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The alt.drwho.creative FAQ v1.5.5 Created by Bruce Greenwood, updated and revised by Imran Inayat and Molly Schlemmer, with thanks to J2rider and Ken Young. v1.5.5 changes - added questions 2 and 5, altered the question of question 1, altered/removed archives from question 15 v1.5.1 changes - added Imran's email address, made a few tweaks so the FAQ's now in third person, added radwm to question 1, expanded on question 4, expanded on question 8, tweaked question 9, added questions 11, 12 and 13, altered/added archive info and addresses in question 15. Version now version 1 to prevent confusion This is still a work in progress. Constructive comments (hell, whatever comments you like) can be sent to narm00@ntlworld.com --- 1. What's this newsgroup for? 2. What's Doctor Who? 3. Can I post binary files here? 4. So what can I post here? 5. What about spoilers? 6. The story I want to post may be considered offensive - will it be posted? 7. What shouldn't I post here? 8. What is a Round Robin? 9. What is a crossover? 10. What is a drabble? 11. What is a filk? 12. What is an MST? 13. What is TTR? Or BoT? Or the IAs? 14. What is such-and-such? 15. Where can I find more stories? 16. I really liked that person's story - can I post a review of it? 17. What about copyright? Can I use this story in my fanzine? 18. There is no question 18. Why not? --- 1. What's this newsgroup for? alt.drwho.creative is the newsgroup for posting and discussing Doctor Who fan fiction created on the internet. For discussion of the TV programme, radio plays, telemovies, books and so forth, rec.arts.drwho is the main unmoderated group, whilst rec.arts.drwho.moderated is the main moderated group. rec.arts.drwho.info is where you'll generally be able to find information on fan-produced conventions, videos and so forth, as well as official information regarding the status of Doctor Who. 2. What's Doctor Who? A British TV show about the Doctor (occasionally 'Doctor Who', depending on who and when you ask), an enigmatic wanderer who travels through time and space in a time machine called the TARDIS, usually with a collection of companions in attendance. The original series ran from 1963 to 1989, with a TV Movie in 1996. The new series, starting in 2005, picks up again at a point after the original series and TVM left off. For more information, try: The BBC's Doctor Who Homepage http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho Siobahn Morgan's 'Nitro Nine' http://nitro9.earth.uni.edu/doctor/homepage.html Shannon Patrick Sullivan's 'A Brief History of Time (Travel)' http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/drwho.html Shaun Lyon's 'Outpost Gallifrey' http://www.gallifreyone.com Be warned: you may be a little while... 3. Can I post binary files here? Binaries related to Doctor Who should be posted to the alt.binaries.drwho and alt.binaries.drwho.pictures groups. Please do not post binaries to this group, or you can expect to be torn a new one. 4. So, what can I post here? Practically anything that is to do with creative Doctor Who. What that means, in practice, has proven very flexible in both format and style, with formats including prose, script, poetry, and filk and stories ranging from standard Doctor-centred stories to stories featuring original characters who appeared in an author's Doctor Who story. There /are/ limits, though - the less Doctor Who-related content there is in your story, the more likely it is that some people may just give up on it. If posting a story with minimal Doctor Who-related content, be sure to put a note to that effect at the beginning of the story (and preferably be sure to have a few actual Doctor Who stories under your belt before even trying something like this). However, there is a fine line between doing that, and posting an original story which you claim is set in the Doctor's universe without _any_ reference to things Who-related, not even the justification that the characters were involved in a story alongside characters from the Doctor's cosmoi, or in a story that drew on the mythos of the Doctor's cosmoi. In such a case, it is recommended you post the story to an appropriate newsgroup. It is recommended you include a disclaimer with your story, identifying who/what holds copyright on which characters. If you're posting a very long story, it's considered good form to split it up and number the bits. If you're reading a story and only get chapters 1, 3 and 5 through 9, wait a bit before requesting a repost - it may just be your server is a bit slow. Discussion of a story, of the newsgroup, and of fanfiction, is also acceptable. 