Richard Dinnick

Published Stuff, Schedules and Works in Progress…

richard — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:51:57 +0000

This is my line-up of works that have recently been published or that I am working on for release in 2011…

OUT: NOW!

Bernice Summerfield: Present Danger – Past Caring
BIG FINISH

First up we have the Benny short story penned for the Eddie Robson-edited anthology of the space archaeologist’s adventures. It’s a bit timey-wimey and came out on the last day of September.

OUT: NOVEMBER 2010

Doctor Who Adventures: The Lunar Tyk
BBC MAGAZINES

This will be hitting the shelves of all good newsagents later this week p on the 4^th November to be precise. It’s set on the moon and features Atmospheric Density Jackets from the Doctor’s 1967 Cyber-adventure, The Moonbase! This commission comes from Paul Lang at DWA with (hopefully) more of this type of thing to come!

OUT: DECEMBER 2010

Bernice Summerfield: Dead Man’s Switch
BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS

Written with my good mate and talented scribe, John Dorney, this brings the 11^th season of Benny to a conclusion that will hopefully leave people reeling (in a good way)! The story sees a decrepit man, a sardonic robot, “x-treme” planet jumping and a love of family. Oh, and, um, nothing…

OUT: FEBRUARY 2011

The Big Finish Companion – Volume I
BIG FINISH

After many months of blood, sweat, toil and tears, this huge tome of facts and data will get the launch it deserves in Los Angeles along with its own Gallifrey 21 panel comprising me and Jason Haigh-Ellery. Very excited about this!

OUT: APRIL 2011

Doctor Who: The Underwater War
BBC BOOKS

Having just been allowed to announce this, I am over the moon about this commission. It’s for a new range of books aimed at the 8- 12 year-old readership. It has submarines and fish people in it. Along with the Doctor, Amy and Rory, of course. Squeee.

OUT: TBC 2011

Audio Short Trips: A Star is Born
BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS

My short story for the First Doctor read by the inimitable William Russell. This will see release in either February, May or August.

OUT: TBC 2011

Stargate SG1: Duplicity
BIG FINISH PRODUCTIONS

I am a massive fan of Stargate (in all its iterations – although maybe not so much of “Infinity”…). This one has been a long time coming, but the script was recently Okayed by MGM. Paul Spragg is putting the finishing touches to the studio/actor booking which will finally make this dream a reality.

OUT: TBC 2011

Various
TO BE CONFIRMED

I am working on two as-yet unannounced jobs based in the Doctor Who world. One, I am fairly sure will be released in June but the other is anyone’s guess at the moment.

Alongside these commissioned works, there is my original novel, Dreamstorm which – after some rewrites by me – I will be entrusting to Julian, my agent, to sell to the highest bidder! And I am also close to making two further projects concrete and that is without even mentioning the Big Finish Companion – Volume II!

The Year of Making it Happen – Part1: Plans

richard — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:57:19 +0000

I thought I might pen a few words about the other bits of a writer’s life other than the writing bit. For when a writer isn’t writing he or she needs to be thinking about how to get the next writing job. In the past I haven’t been as good at this as I might have been but during this. “The Year of Making it Happen” ™, I have been improving. How?

Well, it’s all about communication, which you’d be forgiven for thinking is a forte of the writer. Or rather, it’s about the organisation of communication because, let’s face it, most writers *are* good at communication. It’s all about timescales and forward planning and that can become a bit of a haze when you are knee deep in a script or up to your armpits in prose.

Any commission – hell, almost *every* commission – takes an age to garner, wheedle and cajole your way into. It then takes an age to tweak, red-, re-submit and hear back about. This is because everyone is busy and everyone is commissioning months if not years in advance. Then you actually have to write the commission.

Ideally, what should be happening is that during the writing of commission A you should already have commissions B-D lined up. You should also be making noises – and hearing encouraging things back – about potential commissions E-G. I know some writers who expand those three commissions by a great deal but they may be a tad more in demand at the moment than I am. Sigh. One day, Dinnick, one day…

For example, at the beginning of the year my good friend John Dorney was asked to pitch for the Bernice Summerfield audio range. At the time he was also writing a Companion Chronicle and kindly asked me if I would like to help him out due to time constraints. This is a rare occurrence in writing as most people prefer to keep commissions to themselves even if they have said “yes” to waaay too many things and are struggling! John, though, is a pro. And he trusted me not to screw it up. I think. Anyway, we were commissioned on 25^th January 2010.

