The Talking Stones of Tyron Bonus Material

Not David Richardson: Hello! I'm here with the author of The Talking Stones of Tyron, John G. Wood.

John G. Wood: Hello.

NDR: Hello. So, John: How did you come to be writing this two-parter?

JGW: It was all a bit of a last-minute decision, really. I was watching The Lion, the first episode of The Crusade, which is part of the Lost in Time boxset; and there was an introduction by William Russell.

NDR: In character as Ian Chesterton.

JGW: Exactly. It may contradict a comment in The Sarah Jane Adventures, but in my mind Ian does grow old.

NDR: That's the beauty of fan fiction: you can ignore whatever you want.

JGW: Yes, though there's also plenty of expanded universe material that I can point to as a counter-example anyway.

NDR: So, you were watching the introduction. What did you think of it, by the way?

JGW: I liked it.

NDR: Can I press you for more? I'm sure the listen... um, readers would want to know.

JGW: Well, I suppose it was a bit cheesy; but that doesn't really bother me, and William Russell always adds a touch of class. It was quite stilted as a monologue - doing it as an interview might have been better - but it got the job done, gave us a chance to actually see the older Ian in action (which is something Big Finish can't) and showed that he was doing alright for himself in later life. Which was nice.

NDR: And Tyron?

JGW: Oh, yes. Well, Ian mentioned a couple of previous adventures, neither from TV, which was a pleasant surprise. The one I didn't recognise was The Talking Stones of Tyron. A quick Internet search told me that this was an unwritten adventure, first mentioned in the novelisation of the Crusade. It was a fascinating title, and immediately conjured up for me the landscape covered with stones described in the flashback sequence of Barbara's second viewpoint section.

NDR: This is your first mixed-viewpoint story, isn't it?

JGW: Yes - at least, my first for Doctor Who. Actually, it works quite well, because I'm now very familiar with Ian's voice, reasonably so with Barbara's - and not at all with Vicki's. So it gave me a chance to practise hers without having to keep it up for the whole story.

NDR: Despite the changing viewpoints, you've made this very much Vicki's story.

JGW: It seemed to me that she's been a hanger-on since she joined, and I thought it would be nice to make her a bit more proactive before we got to The Space Museum. That way it's not so much of a jump when she takes charge there. I don't know if she does that more in The Crusade, because I don't remember it very well; but hopefully it won't clash.

NDR: So basically, you're trying to smooth out the development of a character? Thinking about the overall narrative of the show?

JGW: You make it sound like some grand design! That was just a hook I used to provide some character motivation - it was something I noticed as I was writing Vicki's thoughts, and ran with it. My only idea at the start was to write a story featuring the talking stones, because they sounded cool.

NDR: Let's talk about the stones.

JGW: Well, I suppose it is their Fiftieth anniversary.

NDR: Har Har. Your stones have already been praised as "clever and original", and "a unique alien threat".

JGW: Yes, I was chuffed to see such a positive comment before I'd even finished posting the whole story!

NDR: I'll ask the obvious question: where did you get the idea from?

JGW: Heh. Well, half of it came pretty much straight away. I had this sunflower seed pattern as an image in my mind - I put in the Fibonacci bit because this is set fairly early in the show's history, where a little scientific exposition is compulsory in an SF adventure - and I wondered if I could keep the stones as they were in my head, rather than make them move about like Ogri or something. Telepathy seemed an obvious get-out, but then I wondered if they could use people to speak through.

NDR: Like Stephen Hawking in reverse!

JGW: Well, yes. But I hadn't thought about them being anything to do with computers at that point.

NDR: So when did you come up with that?

JGW: Really late in the day. I'd already posted the whole of the first episode and written the first couple of sections of the second.

NDR: As late as that?

JGW: Yep.

NDR: Wow. So basically you wrote the first half of the story without knowing where it was going?

JGW: Not exactly. I knew where it was going; what I didn't know was why. What was the motivation of the stones? How did they arise? That was what was missing. But I knew what they were going to do - the scenes of the Doctor rejecting Vicki and Ian being captured were the first to form in my mind. I had one in mind for Barbara, too, but that changed completely before I got to it.

NDR: Isn't it important to know the 'why', though?

