Christian Cawley's Blog, page 368

Paul Magrs Offers Coaching for Writers

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Prolific Doctor Who writer and cat enthusiast, Paul Magrs, is offering coaching to writers working on novels in any genre.

At a special introductory price of £50, Paul will read through a 5,000 word extract and give you a 500-word critique, assessing plot, character, structure, further reading and more points for development. Calling the project ‘The Fiction Doctor,’ he stresses that all analyses will be constructive and often take less than two weeks. He says:

“Only you can write your stories. There’s no one else can make them up, or remember them, or tell them like you can. No one can do it for you. But sometimes life gets in the way and formal education lets you down and experience takes away your confidence to write the way you would like to.

 

I think anyone can be tutored in developing their voice and creating work they can be proud of. The rules aren’t the same for everyone, and much of writing is about learning which rules to break. It’s a huge challenge – trying to write something that other people will want to read. But through constructive criticism and feedback I can help people to get there.”

Magrs is the writer of many Big Finish audios, including The Stones of Venice, Horror of Glam Rock and The Zygon Who Fell To Earth, as well as novels like The Blue Angel, Verdigris and Mad Dogs and Englishmen. His last work for BBC Books’ Doctor Who range was 2007’s Sick Building, an immensely enjoyable read which starred the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones.

He’s perhaps best-known for the three audio series featuring the Fourth Doctor, Mike Yates and Mrs. Wibbsey, Hornet’s Nest, Demon Quest and Serpent’s Crest.

Paul’s also worked as a Creative Writing tutor at universities across the land, and co-edited The Creative Writing Coursebook. Naomi A. Alderman, who wrote the exceptional Borrowed Time, is a former student of Magrs, and she says:

“Paul Magrs was a superb tutor. Thoughtful and kind but at the same time sharp-eyed and tough where it was needed. Supportive without ever being smothering. He identified exactly the *centre* of my first novel when I was still struggling to see what I had; absolutely invaluable.”

To take advantage of this, or to find out more, head over to his blog now.

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Daleks’ Master Plan 11: Abandoned Planet

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

It does feel as though we’ve been enjoying this superb strip for a whole 11 weeks, but it’s true – we’re nearly at the end of our Doctor Who strip adaptation of The Daleks’ Master Plan. Rick Lundeen’s labour of love has been enjoyed across the web, with forums and Facebook pages around the world linking to it!

This week, the Doctor disappears and there is a distinct whiff of betrayal and subterfuge in the air as Mavic Chen pushes forward with the final phase of the Daleks’ plan…

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The PDF version can be downloaded from the Kasterborous Store right now!

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StoryBundle Doctor Who eBook Set

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Continuing its popular ‘pay what you want’ eBook bundles, StoryBundle have announced a specially curated Doctor Who Bundle containing a set of six full length books featuring episode guides, producer autobiographies, coming-of-age stories and even Doctor Who themed recipe books.

Those who choose to give a $3 minimum will get Nick Griffiths’ acclaimed fan memoir (Fanoir?) Dalek, I Loved You, Barry Lett’s fantastic autobiography Who & Me, Doctor Who historian Philip Sandifer’s TARDIS Eruditorum Volume 2: Patrick Troughton and Chris-Rachael Oseland’s Dining With The Doctor: An Unauthorized Whovian Cookbook -  which creates recipes based around the first six series of nuWho.

What’s more, those who choose to give more than the bonus $10 price receive two extra tomes, including Earl Green’s 400 epic page episode guide VWORP!: Connecting Who, Old And New and an exclusive eBook of some of the best Doctor Who writing, collected by Philip Sandifer, The Best Of TARDIS Eruditorum.

StoryBundle has already sold hundreds of thousands of books through its popular horror, fantasy, video game and sci-fi book bundles, and this unauthorized Doctor Who bundle, which will be available for just two weeks – via computers, mobile devices and tablets – and then gone forever, compiles an incredibly diverse set of some of the best writing on the Doctor out there.

StoryBundle also offers independent writers a platform from which to share their work.

Nick Griffith commented:

I was very happy to be asked to join the US project, which helps indie authors reach wider audiences while offering genuine bargains of wide-ranging Who books to readers.

For more information head over to the StoryBundle site, http://storybundle.com/

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Bill Nighy: Capaldi Casting “makes perfect sense”

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Echoing the majority of Doctor Who fans sentiments when he first emerged under a cloud of celebratory confetti  Bill Nighy believes that it ‘makes perfect sense’ that Peter Capaldi play the Doctor.

Nighy, who played Dr Black in Vincent and the Doctor and who last year revealed that he had turned down the role of the Doctor, said:

I think it’s one of those things you read and you think, ‘Well, of course Peter Capaldi is going to be Doctor Who, it makes perfect sense. He’s a wonderful actor, and I would think he’ll be a terrific doctor. He’ll be very funny, dry, elegant and sharp, and I think it makes perfect sense.

And we agree. And I don’t just mean those of us who’s eyes are scanning these very words.

