Worlds in Collision (78 page)

JRS:
We love the idea that they are a team with Kirk as the leader. They are a full team. That's a mark of our writing. We like ensemble writing.

GRS:
It also speaks to the strength of those characters. One of the things most enjoyable about those characters is that they are all different, they all have different opinions. They will squabble, argue, and even fight. But when they have to, when Kirk says, “OK, that's it,” they are all committed; the underlying principles of what brought them into Starfleet are not different for any of them. They unite. That's what I think makes them such rounded characters and so interesting to write.

JRS:
You don't realize what an achievement it was in the original series to have those characters so deftly drawn. They are like characters from literature, and it made them very satisfying to write. They are not shallow characters. We didn't know a lot about their backstories; you realize that everything was shown by how they reacted to one another. Once you actually look at them in detail, you have a very good grasp of them. I think that's why so many writers have enjoyed writing them in this shared universe.

KD:
Do you think it is owed as much to performances as it is the scripts in which the characters are depicted?

JRS:
Characters are a collaboration between the creators, the writers, and the performers. They all own the characters.

KD:
So when you're writing Kirk, you are hearing William Shatner's voice?

GRS:
Oh, yes!

JRS:
The character has a voice. We can hear the rhythms and hear him. It was a very strange thing for us when we first met him [William Shatner] in person. It was very difficult to hear that voice. And I'll tell you, it was even stranger to hear it on our answering machine.

GRS:
(laughs) The very first time we met William Shatner, he walked out of his office and into the waiting area where we were, and there was that shock of recognition that, “Well, Captain Kirk has just walked into the room.”

JRS:
In that very first meeting, you can't separate the actor from the character.

GRS:
And now that we have worked with him on eight books, it's “Bill,” and thinking, Oh, there's Bill on TV being Captain Kirk.

JRS:
We had a similar experience with James Doohan, who did the audiobook for
Prime Directive.
We did the script, which was the only one we have ever done—the novel came in at 125,000 words, and we were down to 11,500 words when he recorded it. We were so proud of ourselves that there was still a story left. (laughs) So we went down to see him do it, and it was something. He took great care and read it a little slowly so you actually could hear the story.

KD:
As fans yourselves, it's got to be a charge for you to see your works in the hands of other fans.

GRS:
It is, it is. There is such affection for this world.

JRS:
We feel it has been a real privilege to work in this shared universe. We never anticipated doing that. It has been something we have enjoyed from the moment it started.

KD:
And it certainly shows in your work. I very much appreciate the time you spent talking about this today.

JRS:
Thank you, too.