5. What about spoilers? Hard one, this, as readers of the newsgroup live worldwide, and therefore will experience the same story at different times (yep, even allowing for downloads from the 'Net). As a general guideline, when writing something utilising an element from the 2005 series - apart from the Ninth Doctor, the TARDIS, and Rose - tag the title with [SPOILERS], indicating which episode(s) the spoilers concern. So, for example, a story with spoilers for the first episode, 'Rose', could be tagged ['Rose' SPOILERS] or [SPOILERS for 'Rose']. Simple use of the Ninth Doctor and Rose in a story does not require spoiler tagging, but reference to something that comes up in a TV story /does/, whether image, dialogue, character or plot element. The original TV series (including the TV Movie) requires no spoilers. The spinoffs - the novels, the audios and the 'Doctor Who Magazine' comic strip - have something of the same time-delay problem as the new series. A useful rule of thumb here is to use the spoiler tag for three months after initial release. Crossovers (explained below) suffer the same time-delay problem. Here, the rule of thumb is to allow six months after initial release of the other series's story before dropping the spoiler tag. In addition, make no assumptions about others' familiarity with the story in question - this means walking the line between assuming everyone knows the story you're talking about and assuming nobody knows what story you're talking about. 6. The story I want to post may be considered offensive - will it be posted? Yup. This group is totally unmoderated. This means three things - you can quite happily post a story where various companions and Doctors do weird and terrifying things with chocolate sauce to each other, and you can probably expect to get one or two rude responses. If you see any spam on the group, feel free to report it to the spammer's ISP. Constructive criticism of stories is generally encouraged, but comments like "Yor story sux, yo iliturat luser!" will generally be treated with the respect they deserve. 7. What shouldn't I post here? Binaries are the main thing. Advertisements for new Who material (such as audio plays, fan videos and so forth) are quite acceptable. Please don't post non-Who related items, or Who-related non-creative items (such as book reviews and so forth). Other groups exist for that purpose. 8. What is a round robin? A round robin is a story written by a group of people, with each person taking it in turns to write part of the story before handing off for another author to add to the story. In practice, there have been two major types of round robin on the newsgroup: - improvisational, where someone posts the beginning of a story (preferably marked as a round-robin) to the newsgroup, and waits for someone else to take it up. - moderated, where someone (the round robin moderator) posts a call to the newsgroup asking for writers for a round-robin, with a basic idea of what the round robin will involve - even if it's just something like "This will be a Ninth Doctor story". After receiving responses from authors who'd like to get involved, the moderator posts again to the newsgroup, specifying what, if any, ground rules for the story are expected (which Doctor, if any, it involves, how many chapters there'll be, which authors are doing which chapters, when they expect an author's chapter to be submitted to them, when an author's chapter will be posted, and so forth). Chapters are usually posted either in one go, or according to the schedule (if there is one - and if you know you can't make the deadline, inform the moderator). 9. What is a crossover? A crossover is a story which links characters from two or more different sources of fiction. For example, the Doctor might land on the Enterprise, the Red Dwarf, or in sunny Springfield, or the Sliders, Arthur Dent, or Barney Rubble may land in the TARDIS console room. It's usually courteous to list who the crossover is with to avoid confusion, although you may wish to leave it out if you want to keep it a surprise. 10. What is a drabble? A drabble is a story of exactly 100 words - no more, no less. Some people have created "Double-drabbles" and "half-drabbles" - you can guess how many words these have. 11. What is a filk? Filk music is, effectively, science fiction and fantasy folk music. A filk (or filksong) can be either a parody of another song, (its most commonly encountered form), or an original song in its own right. They can cover virtually any subject, and can be funny or serious, as depends. 12. What is an MST? The term MST (or MSTing) comes from the TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000". An MST is basically metafictional: the MST's author takes a story - or other piece of written work - and creates another story around it wherein characters of the MST author's choice (sometimes including the author themselves) comment, parody, satirise and generally poke fun at the original piece. This can be a mark of derision, respect, or possibly both, depending on the original piece and the MST's author. Note that MSTs are not exempt from being worthy of MSTing themselves. (The term MPT3K may sometimes be seen on the newsgroup - it's a reference to "Mystery Psycho Theater 3000", BK Willis's take on the MST idea.) 13. What is TTR? Or BoT? Or the IAs? Several running series appear on alt.drwho.creative. Some are silly, some are serious, and some are just plain odd. Usually, stories that belong to a series will have that series listed by title or handy-dandy abbreviation