Gregory L. Norris & Laura Van Vleet Field: Writers (Novels, Articles, and Screenplays) Recent Works: Sci-Fi Channel magazine, Sci-Fi Entertainment, Cinescape, and Star Trek : Voyager.

BattlestarFanClub.com had the recent opportunity to sit down and chat with two truly gifted and wonderful people. Laura Van Vleet and Gregory L. Norris have been kind enough to share their talent with this site (Please take a peek at the recent interviews with Ben Browder, Kate Mulgrew and Tom Connare)...and we thought it high time to put them and their fascinating stories in the Spotlight! Both Laura and Greg have a tremendous writing history...with novels, articles and screenplays to their credit. They have written for the Sci-Fi Channel magazine Sci-Fi Entertainment and currently write for Cinescape. They've written together for Star Trek: Voyager as well...two fantastic episodes "Gravity" and "Counterpoint". We hope you enjoy this fascinating interview.

BGR: To start off with...what got you interested in the writing field to begin with?

GLN: I grew up in a small town called Windham, NH, where there wasn't a lot to do but read books and watch the tube. From early on, I was raised on a steady diet of TV sci-fi, everything from old monster movies on the weekly Saturday "Creature Feature" block to such classics as SPACE:1999, DARK SHADOWS, LOST IN SPACE, and the original STAR TREK. When my one and only best friend moved away, I continued what he and I used to do for fun--write stories, draw, and escape into those sci-fi worlds, which seemed so wonderful (and still do). When I was nine, I wrote little books on the urging of a great teacher, Carol Siano (who still teaches fourth graders in Massachusetts). Carol saved every one of them and gave them back to me years later. I picked up my pen again at 13 after getting hooked on SPACE:1999 in reruns and wrote a hundred page novel! Again, I really didn't do more than dabble, but the summer after I turned 15, I got serious, and for the most part, have been ever since. During my very formative teen years, SPACE:1999 and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA became my whole life. I literally lived surrounded by those characters and situations. School, which I hated, wasn't real to me. The citizens of Moonbase Alpha and the last surviving Battlestar were. Those two shows and a few others helped me realize there was nothing I wanted to do more than be a writer. In the summer of 1991, I submitted my first short story. I was a total wreck waiting to hear back from the editor--a small press magazine named NIGHT MOUNTAINS. A week later, my manuscript was returned, covered in pencil rewrite marks. But the wonderful editor took the story, and I haven't stopped since. I've published over 750 short stories and feature articles, a series of novels, a short story collection, and have done my first TV writing thanks to working with my awesome writing partner, Laura.

LVV: Ten years ago I began writing shortly after my Grandmother became ill with cancer. While staying home with my Grandmother I wrote my first screenplay and began writing many poems. That was the beginning of getting my first poem published and winning numerous pushcart awards for my poetry.

BGR: What was your first "real" venture into serious writing?

GLN: I think, looking back to when I was a teen, every time I put a ("the End") on the last line of a story, it seemed serious. My first professional sale came in 1993 soon after meeting Laura. I was going through a real crossroads the summer before--I had amassed a ton of small press credits, but hadn't broken into a major national magazine. I remember feeling unhappy both in the quality of my work and the way rejection letters were piling up. But those same things motivated me to better them, and the summer of '93, I said to myself it was make or break time. Luckily, right around that time, I met Laura, and she totally changed my life. We met at a great writers group we both still belong to, and learned of a writers retreat that was going to take place on Wentworth Mountain Halloween weekend, '93. I went there with the imperative that the weekend would either change my life, or I was going to give up the notion of being a writer and return to pursue something more mundane but stable. The day before the retreat, I received notification by mail that I had won the Small Press Writers' and Artists' Award for Year's Best New Writer in fiction. Leyland Publications requested to see my first book, GHOST KISSES (1995), and I got my first sale to a professional magazine. Needless to say, I returned from that weekend changed forever. No going back now!

LVV: My first National sale was with my writing with my partner Greg in a Magazine called Topia. That was back in September of 1997. We interviewed the Boston Ballet for a beautiful feature that made the cover. I don't know what I was more proud of, to have a feature that made the cover, or to be writing with best person in the world.

BGR: Do your think that you're initial breakthrough into the business had some effect on you're outlook towards writing?

GLN: I think, the more I write, the more I begin to appreciate seeing my byline in print. That has never changed, in fact it's only gotten more important to me, to have credit for what I've written, singularly and with Laura. My outlook is such that being published and 'breaking in' has demystified some of the things a young writer ponders--what it's like to have an agent, which seems such an unattainable thing, or seeing your name on a book cover, or in print in a glossy magazine. The more I've done, the less these things become intangible. The reality is, we do have a great agent in New York City who takes us to brunch, just like in the movies, and many times, I've picked up a magazine no the newsstands and seen our bylines beside a big celebrity story we've written, and while that is surreal and exciting, it's no longer just a dream. That's how things have changed for me. I still enjoy the creative part of being a writer with as much, if not more, enthusiasm as I did at the age of15--only with better, hard-earned education.

