&quot;No, Not the Mind Probe!!?!&quot;

Plz be tellin' me that you aspire to be a Actual Real Life Who Writer?

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Not that I want to go round swelling

jjpor's head or anything (as he knows, it's very inconvenient for getting through doors), but the question 'and why aren't you writing your own novel anyway', does occur to me...

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My icon slipped. Bad Liz and Brig!

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They get everywhere, those two...

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A question I ask myself quite often; I look at my page on the 'Spoon sometimes and think "in the time it's taken me to churn out that lot..." To be honest, I find fanfic a lot easier to write, and a lot easier to finish than I do my original stuff, and I'm sort of enjoying it at the moment. That said, I probably ought to pull my socks up and get back on the original fic treadmill sooner rather than later...

To answer akashasheiress, I'd dearly love to do this for a living; I wouldn't know how best to go about it though, and I suppose the first hurdle is actually writing something that will sell. I don't flatter myself that my fanfic is anything more than what it is, and have an inkling that writing anything to a professional standard is very hard work indeed (at least it is before you become a big name author and anything you hack out will shift copies). Thanks for the vote of confidence, though! :-)

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It's a shame Big Finish will no longer be producing Short Trips, because then you could've tried submitting a story (like they had people do for the last one). Really, don't you ever dream of writing episodes?

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Oh yes, I do; all the time. :D Apparently, they used to do the same things with the NA novels back in the day; there are at least a couple of well-known modern day Who writers who got their foot in the door that way. Unfortunately, I was a teenager at the time, and writing what might be charitably described as adolescent crap XD. Scriptwriting, of course, is a bit different from prose fiction, but yeah, I'd try spamming Moffat with my efforts if I thought it'd do me any good! :)

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I think Gareth Roberts got going that way? Have you read his Four/Romana (yes, that's a fairly accurate description) trilogy? Anyway, I'm partly trying to convince to aspire to Who-writing because I'd like to have someone there who shares most of my views.;)

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Yeah, the Well-Mannered War is great (that was Gareth Roberts, right?), and with a hell of an ending that seems disturbingly plausible... O.o

Heheh, the havoc I could wreak on NuWho's viewing figures with my "views"... :D

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What part of the ending are you referring to.;)

''HELLO THIS IS ROMANA AND YOU WILL LOVE HER''

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Heheh XD

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Thing is, if you wrote the Doctor as saying ''Romana would know what to do'', it would actually be a believable line, unlike when he said the same thing about Rose.

TWMW is the third in that trilogy, following The Romance of Crime and The English Way of Death (or they take place in the same universe, at least). I recommend them; they're full of Old School charm and a huge amount of Romanalove (did you notice Four's annoyance over the creepy guy who kept staring at her?)

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Well, that's because Romana _would_ know what to do, and would probably actually be getting on and doing it in the background while Four was busy goofing around...

Romanalove; count me in! I've got to get hold of those other two now and read them; they sound like just the ticket. Haha, Four; I love it when he gets annoyed with people.

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I loved his whole ''Get this man a woman!'' Territorial much, Four? Remember to get a hold of Festival of Death as well as Short Trips: Companions (Pining!Seven) and Short Trips and Side Steps (About four Four/Romana stories).

And yes, she probably would know what to do, which would've made it more than delusional nostalgia from the Doctor's side.

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Those are all going on my to-acquire-and-read list; I have been trawling around various sites looking for reasonably-priced copies. Delusional, that's Ten; I'm hoping his last couple of stories involve him getting a grip, or a sense of perspective, or something...

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It's really reading something like Battlelines that makes me think it. Obviously, it's a borrowed world - but then, again, we see nothing of the alternate universe in that. And you can clearly pull off that sort of tough fantasy. Of course, it's a difficult market at the moment, with the recession as publishers are trying to play it safe with either their backlists, or The Next Big Thing, but still, it convinces me that you could do it. I sit here, thinking, should I be asking for the next chapter or telling him to stop it and go write something that could at least be sent out into the Big Bad World.

Of course, very hard work: when your editor says, JJPOR, those paragraphs are so hefty I had to get a forklift to move them, you have to go back and alter them. :lol: (Erm. That was a joke!!!)

