in which i finally make the big announcement

I've struggled with an appropriately dramatic way to make this announcement, and have come to the conclusion that the best way to do it is in the following style:

I'm writing a story for the second volume of Star Trek: The Manga.

Pretty cool, huh?

If you're unfamiliar with the first volume of Star Trek: The Manga, TokyoPop and Memory Alpha have all sorts of exciting details for you, some of which look like this:

Like that television classic, these new journeys venture into the terrain of social politics, personal reflection...and bare-knuckled brawls between the dashing Captain Kirk and the galaxy’s most cunning alien species. Vulcan science officer Spock's unflappable logic, Doctor “Bones” McCoy’s flare for drama, chief engineer Scott's perpetual struggle to keep the warp engines online, and the never before told origin story of one of the Star Trek universe’s most popular adversaries, all come at you in a fresh, new style.

This came my way about a month ago, when Luis Reyes, the editor in charge of the project, wrote to me that he'd heard I was into this sort of thing, and that I "may be interested in contributing."¹

Initially, I was terrified at the prospect of creating and writing this story, but this voice in my head kept saying, "Dude, this would be so cool! Come on, man, let's do this!" Ultimately, I decided that if I'm going to truly call myself a Writer, and if I'm truly going to write that novel someday, I've got to tackle fiction sooner or later . . . and what better way to test myself than with characters and a universe that I already know?

Of course, as soon as I got to seriously working on it (and had Kirk say"Captain's Log . . ." for the first time) I realized that even though I have a bit of a safety net with this project, the very fact that I am writing an original series Star Trek story means that the safety net is actually built out of barbed wire. And there are alligators crawling around on it, and monkeys with BB blowguns are constantly shooting at me while I walk across the high wire from "I have an idea" to "Okay, it's done!" Thanks to the tireless efforts of my friend Andrew, I haven't had to worry too much about falling off the wire (and I owe Andrew a huge debt of gratitude, because at one point I was ready to leap off the wire, and he talked me into staying on it. In fact it's not a stretch at all to say that this project wouldn't exist without Andrew's participation, and since I know he won't accept the credit he deserves, I'll just give it here) and throughout this entire process, what hasn't killed me has definitely made me stronger, so to speak.

Those of you who've read The Dilbert Future -- especially the last chapter -- may be interested in this next set of non-coincidental apparent coincidences:

• I've recently spent a lot of time reading and rereading some of the classic graphic novels of the last decade. A couple of them, Absolute Sandman and Absolute Dark Knight, have scripts in them, which I read long before this opportunity came my way. In fact, I studied them, because I thought, "Hey, I may write one of these someday in the mysterious future."
• My son Ryan conceived and wrote out a graphic novel of his own a few months ago, and for Christmas I gave him the Will Eisner books on Comics and Graphic Novels to use as a reference -- he was kind enough to loan them to me when I accepted the job.
• Around the same time I started writing my TNG Reviews for TV Squad (which are on hiatus until I hit my Manga deadline on Friday,) I found a complete set of TOS DVDs for the stupidly low price of like 79 dollars (that's a dollar an episode, dude. If that wasn't a sign that I was supposed to buy them, I'll have to retroactively come up with a better reason to justify the purchase. Retrocausality FTW!)

Yes, yes, I know that looking back at the last six months or so, it's easy to look at isolated events and pick out a pattern that fits the results, (and that's probably exactly what I'm doing,) but even if that's the case, it sure was lucky that those individual events lined up the way they did, isn't it?

I can't reveal anything about my story, though I wish I could tell you the title, which I love, and the artist, who I also love, and one of the other authors in the collection who may or may not out him or her or itself in the comments on this post . . . but I can tell you a little bit about the process:

This hasn't been easy. In fact, there have been a few days when I've been so plagued by insecurity, I've wondered if I'm up to the task, and questioned the sanity of stepping out of my comfort zone and accepting the challenge. Mostly, though, it's been exhilarating and terrifying all at once. It's like a roller coaster in my mind, man.

