alt.drwho.creative
| Newsgroup | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Alt.drwho.creative |
| Date(s): | May 24, 1993- |
| Moderator: | unmoderated |
| Type: | |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| URL: | here 1999 Index (alt.) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
On May 24, 1993, alt.drwho.creative was spun off from the Usenet discussion group rec.arts.drwho.
The creation of the group was suggested by Happy Halibut VI (Richard Salter) and set up by Dave Williams. The stated purpose of the group was "for stories and any other bits of creative stuff people may come up with in connection to the TV series 'Doctor Who.'"
The group had an active community through most of the nineties, but membership eventually dropped as online fannish activity in general moved away from Usenet. The Doctor Who revival in 2005 did little to arrest the slide, as the new fans the revival created didn't congregate on Usenet. The group still exists, but the community has moved on, although people still occasionally post new works for old times' sake.
The Panatropic Archive, now defunct, archived works from adwc.
Trends
- The Internet Adventures, a long-running series written Round Robin style, with each chapter by a different author. Named on the model of the New Adventures, the series of authorized spin-off novels that bridged the gap from the end of the TV series in 1989 to the 1996 telemovie, the IAs continued the Doctor's adventures after the telemovie. Spin-offs written in the same style included the Missing Internet Adventures (like the Missing Adventures spin-off novels, set earlier during the series), Companion Internet Adventures (companions having adventures after parting company with the Doctor), and Crossover Internet Adventures (for instance, a crossover with the James Bond movies that leant into the fan theory that Bond was a Time Lord), as well as one attempt at a "Whoniverse Internet Adventure" with entirely original characters.
- This Time Round, a shared universe centered on "the pub outside continuity" where characters and sometimes authors went to hang out between stories. The initiating work, "A Quiet Night Out" by Tyler Dion, was posted on 23 January 1998. Subreality Café was an acknowledged inspiration, though it developed its own character (and in-jokes, including an elaborate story structure surrounding Adric and Nyssa of Traken that this aside is too narrow to contain). A website created at ttrarchive.com to collect the stories in this universe is still active.
- adwc's annual awards, the Adrics, were presented from 1998 to 2005. They were voted on by the community and included categories for works (divided by Longform/Shortform/Drabble and Dramatic/Comedic), characters (with separate categories for canonical characters and original characters), etc.
- Drabbles were in vogue when the group started (Drabble Who? was published the same year), and were a popular form for most of its history, even getting their own category in the annual awards.
Inspiration, and Some Hopes
From Happy Halibut VI (Richard Salter):
I thought of it because I'd like to post my own attempt at a new adventure called Two's Company to the net so that everyone can read it and hack it about, giving comments, suggesting alterations, etc. It would be really useful and I'm sure others would appreciate it as well so that they can band about their work without fear of being flamed for wasting large amounts of bandwidth (Two's Company is BIG)."So what do you all think?"
I received much support from others, including the suggestion of a pass around story, which I think should be encouraged, as well as other reasons for creation of such a group. There has also been an increase of fictional work posted to rec.arts.drwho recently, e.g. The Faces of Janus, various parodies by Speaker To Animals (Paul Silver) and my own Ghost of Time Chapter 1, as well as other similar works.
Credit for the actual creation of a.d.c. goes to Dave Williams...who created the group during May 1993. Thanks to him for all his help, what a very nice person, and thanks to everyone on r.a.d.w. for their support.
The group itself is unmoderated, so post what you may wish. There are no restrictions against more..."risque'" works except for the author's own judgment and sense of taste. In general, if you feel that the contents of your work may be potentially considered inappropriate or offensive to some people, please kindly use warnings before posting the piece. (If net.policies say any different, please say so!)
The newsgroup exists for the enjoyment of all. Treat it nicely and it will hopefully be a source of entertainment, interest and inspiration. Presidential speech is now over, have fun.
Please note I'm not the spokesperson for the group or anything; I'm just somebody who thinks they know what they are doing (important difference). If you do have any problems or questions though, feel free to mail me about them. [1]
Excerpt from the Original Proposed Charter
From David Williams:
The purpose of this group is for stories and any other bits of creative stuff people may come up with in connection to the TV series "Doctor Who" It is based primarily on the group alt.ql.creative with one important difference which will be discussed later. No infringement upon BBC TV or anyone else connected with "Doctor Who" is intended.Like alt.drwho.creative and DW itself, the group is not intended for general discussion about "Doctor Who". However, discussion of points raised by posted creative articles is encouraged. The dividing line between what warrants discussion on a.d.c. and what does not is a thin one, and threads with large amounts of discussion will probably be moved over to rec.arts.drwho for wider discussion. Here are some general guidelines as to the sort of postings we'd like to see:
1) Anything that you or somebody you know has written, primarily fictional work though there is no reason why such articles as script or character analysis, etc, should not be posted here if they are too big for posting on r.a.d.w. for general discussion. If your posting was not written by you, make sure you have the author's permission to post their work, and credit them fully for it.
2) Followups to the fictional postings, including general opinions about the work, continuity mistakes the author may have made, problems or strengths with the style of the author's writing, ideas to improve the work, questions about parts of the work that are perhaps ambiguous, or not understood, etc.
3) Continuations or sequels to the work posted. See guidelines below before considering this.
Some General Guidelines now follow. Please note that these are not law, nobody has authority over this group. They are intended just to help us all get along and keep everything running smoothly.
1) If you post something you have written, then it is your work. The other readers of the newsgroup are witness to the fact that it is your work and it should not be reused, reposted, printed, passed on, etc without the permission of the author. The usual copywrite rules apply. The purpose of the group is to have your work read and constructively criticised, not to have it pinched for other people's work.
2) If you wish to rewrite, drastically alter (rather than suggest changes) or continue somebody else's work, ask the author of that work first. They may already be planning something similar.
3) Criticism should be constructive. Please let's not have any personal abuse or put-downs. Don't be cruel about what people have written, they may have put a lot of effort into it. If it's good say so, don't just post negative points - and if you do (which is often helpful) be polite.
The group is not, I repeat, NOT for general discussion of Doctor Who. The group rec.arts.drwho exists for this purpose. a.d.c. is intended for creative posts and discussion about those works only. [2]
References
External links
- TTR Archive.com - Archive of This Time Round stories
- Doctor Who Internet Adventures wiki at Wikia FANDOM