Perusing some of the neglected categories in my blog (of which there are many - if you’re reading this on the page rather than in a feed reader, the full list is at the bottom right as you scroll down) I came to realise that three very short pieces of fiction are almost exactly a decade old.
They are drabbles - short stories of exactly 100 words in length. These particular ones are ‘fan fiction’ (or fanfic for short), unlicensed exploration of other people’s fictional creations. As you scour the internet, you discover that much fanfic is unremittingly awful - but some is not. And from that minority, an even smaller proportion has spawned writers who have gone on to write professionally for the same characters (yes, this is a hint to buy The Ghosts of Christmas while stocks last. I still savour that review in DWM, even if my story was summed up in three words, one of which was “and”).
In this case, the subject was Doctor Who crossing over with the Endless family from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic books.
Reading them again, they do hold up quite well - although of the three, one relies on a punchline that no longer packs the punch it once did and one just has me a feeling a bit meh. The third, though, includes possibly my favourite sentence in Doctor Who ever. That sounds like egotism, and it may be, but it feels like the line was written by somebody else. Which, I suppose, it was (I hope he won’t mind if I nick it, should the possibility of ever using it again arise).
Anyway, the three drabbles - to be read in no particular order - are:
If you have no idea who Neil Gaiman’s Endless characters are, a guick google should set you aright. And if you’re a fan of great storytelling, remind me to lend you The Sandman novels some time (or buy your own)…
{ 0 comments }