The same day I received an email from Jim Swallow asking me if I’d like to be involved with the next season of Stargate audios. Being the massive fan I am of that series, I jumped at the chance and agreed to attend a writer’s meeting in early February.

So, suddenly I had one and half scripts to write. Then, on 11^th February, Xanna Eve Chown emailed me and ask if I could pitch some ideas for Big Finish’s new range of Audio Short Trips.

Before all this, I should say that I have been on at Big Finish to write Inside Story 2, a follow up to Benjamin Cook’s brilliant warts ‘n’ all book about the production of the first 50 Doctor Who plays Big Finish undertook. There had been a bit of a false start in 2009, but I had arranged to discuss stuff with Nick and Jason in LA! As you do.

The Gallifrey One convention in LA was a turning point for me. I am so glad that Tony Lee convinced me that it would be good thing to go and very grateful to the marvellous Shaun Lyon for inviting me! I had a wonderful time partly because of the bonds I forged there with Nick Briggs and the contacts I made with other wonderful and varied people – fans and professionals alike. It was a road to Damascus moment!

So while I was there, I got talking to Jason about IS2 and it transpired that he wasn’t keen to do such a full and frank book this time around. If you re-read the book you can see why. Half of it is probably actionable! So what they wanted was an episode guide. I suggested the title “The Big Finish Companion” and the rest was history – although I am still putting it together now because it turned out to be a more mammoth undertaking than any one of us had realised. It has been put back and rather ironically and totally fantastically it will be launched at next year’s Gallifrey One event in Los Angeles, where it was born, really!

I also made good contacts in the world of comics and graphic novels out there and used them mercilessly to garner some form of understand of how strips were blocked. Matthew Dow Smith and Paul J. Salamoff were extremely generous in their time and in sending me some scripts to look at. Tony Lee, once more, stepped in to give me a 101 lesson on it all and I am hoping that I’ll have something to say on the comics front very soon!

This takes us to the beginning of March. So the first quarter went like that! A bit of writing and a lot of emailing, meeting and traveling. Tony (yes, OK, he’s my guru) says that getting a commission form someone is like borrowing money: you are far more likely to lend money to someone you know, like and trust than a complete stranger even if you have heard they are good for it!

June, July, Oblivion

richard — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:04:54 +0000

I have a busy few weeks coming up. A number of projects are nearing fruition and some others need developing while yet more have to be coaxed from the ground. Busy is good, though. So says my agent, Julian. It means I am “in demand” and that makes other potential commissioning bods want to commission you. So not only are you only as good as the last thing you wrote, you’re likelihood of a new commission is more-or-less commensurate to the number of current projects you have on the go. With that in mind and not suspecting that any commissioning bods will be reading this (ahem), here is a brief update of what I’m doing for the next few weeks…

1) Secret Project #1

This is an audio script for something about which I am very excited. It has yet to be announced so I cannot say much more, but it needs to be in by the end of this month, so I am in the final polishing stages of the first draft. I understand it will be released later this year.

2) Bernice Summerfield: Present Danger – Past Caring

I love the title of this. It’s a real nod to the multifarious meaning titles that Lance Parkin employs in his work. It was Benny’s birthday yesterday and to celebrate I shall be putting her through hell. This, too, has a deadline of the end of June, so I am beavering way on it. It will see publication in September all things being equal.

3) Secret Project #2

This is a book proposal for something I am also excited about. If commissioned, it will form part of a release some time next year. The proposal and sample chapter must be in by the end of this month. I have written both,. But must ensure they are the best of the best before emailing them off…

4) The Big Finish Companion – Volume I

In by the end of July. Very nearly done on this. As it is not a linear book, its many sections have come together at differing speeds and so it is often difficult to keep a handle on them. A few things still need chasing and a few synopses need a brush up, but I am aiming to deliver this one early!

5) Secret Project #3

Having discussed some ideas with the editor, I need to submit a re-worked version of them so that, perhaps, he can commission me… Cannot say any more than this!