In the meantime of course, you should get the X-Files crossover done, something else with Ace Rimmer, oh and finish off the theatrical Doctor and Romana story. :-p

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Well, if I was being paid to shorten the paragraphs, I would! XD

I know what you mean, anyway; I guess part of it is working up the confidence to just go for it, to sit down and write something in earnest and then try to sell it. As you say, these aren't the easiest times to do the selling part of it. I've got a couple of original things I'd like to try and complete one of these days, though, both fantasy and science fiction, so you know, if I suddenly stop producing fanfic for any length of time, you know what I'll be doing...

Oh, yeah, all of those are still on the to-do list, and Battlelines itself, of course! I was watching the film Excalibur the other day for the 1001st time, and those sort of knockabout, stupidly gory, vaguely daft battle scenes seem like the way forward for that one...er...

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You must have posted at the wrong time. I put up the Turlough one shortly before this and it got put through right away! *sigh* access denied.

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'Sup now! I suppose there may be some sort of pattern you could understand if you studied the 'Spoon for long enough that would enable you to time your postings for optimally quick validation...or possibly not... XD

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I think, bearing in mind that we're talking about people rather than an automated system, possibly not is the answer!! Trends, maybe, but still... :-D

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clocketpatch

I find it easiest to post before bed, wake up, go to work, and then come back to (usually) find a few lovely reviews. It really brightens the day after a hard slog at data entry.

As for 'Why the heck isn't JJ writing actual novels???' I think I've asked him that too, a few times at least. Seriously, I lovez your fic and will beg for it, but you've got actual talent and that doesn't just fall out of trees. It's hard as anything I know, but I also think if there's ANYONE I know who could break into that industry it's probably you. I mean, not only do you write it well, but you write it fast mostly. And I'm kind of continually astounded by your range of characterisation.

If you were to write a steam punk alt!history novel I'd buy it in a heartbeat, and tell all my friends to buy it too. Actually, if you were to write anything I'd do that... (well, maybe not if you wrote about furries).

It kind of makes me sad hearing all of these stories about the good old days when it was apparently so much easier to get a foot in the door, way back when I was five years old and oblivious to all things Who... but then, even if I were Who-filled and a competent writer back then, I tried out for Big Finish's last open short trips anthology and didn't get anywhere. Hard is hard, and probably that's as it should be 'cause there are ficcers out there who I want NOwhere near anything that might become actual canon. That said, oh JJ, you would write such episodes... (yes, this is the hellium, this is your head...)

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Helium? Well, now you've done it. There's

jjpor with a balloon of a head and a comical squeaky voice. Plus, he's now at the mercy of anyone who happesn to have a pin handy...

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Or indeed sharp doorframes...imagine the mess...

I was trying to work out how to type in an amusing "squeaky voice" manner, but gave up. A quitter, you see. XD

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''I'm a quitter. I come from a long line of quitters. It's amazing I'm here at all.''

If/when I finish a fic, I'd like you to beta it, if you'd want to.

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Oh, I'd love to; just fire it in my direction when it's done. :)

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Just don't laugh too hard.

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But what if it's a comedy?? :)

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Well, that would be different. As long as you'd be laughing with.

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Aha - okay, then, as long as we have that straight... :)

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AAARRGHHH!! HELIUM!! IN MY HEAD!!! XD

Aww, thanks for the kind words and the thumbs-ups and all of that. I'm feeling a bit guilty now for wasting so much time on fanfic when I could be trying to make it as the Next Big Thing... XD What about a steampunk alt!history featuring furries? No? No?? Er...

No, but seriously, I do want to write more original stuff and God knows would love to see it in fic; it's something I've been trying to do for years, in my half-hearted way, and generally failing at. I'll say one thing for the fanfic; since I started going for it in a big way, about a year and a half ago (I mean, I'd been writing some before that, but nothing I felt like sharing online), it has got me writing again, in a productive way, and actually finishing stuff in a way I just wasn't before hand. If I could just apply the fanfic work ethic I have discovered to my "proper writing", that would be great. It has eluded me thus far, and if I'm honest, I think the constant morale-boosts I get from people bigging me up on the Teaspoon are a big part of that. I am a shameless encouragement-hound, it would seem!

I have these stories, though; stories I've been thinking about and plotting out for like years, in my head, even if I haven't actually put that much down in writing for some of them. It's like that list of fanfic ideas I may or may not ever write, it's something I can't stop doing.

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clocketpatch

Mahahaha! Yes, t'is all part of my giant plot: blow you up like a balloon, pop you, and then steal all of the little plot bunnies which run free and become rich and famous off of them! It's Aesop and I'm the fox; never trust a flatter.

