Memory Book/Lance Firestarter

After going through various people's memory books, I decided it was time to finally add myself to the list. Apologies, but I will not be adding anything about my "real self." I do wish to retain my anonymity.

Below I will be talking about my various writing approaches and what I hope to characterize in each of the characters I have written for.

Characters

Primary

• LtCmdr Lance Firestarter

Secondary

• Makayla Riordan (Retired)

Player Non-Player Characters

• Jill Adrura
• Colette Adrura
• Evil Consciousness

Non-Player Characters

Engineering:

• Alice Maes
• Th&ndy
• Midori Arisu
• George Martinez
• Louis Barak (Deceased)
• Damon Zygami*
• Danice Wassner*

Civilians:

• Alla Carte

* Starred characters are NPCs I sim solely for, but what I feel to be not important enough to have PNPC status.

Character Development

Before I begin, I want to say that none of my characters are based off of myself or experiences. Mainly, each of these characters are parts of different writing styles and personalities that I wish to explore. Some appear to be pristine or severely flawed. In fact, some may be more one-dimensional than others. I enjoy watching each of these characters write themselves, and sometimes, I feel like a bystander in their development.

Lance Firestarter

My first and most varied of any of my characters, which is to be expected on the time that I have been a writer for the character. Hoping to starter off as far away from a Mary Sue syndrome as possible, I had the character be born with a genetic flaw of appearing to be half his age. Initially, this worked well to prevent my character from taking over the plot as almost any medical injection could be used to disable him in some way. This didn't last long as I saw the same plot being repeated over and over again, which was leading into redundancy. After much thought, I decided to introduce the idea of having a hostile consciousness reside inside of Lance. The entity was written to only stay in the background initially, to provide another side to what appeared to be a "somewhat" normal Ensign in the fleet. After transferring ships though, I found the Evil Consciousness to fall into the background. A few months later, the character was taken on a LOA, after being disabled into a coma via electric shock.

Upon returning from LOA, I found that Lance had undergone a more rigorous personality overhaul than what I had originally anticipated. In hope to remedy this, I put all the blame on the Evil Consciousness. This ended up working well as it caused him to have false memories, and rapid changes in personality. Unlike before though, it was harder to contain the character to the background. For the first time ever, I had begun writing the consciousness as a full fledged PNPC character.

After roughly a year, I was given the opportunity to resolve the Evil Consciousness plot. However, with this, came a difficulty that I had issues with. For one, my sims were beginning to feel that I was forcing the plot forward. Secondly, with the departure of the "Evil," my character was in danger of becoming one-sided. Luckily, I came to a solution that solved both of these problems. I had never specified the gender of the consciousness, and I later decided to make a bold move and make it female. Thus, the sims began to write themselves again and when the plot was finally resolved, Lance had a whole new set of issues to deal with as it left "he" as a "she."

(More will be added with further developments)

Makayla Riordan

My very first attempt at a secondary, not to mention a civilian. She was originally posted on the USS Ronin as a bartender. I wanted to try something new for a character, and for all intensive purposes, it was much more enjoyable than originally expected. Being the youngest character I created, she had a whole different set of problems and background issues to deal with. With her creation, a few of my friends also decided to make a few NPC robots that were Makayla's "dolls." These characters took a life of their own, to the point that I was unable to personally sim for one of them. To compensate, we had a guest writer take up the slack so to say, and explained the difference in writing as a computer malfunction. Unfortunately, this plotline was never finished as I retired Makayla a few months later.

Jill Adrura

This was my first NPC onboard the USS Tiger. I appear to be talking about many of my "firsts," but to be fair, I still use this character fairly often and is much older than my original secondary. Originally when she was conceived, I had her just be a go to guy for Lance to talk to about what he planned to do. On another note, she was originally a guy with just the last name of Adrura. What brought about the change was then a fellow writer on the ship mistook her gender and I decided to make the change permanent, giving Adrura a first name as well. Soon after, she began to grow to where I would be writing sims from her perspective and later, try to win the heart of Lieutenant Commander Atimen. To this day, she eventually moved up in the ranks to gain the rank of 1st Lieutenant, and is no longer a part of engineering.

How I Came to UFOP: SB118

Admittedly, when I first started, I wasn't the token Star Trek fan. In fact, it wasn't until a few years later that I would avidly watch the episodes. What initially brought me here were a couple of friends that had joined. After my LOA, I came back this time with a want to improve my writing skills, which I do believe have improved.

History

First Placement

My first vessel what I was placed on was the USS Triumphant. Technically, I was placed on the USS Kodiak but before I could actually sim on the vessel, the Triumphant was commissioned and Lance was conscripted as a Science Officer. I still play the same character as my primary and still hope to do so as I continue playing this game.

Starting on the Triumphant was like being thrown into a sea of writers. Admittedly, I had issues keeping up, but I soon found a balance between the game and life so that both were enhanced by this experience. After training, I didn't expect that simming on a ship would be so similar to the training scenario. I can honestly say, my first vessel is, and continues to be, one of my greatest muses when I look back on old sims and simmers.

Greatest Achievement

Greatest achievement... this is a hard one. Rank-wise, it would be my character's promotion to Lieutenant JG on the USS Tiger. After a year, I took an extended LOA where I didn't come back until 2008. When my character received that second pip, I began to trust my writing more until today where Lance is Second Officer and Chief of Operations on Starbase 118 Ops.

Non-rankwise though, I would have to say it was integrating with a crew that I could sim with easily. I tend to be a supportive writer, as can be seen with the amount of NPCs that I have created. Any success that I am able to help another PC with, I do take pleasure in.

What I Hope to Accomplish

I do hope that one day Lance will eventually reach that full third pip, if not the fourth. After being in this group for so many years, I yearn to one day lead a crew that I can help to write creatively with. Mainly though, I hope to see others enjoy this experience as much as myself.

Where I See the Group In Five Years

I don't know where this group will be, or even where I will be. I cross my fingers that I will still be here, if not, I do hope that UFOP does flourish.

How This Group Contributed To The Star Trek Legacy

This group has contributed in so many ways to the legacy. If not in critically thinking, it leads a voice into how we hope to see or not see in the future, as any writing would do so.