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

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..."