Just who is Jim Chapters?

It's a good question.  He's a distraction is what he is. He's drawing me away from "Dangling Threads", my proposed collection of Doctor Who short stories.

Well, that's what he is. Doesn't tell us who he is.

Jim Chapters came to life as I was discussing the criticism I received regarding chapters in a short story. That criticism was offered by a friend of mine called Jim, however I know several Jims and to differentiate him from the other Jims I'd been discussing I referred to him as Jim 'Chapters' so my other friend knew what Jim I meant.

"Jim Chapters? That sounds like a character in a book."

He was right of course. A check on Google and various other search engines confirmed that I hadn't heard the name anywhere else before. Jim Chapters was a blank slate and he'd taken up residence in my imagination.

Jim has been slowly developing in my mind ever since. He's been picking up character traits, likes and dislikes, a fashion sense and a history. He's become a person and he's become a pest. He's demanding his story gets told and he's not taking no for an answer.

So, I find myself at a cross roads. Do I press on and finish the interconnected short stories I've started plotting or do I give in to Jim's demands and start telling his story instead?

I honestly don't know.

Answers on a postcard please.

The Next Idea

So, I'm entering the final lap of  Setting Stones. While I've been sitting waiting for the feed back to come in (all positive so far) I've been letting my mind wander as to what I should write about next. It's tempting to move off of Doctor Who, but I'm not going to just yet. I've got some ideas bouncing around my head regarding what kind of world I want to write about. but I want to sharpen my skills in a playground I know first before heading out to totally new ground. Especially as the BBC are not interested in any Who fiction that isn't about the 11th Doctor.

So, what have I got in mind? I'm going to be a bit more ambitious: I'm going to write a collection of much shorter stories, each one with a different Doctor. 11 in total, with a common thread running through each one.

My first page of notes, that I've left at the lab dammit, has a single line of dialogue for each Doctor and the rough outline for the common thread. Planning between 1 and 2 thousand words for each segment.

This isn't going to hurt at all.................

A month.

Seriously?

It's been a month since I started the current draft? I guess it has been.

Time has a habit of getting away from me. I can at least console myself that I haven't been ignoring the story. I've been chipping away whenever time has permitted.

I've added a couple of extra pages worth of introduction, I've fleshed out the walk into the cave and I've changed the perspective.

None of these were particularly major tasks, they just take time and when you only have 10 or 15 minutes at a time it's going to take the best part of a month.

I'm pretty pleased that I've persevered in getting these done. I've got a real feeling of satisfaction. Of course it's also mixed with a feeling of nervousness as I wait for feedback from my circle of proof readers. Not much else I can do until they get back to me.

Criticism

Everyone's a critic.

But that in itself is no bad thing. When I put my first draft out I was hoping for some pointers about what needed work. Amongst the people reading it were old school fans, newish fans and a few who were completely unaware of Doctor Who.

On the whole most of the things that were criticised I was aware of and I was thankful for the areas I had missed. The next draft is progressing along now in large part due to the notes I received back.

But you can't listen to everyone. You just can't.

As a writer you have to quickly learn how to take and interpret criticism. You can't just pick and choose the comments that back up what you've done so far and ignore all the negatives. At the same time you can't get too bogged down in just the negatives, you'd never write anything again if you did that. You need to learn to look at the feedback as a whole and remove all bias from your analysis.

A perfect example would be "The Attack of the 'Hmmmms'".

Seeing as I was writing for the first Doctor (albeit younger than we've ever known him) I tried very hard to find his voice. I watched old episodes and read back everything I wrote for to myself. One of the distinctive habits that William Hartnell gave the Doctor was the use of "Hmm?" at the end of any question the Doctor asked. I therefore used that in his speech. I was quite pleased with I way it sounded.

However, most people felt that there were too many used through out the story. And that I stretched them out with too many letters on occasion. One person felt that I had "pretty much nailed the Hartnell voice."

So, did I listen to the one person whose opinion agreed with mine or did I pay heed to the general consensus? A incredibly valid question. One I'm still struggling with. On one hand the person that agrees with me has a considerable knowledge of Who; he's well versed in the series, the books and the audio plays. He's also on the cusp of being a published author. His is not an opinion I take lightly. Having said that he's also seriously outnumbered regarding this opinion.

