Seven Days of Self-Promotion - Day 5
Anyway, so here's my Seven Weeks of Self Promotion, hopefully there will be something entertaining:
The Days:
1. Something Old
2. Something New
3. Something you made for someone else
4. Something you made just for yourself
5. Something for a major fandom/pairing/character
6. Something for a minor fandom/pairing/character
7. Something you're just really proud of
Well, normally I'd say my "major fandom/pairing/character" was the 11th Doctor and River Song, but since I used that in my last post, I'll move on to my next favorite major fandom/pairing/character, and that would be the 10th Doctor and Donna.
I first wrote 10 and Donna, way back just after their series ended. I generally prefer to wait a while before writing a character, so I can see how they are going to develop on screen. But I absolutely loved Donna. Practical, sassy, and takes no bull. Not even from the Doctor.
And I loved the fact that she was not an ingenue, she was a mature woman who told it like it was. And boy she surely does not treat the Doctor with kid gloves, nor adoring admiration. She tells it like it is. Gives him a swift kick up the pants when he needs it, and stands right at his side ready to chew out the aliens right along with him when needed.
And I think that was good for the Doctor as well. Finally someone who wasn't impressed by him, who could give him a gimlet look and a snort when he started getting on his high horse. But the result, to me, was an even deeper and richer relationship. Donna was old enough to understand the odds and the consequences, and the effect on a person's soul that some decisions could have. And she helped lighten his burden, by taking half of it on her own shoulders.
She might have called him spaceman, and done her share of yelling back and forth, but when the chips were down, she was there for him, his best friend. Ready to fight or die at his side if necessary, if not quietly. :D
I wrote several small stories for 10 and Donna but my biggest 10th Doctor and Donna story was " Baby Gods."
This was written back in the day when Doctor Who was still doing mostly Earth or Earth-type human worlds. When the prevailing wisdom was that alien worlds would cost too much, and be too "unrelatable" for the general audience.
Frankly, I'd gotten sick of it. Doctor Who had managed to be popular for decades doing alien worlds and other cultures. So I decided to address the issue. I decided to write a 10 and Donna story that would be inexpensive, using easily available props, locations, and minimal CGI, but a story that could not take place on Earth.
I wanted to create an alien culture, but one that, while it might look human (for cost reasons, allowing the story to use human looking characters/human actors) were distinctly different in a number of ways, but would still be relatable.
All in the equivalent of a 45 minute episode (which worked out to 8 fairly short chapters. The whole story is only 6,000 words long.)
And, to be honest, I've never been happy with my summary of the story for "Baby Gods" it always makes the story sound so lame, and completely misses the cultural aspects of the story that make it work.
Baby Gods - The Doctor and Donna must rescue a god egg from rogue geneticists who are looking for the secrets of immortality.
That makes the story sound terribly lame and uninteresting. What it doesn't explain, is why there even is a god egg, what a god egg is, how it fits into this culture or why it's important that it's been kidnapped, especially if it's a god.
Well, the thing is, on this world, the people may look human, but they are all born from eggs. And every once in a great while, about once a century, a god egg is born. Because the thing is, on the planet Lora, the gods are real.
Think of it as a cross between Chinese ancestor worship, and Greek myths of god children like Hercules. Here, the gods are born from the people, an evolutionary leap. And since the gods come from the people, they protect and advise the people. So the birth of a God Egg is a big deal. And the Doctor and Donna arrive just in time to go to the temple for the big ceremonies. Because everyone wants the chance to be blessed by the emanations from the egg.
But then the egg is kidnapped. Right in front of everyone. And it is up to the Doctor and Donna to get it back.
But there's a time limit. Once the egg hatches, all bets are off...
So that's my other "major fandom/pairing/character," the 10th Doctor and Donna, complete with snark and adventure, bickering and running and complaining, and generally getting everything wrong until they get it right. Fighting rogue geneticists, temple priests, and trying to juggle a time-bomb of an egg with a baby inside.
Baby Gods - For any of you who've read it, tell me what you think. Did I get the Doctor and Donna relationship right? Were the characters in character? Did you enjoy the alien world, and did it work as something they could have made on a budget with local filming and props? Would it have worked as an episode?