either in the subject line or somewhere at the beginning of the post. Here, in a nutshell, are the series of ADWC (Note: Most of these series have their own FAQs - or are at least better explained by the creators themselves - so links will be provided with each entry. Hold on to your hats, boys and girls, this could take awhile...). - This Time Round [TTR] - This Time Round is the pub outside Doctor Who continuity (and we mean ALL Doctor Who continuity). At this point, TTR is probably the largest ongoing series on ADWC, encompassing several subgenres (explained below) as well as the stories within the pub itself. Anyone can write a TTR story, though it's probably wise to read the FAQ first (in fact, I'd recommend it). The This Time Round Archive can be found at http://www.ttrarchive.com. The This Time Round FAQ can be found at http://www.ttrarchive.com/ttrfaq.html - To Die For [TDF] - Set in the TTR universe, To Die For is the evil brainchild of one Bradley K. Willis and one Douglas B. Killings. Others have contributed to the mayhem, but for the most part you can blame Brad and Doug. Everyone's favorite Trakenite, Nyssa, is in (sub)reality a murderous, raving lunatic bent on killing Adric in the most inventive ways possible (or impossible; TDF is based on anime...). Yes, my friends, this is the origin of Psycho Nyssa. TDF is fairly complex at this point (continuity outside continuity???). For a better explanation, see the TTR FAQ. - Look Who's Talking [LWT] - Welcome to 'the creche'. Another TTR subgenre. Originated by Imran Inayat, LWT has spawned three other TTR subgenres (Then Do That Over, Newman Primary, and Dunvworpin (the retirement home outside continuity)). Basically, LWT is where baby versions of your favorite Doctor Who characters are left and can do virtually anything they want. ANYTHING. Do not go in the toybox. More information on LWT can be found in the TTR FAQ. - Then Do That Over [TDTO] - More alternate-age Doctor Who characters in the TTR universe. This time, it's high school. Set in H.G. Wells Memorial High School (both a British and an American high school, depending on the writer's mood/nationality), you can re-live those wonderful high school years with the Doctor brothers and their coterie of teenage companions. Originally created by Paul Gadzikowski. For more information on TDTO, see the TTR FAQ. - The Peri Arc - (last of the TTR subgenres, I swear). The Peri Arc is Paul Gadzikowski's Doctor/Peri romance. Yes, a Doctor/Peri romance. Yes, eight Doctors (and at one point, eight Peris too). And *gulp* the husband... This is TTR, after all. And it's funny as all get-out. Info on the Peri Arc can be found in the TTR FAQ as well as at Paul Gadzikowski's web site (where, not so surprisingly, you can also find the stories of the Peri Arc) @ http://members.iglou.com/scarfman - King Arthur In Time And Space [KAITAS] - Paul Gadzikowski writes awesome crossovers. In 1999 he created KAITAS by replacing the proper nouns in many of the franchises he writes in (Doctor Who, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, M*A*S*H, etc.) with proper nouns from the King Arthur legends (e.g., the Doctor became Merlin, the Enterprise became the starship Excalibur, and so on). It's King Arthur in space opera form. Want more? Then I direct you to the KAITAS page on Paul's site, found at http://members.iglou.com/scarfman/kartst.htm - The Pro-Fun Troll Hoedown/Quadrille - It's a party! The Pro-Fun Troll Party is held each year in the pro-fun trolls' TARDIS and hosted by Eloise, the first pro-fun troll to come out of hiding (a.k.a. Ann Magill). It's an informal round robin, with everyone contributing pieces of the story whenever they can. Three Hoedowns have happened so far, and this year the fourth party has been changed from a Hoedown to a Quadrille, a fancy square dance, and everyone from the Doctors to John Crichton to Excel Excel and Hyatt to the author avatars and accompanying muses have shown up to join the fun (???). The parties take place here on alt.drwho.creative, and more information on the Pro-Fun Troll Parties can be found at http://profun.roundrobins.info - The Internet Adventures [IA] - Just prior to the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie, a group of writers got together to write a moderated round robin featuring the yet-to-be-seen 8th Doctor. Now there are over fifty IAs of various sorts (Internet Adventures, Missing Internet Adventures, Bernice Internet Adventures, etc.), and they've recently moved on to the 9th Doctor. Unlike the Pro-Fun Troll Parties, the IAs are moderated round robins (see Question 6 of this FAQ for more information on moderated round robins). The Internet Adventures FAQ can be found on the IA homepage at http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/aeon/ia/index.html - The Book of Taliesin [BoT] - The Book of Taliesin was created by Helen Fayle, and is set in the alternative universe introduced in the TV story 'Battlefield'. The BoT covers the adventures of the bard Taliesin, his sometime companion Vivienne, and his sometime associate Katschei, in the Nine Worlds. However, in