But I will say this… Bill Nighy likes him and that guy is all kinds of cool.

(Via Huffington Post.)

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Moffat in Surprise Edinburgh Improv Show Appearance

Ergonjon is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Steven Moffat is to appear in an improvised comedy show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

The Doctor Who showrunner will be a guest on Ad Lib at the Assembly Hall on August 21 2013, appearing alongside comedian and self-confessed fan of the series Frank Skinner.

Moffat has a background in comedy having scripted Joking Apart and Coupling, but an improvised show would be something of a departure.

Host Fred MacAulay promises ‘an hour of spontaneous and unexpected conversation from some of Britain’s sharpest, funniest and most creative brains’, perhaps indicating the show will follow an ‘in conversation’ format rather than a more anarchic improvised free-for-all.

Either way it should be a fascinating evening! More details on the Edinburgh Fringe and buy tickets at www.edfringe.com.

(With thanks to John Cooper)

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Limited Edition Doctor Who Series 7 Soundtrack Details

Meredith Burdett is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Better late than never, the BBC is finally releasing the official soundtrack to Doctor Who Series 7!

What you may not know is that there’s a special gatefold edition of the release coming out that will be limited to only 5000 units; once they’re gone, they’re gone!

The soundtrack offers the music, composed by the mighty Murray Gold, from the season opener Asylum of the Daleks right up to the epic and rather exciting 2013 finale The Name of the Doctor.(Anyone else think it’s a little strange that there’s no music from The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe and The Snowmen?)

The gatefold edition will also include 2 iTunes bonus tracks that are listed as Glasgow and Whisper Men. After the initial special editions have sold out, the design will revert to the standard jewel case that we all know and love.

The soundtrack will be released in early September and will give all you collectors the chance to finally fill the gap in your collection that has probably been sitting there since late 2012.

So gather your pennies together and get ready to make your train journey, bus journey, flight or walk down the road that little bit more dramatic as the series 7 soundtrack will soon be yours to own!

The Doctor Who series 7 soundtrack will be released on September 9th 2013 – but you can listen to brief extracts of each track, courtesy of Amazon UK.

(Thanks to Combom.)

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50th Anniversary Exhibition Down Under

BeckyinPhilly is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Australian Doctor Who fans: LISTEN UP! This one’s for you!

The ABC and the BBC Worldwide ANZ are bringing a piece of Who down under! They’ve come together to present a free, 50th anniversary Commemorative Exhibition at the ABC Ultimo Centre in Sydney from now until January 2014.

Doctor Who is currently seen by almost 80 million viewers in Australia, the UK, and the US and more than 200 other countries worldwide. Declared the longest running science-fiction series in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, there have been Eleven Doctors, many friends and companions, and loads of memorable monsters!

Featuring props and costumes from the show’s 50 year history, including one of Tenth Doctor David Tennant’s costumes, Kylie Minogue’s costume from Voyage of the Damned, an original Dalek, an iconic TARDIS, and much more, the exhibition aims to bring Doctor Who to life for the Australian fans.

Says Jon Penn, Managing Director of BBC Worldwide ANZ:

“The ABC has been the home of Doctor Who in Australia for all of its record-breaking 50 year history. I am delighted to be partnering again as we offer fans a chance to celebrate this important anniversary and to experience some of the wonderful history of this iconic and classic BBC series.”

The exhibition, open weekdays and a number of weekends including the show’s 23-24 November 50th anniversary weekend, will run from 15 August through 31 January 2014. The event is free and open to all ages.

Let us know how it is!

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1963: Fanfare for the Common Men

Meredith Burdett is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Big Finish has been incredibly busy this year with their Doctor Who releases. The monthly range, the Companion Chronicles and the Fourth Doctor adventures have all been offering some seriously brilliant 50th anniversary fun and we haven’t even mentioned the Destiny of the Doctor series yet!

In November, Big Finish will release their multi-Doctor story The Light at the End which will truly celebrate 50 years of travelling in time and space, but before that, there’ll be a few more treats from the people that bring you some of the most amazing Doctor Who stories in the world.

September 2013 will see the start of a series of 3 linked adventures for Doctors Five, Six and Seven with the overall umbrella title of 1963, which as you all know takes us right back to where we met the First Doctor. 1963: Fanfare of the Common Men will find the Fifth Doctor in the Swinging Sixties with a slight problem on his hands:

If you remember the Sixties, they say, then you can’t have been there.

 

The Doctor remembers the Sixties. That’s why he’s taking Nyssa on a trip back to November 1963. Back to where it all began. Back to the birth of the biggest band in the history of British music. Back to see those cheeky lads from Liverpool…

 

Mark, James and Korky. The Common Men. The boys who made the Sixties swing with songs like Oh, Won’t You Please Love Me?, Just Count To Three and Who Is That Man.

 

The Doctor remembers the Sixties. And there’s something very wrong with the Sixties, if the Beatles no longer exist…

Starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, 1963: Fanfare of the Common Men will be available to buy on CD or via download from Big Finish’s website.