All of the above will, in all probability, take me up to the point where I go on holiday for two lovely weeks. I *will* switch my phone off and not take my laptop. But my imagination never takes a break…

And then we move onto Somneiroi, the working title for my first original book!

Bad Wolf – good dog!

richard — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:34:26 +0000

I spent a very enjoyable weekend at Doctor Who con, Bad Wolf last weekend. It was replete with humour and excitement, great friends and new faces, enthusiasm and questions. It must be said these weekends are incredibly good fun, but they are also amazingly tiring.

So what happened? Well…

I arrived on the Friday and unloaded the Big Finish stock in the dealers’ room, chatting to Derek about the state of the economy (!) and the reputation of the Birmingham Metropole (!!). Then rushed to the drinks reception and caught up with Nick Briggs before spying Gary Russell across the room. Some of the crew were already dressed for that night’s themed party – the Fires of Pompeii – including the ever-lovely Zoe, who looked amazing. Naturally I thought about donning a sheet for about three seconds and then decided against. I think my toga party days may be a little behind me now…

Following the drinks, I accompanied Nick and Gary to dinner and chewed the fat while making our way through a fine meal before retiring to the bar and chatting and laughing away with Dave Owen, David Darlington and Robert Dick until I realised it was half one!

Come Saturday morning David Richardson arrived and with some help from “young apprentice”, Callum, we got the Big Finish machine into gear. We had a massive range of audios for this event including the brand new release of Jago & Litefoot which was the convention’s biggest seller. The totally lovely Lisa Bowerman and Sarah Sutton then arrived as BF sponsored guests and sat and signed and chatted and laughed with fans all weekend.

Saturday night was lovely: a brief interlude in the room with my feet up watching Doctor Who (so I avoided the shenanigans in the bar of the staff switching over for England’s first World Cup match on ITV five minutes before The Lodger finished!) followed by supper in the bar at a table of Who glitterati: Ian McNeice, Christopher Benjamin, Trevor Baxter, Carole-Ann Ford, Sophie Aldred, as well as BF luminaries Sarah, Lisa, David and Nick.

An early bed was followed by a lovely breakfast with Sarah and Sophie, chatting about the science of sleeping and dreaming with me no doubt boring them rigid with my in-depth research for project Somneiroi (the original novel, currently residing with my agent).

Another day of meeting the fans ensued with lots of lovely people coming up and saying “hi”, asking about the Big Finish Companion and my other projects. All so enthusiastic!

I also managed to catch up with Phil Ford – who I hadn’t seen since LA – in the green room. We had a very good laugh over a cold buffet before going our separate ways again. You’ve gotta love Phil: he must be one of the hardest-working men in TV and yet retains such a wonderful sense of humour. An aspirational man, if ever I met one.

So the day wound to a close with us packing up the BF stand and me giving a lift to David to the impossible-to-drive-to-from-the-hotel Birmingham International station!

So that was Bad Wolf. Not as massively attended as in former years and perhaps due a move of venue for many reasons. My next live appearance (!) will be at Regenerations in Swansea in September.

SPECIAL! Agent!

richard — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:44:36 +0000

So, a wondrous event has taken place. I have an agent.

Let the champagne flow and may maidens dance on the village green. Sacrifice a few goats to the gods of good fortune and literary success!

After writing fiction for five years, but now with a sizeable body of work and a novel to sell, Blake Friedmann have agreed to take me on and there is to be a three-pronged plan for my career going forward.

1) To continue doing what I am currently doing with regards to my audio scripts and short stories: that is continue to get commissioned for more. Work on my non-fiction and fiction book career, which is already happening, with the Big Finish Companion and a project I cannot speak of yet!

2) To start revising project “Somneiroi” (including a proper title!) to prepare it for a round of publishers

and

3) To work up some new ideas, explore strange, new markets (TV, film, comics, etc.) and generally turn me into a phenomena. Or something similar!