the Nine Worlds, technology has a nasty habit of being interchangeable with magic, myth has a nasty habit of becoming reality, and the past has a nasty habit of coming back to bite you in the butt... The Book of Taliesin - where all this is explained much, _much_ better, and more besides - can be found at http://www.sff.net/people/hsfayle. - Desert of Fear [DoF] - Desert of Fear is a round robin that, when it started out, featured the Third Doctor and Jo Grant, but has since moved on to bigger and better things. Here you can find warring factions, Gallifreyan Black-Ops called Regulators manipulating events from behind the scenes, a renegade Regulator causing trouble for his former colleagues, and, somewhere in the midst, the Doctor and Jo, who have landed on the WRONG planet. If you want more information on DoF, you can find the FAQ at http://www.cj4386.demon.co.uk/index.htm. Failing that, you can ask one of the series' four authors, BK Willis, Clive May, Ken Young, or Brad Filippone. - Dragon Lines/Space Vixens! (no acronyms as yet) - These two effectively share the same setting, so they're covered together. The Dragon Lines setting, devised by Imran Inayat, is an alternative universe that merges Doctor Who with anime - to often bizarre effect. Here, the Who characters are magical girls, tormented psychics, honorable warriors, otherworldly girlfriends, mad scientists, and much more besides. The Dragon Lines story proper sees what happens as _something_ brings together people from wildly different eras and worlds, people who would never otherwise have met. From E-Space to N-Space, Neo-Edo to Freeport, 2001 to 3801, the strands are being drawn together... but for what purpose? Space Vixens! is BK Willis's own take on the setting, as notorious space pirates Nyssaias von Drakken and Embericles Ashford set off on their latest voyage. This time, they've got a techno-ninja hired to kill Nyssaias as first mate, a girl with a suitcase that holds the key to the universe as ship's cook, an insurance company on their trail, and the Alliance Navy after their heads. Business as usual, really. For more info, ask either BK Willis or Imran Inayat. - Badlands (no acronym) - The Badlands is another alternative universe, originated by BK Willis (yep, him again), and expanded on by Paul Gadzikowski, Imran Inayat, and Ken Young. The Badlands are a world fallen, a world moved on. It is a world where demons crawl forth from the gates of Hell, where witches are burned alive, where the Lords of Hell rule. In the midst of this are those struggling to survive, to stay alive, and keep the flame burning. But the Lords' Champions are on the move, and ancient powers walk the land once more. Will the world be lost to the void... or is there still hope for salvation? For more info, it's probably best to contact BK. - Magnus and Varne - Okay, so Magnus and Varne aren't an ongoing series, but they do tend to pop up in a lot of places on ADWC and are quite an interesting pair. Hm. Perhaps the best way to explain these two is to give you their descriptions straight from their creator, Ken Young: vulnerability because it was bored. As a result, while he will not die of old age, he can be killed. Inherent abilities are a facility with languages (shared with Varne) and Continuum Control or Sorcery depending on how the setting reacts to magic. That includes teleporting, a limited ability to time travel and the ability to manipulate matter - change a pile of bricks into a speedboat, that sort of thing. Oh, and also controlled regeneration and the ability to heal others whose nervous system can stand the strain. Learned abilities include weaponry, occultism and science. History: Magnus originated as a figure with, if not godlike levels of power, certainly enough to match a demon's. During that period he worked for the 'Nine and Ninety'. After a very vicious quarrel with his employers he fled through the 'Gates of Dawn', which changed him, reducing his powers to the current level. He ended up in a pocket universe where he learned many of his acquired skills at a rate that surprised other inhabitants. The Gates also froze him in his current form. On a physical point of view he is faster and stronger than most others. Think Batman on steroids. As for personality, he is not a sadist, but on the other hand thinks nothing of torturing or killing people when the situation demands. Known weakness - drinks, especially when he is bored. He also holds grudges until they die of old age. Varne was the youngest one in a clan at Chorazon (where Magnus ended up). She first met Magnus as a student - by the time she arrived, he was head of the College of Mages. By the time Magnus decided to leave she was fully qualified and decided to go with him. Main abilities are shape changing and divination, developed to a degree that she no longer needs magic to use them. Mass alteration is difficult with the smallest size being a large cat and the biggest about the size of a Cape Buffalo. Learned abilities include occultism and weaponry skills. She is fascinated by explosives. Known weakness - Magnus. The shape changing was probably an inherent trait which was developed. A good starting place for stories featuring Magnus and Varne is their first complete story, A Quiet Drink. Most of the above series are open to anybody who wants to use them, including Magnus and Varne, but we'd strongly suggest posting a copy of the resulting stories on adwc, so we know what's going on with them. 14. What is such-and-such? If it's not answered above, it's probably best to ask the author. Send them an email or ask the group, if you feel that others might benefit from more knowledge. 