Join us for another in a series of interviews with winners of awards from our 2401 Awards Ceremony. Our goal is to give you insight into how our fleet’s best simmers write, and imagine their characters as well as their out of character contributions and achievements.
This month we’re interviewing the writer behind Lieutenant Madison Marsh playing a Cenaturan Female Mission Specialist assigned to the Starbase 118 OPs. She won the Luminary Award: “Awarded to members holding the rank of Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, or Lieutenant. Officers qualifying for this award have shown outstanding promise in their future endeavors by displaying their skills in leadership, dependability, and dedication to the community.”
Harford: Tell us a little about the writer behind the character — where in the world do you hail from?
Marsh: I hail from North Carolina and graduated from the University of Georgia. My occupation is in big box retail management. I’m obviously a huge fan of Star Trek and many other Science Fiction properties whether it be television or film. I enjoy traveling whenever I can, the beach, watching sports (Love my Carolina Hurricanes NHL Hockey team, the Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Braves, and Georgia Bulldogs), fitness, and spending time with my friends and family.
Madison had a big career change recently from being a Medical Officer to becoming a Mission Specialist. Can you tell us more about how you prepared for that move and why you made it for your character?
Ever since I joined Starbase 118 Operations, I worked with Jamie and James (the Commanding Officers on Ops) on plotting out her course of development. I’d initiate conversations with them every couple of months. I started off as a medical officer to challenge myself in the field of medicine and to try something that was not necessarily an action role. Historically, I write characters who are more action oriented, so I wanted to change it up for a bit. In character, I sought out training in combat and command from Fairhug to develop her skills. She took the Kobayashi Maru and received phaser training. She worked with Lieutenant Tito on a project in astronomy to throw her out of her usual comfort zone by working in a different field and gain Science experience. Mission Specialist is a complex, jack of all trades role, that required several areas of development for Madison. I saw it as a new challenge for myself and for my character overall. I’m interested in moving up the ranks in the future, so this position also provides her with command experience which will help her along the journey.
You’ve gathered a rather large group of cross-ship connections for Madison. How does that bring value to your experience in the fleet?
Having friendships across the fleet brings value to my experience because I’m able to connect with other writers outside of Ops. This provides me with the opportunity to see the bigger picture, form relationships in the community, and it provides me with opportunities to write JPs. I love the crew on Ops, but it is also nice to write with others that you don’t see every mission to change up the pace. All Star Trek characters in canon have friends that serve on other assignments and connect occasionally. I want Madison to have that same opportunity and character depth. Her backstory has become much richer with ex-boyfriends and close friendships who are all written by other people. She’s recently moved in with her partner, Haukea-Willow, and even has a friend in the fleet that she’s known since she was sixteen!
Tell us a bit about your writing process. Do you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Is there anything you find particularly challenging or rewarding about writing Madison Marsh?
I have an outlined plan in place for Madison Marsh. That being said, the outline is not strict and can adapt to change. However, I feel that it is crucial to have set goals for your character. This helps keep the writer’s interest, have a direction to move in, maximize character relationships, and allows me to plan sims that facilitate the character development I seek for Madison. The medical sims were challenging, because they took critical thinking. However, the rewarding aspect was all of the training and development sims that prepared her for the role of Mission Specialist. I also challenge myself by writing a female character because it allows me to reimagine a different perspective as a whole. Perhaps my degree in Psychology helped me in this regard. However, I will occasionally reach out to women I know for outfit advice or to provide feedback on whether something I write for Madison is accurate to what a woman might mention or how she might react.
Finally, what advice would you give new players who might admire the way you’ve grown Madison Marsh as a character?
Communicate with your leadership team and let them know your IC and OOC goals. These can change over time, but the crucial part is to keep your CO, XO, and mentor consistently in the loop. Work with the team on developing a plan for your character’s progression. Take risks with your character, take charge on missions, learn from your mistakes, and always strive to strengthen your weaknesses through impactful character development.
Thanks for your time, Lieutenant Marsh!
You can read more about Lieutenant Madison Marsh on the wiki, here.
