Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
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Post by Tony Jones on May 11, 2016 7:33:39 GMT
One technique is to take a fairy tale (eg a Brothers Grimm), change the setting, rename some characters / make some alien, add some motivation, add a macguffin and voila!
Red Riding Hood has plenty of potential, as does Goldilocks. Seven Dwarfs could be seven aliens in quasi-retirement, Snow White could be a Zombie...
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Post by Whovitt on May 11, 2016 8:00:15 GMT
That's not a bad idea! The way I've always written stories is I come up with a small (usually terrible) idea and just run with it. I write the first page or so of the idea, then go back over and change the bits I don't like. As each 'draft' is written, you add more length and thus advance the plot further. Using this method, most of my ideas have developed into something much better than the original concept, usually by the third or fourth rewrite of the same material. Obviously this technique won't work for everyone, but I thought I'd offer it as advice none the less This is where the outline changes things. That has to be solid. Colin Baker cites it as why he has yet to write a BF apart from the Short Trip he did a while ago I only do what I said before when I don't have an outline in the first place, just an idea I want to write about. When I have an outline, writing things is generally a more streamlined process. And in the case of the competition, there isn't really anthing in the way of story outlines - they're looking for creativity (there are the competition rules, but they're not really a story outline as such).
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
Likes: 2,132
|
Post by Tony Jones on May 11, 2016 8:03:21 GMT
I'm taking the single page synopsis as an outline
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Post by Whovitt on May 11, 2016 8:07:15 GMT
Good point - if you can't summarise a short story of this nature on one page then it's probably too convoluted for the finished word count...
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
Likes: 2,132
|
Post by Tony Jones on May 11, 2016 9:18:06 GMT
Good point - if you can't summarise a short story of this nature on one page then it's probably too convoluted for the finished word count... From my experience it's also if you can't show a structured, coherent story with flow, it won't get commissioned, plus the outline has to go to Cardiff for approval. It does mean you can think of the story as canon (in my view) once written! For the two stories I have written, the outline was hard to get right, and in some senses more so than the story itself!
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Post by TinDogPodcast on May 18, 2016 10:45:15 GMT
Who else is entering?
I've sent them four so far...
1 5th doctor Tegan turlough 2 7th doctor and ace 3 2nd doctor zoe and Jamie 4 3rd doctor. Liz benton Mike and the brig. Yes I know... but it does have them all.
Thought it best to send them straight away.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2016 18:56:07 GMT
Who else is entering? I've sent them four so far... 1 5th doctor Tegan turlough 2 7th doctor and ace 3 2nd doctor zoe and Jamie 4 3rd doctor. Liz benton Mike and the brig. Yes I know... but it does have them all. Thought it best to send them straight away. I, myself, plan on entering a story featuring the 3rd Doctor and Jo between The Mind Of Evil and The Claws Of Axos featuring something I've always been confounded by being explained.
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Post by TinDogPodcast on May 19, 2016 5:58:31 GMT
Is it the weather?
Is it pigbin josh accent?
Is it that the axons can make a giant frog but can't land in France?
Is it....
Sorry I'm being silly
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Post by Admin on May 23, 2016 9:02:03 GMT
3 lots of story cubes
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Post by Admin on May 23, 2016 9:07:22 GMT
3 more Attachments:
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Post by doctorkernow on May 27, 2016 9:16:50 GMT
Hello again. I hope you are all enjoying being creative, I have been busy... gardening clearing brambles and decorating, yippee!
I didn't realise you could use a companion or two.
Right, "Victoria followed the Doctor and Jamie down the corridor. A slimy tentacle glided down from the ceiling and brushed against her face. She screamed, screamed and screamed in terror....". Happy writing folks.
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Post by TinDogPodcast on May 27, 2016 14:06:07 GMT
Invasion of the foam machine monsters. ..
A second doctor story
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Post by mark687 on May 28, 2016 10:09:21 GMT
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Post by chrisscorkscrew on May 30, 2016 9:54:18 GMT
My Short Trip involves Sixie and Mel close to the start of her time in the TARDIS and, yes, involves quite a bit of screaming (not all of it from Mel). I've also got an idea for a Fifth Doctor/Tegan/Nyssa story which may get submitted if I have time.
I got a single definition approved in Afterliff a couple of years ago, which linked me tenuously to the great, late Douglas Adams' writing career, but I can't think of anything more amazing than being part of Doctor Who Canon.
Chriss C.
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Post by doctorkernow on Jun 1, 2016 15:40:35 GMT
Hello again, I've only gone and done it! Actually finished two extracts and synopses and submitted them. Pardon my enthusiasm but its the first time I've entered a writing competition in 30 years. One is Sixth Doctor story and the other is a Seventh Doctor story. However, I didn't realise you could use companions so mine feature a new character that the Doctor meets who assists him in his adventure. Do you think that'll be okay? Still, its got me writing properly again. What shall I write next..?
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Post by acousticwolf on Jun 1, 2016 15:50:41 GMT
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Post by chrisscorkscrew on Jun 1, 2016 18:13:16 GMT
Hello again, I've only gone and done it! Actually finished two extracts and synopses and submitted them. Pardon my enthusiasm but its the first time I've entered a writing competition in 30 years. One is Sixth Doctor story and the other is a Seventh Doctor story. However, I didn't realise you could use companions so mine feature a new character that the Doctor meets who assists him in his adventure. Do you think that'll be okay? Still, its got me writing properly again. What shall I write next..? Congratulations! A new companion sounds great to me *fingers crossed it's an admin worker in her mid-thirties and they'll have open casting... actually that just makes me sound like Donna Noble*.
As you've got a whole month before submission, why not complete your straight flush of Doctors with an Eighth or Fifth Doctor story?
Best of luck!
Chriss C.
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Post by chrisscorkscrew on Jun 1, 2016 18:21:30 GMT
Hi Tony
Thanks for the tip. I'm currently writing a straight-to-Kindle book that I'm hoping to publish just to see what happens, and have previously written three unpublished fantasy novels (which have mouldered in slush piles more times than Nicholas Briggs has said 'Exterminate!'), so the writer's area sounds just my sort of thing.
Chriss C.
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Jun 22, 2016 14:12:01 GMT
So.
Are all our entries in?
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Post by doctorkernow on Jun 24, 2016 18:46:24 GMT
Hello again, No! I've submitted one while my daughter's been sleeping off the effects of her operation. Thank you to Acoustic Wolf, ChrissCorkscrew for your encouragement. Perhaps there's time for one more roll of the dice... Now then..."The Doctor looked at the yellow and blue sectors of the results graphic with utter disbelief...
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