At this point I've chosen to "walk in the valley of the shadow of compromise". I've reduced the number of times I use an "Hmm?" and I've shortened the length of the word when I do use it.

And sometimes, just sometimes, you get an opinion that you have to disregard completely. I hate doing that. It always feels like an act of ego doing so. I got just such a critique on Friday.

Well that's not entirely true. Some valid points were raised. I'll leave you with the feedback and my defense of the points raised:

Point 1: Don't like the fact it's set in a cave. It's Sci-Fi. Would prefer grand scenario. New worlds require grandeur
I chose the cave on purpose. I felt it suited the theme of appointing a Champion of Time, that it carried a mythic quality. Also, in the current draft I'm using it as a metaphor for the Doctor's state of mind.

Point 2: The phrase "Set in stone" is overused.
Can't argue that point. I'm currently toning it down in the current draft.

Point 3: The identities of the Doctor, his friend and the spectres at the back of the cave are obvious from prior knowledge.
I don't know about obvious, but prior knowledge was certainly intended to help identify the characters involved. I don't feel, and the critic agreed, that not knowing who they were affected the flow of the story.

Point 4: You obviously have no grasp on the history of the Doctor. He has no family apart from Jenny the clone, so he couldn't have left any on Gallifrey. And the Master has always been evil so he could never have been friends with the young Doctor.
It was at this point that alarm bells started going off.

Point 5: You've not got any chapters.
Probably because it's a 4,300 word short story that fills 9 pages.

My process

Such as it is at any rate.

Usually, when the idea is only partly formed, I start with a pad of paper and a pen. On occasion, as happened with Setting Stones, an idea strikes me and a word processor is the only way of getting all the words out of my head before they decide they've got better places to be.

After the initial burst of effort comes, what I find to be, the slowest part of the process: Typing up.
It needs done though, because it then forms the backbone of all the subsequent drafts. I may do some slight re-arranging on the computer, but a majority of the corrections, rearrangements and polishing happens with a print out and a pen. I'll score words (and sometimes paragraphs) out, scribble in new sentences, replace words and generally edit the document to death.

Sometimes I might even format it.

Which is where I am just now. The tricky second draft. This one is particularly daunting as I've decided to change the perspective, which will have to be done mostly on the PC rather than on paper.

That's how I do it anyway.

What about the rest of you?

Best of both worlds

I can see why professional writers need their office space. Life gets in the way otherwise.

Not that I mind too much. I had a rather pleasant weekend spent with my wife and son that finished with us enjoying a meal at the pizzeria my wife and I have been going to ever since we met. 

Would I have exchanged that experience for the chance to get the change of perspective done for "Setting Stones?"

Nope. 

Would I like to give up my weekend mornings with my son in order to get more work done? 

Not particularly.

I get a buzz from finishing a bit of work and from seeing people enjoy it.

I get a bigger buzz from my son running across our living room floor and jumping into a cuddle.

I enjoy writing. I love writing. I really wish I had more time to get more done.

My biggest problem just now is that I love my family more.

So what to do?

Change jobs. Become a writer. Live to dream.

Except I'm not good enough to do that. Not yet.

The other problem of course is that deciding to become a writer just isn't the same as wanting to become a butcher, a baker or indeed a candle stick maker. There is no application form. 

What I need to do now, I think, is start building up a body of work. Enter short story competitions here and there. Type up my poetry and songs from the 90s. Well maybe not all of them. 

As far as my current project goes? Well Rowan and Ruairidh will be visiting family for a few days in a couple of weeks. While they're doing that I'll be locking myself in the computer cupboard and working through the changes I've managed to scribble down during tea breaks and train journeys. 

I might just get there yet.

A change of perspective

As I'd mentioned previously the whole idea for the short story came from Big Finish asking for submissions for audio plays.

That it was initially meant as an audio play is still very obvious to me. And as it turns out; everyone else. So I've been working on fleshing out the initial conversation in the story.

