© CanStockPhoto/rustyphil
In my earlier post, Knowing When to Quit, Part One, I talked about redundancy. This time I’ll discuss another way to overwork a story. Creating over the top scenarios or plot lines which don’t connect well with the earlier story. This can be especially problematic when you’re writing a series. There simply comes a point when your story, even if it’s a series, has to end. Otherwise it may become absurd or even bizarre.
I’ll use an example familiar to most of us. Star Trek.
I grew up watching the original Star Trek. The characters, human and alien, were compelling and believable; so much so that they became iconic. However, by the third season, the writers seemed to be running out of ideas. The ridiculous storylines in some of the later episodes hurt the integrity of the series. NBC then cancelled the show. Afterward it went into syndication where its following grew.
The movies started ten years later. The original characters were back. However, they were older and they’d changed over time. This kept them interesting. The final original cast film, Star Trek The Undiscovered Country, completed their storyline with a well thought out ending. In the meantime, three new television series, Star Trek the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, created a plethora of interesting new characters with plenty of potential for exciting new stories. They were followed by a series of movies featuring the Next Generation cast.
Sadly, it was all lost for me with Star Trek Enterprise, and the most recent movie series. Enterprise, the fifth TV series, was a prequel. And prequels, regardless of the genre, can be problematic. To me, it was lackluster, and I soon lost interest. The movie series, also prequels, featured younger versions of the original characters. They too were disappointing. The stories took place in a parallel universe, so all of the interesting back-stories established in the original NBC TV series were gone. I found it way too confusing, and it certainly wasn’t the Star Trek I’d known and loved for decades. Sadly, the last movie series ended after the untimely death of one of the actors.
This is what happens when you run out of ideas. You lose the integrity of your story, and you risk losing your following as well. As storytellers, the two hardest words for us to write are, “The End,” but write them we must, as all stories must end. Otherwise, in the words on my college painting professor, you really do turn your work into mud.
Gayle Martin