A few days ago, we merrily re-posted “My Dad, The Doctor,” a 1000 word short story written by DOCTOR WHO scriptwriter Jamie Mathieson. Today on his blog, Jamie talked about how that story came to be. And let’s face it, for many of us as writers, this will be even more interesting:
Writing “My Dad, The Doctor”=&0=&
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The basic wish fulfilment for kids idea underlying the story is this: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if my Dad was The Doctor.’
Clara and The Doctor on a spaceship in orbit around Earth as it is ripped apart by some unseen force. We see the Tardis spin away into space. Things look grim.
Cut to 10 year old Will, spending the weekend with his Dad Clive (divorced) in a rural village, modern UK. They’re stargazing one night and spot a shooting star that appears to hit nearby. The next morning while walking the dog they find a crater containing a small meteorite which is still warm. They take it home, it cracks open, revealing the sonic screwdriver embedded within.
Clive begins to behave oddly, talking in a Scottish accent, doing his best impression of The Doctor. He’s effectively being possessed. Will thinks it’s one of his Dad’s games as Clive is one of those imaginative Dads that’s always pretending to be a zombie or a robot etc.
Clive tells Will that he’s no longer his Dad. He’s actually a 2000 year old time traveller called The Doctor and he’s borrowing his Dad’s brain for a while through a psychic projector which is piggybacking on the sonic screwdriver. His real body is currently in orbit and he’s going to need Will’s help to rescue it.
Will loves this ‘game’ initially. The Doctor explains that he was fighting an alien called the Composite in a spaceship in orbit. During the battle, the Composite trashed most of the systems of the ship and it will burn up soon unless Will and Clive can save him….
Read it all at Jamie Mathieson’s blog