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How To Build A TARDIS

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

How do you build a TARDIS? Well, if you ask the Doctor, he’ll shake his head sadly and say, ‘they were grown, not built.’ He’s not very helpful really, but maybe he’s just worried about the human race advancing too far.

So the most we can do is build a blue box that can’t get you to the year 5.5/apple/26, isn’t powered by the Eye of Harmony, and can’t be utilised by a living planetoid to try to get from a bubble universe into our main one. Still reading? Good.

The idea of having your very own TARDIS is a pretty darn cool one anyway, don’t you think? And for those who want to build one, the TARDIS Builders website is perfect, detailing both the consistently-iconic exterior and the ever-in-flux interior. BBC News’ Technology Correspondent, Mark Ward, has explored this cult fascination, introducing us to Yoz, who has built a TARDIS in her living room! She says:

“It seems natural to me to want to have a TARDIS. I could not stop thinking about it and the only solution, the only way to get this idea out of my head, was to build it. To do it.”

Her ideal TARDIS is the one piloted by Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison; building it has taken her about a year – and it’s still not finished, as she explains:

“I’m still not entirely happy with it. The final stage is to make it dirty so it looks like it has been used.”

Head over to TARDIS Builders and you’ll discover a wonderful world of dedication and love. There are floor plans, fan creations, specific details about roundels (that’s an anorak topic, yes, but then if you’re on Kasterborous, you’re probably a bit of an anorak), TARDIS sightings, prop building, tutorials… In fact, I’m pretty sure the site is bigger on the inside.

The current TARDIS interior, which debuted in The Snowmen, was designed by Michael Pickwoad, who has been working on the series since 2010’s A Christmas Carol. He told Ward:

“The colours have changed and it’s now slightly bluer than it was. If I was to do another one, another box, we might paint it a different hue of the same colour.”

That set is now open to the public (well, as long as you book in advance) as part of a Doctor Who Experience tour until late August. It’s also the console room that will appear in the 50th anniversary special in November and, presumably, the place where – blub – the Eleventh Doctor will regenerate at Christmas.

Kasterborous Associate Editor, Brian A. Terranova is a keen prop maker and cosplayer; his Facebook profile is littered with beautiful photos of, say, the Tenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, fob watches, the First Doctor’s library card, that crystal thing that Turlough uses to communicate with the Black Guardian – and then some. Head over and have a look!

You can read Mark Ward’s full report here, and don’t forget to head over to TARDIS Builders to explore.

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Why Can’t The Doctor Return for the Ponds?

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

‘The Washington Theory’ - it’s all a matter of geography.

Y’see, last year, Guardian writer and friend of Blogtor Who Dan Martin, sat down with Steven Moffat to discuss the Series 7a finale The Angels Take Manhattan – and more specifically, ‘the Washington Theory’.

He asked Moffat why could Amy and Rory not just travel to Washington (or anywhere for that matter) and meet the Doctor there.

Had Moffat left a useful plot thread dangling to bring the beloved companions back in a couple of years?

Apparently not, according to the man himself:

“New York would still burn. The point being, he can’t interfere. Here’s the ‘fan answer’ – this is not what you’d ever put out on BBC One, because most people watch the show and just think, ‘well there’s a gravestone so obviously he can’t visit them again’. But the ‘fan answer’ is, in normal circumstances he might have gone back and said, ‘look we’ll just put a headstone up and we’ll just write the book’. But there is so much scar tissue, and the number of paradoxes that have already been inflicted on that nexus of timelines, that it will rip apart if you try to do one more thing. He has to leave it alone. Normally he could perform some surgery, this time too much surgery has already been performed. But imagine saying that on BBC One.”

Moffat also spoke of the many drafts it took to find the right emphasis for the Ponds’ departure:

“To be honest they were all quite similar. There was a slightly more involved version which put River slightly more central. But I sort of realised I was trying to tell about four stories when two was quite enough. So I trimmed it down. Increasingly, the point of the story is the Doctor doesn’t really do anything for the second half except more or less complain and try to stop everything working. Obviously there was a point when he wasn’t like that, but I realised that that was the story.

 

Once he realises he can’t escape the fact she’s going to leave him, he becomes sort of useless, and that’s the drama. And the dramatic heart of Doctor Who is very rarely the Doctor himself because he’s the man who fixes everything. This time he’s the man to whom it happens and that makes him interesting in a different way – and an amazing performance from Matt Smith as well.”

So is this really the last time we’ll see the Ponds and the Doctor together?

“You could never eliminate the possibility of dream sequences and flashbacks, but will the Doctor see them again? No. When I was first talking to Karen and Arthur about it, we said ‘let’s make it the proper ending’. Bringing back things just gives you sequel-itis. Just end it and get out. Heaven knows if they’ll appear in some form of flashback – I have no plans to do that, I have to say – but the story of Amy and The Doctor is definitively over.”

Is this Moffat playing his usual games with audiences’ expectations? Are you entirely convinced by the ‘scar tissue’ explanation? Do the means justify the end?

As usual, your opinions below.

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