Wednesday 12 September 2012

Doctor Who Convention - David Tennant & James Moran

This weekend I went to yet another Doctor Who convention, The Lords of Time, in Birmingham. This one was slightly better than the official one in Cardiff as we actually got to meet and talk to the celebrities. Que lots of fan girl squeeing. It was really exciting and I was nervous at first but at the end of the weekend I actually felt calm while talking to them. There were some really amazing guests including, Anthony Head, Frazer Hines, and the one and only David Tennant!


It was also another opportunity to wear my Dalek dress again.

Another great thing was the writers workshop run by James Moran, he wrote the Doctor Who episode Fires of Pompei as well as some Torchwood episodes. Here's more information on his blog: http://jamesmoran.blogspot.co.uk/ or follow him on twitter @jamesmoran. It was interesting to know about how he got into the writing industry. Obviously it was a little different to how I plan to do it because he works primarily on screenplays and scripts, whereas I want to do children's books. His main advice was keep trying, be persistent and don't let it get you down. He said he nearly gave up on a script after its 13th draft but his wife convinced him to keep going, and he realised that if he didn't complete it then he would have wasted six months on it.


When I met him for his autograph (he didn't have a photo opportunity) I asked him if he had any tips on writing sci-fi, as I am taking a sci-fi and fantasy module next term. He said to make sure that anything you write isn't hollow, or that things aren't just for show. I really liked this bit of advice as sometimes I do write things just for effect but really don't have much purpose. I see it happen a lot in films and tv shows and it's starting to annoy me now. Sometimes I hate being a writer because you can stop thinking with a writer's head on.

James Moran also said that when writing sci-fi or horror stories the plot should still make sense and be interesting without the sciency or scary bits. I think this is great advice but in the end he told me to ignore everything he said, as he wrote on my photo.

He had so much more to say but the excitement of the weekend has blown it from my head. I still have the celebrity shakes. I just can't believe I actually spoke to David Tennant! My second Doctor in a year.

Who will I meet next year?

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