SUBMISSION GUIDELINES – JANUARY 2005
introduction
The Legacy
editors are committed to producing the very best “Doctor Who” fan fiction. We
want to make The Legacy
the best "Doctor Who" fan fiction web site on the
Internet; and we need your help to do so.
In submitting your story
idea to us, your objective should be to produce a work of fiction that both
appeals to the new generation of fans who will be typing “doctor who” into Google and the loyal readership that that has supported Doctor
Who: The Legacy over the years
Our plan will be to publish
one story a fortnight for four months of the year (rounding off with two
stories, one each written by the editor and range consultant). That’s six
slots. So competition will be fierce. However, while we want to attract new
readers with the established, professional writers we will be commissioning, we
also want to nurture new writing talent. None of the editorial team was a
professional writer of fiction before The Legacy started and we want to
give the same encouragement and advice that we received from each other in
those early days to a new generation…
If you reckon you can be
the next Cornell, Parkin or Frankham, then you’ll
want to be writing for us. It really helps having the support network of the
group and published works will receive critiques and edits from the range
editors as well as a review. There is also a forum attached to The Legacy
where readers and writers can mingle and discuss stories.
So, how do you go about
submitting to us? It’s simple really: just follow these guidelines.
THE CRAFT
If you cannot spell and
know nothing about punctuation, we are not interested. You must have at least
re-read your work twice before you submit it. We do not want to see 23
repetitions of the same adjective or verb in the first paragraph. You need to
have a broad vocabulary – or at least a Thesaurus! If you want to be a writer,
you must learn your craft.
We at The Legacy are
looking for the best new writing talent, not someone who fancies a shot at
scribbling a “Doctor Who” story for a laugh. Sorry to be harsh, but that is the
way it goes.
As we have said, we are
looking for the next generation of brilliant new “Who” writers. We suggest that
if you are not quite up to that level, you may wish to start posting your work
in the fan-fiction section of Outpost
Gallifrey (http://www.gallifreyone.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20).
This is an excellent way to receive feedback from readers, but be prepared for
frankness.
STORY
LENGTH & STYLE
We generally want to
produce short novellas (written in prose) of about 20,000 words, split into chapters
of your own choosing, which will be broken down into two-parters,
or one-parters of around 10,000 words. We are not
looking for poetry, plays or even haikus!
The target audience for
Doctor Who books is young adults from fifteen years old and up. But bear in
mind that we have readers who are younger than this - so be wary of using swear
words and 'adult' themes. Also, many of our readers are considerably older than
this, so each novel needs a thematic depth to it that enhances the more
superficial story and plot elements
BACKGROUND
The Legacy
has been running since March 2001 so there is a fair amount of back story you
should be familiar with, even if it does not come into your story. For those
who don’t want to read all four seasons worth of stories, here is a brief
synopsis:
Origins: Driven quite mad by the Cheetah
Virus, the Master uses his link with the Kitling,
Shadow, to travel back to the early 1970s where the 3rd Doctor has
been exiled to Earth, having been forcibly regenerated by the Time Lords.
Weakened beyond measure the Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods, Ashbrigde.
In the original TV series, once the 3rd
Doctor has recovered from his post-regeneration trauma, he is destined to
assist UNIT in defeating multiple alien invasions over a period of five years
and then go onto regenerate a further six times (bringing him up to his 9th
persona played by Christopher Eccleston).
However, in The Legacy universe this does not
take place. Instead, the Master succeeds in “killing”
the new Doctor (as played by Jon Pertwee), who
regenerates once more into the form of his premature 4th persona (as
depicted by Brian Blessed).
This massive change to the universe’s
timeline meant that a alternative universe was formed
– The Legacy universe; one in which causal reality was in a state of temporal flux. Knowing that he
was missing something, the Doctor left Earth and UNIT to deal with it’s own
problems, and returned to his travels in an attempt to seek out the one
responsible for his premature regeneration.
Season 1: The Doctor travels to the American city
of
The Doctor and Brad travelled together for half a year, seeing more and more of
the universe being rewritten, before they came across the Millennium People and
some answers. The Doctor learned of how his Third incarnation should have lived
on, helping UNIT and Earth. The Doctor also discovered that the man responsible
for the new universe was a future incarnation of his old friend, Koschei. Known now as the Master.
The Master tracked the Doctor down to the
Forum world, but was eaten by the Dommervoy - a
mysterious life form that had been following the Doctor since he had left Earth
in the 1970s. Brad learned that he was supposed to have died in Portland 2001,
and as a result he is a paradox himself.
More importantly, the Faceless One, one
of the Millennium People (MP) informed Brad that a dark future awaits him.
