A couple of links: Short Tips and Newswipe

[wshaffer]

For anyone thinking of submitting a short story for the Big Finish Short Trips thing, here's some advice from Simon Guerrier, based on the stuff he saw when he read submissions for a previous Short Trips anthology. (Point #11 is kind of interesting in light of "The Waters of Mars", but in general I the advice holds up well.)

Meanwhile, the blog Sociological Images offers this hilarious video on cliches in news reporting taken from the British TV show Newswipe. Newswipe is one of the reasons why I wish Americans could watch BBC TV on iPlayer. I'll have to go see if there's more of it floating around on YouTube.

Comments

A Note on Guerrier's Notes

[obadiah.livejournal.com]

All very good points, including some pretty subtle ones. Nice of him to take the time to post 'em too.

But there's one really scary line:

Some ... told stories that had been done before in books or comics or audio plays.

Wow. That's a standard: study and remember every single Doctor Who book, comic, and audio. Has anyone in the world actually done this? Anyone at all? Even the rabid fans? If you had managed the feat, how could you even be sure? To whom would you expound?

Seriously, though, it's totally daunting even as a Gedankenexperiment.

For my script pitch, I made sure it didn't follow the plot of any Big Finish 5th Doctor story (so far). It also didn't follow any of the TV episodes (all 30 seasons + specials) or the audios, books, and comics I happen to have consumed, including quite a lot of BF audios, actually. But wow, trying to note the plots of them all? Eep! That'd drive you madder than would an endless percussion loop....

Re: A Note on Guerrier's Notes

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's anybody who's read/heard/watched and remembered everything. I don't even think anyone who works for Big Finish has read/heard/watched everything, although collectively they might have everything covered. I'm just hoping that my brain is warped enough that I wouldn't accidentally independently re-invent somebody's idea. ;-)

I suspect a great deal also hinges on how you interpret "stories that had been done before". I'm pretty sure that the Doctor has met Shakespeare at least once in every possible medium (certainly in comics, TV, and audio - not sure about books), and I still don't think that that would prevent you from doing a story in which the Doctor meets Shakespeare. But if it involved aliens manipulating the writing of a lost Shakespeare play to take over the world...you might be out of luck.

Re: A Note on Guerrier's Notes

[obadiah.livejournal.com]

True. Likewise you'd probably be safe inventing an explanation for the Loch Ness Monster.

Better yet if you could invent several different ones in one story.

Hmmm.... I'm starting to get ideas. ;-)

Re: A Note on Guerrier's Notes

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

"It's a wee bit crowded oot here in the loch..."