Oli Smith wrote our exclusive short story, Blue Moon and Total Eclipse of the Heart for the Doctor Who Storybook 2010. We invited you to put questions to Oli and in part one of the interview he answered your queries about Blue Moon and his fave onscreen adventures. In the concluding part he talks about the Tenth Doctor, tips for aspiring writers and the future...
Oli Smith is the author of Total Eclipse of the Heart for the Doctor Who Storybook 2010 and Blue Moon, the specially commissioned story which celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the first Moon Landing. We put your questions to Oli and in the first of a two-part feature he discusses writing for the Tenth Doctor, X-Files paranoia and the MAVIS question...
Let's start at the beginning. A lot of people wanted to know how you came to write for Doctor Who?
Oli Smith: I actually started off wanting to be a comics writer, and began by self publishing short comics and taking them to conventions around the country to sell. Whilst at one of these conventions I met the then editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Clayton Hickman, and we got talking. I pitched the magazine a few comic strip ideas that were rejected, but with some encouragement. Eventually we were out for a drink with some people and I started rattling off this new idea I had and the right people heard it and I got asked to write a synopsis immediately as a pitch for the Storybook.
That sounds easy but from meeting Clayton at the convention to getting my first Doctor Who story accepted there was a stretch of a year or two, really. I was just finding my feet as a writer and developed a lot over that time, but was still asked to write the story early just in case I turned out to be terrible! Luckily everyone liked it.
Including Gary Russell, one of the script writers on Doctor Who! In fact when we at the Doctor Who website asked Gary to recommend someone we should invite to write the Moon Landing story he immediately suggested you.
Oli: Well, not only is Gary a man of impeccable taste, but it was very flattering that he had enough faith in my ability to recommend me!
Talking of Blue Moon, what story elements were you asked to incorporate and which came from you? And for the latter, where did you get your inspiration?
Oli: The brief was essentially nothing more than the Doctor being involved in the Moon Landings, followed by a few phone calls to discuss the ground rules for the story. I had always stressed that the Doctor couldn't 'fix' Apollo 11 or in anyway contribute to the success of the astronauts' mission; he couldn't take anything away from that human achievement.
I took my inspiration from the period, the cold war politics and men in black happenings that ran through that era and adding a few of the UFO conspiracy theories that stated there were aliens on the Moon when Apollo 11 landed. It was quite a tricky story to come up with compared to my storybook story because you had to make it fit around a real event that everyone knows so well.
I was very keen never to show the aliens - part of that X-files paranoia. It's the way the Doctor handles the situation that brings it very much back into a Doctor Who story. I think the basic ground rule of writing Doctor Who is to come up with a clever plot that doesn't involve the Doctor and then look at how the story would be changed by his involvement. If the outcome doesn't change then it's not a good Doctor Who story.
At what stage in the Doctor's life is Blue Moon set? In terms of his onscreen adventures where would this story sit?
Oli: Out of convenience I would initially say between Planet of the Dead and The Waters of Mars because that's when it's published. But thinking about it harder I think it does sit very well in that slot, the loneliness hasn't quite sunk in yet, but there are still hints of the Doctor's growing frustration at people in general, and those other moments where you can see that he could really do with some back up. But that unquenchable joie de vivre that is very much the Tenth Doctor's is still in full effect!
Yep, he's certainly on chipper form for a lot of the story. How did you manage to capture the essence of the Tenth Doctor so effectively? (One reader asks if you wear a special Doctor Who scarf to get into the appropriate mind set. Now, be honest.)
Oli: He is fantastic to write for from an objective point of view because compared to the other incarnations, this Doctor has been the most explored and the most fleshed out. The classic series never focussed on the Doctor's character much but rather the story he was involved in, but in the new series he's front and centre.
It's easy to 'get' him because you've seen such a range from the character. I can't remember exactly who said it, but someone other than me said that most writers put a lot of themselves into the Doctor and I think that's true. He is a very flexible character despite what I just said - even with those insights he still isn't as rigid as say James Bond or Sherlock Holmes so I essentially write how I would behave on a day when I wasn't grumpy and thought of witty things to say at the appropriate time rather than hours later. We all wish we were the Doctor so it's easy to try on his shoes for a story.
I don't have a special Doctor Who scarf, but my Future Sonic Screwdriver sits on my desk but I don't really use props of any kind, not even music. It's a very quiet method. Except when I start laughing at my own jokes.
The MAVIS question! A Mad Archive Virus is Striking! It's destroying every Doctor Who story ever transmitted! You've got thirty seconds to select the only five adventures you can save. Go! (Then pause, wipe your brow with a big Patrick Troughton handkerchief and explain each choice in a single sentence...)
Oli: Ooh! Quick! Ummm...
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. This made me cry, it rewarded every fan's loyalty to the series the moment the Doctor clicks his fingers and I love Catherine Tate, that's nothing to do with the story though, I just love her.
Midnight. If you can get away with putting an experimental short film in the middle of a family show that gets nearly ten million viewers every week on a Saturday tea time, you're a genius. Such is the power of Doctor Who.
City of Death, obviously. It's hilarious, clever, sumptuously filmed, great music. It is simply the purest distillation of everything that's great about Doctor Who.
The Curse of Fenric. This is probably not brilliant Doctor Who because it is very much aimed at adults in terms of its themes and plot. But all of that is hidden under a ripping adventure yarn. The Doctor is at his most mysterious, the story is at its most scary and it has Nicholas Parson as a vicar.
The TV Movie. Come on! Look at that TARDIS! Look at Paul McGann! Look at that plo- oh wait no, don't look at that, look at everything else!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Next time we shine the light into Oli's eyes and insist he spills the beans about the Do's and Don'ts for writing for the Doctor, plotting Blue Moon, future projects and his tips for aspiring writers. We'll share the answers next week.
Thanks again to everyone who contributed questions. If you didn't see yours answered above, don't forget part two of the interview will be live next week so be sure to check it out!
For today's smorgasbord of questions, particular thanks to Andrew, Anneka, Arvyn, Ben, Donal, Em, Emily, Fred, Hannah, Luke, Mark Melanie, Melina, Michael, Michelle, Natalie, Nicolas, Paul, Robert, Rory, Simon, TFM, Thomas and Zoey.
Photo by Will Henderson