Huzzah! So, some hard work awaits…

The snowball gathers momentum…

richard — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:14:50 +0000

It has been a busy old time of late. I have been doing many wondrous things, some of which I can speak of; other that – as yet – I cannot. So, those that I can tell you something about:

1) Bernice Summerfield 11.4: Dead Man’s Switch.
What started life as the third instalment of the 11th season of Benny audios became the fourth one when it swapped places with Year Zero by Jonathan Clements. The script was a joy to write and it is always interesting to collaborate on a project and I must say John Dorney was a marvellous collaborator! The script was done and dusted very smoothly and was recorded back in May with not only the lovely Lisa Bowerman as the titular space archaeologist but also Maria McErlane (famous to me for – amongst other things – I’m not pissed, darling – a hilarious Fast Show sketch that I love) playing Matka. That sees the light of day in November and can be pre-ordered here:

2) Stargate 3.5: TBC
While I was co-writing the Benny script I was also writing a Stargate script fore the third season of audio dramas from Big Finish, although timing- wise the two scarcely clashed due to me handing Benny stuff over the John as Stargate deadlines loomed. The writing process for this was longer but this was because I wanted the script to be the best I could write. And I am very happy with the result. I understand it is now with MGM for approval and will be released later in 2010/early 2011. Although announced on the Big Finish podcast the story titles haven’t been disclosed yet so I cannot reveal it here – yet!

3) Doctor Who – Audio Short Trips: TBC
I loved the Big Finish Short Trips anthologies (yes, even those I wasn’t in) and was very pleased to hear that they were not dead and had regenerated into a series of talking books. Huzzah! I was approached by Xanna Eve Chown to write for the series because in Xana’s words ‘We want a few ‘old’ Big Finish writers in the mix alongside the new writers!’ And I was thrilled to oblige. Again due to no in-depth announcement I cannot reveal which Doctor or indeed which release I will be on. Watch this space…

4) Bernice Summerfield – Present Danger: TBC
Due to my involvement with the 11^th season of Benny plays, I have been commissioned by Eddie Robson to provide a 4,000 word story for the Bernice Summerfield anthology, Present Danger. I cannot really say much moiré about this other than it is due in soon!

Then there are those things for which I have been commissioned, but I can’t say much about at all! So, for the moment, I won’t. More as and when…

Not treading water no more

richard — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:15:44 +0000

It has been some months since I wrote that I was “treading water” on the writing front. For all the difference between then and now, it could have been aeons.

So what’s been happening? Well, things have been moving pretty fast. I have made many friends in the industry over the last six months and cemented other relationships that were already blossoming (should you cement something that is blossoming? Sounds wrong, but there you go…)

And things have been moving with increasing acceleration since January, when the first of my new commissions came about from the ever-helpful and supportive John Ainsworth. I am thrilled to be writing a Bernice Summerfield adventure and even more so to be doing it with my old mate John Dorney. He’s been having great success with Big Finish and tie our fates together for one audio is a rare treat. While I prefer to write solo (as does Mr Dorney), there is a certain thrill in collaborating; the chance to see *exactly* how other writers approach their work and to be intimately involved in that process. Thus far, writing what will be the third story of season 11 (11.3) has been a privilege and a pleasure.

At almost exactly the same time, I received an invitation from Jim Swallow and Paul Spragg to attend a writers’ meeting with regards to a third season of Stargate audios. This took place in early February and was the first time I had been to such a creative event. It was a real blast having so many excellent storytellers there, brainstorming two trilogies’ worth of stories and assigning each writer an audio within them. The script for what will be the second story of the second trilogy (3.5) is now in full swing. At the moment, this is due to see the light of day some time in late 2010.

Meanwhile, I have been helping Big Finish with their ongoing mission to attend as many Doctor Who conventions as possible. It is a great to get out and meet so many fans and spend time with the team: David Richardson, Nick Briggs, Lisa Bowerman, et al. They are a solid bunch of people: funny, friendly and totally unaffected. These things are hard work, but they are hugely enjoyable! Having just completed the “Cheshunt task” (TimeQuest), I’ll be moving onto the Birmingham one (Bad Wolf) in July.

Hell, I even managed to get to Los Angeles in February for the annual Gallifrey convention (known as “Gally” to those reading this that know nothing of such matters). Run by the incomparable Shaun Lyon, it was an absolute delight. All the US fans are so positive and I featured on my first panels, holding forth on subjects as diverse as Doctor Who and Social Media! I also met a core group of brilliant Americans, among them Audry Taylor, David Wise, Matthew Dow Smith, Barnaby Edwards (DWNY) and Paul J. Salamoff. Naturally I also caught up with many of the UK’s irrepressible greats of Whodom: Phil Ford, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Gary Russell, Paul Cornell and Tony Lee.