15. Where can I find more stories? There are several archives which can be found on the internet. Different ones may suit different tastes, and not all of them contain every story, so check around if you're looking for something in particular - someone should have it. If all else fails, try Google Groups. Some archives (eg Panatropic, A Teaspoon..., Ogron Bob) are/were "everything" archives, some have a specific theme (Storm God Rising, the Erotic Archive), while others are collections of personal fiction (eg Jeri Massi, Paul Gadzikowski). Web.archive links are archives of archives which have, for whatever reason, been removed from the web. There are also several web forums for posting Who fiction; however, it should be noted that these are /slightly/ less lenient in what fiction may be posted there - ie, they'd probably prefer it if the story had more than a tangenital connection to Who. Check their guidelines before posting a story. Forums: A Teaspoon And An Open Mind - Doctor Who Fan Fiction Archive (auto-archive) http://www.whofic.com Outpost Gallifrey Fan Fiction Forum http://www.gallifreyone.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20 FanFiction.Net's 'Doctor Who' section Fanfiction.Net only allows linkage either to its front page or directly to the stories, which means directions are needed. Start off from the front page, click on 'TV Show', then scroll down until you reach 'Doctor Who'. Archives: The This Time Round Archive http://www.ttrarchive.com The Internet Adventures Homepage http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/aeon/ia/index.html The Book of Taliesin (Helen Fayle's site) http://www.sff.net/people/hsfayle Doctor Who Fiction http://broadsword.anu.edu.au/fiction.html Paul Gadzikowski's fan fiction and cartoon site http://members.iglou.com/scarfman/ Gray's Garret - Gray Woodland's Speculative Fiction Site http://www.quilpole.demon.co.uk Jeri's Dr. Who Fiction Page http://www.pipeline.com/~jeriwho/index.html Clive May's Fiction http://www.cj4386.demon.co.uk/index.htm Mystic Wild Parabola (Rebecca Anderson's site) http://www3.sympatico.ca/mudthehut/#timetr nostalgia for an age yet to come (nostalgia's site) http://bitextual.gatefiction.com/nostalgia/ The Pro-Fun Troll Hoedowns/Quadrilles (site hosted by Paul Andinach) http://profun.roundrobins.info Random Fiction http://www.timelord.co.uk/randomfiction/index.htm Storm God Rising http://www.eskimo.com/~starfury/dw/sgr/index.html Strange Times and Places (Imran's site, home of the This Time Round FAQ and story list) http://narm00.tripod.com TimeLord Fiction http://www.timelord.co.uk/fiction/index.htm Web.archives The Panatropic Net Doctor Who Fan Fiction Archive http://web.archive.org/web/20011031083002/http://www.panatropic.net/archive/ Terry Burnett http://web.archive.org/web/20011031083002/http://members.iinet.net.au/~tburnett/fict.htm The Fictional Netherworld http://web.archive.org/web/20011031083002/http://antiwesley.simplenet.com/fiction/index.html Matt Grady http://web.archive.org/web/20011031083002/http://gulf.uvic.ca/~mgrady/drwho.html Will Howells' Curse of Fanfic http://web.archive.org/web/20011031083002/http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/6676/ Ogron Bob's alt.drwho.creative archive http://web.archive.org/web/20011031083002/http://members.xoom.com/ogron_bob/index.htm Temporal Nexus http://web.archive.org/web/20011031083002/http://www.mcs.dundee.ac.uk:8080/~ggreig/Dr_Who/DW_FanFic/ For more archives, check out the Creative Works section of the Doctor Who Web Guide at: http://www.doctorwhowebguide.net/sect7.shtml If you have your own archive, or have changed some of your details, please contact Imran and he'll fix the FAQ for you. 16. I really liked that person's story - can I post a review of it? Sure, go ahead. You could also send the person email - there's nothing quite like the warm fuzzy glow you get when someone sends you email for a story you've just written. As noted before - constructive criticism is encouraged, destructive will get you hatemail and/or ignored. 17. What about copyright? Can I use this person's story in a fanzine? DO NOT USE THESE STORIES WITHOUT ASKING FOR PERMISSION! That's a good rule of thumb, at least. Most people are happy to let others use their stories somewhere else, as long as they are asked nicely first. 18. There is no question 18. Why not? Because this is where you can ask your own questions. Send them to Imran, and he'll either answer, put them in the FAQ, or direct you towards someone who may know more about the subject. -- End -- |