Information about writing
This page is to answer the second most-frequently-asked question people put to me. (The first is “how do you pronounce your name?”)
I hope this information is useful for any writer. It’s informed, obviously, by my experience in writing franchise fiction for Virgin Publishing, BBC Worldwide, Big Finish Productions, and Random House. And besides, you’ve probably come to this site because you’re interested in Doctor Who fiction, and maybe want to write a novel yourself.
So you want to write a Doctor Who novel?
Looking for
reasons to reject you
So
you want to write a Doctor Who novel?
Eric Saward is a former Doctor Who script editor, TV script writer, and novelist. His advice to aspiring Doctor Who writers (in a Doctor Who Magazine interview) was “don’t”. By which he meant, “don’t just want to write Doctor Who.” You have to want to be a writer first, and specifically a Doctor Who writer second.
But suppose you enjoy writing, and you do particularly want to write a Doctor Who novel. You should put this ambition in perspective:
·
BBC Worldwide was unusual, in that it sometimes commissioned
unsolicited proposals for the Doctor Who range. If you don’t believe
that the BBC offered an almost unique genre opportunity, read this article here by published author Roger MacBride Allen about how
other media franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek handle their
commissions.
·
In 2000, the BBC received 500 unsolicited proposals—that’s two for
every working day. Fewer than 10% of those got past the first reader to the
commissioning editor. The large majority failed the basic requirements of good
writing.
·
In 2001, the BBC published 22 novels (one eighth Doctor novel and one
past Doctor novel every month except December). Most of these were by people
who had already written for the series before, or who were already published
writers elsewhere. We aren’t guaranteed acceptances, and we’ve all had
rejections. But we’ve shown in the past that we can deliver a publishable book
on time. Sometimes we are commissioned directly.
·
In 2002, the BBC announced that from September onwards it would publish
only 12 Doctor Who novels each year.
·
In 2005, the BBC started to commission a smaller number of new Doctor Who and Torchwood novels directly from authors.
·
In 2006, the BBC Books imprint was sold to Ebury Books. They no longer
consider unsolicited proposals for Doctor
Who or Torchwood novels.
·
In 2007 and 2008, BBC Audio started to commission audio scripts for Torchwood, Doctor Who, and Sarah Jane Adventures CD releases. They
do not consider unsolicited proposals.
So your chances of getting your BBC Doctor Who book published used to be better than any other franchise. But that never meant it was easy, and the odds were always against you. There was competition not only from the existing authors, and not only from published novelists who have not yet written for Doctor Who, but also from all those other enthusiastic would-be novelists—people like you. And today, no unsolicited proposals are considered.
Incidentally, Big Finish Productions do not consider unsolicited proposals, as they explain in their FAQ. They will return unsolicited proposals unread.
The only way currently to get a new Doctor Who or Torchwood novel commissioned is for the BBC to approach you directly. And that’s only going to happen if you have a track record of published fiction. And even if you’re invited to write a proposal, there’s no guarantee that the novel will be commissioned.
So let’s assume you’re writing because you enjoy it, and you’re going to submit a proposal to another publisher. The bad news is, they are…
Looking
for reasons to reject you
It sounds unfair, doesn’t it? But if publishers’ readers can’t quickly reach a point where they can say perhaps without reading your entire proposal that “this won’t do”, then they’d do nothing else but read proposals all week and the other books would never get published!
A really good book to read is Noah Lukeman’s The First Five Pages (ISBN 0-684-85743-X). It’s subtitled “A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile”. Lukeman has worked as a literary agent, and he explains the brutal truth about unsolicited manuscripts: when publishers’ readers read them, they’re looking for a reason to reject. And if that’s not disheartening enough, Lukeman says in his Introduction (so, that’s before the book even gets going): “You’ll come to see why this book should not have been titled The First Five Pages but The First Five Sentences.”
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prevent the publisher’s reader ever reaching “this won’t do”. Keep your proposal in that reader’s hand. Don’t put anything in your submission that will give that reader an excuse to discard it.
And Noah Lukeman’s book explains step-by-step how a publisher’s reader will look for reasons to reject your manuscript. So now you’ll know how to avoid that! There’s a web site for Lukeman’s book, too.