This all sounds like a mass of name-dropping. My apologies. It’s not meant to be. They are all really, genuinely nice people and I am privileged to say that some have even become my friends over the past months and years…

So it was back home, but not to any respite! There is such a lot going on at the moment, but I simply cannot flesh it out in any real detail for contractual reasons or simply because I don’t want to count any chickens ahead of their emergence from the egg. I have had three further solid commissions for things and have been developing short story ideas for a diverse range of projects. I have even been starting to dip my toe into a medium that is totally new to me…!

Finally, there is something going on that is potentially HUGE but about which I cannot utter a thing until it moves on a stage or two. It could stall, but I am hopeful it won’t. That is the problem with this industry. A lot of it is anticipation and preparation for stuff that might never happen… But then, when things do happen it is *so* exciting and one is bursting tell the whole world but you can’t. Tongues must be bitten and lips sealed until the appropriate time. Which is fine. Although it’s like finding the best Christmas present you could wish for under the tree and not being able to tell anyone you’ve got it until Easter.

So, I am no longer trading water. I am doing a combination of front crawl and butterfly, bobbing and weaving, emailing and calling, pitching, proposing, developing and (gasp) actually writing!

Long may this continue. And develop!

Until next time and I promise it won’t be six months…

Dinosaurs and Mammoths

richard — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:28:22 +0000

As I am treading water in terms of the old writing thing, I thought I might express my thoughts about a recent viewing of Ice Age 3… No, no wait! For those that don’t have children and dismiss such things out of hand, I would say you are missing out on a genre that is particularly outstanding.

Some of my very favourite films are “kiddies” films: Aladdin, Toy Story 1 & 2, The Lion King, WALL*e, to name but a handful. In general, children’s films are clever, funny and exciting. Of course, there are the dud ones – the ones that (to be honest ) probably didn’t have that much effort put into them in the first place – but the majority of them outshine 99% of “adult” films by a country mile.

I have to confess that Ice Age was one that I had, perhaps snobbishly (Me? Surely not!), dismissed as one that was going to be poor because – at first glance – it appeared to be… actually I have no rational reason for taking a dislike to it. Pure ill-informed snobbery. It was very good. It was funny, had touching moments and was well-paced. Ice Age 2 managed to keep things going and the quality didn’t dip, so although not a sequel that betters it’s progenitor (viz: Toy Story 2), a pleasing diversion for 90 minutes (and the children love it – I did mention them, right?).

However, Ice Age 3 left me a little cold. Don’t get me wrong, this is not The Lord of the Rings or Indeed the first Star Wars trilogy, let alone Shakespeare in Love…! I am not a fanatic fan (ooh, the tautology). It was very funny in places (some of the jokes being a little too well aimed at the adults – especially the milking of a male Yak scene…!), but the plot seemed to be very poor and this is where the writing comes in. At last, we get there.

The basic premise is that under an ice sheet there is a Lost World or Land That Time Forgot type thing going on, where dinosaurs still live. Under an ice sheet. OK, I guess taking issue with the science bit would be a bit like me pointing out that the TARDIS is a little fanciful in terms of dimensional jiggery-pokery.

However, for some reason it seemed a little forced that Ice Age creatures *needed* to stumble upon some dinosaurs in order to keep the franchise going. It seemed jarring to me. There was also a few too many references from the characters to the culture of the 20th and 21st century. “Yabba-Dabba-Doo” shouts one of the Mammoths as it slides down a dinosaur’s back. For me, this kind of thing is the worse type of “breaking the fourth wall”.

(The worst EVER example of this was in Return of the Jedi, where Chewbacca – a Wookie from a galaxy a long time ago and far away – does a Tarzan call as he swings from a tree to atop an AT-ST. Argh. Just. Doesn’t. Work. They should have known that a Star Wars film is not an 80s Bond movie… I digress.)

Not that it is of any earth-shattering importance, but I came out of Ice Age 3 thinking, what can that franchise do next? The lost land of dinosaurs seemed so at odds with the first two films that I wondered if they could do the characters getting hijacked on a plane or have to break into a bank/casino/art gallery to perform a jolly amusing heist.

Actually, the latter could work if written correctly.

Hmmm. Open new file>Name: Ice Age 4…