Let me know in the comments. Thank you.
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The Days:
1. Something Old
2. Something New
3. Something you made for someone else
4. Something you made just for yourself
5. Something for a major fandom/pairing/character
6. Something for a minor fandom/pairing/character
7. Something you're just really proud of
Well, normally I'd say my "major fandom/pairing/character" was the 11th Doctor and River Song, but since I used that in my last post, I'll move on to my next favorite major fandom/pairing/character, and that would be the 10th Doctor and Donna.
I first wrote 10 and Donna, way back just after their series ended. I generally prefer to wait a while before writing a character, so I can see how they are going to develop on screen. But I absolutely loved Donna. Practical, sassy, and takes no bull. Not even from the Doctor.
And I loved the fact that she was not an ingenue, she was a mature woman who told it like it was. And boy she surely does not treat the Doctor with kid gloves, nor adoring admiration. She tells it like it is. Gives him a swift kick up the pants when he needs it, and stands right at his side ready to chew out the aliens right along with him when needed.
And I think that was good for the Doctor as well. Finally someone who wasn't impressed by him, who could give him a gimlet look and a snort when he started getting on his high horse. But the result, to me, was an even deeper and richer relationship. Donna was old enough to understand the odds and the consequences, and the effect on a person's soul that some decisions could have. And she helped lighten his burden, by taking half of it on her own shoulders.
She might have called him spaceman, and done her share of yelling back and forth, but when the chips were down, she was there for him, his best friend. Ready to fight or die at his side if necessary, if not quietly. :D
I wrote several small stories for 10 and Donna but my biggest 10th Doctor and Donna story was " Baby Gods."
This was written back in the day when Doctor Who was still doing mostly Earth or Earth-type human worlds. When the prevailing wisdom was that alien worlds would cost too much, and be too "unrelatable" for the general audience.
Frankly, I'd gotten sick of it. Doctor Who had managed to be popular for decades doing alien worlds and other cultures. So I decided to address the issue. I decided to write a 10 and Donna story that would be inexpensive, using easily available props, locations, and minimal CGI, but a story that could not take place on Earth.
I wanted to create an alien culture, but one that, while it might look human (for cost reasons, allowing the story to use human looking characters/human actors) were distinctly different in a number of ways, but would still be relatable.
All in the equivalent of a 45 minute episode (which worked out to 8 fairly short chapters. The whole story is only 6,000 words long.)
And, to be honest, I've never been happy with my summary of the story for "Baby Gods" it always makes the story sound so lame, and completely misses the cultural aspects of the story that make it work.
Baby Gods - The Doctor and Donna must rescue a god egg from rogue geneticists who are looking for the secrets of immortality.
That makes the story sound terribly lame and uninteresting. What it doesn't explain, is why there even is a god egg, what a god egg is, how it fits into this culture or why it's important that it's been kidnapped, especially if it's a god.
Well, the thing is, on this world, the people may look human, but they are all born from eggs. And every once in a great while, about once a century, a god egg is born. Because the thing is, on the planet Lora, the gods are real.
Think of it as a cross between Chinese ancestor worship, and Greek myths of god children like Hercules. Here, the gods are born from the people, an evolutionary leap. And since the gods come from the people, they protect and advise the people. So the birth of a God Egg is a big deal. And the Doctor and Donna arrive just in time to go to the temple for the big ceremonies. Because everyone wants the chance to be blessed by the emanations from the egg.
But then the egg is kidnapped. Right in front of everyone. And it is up to the Doctor and Donna to get it back.
But there's a time limit. Once the egg hatches, all bets are off...
So that's my other "major fandom/pairing/character," the 10th Doctor and Donna, complete with snark and adventure, bickering and running and complaining, and generally getting everything wrong until they get it right. Fighting rogue geneticists, temple priests, and trying to juggle a time-bomb of an egg with a baby inside.
Baby Gods - For any of you who've read it, tell me what you think. Did I get the Doctor and Donna relationship right? Were the characters in character? Did you enjoy the alien world, and did it work as something they could have made on a budget with local filming and props? Would it have worked as an episode?
Let me know in the comments. Thank you.
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