OK, now you shouldn’t be disheartened. You should see this as a challenge. Besides which, there are plenty of books about writing that can help you avoid the usual pitfalls of the first-time novelist. Here are the ones that I found most useful.
Books
about writing
There are loads of these. In the
The Elements of Style, by
William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White (ISBN 0-02-418200-1, but republished
frequently). The classic text for simple, clear writing. A standard for anyone
who wants to write well in any field.
The Art of Fiction, by John
Gardner (ISBN 0-679-73403-1). This explains the basic skills, genre, common
errors, techniques, plotting… It’s one of the most widely-referenced books for
new writers.
Writing Fiction, by
Janet Burroway (ISBN 0-316-11770-6). “A Guide to Narrative Craft”. Burroway is
an author and teacher, and has taught a course on Narrative Technique at
The Weekend Novelist, by
Robert J. Ray (ISBN 0-440-50594-1). If, like me, you are not a full-time
writer, you may find this staged approach to novel-writing is useful. It talks
in turn about character, scene building, plotting, drafting, and rewriting.
The Novelist’s Guide, by
Margret Geraghty (ISBN 0-7499-1441-6). A straightforward approach to
characters, identification, dialogue, plot, symbolism, and closure from a
UK-based columnist for Writer’s News.
The Writer’s Journey, by Christopher
Vogler (ISBN 0-330-37591-1). “Mythic structure for storytellers and
screenwriters.” Although it has screenwriters as a large part of its target
audience, this book is useful for novelists too. It’s inspired by the work of
mythologist Joseph Campbell—he of “The Hero’s Journey” which has defined so
much of contemporary
The books I’ve referenced above are about the basics of good writing, because that’s where at least 90% of submissions fail, and fail badly. There are other books about the legal, contractual, pitching, and marketing aspects of novel writing. Personally, I think if you’re worrying about those instead of about the basics of writing, you’re already planning to fail.
The other thing that these books don’t really address is verbal criticism and analysis of other writers’ work, though that is inherent any time you read something. A good book for that, if you feel the need, is Wayne C. Booth’s The Rhetoric of Fiction (ISBN 0-14-055221-9), an analysis of narrative from Homer to Joyce which provides examples in literary fiction of telling/showing, authorial voice, etc.
Web
sites about writing
There are loads. These are a few I’ve found useful.
The Eclectic Writer: Well
over 100 great links for writers. These include articles about presentation,
setting, endings, writing synopses, overcoming writer’s block; there are genre
resources (including sf and fantasy, horror, mystery); there are online
journals, awards, technical writing, screenwriting; reference sites; research
sites; organisations…
Zoetrope: Yes, that
Zoetrope. Subscribe to the on-line publication that features new fiction from
(among others) Francis Ford Coppola. And while you’re there, check out their
writing classes.
NovelAdvice: Three
publications, open message board, broad range of classes, frequent open chat
sessions with “leaders in the field” but, best of all, a fantastic set of resources specifically for writers.
Plot: Damon
Knight’s excellent online summary, excerpted from his book Creating Short
Fiction (this article is in public
domain).
forwriters.com: References,
conferences, author information, etc.
Seven suggestions: Worth
mentioning specifically from the absolutewrite site, this is John Ross’s seven suggestions for
writing a novel is a succinct online summary which prints on two sheets what
most writing books will tell you in at least seven chapters.
Science Fiction Clichés: A very funny
summary by John VanSickle of cliché, baloney, lame plotting, sexism, bigotry,
and contradictions of the laws of nature in science fiction with particular
reference to Star Trek). The full title is “The Grand List of Overused
Science Fiction Clichés”. And there are accompanying summaries for:
The
Things I Will Do if I am Ever the Hero (“Tired of the hero making the same
stupid mistakes?”)
The
Things I Will Do if I am Ever the Sidekick (“Dying is easy; comedy is
difficult”)
The
Things I Will Do if I am Ever the True Love (“Just in case…”)
The
Evil Henchman’s Guide (“Life as cannon-fodder sucks”)
Survival
Guide for Innocent Bystanders (“Hints for the rest of us”)
The
Evil Overlord Inc. Web Site by Peter Anspach (“taking over the universe is not as
easy as it would first appear”)
Things
I Will Do When I Become Evil Empress (Noam Izenberg’s “Gender alternate”)
Last updated: 09 October 2008
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