Doctor Who “pitches”

Posted on 7 January 2013 by Side Quest Publications

Here we have some of my earliest attempts at writing pitches for the Doctor Who stories I’m working on.
Of course I expect to work on these if I expect to publish any of these stories; these were my first attempts, nothing more.

These pitches are here on the Shattered Waters site, instead of my main site, for one very specific, and likely very odd, reason:
I’d realized, after getting rather far into the character creation process, that the “black diamond” theme used by a certain parasite in my Who fics was also in use by a certain recurring character in my other work.
And since the Shattered Waters theme has a great deal to do with travel between different universes, or at least the connections to be found, it seemed appropriate to include the Who fics and that “coincidence” as an example of such a connection.

They should be posted in the general order that I would like to publish them. That is, the order that (with one very specific exception) the Doctor would experience them.

Nicole Wynters is at a business party she’s uncomfortable in, celebrating a promotion she doesn’t want to a job she’s unsuited for. And her background is completely hidden by something called Torchwood.
The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey try to find out who she is and what her company really wants with her. And just what is in the champagne?

This one takes place “second” only by virtue of including a three-doctor story later on, but in a collection of stories, I would publish this one first.
See, the Ninth Doctor doesn’t actually remember his role in that other story, so this, featuring the Tenth, would be the first one that he’s aware of.

The Doctor and Donna investigate a distress signal from France in the 1660’s. But the Tardis lands them, instead, in the 1760’s.
They need to find the connection between the century-old signal and the infamous Beast of Gevaudan before someone becomes lunch.

This one features the Tenth Doctor and Donna, of course.
River Song also shows up briefly.

The Tardis malfunctions, and the Doctor is stranded in Germany in the late 1930’s.
Three years and one face later, the Doctor lands in Germany, and arranges to rescue himself from the camp where he’d been held prisoner. He must achieve that rescue without rewriting his personal history…but he can’t remember anything that happened while he was there, not even how he was rescued.

Here’s the three-Doctor story.
First we have the Tenth, traveling on his own… technically making it the last story he’s in.
Then we have the Eleventh Doctor with Amy, Rory, and River Song, before his role in the “nameless beasts” plot below.
And finally we have the Ninth Doctor stepping in with Jack and Rose.
And then some swapping as the plot requires.

I’ve frequently referred to this one as my “sadistic plot.”
Anybody care to guess why?

It is said that the Nameless Beasts are a race of superior hunters. It is said that they are engineered and bred, above all else, to terrorize their prey. And it is said that they are very good at their job. So good, that no one in the universe, not even the Doctor himself, dares to speak their name lest it call them.

But now the Nameless Beasts are hunting the Doctor. Can he discover their secret and defeat them… before the hunt turns to his companion?

The above is, officially, my first attempt at creating a pitch for any of these stories.
The story in question will be edited, quite possibly to put a little less focus on the “nameless” characteristic, but the rest still describes the hunters very well.

The version immediately below, however, as well as the others on this post, were born from my attempt at creating summaries of the stories.
A failed attempt, obviously, which I will proceed to blame on the fact that I had a cold at the time, and my medicine fogged my brain very effectively.

This particular story involves the Eleventh Doctor and Clara, along with an original character of my making.
It is the “first” in the sense that it is the first one I’d come up with, but it is possibly the last in terms of when it happens. From the Doctor’s perspective, at least.

The Nameless Beasts are the bogeymen of the universe: psychic hunters, bred to terrorize their prey before the kill. And, like any boogeyman, nobody really believes they exist, but nobody is quite brave enough to talk about them. No, not even the Doctor.
But where do the stories come from, then? And why are they hunting the Doctor?

Torchwood members have been disappearing from time and space. Specifically, those members with strong psychic abilities.
Jack Harkness and Martha Jones need to work quickly to find their missing people and stop the disappearances…because whatever’s taking them may be looking for the Doctor.

I’m not entirely certain when this one takes place, with respect to the others.
See, my plan is to include the Eleventh Doctor, at least at first, but I haven’t decided on any particular companion at the time.
And then I also bring in the Metacrisis and Rose to play.

In addition to those, I have one story planned while the Tenth Doctor travels with Martha–giving me every Doctor and companion from Nine and Rose all the way through Eleven and Clara, including the Metacrisis–but aside from deciding to make it a “Prince and the Doctor” type of plot, I haven’t really developed it enough to try for a pitch.

Also, I have a prologue, which fits the entire set as a group, as well as one (and only one) of the individual stories.
And I’ll have shorter interludes between the stories. These do relate to the stories as a set, but they don’t really have much to do with the individuals… except to provide a break between them, and to indicate when they take place.

The prologue is among the things I plan to post in its current, and once actually published, its final, draft on this site, as well as in that Tome of Beginnings idea I was playing with.

Meanwhile, the “nameless beasts” plot does have an excerpt handy:
The longer form is on my NaNo profile. I’ve also broken it into two parts on my deviantArt account: part 1 – the Doctor, part 2 – the Companion.
In addition, my deviantArt account contains bios of some of the creatures that show up throughout the stories, namely, the Chrysalis, the Yenaldooshi, and the (soon to be renamed) Nameless Beasts.

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3 Responses to Doctor Who “pitches”

  1. Pingback: Doctor Who Prologue–Rough Draft | Pioneers of the Shattered Waters

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