Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale

[talkingtothesky]

Phew! I just finished RTD's Writer's Tale. I know, I know, it was published over a year ago. But I found it in Smiths about two weeks ago and finally bought it. Took me three whole days to finish it. And I mean without stopping. I am not a slow reader, either. :P

Ah, what the heck, it was brilliant.

It has put paid to some of my ridiculous notions about him having planned Every Single Little Thing right from the word dot, especially with Donna in Series 4. And, you know, he's human. I suppose I should be a bit sad about that, like the mystique's gone, or the Wizard of Oz is just a scared little man, or Dumbledore wasn't perfect (god, I was sad about Dumby!) but it's really just made my respect for him that much higher.

Apart from that, there's a huge amount of insight into the writing process, so it works for me on aspirational as well as fannish levels. It's given me lots to think about.

There are people that hate him because of CoE still. Hell, I say he rocks. Because if there's one thing this book has taught me: writing's bloody hard. And writing something that could have withstood the going over that fandom gave it? Nigh-on impossible.

I can't rewatch CoE yet, because it still has the power to make me miserable just thinking about it. I'd say that means he's done his job. :P

Comments

[allesodernichts.livejournal.com]

God, I want to read it so much! I'm trying to restrain myself from ordering it on Amazon right now, but it's really difficult :)

I can't rewatch CoE yet, because it still has the power to make me miserable just thinking about it. I'd say that means he's done his job. :P
Totally agree with you. It's not his job to make people happy. Instead he makes us care about his shows. Whatever people might think of RTD or Torchwood, I don't think there's anybody out there who was completely indifferent after watching CoE. And that's why I love him so much.

[talkingtothesky]

I was like that when it was first published. :P The only way I could stop myself was to say it's a year's worth of emails, you'll be bored out of your mind. :P

But actually, now I've read it, it's so much better than that. There's whole scripts in the works, you get to see how he lays out stage directions, changes the order of scenes, ruthlessly edits things out, how much of other people's scripts he completely rewrites but doesn't get credit for - it's fascinating.

(I'm not helping save you money, am I? XP Sorry, I'll stop now.)

Instead he makes us care about his shows. Exactly! ♥

[sadera992.livejournal.com]

i'm not surprised it took ages, ive seen how big that book is! soudns liek it's quite good! i flicked through my friend's copy, but i could never be bothered to read that much!

[talkingtothesky]

I read Deathly Hallows in 12 hours! It's monstrous, it really is.

But really worth the time and effort. It's not an easy read, there's lots of serious contemplation of humanity...actually, who am I kidding? It's 500 pages of him fancying the pants off Russell Tovey & GDL, and isn't that just hilarious. XD

[sadera992.livejournal.com]

haha yea, i read a passage about him swooning over russel tovey :P

[kaiyaa.livejournal.com]

I got this when it first came out and read it all and was really chuffed with myself.
Next month there's another one coming out, the same book but with loads more pages added to it to cover what's happened since. I am so tempted. I know I will end up buying it, I know I will. I'm so un-restrained. x3 But it's over 300 pages, I can't miss that. How big will this book be now? Epic.

[talkingtothesky]

I read about that last night! I wish they would do it separately rather than tacking it on to the end. But then again, it is 300 pages, plus it's got the Master on the cover...

Oh, the hardships of being a fangirl. :P