The Paul Spragg 2023 ST competition thread
Apr 2, 2023 11:32:45 GMT
whiskeybrewer and ellingtonelms like this
Post by nucleusofswarm on Apr 2, 2023 11:32:45 GMT
Congrats to last year's winner Nick, and now onto new business:
An all new thread offering writing advice, bouncing ideas and answering questions you may have about writing a Short Trip. Past winners and runners up, as always, are welcome to share. (Just to head off also, yes - I know nothing's been announced, but aside from no indication of the opp being axed, I think this is just a chance to flex creative muscles.)
Former producer Ian Atkins threw up some suggestions for what is looked for, and the winners thus far have borne it true (also, they're just good story pointers):
1) Story must be emotionally moving. Preferably with some type of extra 'kick' at the end to really hit it home i.e. the daughter in Forever Fallen.
2) Intimate over epic, and character driven. A chance to really get inside someone's head, and it doesn't have to be the Doctor or companion.
3) Optimistic. Not sappy, but something to do with overcoming.
4) Ideally, not a comedy. The implication being it's not appropriate for a memorial competition, and the writer comes off as not taking the opportunity seriously.
5) Proof read/read aloud so nothing is unintelligible.
6) Death, while effective, were a really common theme in submissions, and made reading them more emotionally taxing, given the contest's origins.
7) Try to restrain down to 1, 2 max. submissions per writer.
Former producer Ian Atkins threw up some suggestions for what is looked for, and the winners thus far have borne it true (also, they're just good story pointers):
1) Story must be emotionally moving. Preferably with some type of extra 'kick' at the end to really hit it home i.e. the daughter in Forever Fallen.
2) Intimate over epic, and character driven. A chance to really get inside someone's head, and it doesn't have to be the Doctor or companion.
3) Optimistic. Not sappy, but something to do with overcoming.
4) Ideally, not a comedy. The implication being it's not appropriate for a memorial competition, and the writer comes off as not taking the opportunity seriously.
5) Proof read/read aloud so nothing is unintelligible.
6) Death, while effective, were a really common theme in submissions, and made reading them more emotionally taxing, given the contest's origins.
7) Try to restrain down to 1, 2 max. submissions per writer.