At first I was adding 'he snapped' and 'the voice chastised gently' in the same you use full stops and commas. It still didn't read right in my eyes. Then I got hold of the article I mentioned in the previous post. It talked about baring down such phrasing and inserting character quirks and actions instead. It made sense. So I started going through my latest draft scoring out all the 'he said's.

As I went through the draft excising all the unneeded material I found the Doctor speaking with another voice. Then I found myself writing in the other voice, throwing temptation and dark thoughts the Doctor's way. The Valeyard, the Doctor's manifestation of his dark side, found his way into the story without even asking me. Which was fine as he helped to break up the dialogue even further.

I needed something else though. I needed a prop for someone to use to help punctuate the endless dialogue. It couldn't be the disembodied voices. By their very nature they were propless. So it had to be the man who would become the Doctor. I decided to return the first Doctor's stick to him and to also give him the second's recorder.

I also decided to do a new introduction. In the initial draft he was already in the cave, journeying to his new life. In the new introduction we get to see a glimpse of the life he's giving up as a result of this story. There isn't much use in a personal sacrifice if the readers have no concept of just what is being given up.

But there was still something missing.

What it was occurred to me very early on Sunday morning: I had the wrong perspective.

If I changed to a first person perspective then I could do away with all the 'he's in one fell swoop. I could use his inner voice to give to the readers more of an insight into his motivations and thoughts. It would mean a lot of work, but I think it would give the story the extra connection it's just plain lacking just now.

We'll see.

What people thought

 "Engaging and well written" 


"I enjoyed the lifts from Moffat's work" 


"I wanted to read all the way to the end"


"It's very like one conversation rather rather than a story per se."


"It's rather like a precursor of a book rather than a stand alone."


"I can't stop thinking if things to improve it. It's gotten under my skin."


"You do know it's spelt volition and not violation, right?"


And my personal favourite: "It's not entirely dislikeable."

On the whole feedback has been positive. With just enough negative thrown in for me to believe it.  The biggest problem, and I knew this myself, was that it still read like a script for an audio play.

One reviewer was kind enough to Email me an article on dialogue writing in response to reading my story.
That was probably the most helpful response of the lot if I'm being honest.

I'm not a big fan of false praise and that was one of the reasons behind Emailing to a select group of friends. I needed to confirm the weaknesses.

I also liked the fact that my work was compared to Moffat's. I don't see it myself and it certainly wasn't intentional, but I'll certainly take that as a compliment. After all the man brought us the giggle loop.

Although one of the common complaints was regarding something I very much did on purpose. This whole story was intended from the beginning as a prelude. It's the story of why the Doctor is the Doctor. From here you can jump straight to 'An Unearthly Child' the very first episode of Dr Who. I also made a very conscious choice to leave enough of a gap that the events of 'Lungbarrow' by Marc Platt wouldn't find themselves contradicted.

So, plenty of work still to do in the next few drafts. In fact one idea occurred to me  in the early hours of Sunday morning. But I'll cover that in my next post.

It would require an even more substantial re-write than the one currently under way.

Hmm.

The Story so far...... (Part 3)

Motivation.

That's always been my problem as a writer. I need a motivation or I just can't produce anything.

I began with poetry in University. Partly to try and deal with emotional stuff going on at that time and partly to try and impress woman. Safe to say now I achieved more with the former than the latter.

When the Del and Staresy were looking to put a film together to get into Multimedia courses I started putting a script together about a bunch of friends making a film.They however, were more interested in putting together Martial Arts films than character driven plots. One result of that can be found here.

Please don't judge us. We were having fun.

My most productive period of writing occurred in the year I took off from Science after University. I managed several short stories and got a good bit of the screen play I'd written for The Del and Staresy finished. Sadly the giant palm top that I'd been using to write had a screen malfunction, and despite promising that they wouldn't the repair people memory wiped the memory. I was unable to make a proper back up due to my parents sending the cable for hooking it up to the PC back to Compact along with a malfunctioning desktop.
I tried to reproduce my favourite short story, the confession of a serial killer, but I just couldn't find the motivation to reproduce old work. I also managed to cobbled together a few little sketches for my local youth group.

