Writer in a Drawer, Series Three, General Blather, & State of the Lift

If you weren't aware, Writer in a Drawer has made a triumphant return! I'm playing again this round, our winner from Round 2 is playing, and the other twenty on board reads like a Who's Who of two-fisted awesome. The writing period for round 3.01 ends later this week, and stories go up as fast as Waldo can code them, so please! Join us! Read and vote! Support the madness! I'll probably plug shamelessly throughout the competition, but figured that for best results I should start early. writerinadrawer, people. For serious.

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So I watched Series Three as it aired. I was about 80% unspoiled -- I'd limited myself to filming pics, the magazine, and a moment of weakness with a BFI screening review -- and so I didn't know what to expect. No, I haven't re-watched it yet. Yes, I've seen the Declassified.

( This is where the spoilers start. Here there be spoilers. I will be talking for a very long time about Series Three under this cut. )

I do want to say one thing that's been on my mind since Friday, and that I've been saying here and there, about some of the vitriol I'm seeing.

As a creative, I really don't think it's okay to make personal attacks on someone for writing things you don't like. Critique the work? Absolutely. Tear it to bits if you think it's bad. That's the audience's prerogative, and I know I've done it more than once. Harassing someone, threatening them, or doing them violence over a story, though, isn't okay. No sensible writer sits back and thinks, "Oh yes, how can I alienate fans of my work today and make them miserable and hate me?" Writers want to make stories, and for people to read (or watch, or listen) to those stories.

Before you say, "So writers should write the stories they know people will want!" stop yourself and ask what sort of a dead world that would be. No surprise, no drama, no horror. I don't want to write pablum (even though I probably do now and again). I want to write the best story I can.

So what I'm saying, and what I'm asking of you, gentle reader, is to keep the personal attacks to a minimum here. There are plenty of places where you can vent about how RTD's move to America is suspicious, or to say that the creators are lying liars who lied to you.

Me, I want to make and talk about stories.

Thank you, and goodnight.