Fic: The Volteze Falcon

[jjpor]

Fic: The Volteze Falcon, Part One: Eve, Sam, Harry

I know what you're thinking: "Where's my retro-Torchwood?" "Where's my Sontarans up the Jungle, for that matter?" "ANOTHER WIP??!!". You see, I got mugged by this plot-bunny, and...

Well, it's like this. Like many of you, I greatly enjoyed last week's SJA story “The Mad Woman in the Attic”. The characters Eve, Sam and Harry in particular seemed made for sequel-fic. And then I got thinking; there are quite a few NuWho-era characters out there by now, wandering the stars in search of sequels. And then I read this fic, which I thought was marvellous: www.whofic.com/viewstory.php . Plus I thought wouldn't it be kewl to write something in the freewheeling, slightly cracky vein of some of the 80s and 90s-era DWM comic strips. No shapechanging penguins, though; sorry. And then this plot-bunny jumped out on me, and... So, anyway; Doctor Who, SJA, Torchwood and all the characters and copyrights contained therein belong to the BBC and their individual creators and definitely not to me. Enjoy (I hope)!

The link:

www.whofic.com/viewstory.php

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, hey, Douglas ends up in charge? :-D (I like Douglas. Not that I don't like the others, as you know, but, yes, I liked Douglas very much). Anyway, I don't want to start encouraging you to write the history of Torchwood through the 20th C, so I'll stop there. But, yes, you post that nf stuff. (In bite-sized paragraphs, okay, for those of little brain like me. ;-D) Heh, Enderby. :lol:

Blank charcaters - it's funny, isn't it? Until suddenly something reveals all...

And would that I could move on from here with dignity, but, to be honest, yes, I'm sure you'll see some of that stuff. Writing about the pair of them has seen me through the restructure this far and if I emerge into the real world again before that's over, I may give up. (We're losing 6 out of 9 of our team; my post's dead and I'm to be a Jack of All Trades. Because professions and specialisms are elitist and wrong. The dustbin men are so going to like being managed by a children's librarian. Oh, and I can still do what I do now at the same time. Yay. I can't wait.) So, Nat/Tilly obsession seems like a very good idea. Besides, I shall have to do the missing Sept 1985 scenes from Lonely House at least. Sgt Kennedy gets to carry Tilly to sickbay. :lol: (And where we find out civil servant Mr Argyle feels that people whose fathers disappeared are Not Reliable and that Kennedy's maths isn't great. So Nat claims, anyway.)

And, yeah, I did write that 'original' version and, yes, you're right. And it's a 1985 tale of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Oh, no, wait. The noisy music bit isn't going in... *grins*)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

LOL, yeah, Enderby... ;D And Douglas was as surprised as anybody else when he discovered Gerald had recommended him as his successor (although he and Lydia were de facto joint commanding officer as it turned out), and that the new Institute Director was perfectly happy to okay any recommendation made by his bestest drinking buddy in the world...

But yeah, I can't get enmeshed in all that stuff. The WW2 stuff has had a strange half-life for a while as possible original fic, without going beyond research and note-taking, although recently the notes have started assuming that the shady 1940s-era British alien research unit (hitherto unnamed) is the wartime incarnation of Torchwood; that could change though. Turns out that in real life the British and Americans had various cutthroat special operations and intelligence units (which, depending on the eccentricity and/or charisma of the men leading them sometimes came to amount to little private armies) whose job was to follow hot on the heels (and sometimes actually ahead of) the advancing armies and nick the best bits of German science and technology (and the scientists too!) before the Russians could. Seems like exactly the sort of thing the Institute would do, assuming the Germans had been messing with alien tech (Google Nazi UFOs if you want to be simultaneously tickled by wacko conspiracy theories and deeply concerned by the credulity/political dubiousness of some of the people peddling them. The original Foo Fighters were not a band made up of the survivors from Nirvana!). Research makes me feel virtuous and useful, anyway! ;D

And I feel for you regarding restructuring; we too are currently doing more with less or whatever the hell they call it, and it is worrying times in general. I try not to worry about things that are beyond my control while at the same time trying to make sure my escape routes are clear if it comes to it (although that's not so easy in these times). And you're right; writing helps a lot.

So yeah, Nat, Tilly, Kennedy and the rest of them; bring 'em on! Hang on a minute...it contains what, what and what??!! Oh, no rock and roll? That's all right then... ;D

[thisbluespirit]

The WWII stuff sounds very interesting. Research is sometimes better fun than the writing - it's has its own thrill and the story remains all plans and shiny ideas and not actually disappointly down on paper... You sound as though you have just about as many original fics in preparation as you do fanfics. Which is very useful, as yuu can easily adapt to the market. You're very cunning indeed. ;-)

Yes, I remembered you saying your work wasn't great either at the moment, either. :-( However, one potential line of escape seems very promising to me, even if you have to work at Tesco the rest of the time to get actual money... (But, you know, you could still be the Next Big Thing and then you wouldn't have to. :lol:) Heh. We've been doing more with less for at least ten years.

Oh, there'll be stuff. Presently. The worse things get at work, the more there'll be. :lol: (And I may possibly have exaggerated just a teensy bit there.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm full of ideas. Or full of something, anyway. It's actually seeing any of them through to completion that proves to be the hard part. ;D Some of these things have had more incarnations than the Doctor, going back to when I was still in school...