And then the real world intervened and I got a real job. A job that had me starting between 7 and 9 and finishing between 6 and 8. That and the need to sleep made me forget that I was a writer for a very long time.
I had a brief revival in between leaving that job (I've never missed. Not once.) and getting my next proper one. I was, briefly, a song writer for a band Staresy was putting together. I may at some point post some of the stuff I did for that. Providing I can find it.

Then I got another job. Although I did manage to cobble together a few sketches for my local youth group during this time. I take comfort in the fact that I was asked on a regular basis where I was getting them from by visitors to our group.

I dabbled again when I met Rowan. She complicated my life in the most wonderful way and I felt the need to express this in words. My own personal favourite piece still sits framed in our bedroom. Don't expect to ever see it though.

Which brings up to recent times. I've been working on a Doctor Who novel for the last few years whenever time has permitted. I've got the layout, chapter plans and character arcs all plotted out. I've also got the prelude and first chapter done. Although I've taken so long doing that much that the Doctor has since regenerated. Mind you I had an idea last week about how I can make that work for me with out having to change the first chapter at all.

But that's a whole separate post.....

What these last few posts have been about have been my short story. Which started life as "The Exiles" until I realised that was taken and then became "The Conversation" until I realised that was a little on the nose. Now it is "Setting Stones" and I don't see it changing.

I just keep coming back to it. It won't leave me alone and events have transpired to keep it under my skin. Greig's interest has provided me with motivation to get it finished and his gentle prodding has helped me appreciate why authors have editors. So I had several marathon sessions in front of the keyboard and forced out an ending. A very rough first draft that still needs work. But damn it felt good to get it finished.

As I'd said earlier "Setting Stones" began life as a proposal for an audio play and if you're one of the people I emailed a first draft to you'll be able to see that beginning pretty quickly. It's pretty dialogue heavy. I gave it a quick polish and sent it out to a handful of people whose opinion I actually trust and waited for feedback.

Which so far has been pretty positive. I'm expecting the last two opinions is over the next 24 hours, at which point I'll think about generating a review post.

And that's pretty much the story so far.

I'm going to get back that second draft. Who knew writing could be so much work?

Or so much fun?

The Story so far...... (Part 2)

The story grew in the telling.

Each time I looked at the document sitting on my pen drive another little detail occurred to me. Yet somehow I never found the time to open it up and add it. This went on for sometime. I'd realised that the deadline for open submissions had expired before I'd even seen it and so the motivation to finish just kind of fizzled out.

Then I met Greig.

Greig is due to marry a good friend of my wife's. I'd met him a few times in that capacity and he seemed like a decent bloke. And he liked Batman. We got speaking on a range of subjects and just as myself and my family were getting set to leave his house one evening he mentioned that he was an aspiring writer. I mentioned that I'd dabbled here and there and that currently I was struggling with a short story.

"Really? I can have have a look and help if you want."

And there it was. Motivation to get re-started.

The game was back on.

The Story so far... (Part 1)

My mind wanders. Ask anyone.

But, that's not the beginning of this particular story. This one begins on the day where I saw an ad looking for open submissions to Big Finish Productions for Dr Who audio plays. There were a very set list of conditions. One condition in particular that got me thinking was the list of things you couldn't reference by name.

Copyright I presume.

At any rate it got me thinking about obscure references in Dr Who, how much could you allude to past characters and events without actually naming them? Quite a bit I felt. At this point I thought I'd best leave the PC alone and get the kitchen floor swept. However the thought persisted as I swept. Fleshing the thought out a bit further I started to wonder about writing a story about the Doctor before he was the Doctor. Who else would you tie into the story and, in keeping with the nameless aspect, not directly name?

Then the phone went and the idea went into hibernation for a week or so.

It re-emerged at work one day when I found myself at a loose end and couldn't find anything whatsoever to do. So I fired up the word processor and rattled out the first few thousand or so words. Then work picked up again. But the words sat there on my pen drive, whispering to me each time I opened up the pen to do something else. I might have been ignoring the story, but the story certainly wasn't ignoring me.......

So I'm blogging now.

Why not.
I'm having constant conversations with several people now about my short story.
I am planning to write more once I finally finish it. I have my best ideas when I'm discussing it, so I thought I'd open it up a little.
So, watch this space.