Several Star Trek writers will be giving advice on how to write for the franchise at the San Diego Comic-Con later this month.

Joseph Di Lella, author of the 'Do you have what it takes to write for Star Trek?' series, will be hosting a panel entitled 'How to Pitch and Write for Star Trek' on Saturday, July 19, from 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Here's a brief rundown of the five panelists:

• D.C. Fontana - Fontana is a veteran Trek scribe, having written for the original Star Trek, the animated series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Her episodes include "The Enterprise Incident", "Journey to Babel", "Yesteryear", "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Dax". Outside of the franchise, Fontana has penned episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, Babylon 5 and Earth: Final Conflict.

• Jimmy Diggs - Diggs has successfully pitched and sold several episodes over the years, including Star Trek: Voyager's "Elogium", "Rise", "Concerning Flight", "The Omega Directive" and "Infinite Regress". He is also credited as a story writer on Deep Space Nine's "Doctor Bashir, I Presume".

• Harry 'Doc' Kloor - Kloor is credited as the story writer of Voyager's "Real Life", "The Raven", "Scientific Method" and "Drone". He also worked on Earth: Final Conflict and penned the animated film 2004: A Light Knight's Odyssey, featuring the voices of Robert Picardo (the EMH) and Buffy's Sarah Michelle Gellar.

• Eric Stillwell - Formerly script coordinator on The Next Generation, Stillwell now serves as associate producer on The Dead Zone. He co-wrote the stories for TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" and Voyager's "Prime Factors". The novel The 34th Rule is also based on a story he co-wrote.

• Keith R.A. DeCandido - An accomplished author and editor, DeCandido co-created the Starfleet Corps of Engineers eBook series, and is the writer of Trek novels such as The Brave and the Bold, Gateways: Demons of Air and Darkness and Diplomatic Implausibility. His other genre work encompasses the Andromeda, Farscape and Buffy universes.

After the panel, copies of Di Lella's workbook on writing for the franchise, entitled Get Off That Couch: Learn How To Pitch And Write For Trek, will be available to purchase.

This year's San Diego Comic-Con will run from July 17-20. Guests include genre luminaries Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), Joss Whedon (Buffy), X-Men screenwriter David Hayter, Gollum himself, Andy Serkis, and cast and crew from Farscape, Smallville, The Simpsons and the new Battlestar Galactica mini-series.

For the full line-up of guests, exhibitors and panels, head over to the Comic-Con web site.

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