As I worked on it today, I realized that I had to throw out one of my favorite scenes, because it didn't serve the larger narrative, and it wasn't worth the hours of rewrites to force the narrative to accommodate it. A few times, I've found myself very pleased with some clever bit of dialog or stage direction, only to realize that the authenticity of the story and the characters was lost as a result, and I've been forced to wipe it all out. Strangely enough, it feels good to do both of these things, because I understand that this is a something real Writers have to face with some degree of regularity, and each time I do something real Writers do with regularity, I take one more step toward feeling like I've earned the right to be counted among them.

TokyoPop hasn't written an official press release about this project, yet, so this may actually be the first tube on the Internets that talks about it², which is kind of cool. There is a release date, but since they haven't made that information public, I'll just say that it's in the Mysterious Future.

Yeah, so . . . that's what I've been doing. Pretty neat-o³ huh?

¹As we've worked together, I've learned that Luis is all about the understatement.
²Don't worry, I have permission to talk about it.
³Sorry. Sorry. I've been looking for an excuse to say "pretty neat-o" for weeks, and this is the first non-sarcastic opportunity which has presented itself.

Comments

[Michael Doss]

Seriously. That's teh awesome. Congrats Wil! I'm a huge Sandman nerd, but haven't gotten into the manga that all the kids are talking about (not even the Death one). Now I guess I'll have to.

[Athol_Wolverine]

That's too cool. Will definitely have to check it out. Question: Were you tempted to kill off Kirk?

Anyway, just wanted to say that, as a writer myself, I know all too well that part of the creative process you're referring to when you talk about realizing the need to take out scenes or dialog because they simply don't fit the overall story as much as you'd really like them to.

Myself, I hang onto some of those scenes and bits of dialog with the hope they might fit into another story or suit other characters somehow down the road.

All for now... congrats on getting the project.

[LynnK]

Congrats!! Can't wait to read it!

[merindab]

ooh that sounds really awesome. As a teen I picked up some old TOS comic books and my favorite was a Peter David story. And I have a bad story of my brother purposely ripping the cover of my Star Trek:TMP comic.I barely avoided murder.

Anyway, I look forward to reading it!

[jeckles]

Hey man, congrats! That is big news.

Keep us posted. As a fan of Star Trek, comic books and Wil Wheaton... this is exactly the kind of thing I'd love to read!

[GrammaLolly]

Wil, Wil, Wil! WHEN are you finally going to realize and accept the fact that you ARE a writer and a darn good one?! You have a wonderful talent for telling a story and it's the one reason I check your site EVERY SINGLE DAY. I enjoy reading what you write.

[rmd]

okay, that's pretty fuckin cool, right there.

[Kristy]

That's fantastic news!! wheee!

And I'm proud that you're taking the leap. You'll never know if you can do it if you don't try. (*we* know you can do it! In fact, we know you *are* a Writer!)

[lornadoone]

Very, very cool. I can understand the thought of it being exciting to cut entire scenes because that's what "real" Writers do, although it is a scary thought. Heartfelt congratulations!

As for things lining up over the last several weeks or so: It might very well be hindsight that makes it seem like you were being prepared for this . . . but it might not.

Finally, a friend pointed me toward a new blog yesterday, and the first thing I thought was, "My husband would love this!" BUT, the second thing that I thought was "Wil Wheaton would love this!" (You got second billing, which ain't too shabby, really.) Anyway, you may already be aware of GeekDad, but if not, check it out: http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/.

[Clay]

Dude, that's freakin' FANTASTIC!!! Wil For The Win!

Can't wait to see the final product.

[Kel]

Congrats! That is so amazing.

[GeorgineVJ]

Congratulations, good luck, have fun, and I am SO EXCITED and I can't wait to see it!

[erin12]

(1) I have to echo GrammaLolly and Kristy: You are already a Writer. Be careful, or you might have a new monkey on your back named "Prove to Everyone that Wil Wheaton Can Be a Writer." You don't need that monkey, Wil. You are a Writer.