JGW: Sometimes. That's one of the challenges of doing these serialised fiction pieces in the blog: I always have to post a section before I'm really ready. But it's good, too, because it forces to me keep on writing come what may. My (unpublished) novel was written in a completely different way. The beginning came first, then the end, then key scenes in the middle; and lastly I connected up the dots, as it were.

NDR: Which do you prefer?

JGW: Tricky. I probably get a better result if I lay down the key scenes first, but writing in order is certainly quicker.

NDR: I thought the tension built well in the first episode.

JGW: Thank you. Sadly, the reading public didn't agree. I don't have access to viewing numbers on Gallifrey Base, but on elvwho every time I switch to fanfic I immediately lose two thirds of the readership, and that rapidly tailed off even more during Dialogue Disasters. Scene 3 has my lowest ever viewing figures - only one page view! In contrast, my review of The Escape - my most popular post, for some reason - has had 140 page views, and even the more recent Echoes of Future Past, sandwiched between the two episodes of this story, has got to 20.

NDR: You sound bitter.

JGW: No, I didn't mean to. It's just... well, let's say it's a good job I'm doing it for my own benefit, and not for acclaim. Though, having said that, I'd stop if I never got any positive feedback like bethhigdon's comment.

NDR: So, getting back to the story for a moment-

JGW: Sorry.

NDR: No, no, it's fine. I just wondered how you came to write such a different second episode?

JGW: It wasn't just the stones' motivation I lacked. I realised that I could see two possible ways for the story to go: either everyone got captured, in which case I couldn't see a way out; or they weren't, but then the stones were just stuck sitting there until Vicki thought of something. Neither provided much tension. I also spotted that it was hard to switch viewpoints when Vicki was the only one still free!

NDR: Is that when you decided to do some sections from the stones' points of view?

JGW: Exactly. And once I did I had to differentiate between the three of them to keep the dialogue interesting, so I came up with the idea of the stones thinking with their captives' minds.

NDR: Well, I certainly felt that made them more creepy.

JGW: So did my son! And it was while writing the first of these scenes that I came to a couple of conclusions. I decided that the focus of the episode had to shift from the conflict - because there was nowhere for that to go, really - to character, and that I should make it a character piece not just for Vicki, but also for the stones. Which meant that there had to be room for the reader to feel some sympathy for them, even while they were still a threat.

NDR: It's certainly a gradual reveal. I really disliked the stone-Doctor in his first scene.

JGW: Good! I tried to plant a few seeds, there, but still have him come across as a manipulative b-

NDR: Like the real Doctor, in a way.

JGW: But less cuddly.

NDR: Well, he is made of stone!

JGW: Anyway, while I was writing that scene I realised that I had these big lumps of silicon and a wireless means of communication, and it was like a computer network in a way; and the image of Tyron as a massively parallel computer with silicon and organic parts just seemed to fit. Everything just sort of fell into place then.

NDR: What about the epilogue? You seemed quite unsure about that.

JGW: Yes, and I still am! Obviously it's my first time writing for another Doctor, and it's a team not all the readers will have much experience with, being audio only.

NDR: I would have thought that anyone who is likely to read your story will know the seventh Doctor and Ace; it's just Hex who hasn't appeared on TV. Any particular reason for including him?

JGW: His reactions provide a great contrast to Ace's. I could just imagine him on that rooftop, trying to take it all in. I hope I didn't overdo the accent and verbal tics. But actually, that's not my biggest worry.

NDR: Which is...?

JGW: That the serial might work better without a happy ending, with the fate of the stones left hanging. It doesn't matter how well (or badly) that epilogue is written if it deflates the story. Even my wife - who did an English degree - couldn't tell me if it was a good idea or not.

NDR: I see. Thank you, you've given us some interesting insights into a fanfic author's mind. Is there anything else you want to add?

JGW: Can I just say that lunch here has been a bit of a disappointment? I had hoped I could imagine something as tasty as Big Finish's famed offerings, but it's all been a bit... bland.

NDR: We'll try and do better next time. John, thank you very much.

JGW: You're welcome.

Next Time:
What, you want an actual review? How about The Lion? Probably coming Friday...