Following that adventure the MP gave the Doctor a paradox tracker; a device
that would lead him on the trail of the paradoxes caused by the formation of
the new universe. The Doctor’s new mission was to somehow restore the universe
to the way it ought to be. A mission Brad was very against for obvious reasons!
After several more adventures the Doctor and Brad arrived on Nova Mondas in the
year 2101 (actually Earth that had been invaded by Cybermen in 2001). On Nova
Mondas the Doctor teamed up with the Bloke (one of the MP) to find the Scholar
(another MP) and Brad, who had both gone missing.
Unknown to the Doctor and the Bloke, the
Scholar was converted into the vessel for the new validium-based
Cyber Controller. Shortly thereafter they found the dead body of Brad, who had
been killed in an explosion in one of the Cyber factories. The Doctor had no
choice but to leave Brad’s body behind, and escaped from Nova Mondas with the
Bloke as his new companion. For reasons not quite known, both the Bloke and the
Scholar (before he became the Cyber Controller) found themselves becoming
human.
Finally the TARDIS brought the time travellers to the planet Ossobos in the year 2501. In a tragic turn of events the
Doctor lost his TARDIS and was forced to set up a base on Alpha Centauri (the
heart of the Federation) with the Bloke and Falex.
Here, they witnessed the Doctor's true future being killed off. The Faceless
One returned and killed the Seventh and Eighth Doctors, as well as the White
Guardian.
Only Ace was left alive, although all her
memories were wiped as a result and she was calling herself “Alf”. The Bloke
was sent back to Forum world to witness the true meaning of chaos, while the
Faceless One revealed himself to be Brad. The explanations followed when Brad
took the Doctor on a tour of the last half a year.
Bradley Nathaniel DeMars had indeed died in 2001, and
since then the Dommervoy had been using his body to
join the Doctor on his travels to track down the paradoxes caused by the
formation of the new universe. The Dommervoy were revealed
to be the personification of order in the new universe, while the Millennium
People are chaos. The Dommervoy had transferred only
one agent of chaos into order (the Faceless One), while at the same time saving
at least two others (the Bloke and the Scholar), turning one into a human and
the other into a Cyberman.
The Dommervoy
told the Doctor that he would be stranded in 2501, where he and the Bloke have
an important role to play in the Federation. The peace of the future depends on
it. To save the Doctor from the guilt that he feels over the death of Brad, the
Dommervoy give the Doctor new memories of Brad's
deathless departure, since if they ever meet again the Doctor will not remember
the Dommervoy as Brad.
Returning to Alpha Centauri, the Doctor, Nick (as the Bloke is named by Falex) and the Taurean become
embroiled in the galactic machinations of the Ice Warriors, the Cybermen and
the remnants of the once great Federation.
Season 2: For a whole year the Doctor, Nick and Falex were stuck in the 26th Century. During this time they helped out the Galactic
Federation, and following the death of the Draconian Ambassador the Doctor was
given that august position – a role he gladly accepted.
Early on in the season, the Galactic
Federation learned that the Cybermen on Nova Mondas (who had been quiet for
centuries) were showing signs of becoming active again It took a while, but eventually the
Federation prepared a space fleet to go on the offensive. This fleet joined the Martian fleet, led by
their emperor, Izlyr.
The Martians were on a mission to reclaim Mars – a planet they had been
forced from many hundreds of years ago.
The Qux, a
mysterious race of genetic engineers became interested in the Doctor, and his
Time Lord DNA. The Doctor discovered
that, during an early encounter, the Cybermen had implanted him with a device
that, when activated, would make him into a weapon. Attached to his cerebral cortex, there was no
way to remove it without killing him. To
combat this, the Doctor came up with a plan that would remove the threat of the
Cybermen once and for all, and advised the joint Federation/Martian fleet on
this plan. He would sacrifice himself on
Nova Mondas, taking Cyber Control with him.
During this time a subtle romance
developed between Nick and Alf (the only two humans left in the galaxy). Alf joined the fleet heading towards Mars,
while Nick got caught in a space ship crash that almost cost him the use of his
legs. Fortunately the Martians were on
hand, and gave him implants that would enable him to walk once more.
The war was violent, and final. The Cybermen were defeated, but at great
cost. Nova Mondas became uninhabitable
due to the Martain’s Red Dust, and Cyber Control was
destroyed by the Doctor – at the cost of his own life.
In an unexpected twist the Doctor
returned from the dead, claiming that it was in fact his clone that had died on
Nova Mondas. Once he became aware that
the Qux had stolen samples of his DNA, the Doctor
stole cloning tanks from them and created his own clone. It was the only way to ensure the destruction
of the Cybermen.