Re lines of escape; it'd be nice, wouldn't it? Well, maybe not the Tesco bit, but I'd tell myself it was just til I broke through! ;D Have to actually write something before you can break through, though...

Well, I look forward to the stuff, then, and don't let them grind you down.

[thisbluespirit]

From my years as a librarian, sitting listening to authors explain how they got published. (Did I mention that my job does have some perks at times? :lol:), the two main things you need are 1. To Finish things. 2. Persistence.

So finish something. Anything, but finish something original. Seriously, I get to read and review things frequently and you have it all in terms of ideas, plot, characterisation and style. The one thing I didn't know is if you finish things. People get published whatever the market by finishing books and then never letting up till one of them gets accepted and nothing's changed. Except you might need an agent these days, which is very irritating.

(No, I meant Tesco to subsidise the ridiculously small income you would have from your published book. Unless, of course, it shot up the bestseller lists like a rocket. Authors by and large have to be madly popular or have a long backlist not to need a second job. Or a spouse with a Proper Job. But it's a bit mercenary to go looking for one of those for that reason. ;-D Of course, authors do like moaning when they get together in packs, so maybe they exaggerated, but I think it's more or less true! You'll find you suddenly develop an interest in the survival of libraries, because of the library lending right, too...)

Anyway, I'm sure you could live without another one of my annoying, bossy comments, but I've had to read enough unoriginal rubbish that's actually been published to be dismayed by the thought of you simply not finishing things. (You could always do short sf stories. There's still an opening there, and they only publish male authors, so you have the advantage. Hah.) I'm sure you know all this, I know, I know. All anyone needs to know this stuff is the internet and the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook.

Do you think I spend too much time reading The Bookseller and stuff? ;-D (It's dramatic stuff, I tell you, The Bookseller... "it's the End of the publishing trade/the Book/libraries" every week. They definitely exaggerate. :lol:)

I would give you hints on trends, but these date and all I know is that Horror stuff if back in with the children's and teen, thanks to Twilight. Goosebumps are reappearing and there's various series. And the rest is still pink and sparkly. I don't think it's quite the same in the adult. Although a top tip on how to get published as an adult author that you might not know is this:

1. Write a family saga (fondly known as the Aga Saga)
2. Give yourself a female pseudonym (unlike sf being male is a downside here. And who says gender stereotyping is dead?)
3. Get published. (Make sure the book is fat enough to do well at the airports).
4. Try to find out how to make your publisher let you do something that isn't an Aga Saga...

You're probably really working in a publishers and raising your eyebrows at me now...

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Oh no, not annoying and bossy at all; all very good advice, and thanks very much for the encouragement you're always giving me regarding my writing. I guess finishing things is the problem I have; I mean, you can see my short attention span regarding fic even with the fanfic, where I seem to have all these irons in the fire at the same time. I'm going to have to take the time to make a serious effort to see something original through to completion, maybe it'll be my new years resolution?

The best bets at the moment seem to be the "original" version of the Torchwood fic(s), which wouldn't really be a direct lift, as I envision "my" secret Edwardian weird-science organisation as being very different in scale and organisation and less alien-fixated than Torchwood are, and this strange retro space-opera thing I've been messing about with for a while (but which I haven't actually written that much of in finished form); any of the other things I've got on the go at the moment are much further away from actually being the finished article (including the WW2 stuff, which is lots of ideas and research but without an actual story to hang them on at the moment).

But I'll definitely let you know how I get on, and maybe ask you and others on my flist to look some things over when I have them in readable form (if that isn't too much of an imposition - I know you have things to be getting on with too!)

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, I'm glad you don't mind when I get mock-bossy (and it is - you can't force anyone to do things by internet! It's impossible, unless you have psychic powers or something) but then I recklessly post and repent at leisure, as it were. And, yes, new year's resolution, not to be broken. You could set targets and get various LJers/DbyAers to demand to know if you've met them. :lol:

I've written rubbish, but finished rubbish, in every case. It's just a shame it's rubbish. :lol:

And certainly. I have a contract that says the council own my life anyway, so I'd have to get a different job to seriously write something myself. Of course, by that time I might have forgotten how it was to be a librarian and not have anything useful to say, but I always count it a privilege to get to proof-read things. Just if it's graphic stuff, you'll need someone else, because I'll be skimming over it hastily...

(I say, we're going for a narrow thread again here. Are we two old windbags or what?)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Yes, we've got to stop doing this; we'll be down to single-word lines again soon! ;D

Well, thanks for the offer, and I think I will be taking you up on it, so be warned! I think setting oneself targets and deadlines, and moreover letting other people know you have set yourself targets and deadlines so that you have that element of pressure to make sure that you do it, is probably a good idea, even if it is something I always wussily shy away from.

So, give me a chance to clear my decks ongoing fanfic wise (and write my Xmas fic, which I want to do), and we shall see... We shall indeed...

[thisbluespirit]

Okay
Cool
Yes, it's called
accountability...
And I'll only regret it
if you have page
long
paragraphs.
:-p
Xmas fic!!

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Heh
Heh
Yes
Very
Good!
And
Yes,
Xmas
Fic!
Possibly
with
Three
and
UNIT
and
Delgado!Master
in
it.
Possibly.

[thisbluespirit]

:lol:

:-p

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I try! XD