#also a strong preference for standalone novels vs parts of a series if I can be so picky

[pennumbra]

Book Recs?

Slightly unusual non-art post for me, but does anyone have any book recommendations? I've been reading more since the beginning of the year and enjoying it a lot, and the trickiest thing is honestly finding new books when I don't already know what I'm looking for- so I thought I'd ask!

Any genre! I like soft sci-fi/speculative fiction, nonfiction, and premises that are kinda quirky or unusual- I don't gravitate towards fantasy but I'm open to it! Lmk what you've been reading or what your old fav is and I'll give it a look. C:

[logicheartsoul]

6, 23, and 30 for the writing asks, if you feel so inclined :)

I’m always inclined to answer writing questions, so thank you for these! Looking at these questions, I can’t wait to answer it!

6. What point of view do you tend to write in? Do all of your pieces use the same POV? Do you have strong opinions on the POV used in novels?

Most of the time I write in third person omniscient POV but I’ve actually dabbled a bit in second person POV, sometimes limited sometimes omniscient. So, no not all my pieces use the same POV. As for strong opinions, I don’t really have any because if the work is good, it really doesn’t matter what POV it is in. I’m not one of those people where say, first person, takes me out of it or makes me go “nope”. (As an example.) 

If the story is good, then the POV is compelling. If the POV doesn’t work for the story as I’m reading it, then maybe the writer should’ve considered that during editing if they wanted a stronger or compelling enough story. It’s not something you can skim 2 seconds while you’re in a bookstore and say “this story sucks coz it’s in x POV” unless I’m actually reading it, and only after I’ve read it for a bit can I make any judgment.

23. Do you prefer reading series or standalone novels and does that reflect on how you write?

It depends on my mood but I don’t have any preferences. Sometimes, you just want to get enmeshed into a world and have it last a long time. Sometimes, you just want a complete story from start to finish. 

However, seeing how series and standalones work does help in writing -- it can help you determine if 1) a story you’re writing would be suited more as a series or if 2) your story is much more self-contained and can be written as one entity. And reading a lot of both can help you figure that out by how each writer does that -- what makes for a “good” ending but could continue the story for a new installment or what makes a story “complete” or “fully contained”? 

30. What is some of the best writing advice you’ve read or received? Why does it work for you?

I guess it works as advice for all creatives, not just writing, but there’s a difference between self-care and self-punishment.

What I mean to say is that, if you’re having a writing block or if writing is something that is causing you pain, you gotta ask yourself if you’re in a good place right now. 

Is writing helping deal with pain? (Which is a kind of therapeutic self-care). 

Does the act of writing make you anxious and hurt and all other sorts of mental health issue flare-ups? Then you need to take time to breathe and find out why writing is making you feel these things and why.

And that applies to people who read all sorts of writing advice like “write x per week” or “you have to write every day” or “you gotta write and charge through even if you don’t feel like it”.

Not all advice works because writing reflects how people think and feel. And not everyone thinks and feels the same way -- hell, some people don’t even process things the same way (for an example, synesthesia??). How can a set of advice work for everyone? It can’t!

However, in the guise of “self-care” vs “self-punishment/harm” you can determine if that writing advice will work for you. 

Is it something a little “minor” (however you determine minor) discomfort in the present if you did it, a thing where future you will go “thanks for doing this, I’m happy/proud/accomplished/glad I did it”? (To put in context, if you’re really tired and you don’t want to do the dishes but you do it or some of it anyway, will future you thank you for doing it? That kind of feeling.)

If so, it probably falls closer to the self-care part of the spectrum, writing-wise. Otherwise, don’t hurt yourself. Forgive yourself and then try to figure out why it doesn’t work, and if there’s pain attach to it, to help yourself get better from that pain.

People who create, and want to, will figure out what works for them and also will naturally at some point burst to just create anyway, regardless of anyone’s advice. Maybe they won’t write every day but manage to somehow in between the weird timing of everyday life, manage to get 1000 words done by the end of the week. Maybe they figure out they write better under pressure (so maybe they’ll use the pomodoro method) than if there’s no time constraints, etc etc.

Let people figure these things out and don’t punish them for NOT following some advice tons of people are throwing at them! That’s also part of the creative process people tend to forget.

So, rant aside, yeah, I follow it, and it’s helped me a lot especially when I’m feeling low or I’m deciding if a piece of writing advice works for me. I think it’s a good frame of mind for all creatives to think about coz your mental and physical health come first, ya know?

[ send me unique writing asks! ]

[doctornolonger]

Jumping into Faction Paradox

Faction Paradox has a reputation as one of Doctor Who’s most obscure and high-quality spinoffs. Because of this, everyone’s been asking me: How do I get into Faction Paradox? Here’s my answer. (v3.4)

Faction Paradox and the War in Heaven first appeared in the BBC’s Eighth Doctor novels in the late 1990s. Since the Faction Paradox series is designed to be standalone from anything in Doctor Who, by no means do you need to read these novels, but if you want to know how the series fits into the Doctor’s larger universe, you should probably check out at least a few. Which ones you read depend on how into-it you want to get.