Much relieved, Nick and Alf joined the
Doctor on new travels in time and space – a task accomplished by Time Amulets,
time travel devices created by the Doctor.
Season3: Their first stop was Earth in 1986,
where they encountered vampire versions of Nick, Alf and Brad. Alf also met the Dorothy McShane
of that time, the 16 year old Ace, and received memories of her life up to that
point. Nicholas (the vampire) took great
pleasure in torturing Alf for the pain the vampire Dorothy had inflicted upon
him – she eventually killed Nicholas, but it left Alf with a lot of
insecurities and doubts about her relationship with Nick. The vampire Bradley, on the other hand, tried
to seduce Nick, and took credit when for reason unknown the implants fell out
of Nick’s body. It soon transpired that
the reason was that the Millennium People had returned to bring Nick back to
Forum World. Bradley was last seen being
knocked unconscious by the now powerful Nick.
Nick remained on Forum World for a long
time, from his perspective, until the Dommervoy
intervened, telling him it was not time.
Nick was returned to Earth and Alf and the Doctor, his powers and
memories of his time with the MP blocked.
Throughout the early half of the season
hints were dropped by various people that something was not right about the
Doctor (be it his blood when tasted by Count Orlock,
his DNA sampled by the Collector, or Oscar Wilde’s own unique
perspective). The oddity was revealed
when Alf’s ship crashed onto a little planetoid called Voga.
Badly wounded, the Doctor discovered that
he could not regenerate. Guided by The
Figure, a strange apparition that only the Doctor could see (he had been
getting occasional visits from The Figure since the Qux
had stolen his DNA), the Doctor found on Voga the
remains of the Capitol. The revelations
came thick and fast from there. Voga was all that remained of Gallifrey, and the Vogan worshipped the Time Lord as gods. The Figure revealed that he was, in fact, the
essence of the TARDIS, hidden in the Doctor’s mind since being destroyed on Ossobos. The essence
was transferred from the Doctor’s mind to that of the clone – yes, the Doctor
who had died on Nova Mondas was indeed the original, and it was the clone that
was travelling with Nick and Alf.
These revelations had a profound effect
on both the Clone Doctor and Nick. Nick
could no longer stand to be in the presence of a man that was, to him at least,
a fake. Such insecurities plagued the
Clone Doctor also, and he hid away in the TARDIS (which had been restored on Voga) while Nick and Alf helped the Pels
defeat a Martian incursion on Peladon. Eventually the Clone Doctor returned, and he
took Nick to Nova Mondas in the year 2051.
There they found the Doctor’s body in the remains of Cyber Control. The Doctor was alive – albeit stuck in a
state of almost perpetual bodily regeneration.
There was nothing that can be done for the body, but the Doctor
transferred the rest of his essence to the clone, and all the memories were
stored in the TARDIS, to which the clone now had a direct mental link.
The Doctor was buried on the Eye of
Orion, and Nick finally accepted the clone was the Doctor now.
Finding what appears to be the trace of a TARDIS, the
Doctor takes Nick and Alf to Yahanis. However, they find that the trace is not
a TARDIS, but a creature that has evolved from it - something the Doctor calls
a "Tiger's Eye". While trying to avert the creation of he Sontaran race,
the Doctor has to stop the proliferation of the far deadlier Tiger's Eyes. He
succeeds in sealing the creatures in molten larva, but the fate of one lone
Tiger's Eye remains uncertain. He also
discovers that the owner of the TARDIS, Jeret Seth has been used as a puppet
for the mysterious machinations of the Millennium People. The Doctor vows
revenge and buries Seth beside his original body on the Eye of Orion.
He also decides that he needs to find Outpost
Gallifrey, for it is there, Jeret Seth told him, that the remaining Time Lords
from the old universe live.
Finally Nick and Alf decided it was time
to get married, and this they did on Alpha Centauri, but it was a bliss that
was not meant to last. Nick was kidnapped by Bradley the vampire and taken to
Earth in 1991. It was there that the
Doctor met up with Lethbridge-Stewart once more – and since the Doctor had
abandoned them to the Nestene in the 1970s, Lethbridge-Stewart was not happy to
see the Doctor. Nick was killed by
Bradley, and his body possessed by the vampire, Nicholaus. Alf took this very badly and put all the
blame on the Doctor’s shoulders. During a battle with the vampires the Doctor
is staked in the heart, but he refuses to regenerate until he has sorted things
out with Alf. They have a huge argument
in a water tower, which ends when Alf pushes him from the top of the
tower. The Doctor lies at the base of
the tower, defeated, when lightning strikes, bringing
the tower crashing down, Alf and all, on top of the Doctor…
Season 4: The fatally injured Doctor manages
to hold of his impending regeneration until he makes peace with. So bitter is
she that she falls under the influence of the evil Bradley and his god, Ashgotoroth,
a being of anti-time. Ashgotoroth was thought destroyed eons ago when Rassilon
set up the time-space vortex. It is revealed that all vampires derive from
Ashgotoroth and that they have been battling to free the being whom they
believe to be their god for this very purpose.
