Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Jake Sisko
8. He Was Definitely NOT A Super Genius
Ronald D. Moore described some of the issues the writing staff faced when attempting to come up with a story for Jake. While Michael Piller had conceived of him so that Deep Space Nine could explore the notion of a father and son learning to live in this universe, there was very little for the character to actually do.
While his friendship with Nog would come to define much of Jake's time on the show, it was deciding on his career path that truly gave the writers a direction.
The script for The Abandoned revealed, in the third season, that Jake was going to be a writer. As evidenced in episodes like The Visitor and Muse, this would come to define much of the rest of his time on the show. His one novel, Anslem, played a part in the plot of The Visitor, though he would move away from fiction writing to begin journalism. This, too, allowed the writers far more leeway with him. They were able to get him off the station from time to time, thus expanding his capacity for engaging storytelling.