Want to dive straight into Faction Paradox? Read Alien Bodies, then Interference (parts one and two). And that’s it; you have all the background knowledge you need. Just skip straight to the next section. This is the track I usually recommend to Doctor Who fans interested in FP!

Want to take the leisurely route? See the sights? Spend a little more time with the Eighth Doctor and his companions? Your list is Vampire Science, Alien Bodies, The Scarlet Empress, The Infinity Doctors, Unnatural History, Dead Romance, Interference, The Blue Angel, The Taking of Planet 5, and The Shadows of Avalon.

Or just read them all in publication order to get all the character arcs and nuances. The last relevant novel is The Adventuress of Henrietta Street.

Once you’ve finished whatever path you started (or even if you decided to skip it), you’re ready for the Faction Paradox series!

Important note: Because FP has such a strong #aesthetic, the stories tend to use alternatives for a lot of familiar Doctor Who terms. (Maaaybe copyright also has something to do with it.) You’d probably be able to pick up on the connections via context clues, but just for clarity’s sake, here are the most important ones:

Time Lords are collectively called “the Great Houses”. (Individual Time Lords are “members of the Great Houses”.)

Gallifrey is called “the Homeworld”.

TARDISes are called “timeships”.

The Web of Time (and the part of the universe that it covers) is called the “Spiral Politic”.

The High Council of Gallifrey is called the “ruling Houses”.

If there’s anything else that’s throwing you off, look it up in my list of connections!

When it comes to starting Faction Paradox, I highly recommend beginning with The Book of the War. As it’s a sort of Bible for the rest of the series, it explains a lot of concepts that get carried into other stories, and checking back with it from time to time is basically guaranteed to always be rewarding. (Plus, Alien Bodies → Interference → The Book of the War is a really wonderful sequence for Doctor Who fans!) But it’s hard to find physical copies and some people struggle with the format, so feel free to skip it.

All the FP novels are completely standalone, so you can jump in anywhere. Some suggestions:

Do you like your end of the world as an emotionally devastating 1970s horror story, a bewildering occult urban fantasy, or a US Presidential Election gone wrong? If the first, read Dead Romance; if the second, read This Town Will Never Let Us Go; if the last, read Head of State.

Want your far-future human history to look like a culture-shocking techno-Heaven, or a classical scifi capitalism-vs-liberation setup? If the former, read Of the City of the Saved; if the latter, read Weapons Grade Snake Oil.

Would you rather your universe-spanning scifi epic to be Moby Dick with universes instead of whales, or I,Claudius with a war between all timelines where Rome never fell and all timelines where the Nazis won WWII? If the former, read The Brakespeare Voyage; if the latter, read Warlords of Utopia.

Would you prefer your staggeringly weird takes on the Great Houses to be contextualized by 16th century Mexico or 17th century England? If the former, read Against Nature; if the latter, read Newtons Sleep (legally free online!).

Another great way to start is through the audio stories, which are split between BBV’s Faction Paradox Protocols (scripts legally free online!) and Magic Bullet’s True History of Faction Paradox. I know a ton of fans who started with the audios, so this is definitely a great route! Both series are completely stand-alone from the books, although your enjoyment would probably be a little enhanced if you’ve read Alien Bodies and Dead Romance.

The final route I’ll suggest is the short story anthologies: in particular, A Romance in Twelve Parts is pretty great as a starting spot (even if its final story does spoil Of the City of the Saved). The Book of the Enemy has also been described as a “sampling platter” of the series’ Deepest Lore™, so check it out if you want to be tossed into the deep end. (Also I wrote a story for it yay!)

My last tip: At some point, go back and read The Adventuress of Henrietta Street and The Taking of Planet 5. They’re both Eighth Doctor novels, and they’re not at all prerequisites, but they both fit quite well into the FP series: the latter has strong ties to Simon Bucher-Jones’ stories, and the former explicitly shares a setting with the Protocols audios and the short-lived FP comic. Also be sure to read Alien Bodies and Interference, if you didn’t already!

In conclusion ... don’t worry too much about anything I just said. It’s the way that’ll probably give you the best understanding, but as I’ve said a billion times now, the Faction Paradox series is pretty beginner-friendly at almost every point! So feel free to start with either set of audios, or the first book you get your hands on. I started on Warlords of Utopia with zero context, and I did fine – and that was before Faction Paradox was even allowed on the Tardis Wiki!

If along the way you get confused by anything, just hit up r/factionparadox or my ask box and I’d love to help. Welcome to the Faction, and may the spirits guide you!