Join us for another interview in a series which highlights the winners of awards from our 2401/2024 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 Commander Genkos Adea playing a male Betazoid serving as the First Officer aboard the USS Eagle. He won the Jake Sisko Prize: “Awarded to members of the Federation News Service Team who regularly go above and beyond in their contributions and participation. These team members demonstrate passion and ingenuity in editing and composing news reports, assisting in the upkeep of our In Character news service, the expansion of the 118 cosmos, and providing inspiration for our members.”
Harford: It’s been a little while since we heard from you in an interview. Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself, the writer and what you’ve been up to since we last heard from you?
Adea: Of course! I’m a Brit from what is currently a sunny south-east, and I work in theatre, running both a box office and my own production company. Since my last interview we’ve expanded quite a bit – last year was our tenth anniversary, and we performed three plays in one day!
The award you won last June was for your contributions to the SB 118 News. Do you mind telling us a little about that? How did your journey here in 118 lead you to receiving the Jake Sisko Prize?
Ah, well, I don’t actually do all that much for the FNS (Federation News Service) but what I do is apparently of value. One of the most common articles we get in the FNS is the monthly ship report, and my main role on the FNS is to proofread these. As you can imagine, there are quite a few of these (one for every ship x twelve months of a year) so it can take a bit of time.
As someone who’s been a First Officer a few times (my newest role on the Eagle is my third time in the chair), I’ve had the pleasure of writing these quite regularly over the years, so I’m pretty familiar with the format and what we’re looking for. So it’s fun to work these into the way the FNS likes to publish them. Plus it means I keep up to date with what’s going on around the Fleet – I am inherently nosy.
Walk us through your process for character development. How has Genkos changed since you began writing him? Did any of those changes surprise you?
Great question. I’m quite reactive in my character development; all my favourite plots and developments have been in response to things that have happened in missions, etc., as opposed to actively seeking / writing my own plots for Genkos. An example of this would be when I first transferred off the Gorkon to the Resolution – personally, I fancied a change, and so jumped at the opportunity of being there for a ship launch. Genkos, however, has never really had much desire to advance above being a Chief Medical Officer, so I had to craft a breakdown – that the ship had simply taken too much of a mental toll on him for him to remain. And considering that the one time he’s been back the crew were sucked into his mind, he might be correct.
The change that’s surprised me is ambition – as I’ve said, Genkos himself hasn’t really had much, whilst I (Elliot) have wanted to reach Command for a while. To make that work, I’ve focused on Genkos’ dedication to duty, which has led to some interesting results. I would also be remiss to not say that Genkos was very much written originally as a bit of a Betazoid lover boy, but since meeting Kalianna Nicholotti, that has quite rapidly changed – for the better, I might add.
Part of collaborative writing is taking into account the stories and characters of your fellow writers as well as incorporating feedback. What is your approach to keeping your writing collaborative and supporting the plot points of others?
There’s a common phrase in improvisational theatre that also applies to SB118, you’ve probably heard it before, but it’s “Yes, and”. That’s how I approach every sim I write – how can I agree with what’s been simmed already, and then carry on from it. It’s always about positively moving on a plot (of course the outcomes can be negative, but your writing should always be additive).
This doesn’t mean you can’t be confrontational, contradictory or negative, but these should be 1) purely in character and 2) adding to the story rather than taking away. Conflict is the essence of drama, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of feelings. However, it’s also worth saying that a thick skin can be beneficial.
What advice have you received since joining the community that you wish you’d had at the beginning? How has that advice molded you as a writer or changed your writing process?
Oooh, now this had me stumped for a little while – not because I’ve never received any good advice, because I have, but which part to choose. I think, though, I have to say that Marissa (Kalianna Nicholotti) has given me an incredibly good piece of advice that I refer to quite often (hells, she even said it to me today) which is “just write”.
Now, that might come across as flippant or dismissive, but what it really means is this: don’t second guess anything. Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone at the beginning, but if you’ve been here awhile you’ve probably honed your instincts pretty well. So therefore, don’t worry too much about whether you’ve written the correct thing, or that what you’re about to hit send on is some kind of bombshell, as long as it doesn’t break the logic of the mission or seem unrealistic within the world, just write.
Unless you’re really about to have a Borg beam into the bridge during your routine survey mission; in that case, maybe talk to the staff.
Thanks for your time, Commander Adea!
You can read more about Genkos Adea on the wiki.