Unable to hold off the regeneration any further, the Doctor
changes his form with the aid of Tardis (the now female form of The Figure –
the essence of the TARDIS who is always on hand to help and guide the Doctor)
and decides to use the TARDIS against Ashgotoroth. Alf comes to kill the Doctor
for the death of Nick, but finds she cannot do it when confronted with the new
Doctor.
With Ashgotoroth defeated, Alf elects to stay on Earth
and help UNIT prepare for the Cyber invasion of 2001. This does not please the
Doctor and the two part on slightly cool terms. Thinking
he is about to travel alone for the first time since his forced regeneration,
the Doctor is about to enter the TARDIS when he is joined by UNIT cook and all
round good egg, Ruby Mundy - not to mention her cat, Missy.
We next meet up with the Doctor and Ruby in bizarre
circumstances. Ruby is critically ill in the bed of a log cabin situated in a
remote, snowy and nameless wilderness. The Doctor, apparently guilt-ridden at
her rapidly decrepit state is tending to Ruby's every need, while pondering how
they got into the situation.
It all stems from an adventure on the strange world of
Counterpane where the inhabitants were building the
Before the Doctor can decipher their meaning or
function, the TARDIS becomes ensnared in the domain of the furies, three
entities whose task it is to punish those who have "offended the
gods". The Doctor has done so merely by existing when he should have died
at the hands of the Master. Slowly, all the Doctor's worst moments are paraded
as a prosecution. But it seems that the punishment is the trial and the Doctor
slowly manages to convince the three little girls that he is not as bad as the
evidence would paint him. Realising that his is the last judgement they shall
make, the furies dissipate, mysteriously transmogriphying
into yet more pages of Old High Gallifreyan.
Subdued by the Furies' remarks, the Doctor comes clean
with Ruby, explaining that he is actually a clone of the original Doctor and
that it is the anniversary of his death at Cyber Control. As such the pair
journey to the Eye of Orion to pay their respects. There, they discover that
the Doctor's grave has been robbed, his body stolen. By the grave of Jeret Seth
they find a book - The Worshipful and
Ancient Law of Gallifrey.
The Doctor realises that the
pages come form this book and that when re-attached, will take him to the last
refuge of the Time Lords, Outpost Gallifrey. But when the TARDIS arrives, the
Doctor is arrested. It seems that his "real" self was not dead and
has risen from the grave to take the presidency of the Time Lords and lead his
people to re-acquire their rightful place as the most powerful beings in the
universe. However, a mysterious figure stalks the shadows and three Time Lord friends set out to help the clone Doctor. All is made clear
when the clone Doctor unmasks his "real self" as a cadaver animated
by the Millennium people's Boss Type.
Nick reveals himself to be the figure who has stalked
the Doctor's past adventures leaving the pages for him to find his way to
Outpost Gallifrey and put right the terrible wrong being wrought by the Boss
Type. It transpires that Nick returned
to his god-like state moments before Nicholaus was
able to take over his body, and has since been working with the Dommervoy to prepare for this moment.
All ends well, with the Time Lords and Millennium
People conjoining to form one new race. Only the Doctor now remains of the
"old" time. Nick visits Alf and makes his peace with her in a
powerfully emotional scene, before returning to Outpost Gallifrey where he is
destined to lead the Gallifreya (as the joint Time Lords and Millennium People
will be called) into a new age of enlightenment.
As a joint Christmas/New Year treat, and a chance to
relax after recent events, the Doctor takes Ruby to the set of her favourite soap opera, Clear
Waters. There they become involved
in an adventure to stop a race of aliens from taking over the Earth by use of
the most popular TV soap in history.
The Hiatus: From there they continue to travel having many adventures,
including facing off against the Quarks, the Omnisci, the Siccati and a journey
to the centre of the moon, before the Doctor takes off on his own and has a
particularly odd encounter with a Dalek… this is followed by a trip to
America. The Doctor finally returns to
the TARDIS, quiet and reflective, feeling pain due to recent temporal
disturbances he has felt. Ruby is
concerned, and together they sit down to talk about recent events…
Plot
We are
looking for strong, credible plots that fit with the mythology of The Legacy.