(2) I know a great place to dump all the cool scenes and bits of dialogue that have to be excised from the story: Right Frickin' Here! Dump that stuff on us. Don't feel like you have to dress it up or edit the heck out of it - treat the blog like a place to get out of your head the scenes or stage direction that you'd love to write but can't fit into the story. It's one of the great strengths of the medium - no surrounding narrative is required.

(3) Ryan wrote a graphic novel? That kid rocks. It must feel great to look at him and go, "My kid rocks!"

(4) Congratulations!

[Chuck]

Awesome! Or, to borrow Shane's phrase, HAWESOME!!!

[ExGeekDogTrainer]

Nifty. Yeah, very nifty, Wil. When my wife and I left decent public-sector jobs to become small business owners, I described the experience as frighteningly exciting. It still is, and I hope you keep that feeling as well. - g^2

[Alan]

That is awesome. I am so happy for you.

And I can't wait to read it.

[Mike Belrose]

Uncle Willy, don't make me whip out the Roosevelt quote, it's long and the people here have a short attention span...what would Stan Lee do?...come, on, good little soldier...stiff upper lip and all that...ok, you made me do it:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
I guess that's my way of saying, go for it. What's the worse thing that could happen, a bunch of computer geeks get pissy and name a newsgroup after you?

[Shamanix]

Firstly, congrats! Secondly, you're a Writer and have been for a good long while and I've been enjoying your Writing for almost two years now.

As for the story difficulties, look at the good side here; no matter what you write, you probably won't have to deal with the same sort of reactions that John M. Ford had after writing "How Much For Just the Planet?", which, from his telling of it, were mostly along the lines of, "WTF? Okay, you can do this, but nobody else will EVER get away with it again." ... in the good way.

And in response to several of the recent entries:

Munchkin. \m/.

Rocks Fall; Everyone Dies.

-Fin

[Mama Gaea]

I can't get rid of this big huge gigantic biggest smile in the whole wide world grin off my face. My lips just keep involuntarily retreating as far as they can impossibly possibly go!

CONGRATULATIONS! :D

Can't wait for it to come out. You rock!

[Eric in PA]

*does the ultra mega maca-cha-cha-lectric-jeebus dance of extreme and utmost happiness and joy*

DUDE! This totally rocks! We'll all have to keep our eyes open for the release date. It's like getting paid to do fanfiction, an experience I have yet to experience, though I wrote some in college.

I was really pleased to see that you really didn't say anything about any pressure or stress caused by your close connection to the Trek franchise, and I hope it's because that sort of thing didn't get to you as much as it would have years back. You know the reaction will be good no matter what, because you're an excellent Writer, Wil. Don't second guess yourself. Quite a few of us have your books, and not just because you're Wesley.

Hopefully this brings you a wider audience through both the Trek and Manga worlds. Who knows, reprints of JAG and DB might be in your future! This is a good thing, man, run with it :)

Are they gonna promote the issue in any special way since you're writing for it? Your name in a large font on the cover would be pretty neat-o for sure! And that's non-sarcastic for those of you scoring at home...

[kitlerm]

Needless to say, that's awesome!

[Exurban Mom]

This is so very cool. I've written things in a more academic setting, and remember well the feeling of "OMG, I spent 6 hours doing those data runs and writing the corresponding text to go with them, and I need to throw them out? Shit!....Wait-a-second...Aha! I see the light! Throw it out, baby! It makes things better!"

Still very painful to go through, but satisfying in the end. You go, Wil!

[pupdog]

Pretty cool, and the fact that you KNOW you're worrying about the story, ubercool scene be damned, means you're a real writer more than anything...

I'll be picking one up as soon as TokyoPop tells me I can.

[shewhobeatsass]

*stumbles out of World of Warcraft and into the blog*

SWEETO WIL! Congrats!

Now I have a reason to buy manga that isn't "My friend Kit says I must buy Fruits Basket or my liver is hers <<<(long involved inside joke)"!

Can't wait to get it! That's another thing the tax return is getting spent on!

[mferrell]

Congrats, Wil! I've really been enjoying your blog, the TNG reviews, and your appearances on InDigital. I'm really looking forward to reading Star Trek: The Manga.