Rolling (3X) on the River

It seemed almost too good to be true: pitch a "Doctor Who" story for the comic company that obtained the American licensing rights.  It became simultaneously thrilling and frightening.  Thrilling for the opportunity to write the story and frightening because I open myself up to be called out by fans.

The thing I wanted most to avoid is to write the ultimate Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels story.  "Doctor Who" fan fiction is awash with futuristic stories with these monster races.  My favorite "Doctor Who" stories were set in the past, especially when the Time Lord got to meet famous British authors like Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare or Agatha Christie.  Out of the many great authors still available, I chose Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

What about the plot?  I couldn't have Doyle and The Doctor running around 1890's London solving a mystery. Too obvious, especially with the worldwide popularity of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.  Better to have the plot revolve around Doyle's hiatus from writing Holmes' adventures during 1893 - 1901.  Maybe it wasn't Doyle hating on his creation, but writer's block that needed to be overcome by a journey to inspire Doyle's Lost World books.

With 13 incarnations of The Doctor (Yes, The War Doctor counts), which incarnation should I use?  The publisher limited my choices to the show's post-2005 revival.  While I couldn't use my preferred Doctor/companion duo (1977 - 1978's Fourth Doctor and Leela), The Eleventh Doctor and Clara proved to be a potent combination!

Practicing what I have preached in the past, I pitched my story idea in one sentence ("The Doctor helps Arthur Conan Doyle overcome writer's block by taking him on an Amazonian journey to a lost valley filled with dinosaurs").  From that the publisher commissioned a full script and some art (Thanks, Daniel!).  Finally they accepted my submission!

  

I don't know if they plan on asking Daniel and I to finish the story or if they just plan to keep the story on file, but it was fun and I was happy to do it!  Now that this distracting (but very cool) sideshow is over, on to the next Pretty Vacant comic!