alien drug or mind probe or parasite or something. Some of this, I suspect, is due to the need to appeal to the coveted “youth” demographic by making the characters younger, edgier, and full of sass, and some may be due to the desire to toss out, “your father’s Trek” in order to allow JJ and Co. to make their own mark. Regardless of the reason for the changes, they left me questioning myself and my characterizations quite closely during the course of writing this piece. Many times, I found myself thinking, “How can Kirk say something like that! If TOS Kirk said something like that, McCoy would have him in Sickbay so fast he’d redshift!” Or “How can Spock be so pissy?” Or “How can Uhura be so insubordinate!” Yet it worked for the NuCharacters. At least, I think it did. I suppose that determination is ultimately up to my readers. It was quite an interesting and enlightening experience!
In addition, there was the whole Spock/Uhura thing. This was very difficult for me to tackle, as I am not a fan of that particular romantic relationship. At the same time, I felt it necessary to deal with it, and not simply ignore or dismiss it. To take either of these options, I felt, would be disrespectful to both characters. I hope I handled it in a way that all of my readers, regardless of viewpoint, can appreciate.
This particular fic grew out of a challenge to myself. I knew I wanted to write a NuTrek piece, but I was looking to do something different than my usual “pick a plot and expand” style. So I started looking around for unusual sources of inspiration - and one day while shopping at Lowes, I found it - a color wheel! Having no more than that to work with, I started putting pieces together. I decided to randomly assign Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels of color to three stories. Then, I used this as a template, and built three short pieces around each triplex of colors. Then I added a forth story based upon a neutral color scheme. In the end, I had four stories, each with three scenes each viewed from three different character’s perspectives! I did have to do some juggling around in that some stories start at the Primary level of the wheel and proceed toward Tertiary, and others flow the opposite direction.
Which brings us to this - a trinitarian quartet - for your reading pleasure (I hope.)
A very special thank you to some key people who helped turn this from simply another story collection, into a multi-media “project.”
- First and foremost, my baby sister (Shmoobiee) and fellow Trek fan, who acted as cheerleader and beta for my first draft.
- The folks at Star Trek Big Bang, who encouraged me to sign up and stick with it.
- KCScribble, who took time to do a fantastic beta job, despite writing her own BigBang fic.
-Xen, my talented artist who agreed to illustrate this piece, and Wyn, my songstress who provided the soundtrack.
Thank you all!
CHAPTER LINKS:
COLORS:Hue
COLORS:Chroma
COLORS:Luminosity
COLORS:Achromatic - Part One
COLORS:Achromatic - Part Two