LVV: Well it certainly gave me hope and even inspiration when I needed it. A writer goes through periods of self-doubt, it's inevitable to every writer. And as Greg says, when you see your name in print it reaffirms your determination and commitment to succeed. But I have to say my tenacity and deep commitment to G & L Creative Company, has a much deeper and stronger foundation to achieve. Our writing partnership has been so successful we decided 3 years ago to turn our partnership into a business, and we knew at that moment it was only the beginning of many more triumphs to come. BGR: As a follow up to the previous question...Now that you've actually been in the field, writing professionally for a while now...do you think you're experiences have changed you're outlook even more?

GLN: Alone and with Laura, I've seen the 'darker' side of this industry, which you do hear about. Hollywood stealing ideas, editors who never pay you, that sort of thing. But I've also seen the good side of it, the writing that does make a difference and is effective to people whose lives you entertain and influence in a positive way. Recently, Laura and I interviewed Kate Mulgrew from STAR TREK: VOYAGER, who has written a marvelous foreword for our new book on celebrity Sci-Fi Interviews. She said, and I quote, "In my seven years on VOYAGER, I do not believe that I have encountered two journalists for whom I have higher regard in terms of their intelligence, their empathy, their understanding, their perspicacity, and their talent..." This blows my mind. I can't even begin to relay what a cool thing that is. My mom, the late Diane Gauthier--we used to watch Mulgrew on RYAN'S HOPE back when I was a kid during those same formative years when I first picked up my pen. With Laura, a lot of the actors and actresses we've interviewed have said similar things about the writing--and the writers. It is very humbling and truly surreal. That, plus I've gotten to interview almost all of my childhood icons, including the incredible Richard Hatch, who is always such a pleasure to speak with.

LVV: My outlook on writing has not changed, but rather my naivete on what it means to be a writer, and the responsibilities that go along with this career. With every thing Greg and I do, we have made sure to never go outside of our integrity. It might be the longest route to take, but we still get up in the morning feeling great about our writing together, and it makes each success that much greater.

BGR: For folk's that don't know...and for everything that might not have been touched on in previous questions/answers...could you give us a rundown on you're writing credits?

GLN: Laura and I, together, have probably written over 200 feature articles in our three short years of collaborating. We are former columnists and writers at SCI-FI ENTERTAINMENT, the magazine of the Sci-Fi Channel, and currently do plenty of writing for CINESCAPE, which has to be the biggest and best genre publication on the planet. At CINESCAPE, we cover most of the STAR TREK content due to our connections. In 1998, we sold two episodes to the producers of STAR TREK: VOYAGER. Those episodes, "Counterpoint" and "Gravity" have been praised as two of the series' best. In fact, and Laura will concur on this, Mulgrew never forgets to remind us "Counterpoint" is her favorite of the entire series. I have written a series of sports novels for Alyson Books-the latest of which, HARDBALL, was a gay best seller on the Lambda Book Report List. My first novel, GHOST KISSES (Leyland Publications) hit the shelves in 1995. I've published close to 800 short stories and articles since 1991; in 1993, I won the Small Press Writers' & Artists' Award for Year's Best New Writer. But the neatest publications, hands down, have been the celebrity stories I've been lucky enough to write with Laura. We've interviewed Martin Landau, Bill Shatner, Richard Hatch--we've even written about Mr. Hatch's GALACTICA novels.

BGR: Specifically...you've written for STAR TREK: VOYAGER...what was that experience like?

GLN: It's a very bittersweet experience. Laura and I pitched--and I'm not kidding you--nearly 150 individual story ideas to the producers of STAR TREK: VOYAGER. A pitch is a basically a synopsis--a roughly three page description of an episode from beginning through the middle to the end, with a one sentence 'log line' that encapsulates the story as you might see the description of a show in the TV GUIDE. We busted ass on those ideas to come up with material that was fresh and exciting and original-good, meaty storytelling all within the STAR TREK: VOYAGER framework. Pitching to the producers of that show is enough to put you six feet under--you literally want to rip your hair out. Half the time, they tell you--'oh, we could never have a story in which the crew of Voyager must deal with a catastrophic famine'-a story we pitched called WINTER complete with great characterization and a storyline so smart, producer Raf Green told us he was stunned by it. That story got shot down, which is frustrating enough. Then you see the stories they do buy, like the infamous Wrestling episode which was made to appeal to the lowest common denominator, which VOYAGER has sadly done often. Another gauling reality of pitching with the producers of VOYAGER is that, since Jeri Taylor left, you're prone to sometimes seeing stories you pitched appear on the screen minus your story credit, and a nice, fat paycheck. Jeri Taylor, who took Laura and I under her wing when we first began to pitch to the series, was wonderful. She left at the end of VOYAGER's fourth season. The regime since seems to think nothing of borrowing, and I use that term kindly. Since 1997, Laura and I have pitched and repitched a story about the starship landing on an asteroid they dub 'the Grand Canyon'. We were constantly asked to remarry the idea of the starship's refit with other ideas. No word of a lie--we must have 15 different copies of pitches featuring the refit! On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving '00, I turned on VOYAGER for the episode "NightingGale". The first thing viewers see as the episode unfolds is Voyager sitting at the heart of a huge valley, surrounded by canyon walls, as EVA workpods and shuttle craft buzz around the ship-in the midst of a shipwide refit. Word for word, that is our story, and it only scratches the surface of pitches we've made and never received credit for. One might ask why we continued to pitch to that series? For starters, like GALACTICA, we are fans as well as professionals associated with it. That, plus we have great ideas--great enough that they bought and developed the two, great enough that they stole others.