Your main plot will need a beginning, a middle and a
satisfactory ending. You will also require subplots to help raise the stakes
and increase tension. If in any doubt, stick to the tried and tested story
structure of:
Set
up – Key Event – Complications – Crisis – Climax – Resolution
Remember, as well as
looking for novella that tell a good story in a strong, imaginative way you are
aiming to write a Legacy “Doctor Who” story. The submissions most likely
to be looked upon favourably are the ones that have that elusive Doctor Who
feel to them as well as being original in style and tone.
CHARACTER
The Doctor
As
“played” by Anthony Head
Obviously, you need to be
aware of the above background to get an inkling for The
Legacy Doctor. However, as is oft repeated, the role is actor proof. He is still
never cowardly and never cruel. One thing to bear in mind with this Doctor is
that he does not speak in contractions, so no “wasn’t” “can’t” ect.
Ruby
As
“played” by Dawn French
His companion is Ruby who
was employed by UNIT as a contract cook before she left to travel with the
cloned Time Lord. She has been travelling with the Doctor for over a year now.
They’ve seen some things and Ruby can deal with most of it. She is very
capable, and very practical. She loves books and is often found in the TARDIS
library. She has a cat called Missy and has a tendency to call people “dear”.
Tardis
As
“played” by Joanna Lumley
Tardis was once known as
“The Figure”, but has now fully emerged as the true personification of the
TARDIS. She usually appears in times of
dire crisis, with powers that have only been hinted at. But she is not to be used as a Dues Ex Machina.
However, there is a story arc this season involving Tardis, so if you wish to
use her please contact us first.
WHAT NOT
TO DO
We do not want to see any “fanwank”. By this we mean too much continuity – especially
to the original TV series. Remember that in The Legacy ‘s timeline, we
only had the first two Doctors’ adventures on screen (NB – all the events seen in stories featuring the first two Doctor
that took place post-2001 are almost certainly bound to have been erased from
the time line, especially if they involve Earth colonies) and then we had The
Legacy Doctors.
So we do not want stories
involving UNIT, the Valeyard (never!), the Master
and/or Gallifrey (both non-existent in The Legacy), previous companions,
previous Doctors, Daleks, Cybermen, etc.
This is obviously not for
copyright reasons (since there is a no-profit fan based website); instead it is
for creative reasons. The Federation is there for you to use, but bear in mind
we spent an entire season and then some on Alpha Centauri, so readers may be
Ice Warrior’ed out!
We expect the next
generation of “Who” writers to be original. Create your own, unique creatures.
Don’t just have a belligerent race of pseudo-Daleks.
Ask what is your race’s motivation for doing what they do? Think about what the
New Adventures did with the Ice Warriors or what “Star Trek” (eventually) did
with the Klingons. If your aliens are bloodthirsty
so-and-sos, why? You get the point, we are sure.
If we do have a Cyberman or
Dalek story, it will be commissioned from one of our professional writers. Once
you have had one story published on The Legacy’s web site, we may even
ask you to be that person, so don’t feel too bad!
What you should submit
Proposals should be submitted in Word format (or a word
processing program that can be read by Word) in black text using a legible
typeface (we suggest Arial or Times) double-spacing. Paragraphs should be
indicated by a double line break rather than indentation. All submissions
should be submitted via email to the editorial address. Please ensure that no
attachments are infected with any virus. We will not look kindly on prospective
writers who bring down our system!
Please do not send in the
whole story as we just don’t have the time to read them! We would expect a full
proposal to include:
·
A covering email briefly giving
your name and contact details.
·
References to any past writing
experience you have (including web links if possible)
·
A synopsis of the plot of your
story - this should be about 1,000 words long
·
A sample piece of about 3,000 -
5,000 words. This does not have to be related to your story, but it should
include the Doctor and companion(s) so we can see how you cope with writing for
them.
If we feel that the plot
might be suitable for The Legacy, we will contact you and chat through
how the story can be evolved for use. Eventually, if things go to plan, we will
ask you to write the full story and give you a deadline. Upon receipt of your
story we will then allocate it a slot.
There is no remuneration
for publishing your story on the web site. We as “publishers” make no money
from the site and neither do any of our writers. What we are trying to do is
provide a springboard and a support network for the best new writers, while
providing others with good, free, “Doctor Who” fiction. Surely nether is a bad
thing?
Contact
details
Please send all
correspondence by email to:
legacyeditors@excite.com
Thanks for your interest…
The Legacy Editorial Team
Andy Frankham (Range Editor)
Richard Dinnick (Range Consultant)
Anthony C. William (Editorial Assistant)
Betty Medeiros (Range Editor’s PA)
