tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post3276999888271733715..comments2012-10-30T15:29:01.960+00:00Comments on theeyeless: COMMISSIONED!Lance Parkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647777444733439594noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-69656899443134563952008-10-16T23:47:00.000+01:002008-10-16T23:47:00.000+01:00'How much stuff do you cut?'Different writers do v...'How much stuff do you cut?'<BR/><BR/>Different writers do very different things - I remember Paul Cornell saying in an interview once that he always wrote half as much again and then ruthlessly culled it. <BR/><BR/>If a method works, it works.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I tend to agonise about the sentence level stuff, and the first draft is pretty much there. The second draft is basically 'tuning in' - I cut out repetition, I realise where I need to make my point better, I alter the odd word choice here or there. <BR/><BR/>My method is a sort of endless building up - I'll do a scene that starts up as 'The Doctor explores the ruined hotel' and add more and more until it's a finished paragraph. <BR/><BR/>I'll explain what I ended up cutting from The Eyeless as I go on. The prose was fine, it was the content that was the problem!Lance Parkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08647777444733439594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-31297974984859321482008-10-16T23:31:00.000+01:002008-10-16T23:31:00.000+01:00One of Kurt Vonnegut's "rules" for writing was "Gi...<I>One of Kurt Vonnegut's "rules" for writing was "Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages."</I><BR/><BR/>For writing? That was a rule for writing short stories. A novel being more of an investment, I'd be pretty displeased if I read a book and thought, "that's exactly what I'd have written, given the same beginning".<BR/><BR/><I>For The Eyeless, I was keen to tell a story where everything was exactly as it seems.</I><BR/><BR/>I do actually prefer the hook "and everything is exactly as it seems" to "too dangerous a mission to take a companion on". The former's wonderfully bizarre, whereas I think the vast majority of Doctor Who stories are Basically The End Of The World.<BR/><BR/>You mentioned "not having time to write a short one" - how much stuff do you cut for word count? Do you cut as you go, or cut a whole load at the end, or do you just write instinctively to the right limit?Steffanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01577969264084077780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-7337157388044290072008-10-15T05:25:00.000+01:002008-10-15T05:25:00.000+01:00What would you want to change him for, anyway, whe...<B>What would you want to change him for, anyway, when he’s the Doctor? He’s great.</B><BR/><BR/>*headdesk*<BR/><BR/>Jack BevenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-2847725722762251072008-10-14T18:10:00.000+01:002008-10-14T18:10:00.000+01:00'No pregnant Lucy Saxon'That would be my pitch for...'No pregnant Lucy Saxon'<BR/><BR/>That would be my pitch for the TV series - 'Lucy Saxon's pregnant'. I'd then fillet the best bits of Father Time for the story, with the Doctor having to protect this last of the Time Lord baby from alien assassins. Or, actually, thinking about it, just some human being who's really mad at the Master and wants to take it out on the baby. <BR/><BR/>Just to clarify something: it's a pretty obvious idea, and it's not yet a workable story. And, if the production team are planning or end up doing something like that, that's great and their prerogative and oops, I hope I haven't just put my foot in it.<BR/><BR/>The brief for the books is different. This isn't a case of me going 'oh, I wish I could do that, but I can't' ... it's a case of me thinking 'what would work well as a book?'. <BR/><BR/>Hmmmm ... I've had emails from people who want to read the Jane Austen book, and now from people who want to read the Lucy Saxon one. There's always the danger in Doctor Who that the story we *don't* see is more appealing than the one we do. <BR/><BR/>There's a huge difference between a tantalising hint of what the author originally wanted to do and an actual book. As Borges discovered, the hint is always going to have the advantage, because all it has to do is sit there bragging that it would have been great.Lance Parkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08647777444733439594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-1120079864784034412008-10-14T17:48:00.000+01:002008-10-14T17:48:00.000+01:00This post inspired two thoughts.One, I love the id...This post inspired two thoughts.<BR/><BR/>One, I love the idea of the quest and not holding back information from the reader. One of Kurt Vonnegut's "rules" for writing was "Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages."<BR/><BR/>Second, these cumulative postings are actually making me want to purchase my first tenth doctor novel. It's called The Eyeless and I understand it's coming out later this year...That Neil Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00282313787969964446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-44601796757915491002008-10-14T17:00:00.000+01:002008-10-14T17:00:00.000+01:00Darn. No pregnant Lucy Saxon. I'd pay to read that...Darn. No pregnant Lucy Saxon. I'd pay to read that. Or anything else involving her, actually. :D But great to see you're writing Who again!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-65729460648097663482008-10-14T16:56:00.000+01:002008-10-14T16:56:00.000+01:00Hmmm ... thought it seemed a bit long.Hmmm ... thought it seemed a bit long.Lance Parkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08647777444733439594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4530748721973008012.post-50744676637301688012008-10-14T16:52:00.000+01:002008-10-14T16:52:00.000+01:00There seems to be a recursive occlusion in that po...There seems to be a recursive occlusion in that post.Stuart Ian Burnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18132101517832896837noreply@blogger.com