Er.. that said (or cackled as the case may be) now that I've had a chance to read I wasn't disappointed. The cliff-hanger was somewhat evil however and I must insist on a speedy chapter VII. As for your original fics, I'd be glad to provide a persuasive audience if you need writing motivation. *nods*

Lastly, (and this is not meant as anything untoward, because I honestly haven't read it and maybe it's brilliant, but the description makes me cringe) I think it is either irony on the part of the Teaspoon Mods or the universe in general that there is an Ace/Doctor baby!fic directly under your story. Ye gawds! Why!???

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Er, to show that it takes all sorts, or something? To be honest, I instinctively run a mile at anything that hints of Seven/Ace; it just seems _wrong_ to me, or, more accurately, WRONG! Having said that, I found vonquixote's take on their relationship disturbingly plausible, if you think about it... That's my failing, though; as you say, it could be the best fic ever written. I may force myself to read it as some sort of penance or something... :D

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Oh, and er, thanks for all of the encouragment and kind words etc; don't be surprised if some original fic comes winging your way one of these days. The next part of Protect and Survive is up now!!! May be a while before it is validated, though. And if you thought that cliffhanger was steep...

And now I want to write something in which someone uses the line "It's Aesop, and I'm the fox", because for some reason I found that unaccountably cool.

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That reminds me of the time I started reading a fic in which Eight arrives on Gallifrey and introduces Romana to Charley Pollard and this other girl (Sam?) and it turned out that Eight was in love with Charley and got her pregnant (I think), which made me click the back-button rather quickly). By which I mean that even though it takes all sorts that doesn't mean I have to enjoy everything;) At least it wasn't the one which turned out to be Four/Adric...

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Well, you know my feelings on Four/Adric *shudders*, but yes, I tend to draw the line at the Doctor procreating with his companions. I mean, you know, I don't knock people who are into that kind of thing, but...not my cup of tea. Seven/Ace, I just can't imagine; I think my mind shies away from the idea, and in any case, I tend towards the idea that if Seven and Ace were, er, "more than friends", it'd be something far more twisted and subtle than actual physical contact. Seven just didn't seem the type.

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It was more like ''OMG, Romana's there and he's not in love with her!?'' Batshit? Oh yes. But I'm not planning to opress anyone.;)

As for Seven/Ace, well, Ace is a kid, you know. I'd much rather not have to think about it.:p

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It really doesn't bear thinking about, you're right. I'm just sticking to the OTP; that's quite enough for me...

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I mean, more power to those who are able to put their OTPness aside for a good story, but I'm perfectly happy to skip them.:) Thankfully, stories featuring my OTP tend to be quite good.

I don't exactly see Seven and Ace as a parent-child relationship, but I definitily think there's a guardian/mentor type thing. The Doctor seems relaxed around kids in general (observe the differences in how Four and Romana relate to Adric). I wish they'd kept it that way with Rose (did you know she was originally written as being seventeen); I might've actually enjoyed them together then.

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Yeah, I know what you mean; with the possible exception of Seven/Ace and Four/Adric, I'm willing to read anything as long as it's a good story. It's just that good stories involving certain ships are pretty rare (you know the ones I mean!)

I don't know if Seven is always a good "parent" to Ace, but he's definitely a mentor, a teacher, helping her grow up and become a stronger person with his own brand of tough love (and it is pretty tough indeed, isn't it); I do think the Doctor's interactions with youngsters are interesting. A slightly younger Rose would have made for an interesting, and possibly less irritating vibe.

I was watching the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit last night, and it is pleasingly creepy (the voice of Sutekh is the voice of the Beast!), but...good lord, it's been a while since I watched any NuWho season 2, and I'd forgotten just how intensely annoying Rose (and Ten when he was interacting with her) really was. Gah...

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Even ones in which Eight prefers Charley over Romana?;) Really, my aversion is my problem not theirs (the writers, I mean), and I'm not about to cause any wank for anyone.

Yes, it's murky sometimes, but he does seem to have feelings of responsibility when it comes to youngsters. It makes me think of his own children and whether he subconciously tries to recreate his time with Susan (a pretty obvious case with Vicki and Dodo).

TIP/SP is just highlights all the worst points of the Ten/Rose relationship. Sometimes, I try to mentally replace them with Four (or some other Doctor)/Romana, only then I have to rewrite big parts of it in my brain. The stories improve greatly (because some of them are quite good, in other ways);)

Here, have some memes

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