LVV: To add with what Greg said, it was an experience that a lot screen and television writers go through in some form or another. Writers have so many obstacles in front of them, it never matters how many credits they have, or how many television, or movies they have written, we will always have to fight the story meeting obstacles. Greg and I very aware of this, we are realist about Hollywood, but we dream to have something better. And we constantly remind ourselves that every obstacle is just a path to that something better.

BGR: Do you feel that studio politics etc. tend to "get in the way" of what a writer is trying to communicate to his/her audience?

GLN: Even members of the cast of VOYAGER have complained that for a STAR TREK series, it's still little more than a formulaic show. Most writing in Hollywood is done by committee-the old 'too many cooks spoiling the soup' fallback. We pitched a story that was bold and raw about a rape onboard the ship. The Producers told us they could never do such a thing on a family series (though, they barely balked when 80 million Cardassians were slaughtered in the final day of the Dominion War on DEEP SPACE 9!). Shows like GALACTICA broke many norms with bold story telling, not the least of which being WAR OF THE GODS. What a fantastic idea! And how bold--the concept of bringing the Devil onboard, and fighting him off with goodness and purity of spirit. Patrick MacNee, besides being so talented (loved that creepy, sinister smile!), helped GALACTICA give audiences one of the wildest storylines in Sci-Fi history. SPACE:1999 was also really good at breaking boundaries. That's what Laura and I look toward for inspiration. As writers, we are both constantly trying to write new and exciting stories. Hollywood seems to just want the same old, same old, which gets stale pretty quickly.

BGR: Big question...given the experience with STAR TREK...has that particular experience given you more insight on writing for Television and how would you approach it differently in the future?

GLN: For starters, only through our TV agent! (laughs). We negotiated and arranged our pitches on our own with VOYAGER. Luckily, having gone through this once, we've gotten wiser and less passive. I mean, when you're just starting out, sometimes you take it to get the credit and build a resume. We already have that now. And when one of us isn't up the fight, the other laces up the boxing gloves and steps into the ring, representing the partnership. We're lucky that way.

LVV: Greg and I are both very insightful people, and as the experiences we go through add up, so does our insight on the Hollywood System. Our game plan changes from a day to day basis. Depending on the day and the work load, every approach is different, and we always choose the best way how we can get the job done quickly and flawlessly. So knowing that, I have absolutely no regrets, and I wouldn't want to change anything on our approach.

BGR: Totally Battlestar Galactica related question...after seeing what Richard Hatch has put together what do you think of his efforts and the chances for the return for BSG?

GLN: I was lucky enough to see the excellent GALACTICA trailer twice on a Saturday at MAIN MISSION: 2000, the SPACE:1999 convention in New York City last September. I have always loved Richard Hatch--as an actor and a friend. More than anybody, he has kept fan interest in the series alive, and he is hands down the most important figure in GALACTICA's future. I was absolutely blown away when the trailer was shown. He is such a sharp and creative guy--from the excellent recasting of Maren Jenson's "Athena" character to the appearance of the Ship of Lights to the cameos by Terry Carter and a boil-faced Baltar, the late John Colicos. How he created a holographic Commander Adama was just so brilliant! It amazed me to see the Colonial Warriors charge into battle against an evolved even deadlier race of Cylons. As I told everybody there in the seats around me, that four minute trailer was a thousand times better than three hours of ridiculous THE PHANTOM MENACE.Hatch and the rest did such a great job, I actually had tears in my eyes by the time the credits rolled. I've waited 20 years to see a NEW GALACTICA episode! I'll also tell you my experience about the accessibility of Richard Hatch for those aware of the current state of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. As a writer at SCI-FI ENTERTAINMENT, then at CINESCAPE, Richard has never denied us an interview. He has made himself available for every column or feature we asked of him, and often times, even returned calls on his own dime. When Laura moved to Texas in September, he was gracious enough to call my loft in Massachusetts to be part of the sendoff party we threw her, and chatted over the speaker phone with the guests, many of them huge GALACTICA and ALL MY CHILDREN fans who knew and appreciated his work.

LVV: I feel very unfortunate that I was not able to see the BSG trailer in NYC. But my feeling is Richard Hatch's great dedication to BSG and his awesome talent will supersede all doubt.

BGR: Given the return of Battlestar Galactica...would you want to write for the show?

GLN: In a heartbeat! I just hope Richard Hatch is at the helm when the Galactica sets sail again!

LVV: You know it! But I only have one small requirement, can I have Captain Janeway's ready room desk to write on?

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