So as I've mentioned. Like. A lot recently. I've got a book coming out about the Doctor Who episode Heaven Sent. And, uh... now you can preorder it, it looks like.

The book is part of the Black Archive line, which dissects individual Doctor Who stories from all eras of the show. There are range editors, but each story's book is uniquely the product of its author. That means some will be all-encompassing critiques, others will be production or historical takes. But regardless of content, they are fully researched, fully annotated, book-length scholarly monographs on the episodes in question.

Working on mine was both extremely fun and extremely nerve-wracking.


The best and worst thing you can do if you want to write a Black Archive is to read others. "Best" because you'll get a much more realistic sense of how much is research and how much is author interpretation, plus you'll see exactly how much freedom of topic (once a pitch is accepted, of course) the author has. "Worst" because these are excellent books and you'll immediately start comparing everything you do to all the ones to come before.

That said, the only things that really link one Black Archive to another are house style and consistency of quality -- which comes of having multiple editors, a pitching/acceptance process, and a fairly in-depth style guide. If I was ever left wondering if I was doing something right, it was only insofar as your typical personal writer-ly doubt.

The editing process made it extremely clear what worked and what didn't... and one of my favorite things about it is that I got fought tooth and nail on one of my "pet" interpretations. Not because the editor (Philip Purser-Hallard) disliked it, but because he wanted to make sure it was suitably strong and free of holes.

(This is, incidentally, a good thing to bear in mind with any editor -- none of us is perfect, and in any other part of our lives we'd be grateful to have someone take us aside before we went public and make sure we're as together as possible.)


For what it's worth, this book is not an attempt to say everything that can be said about Heaven Sent, because I'm pretty sure that's not possible for any Doctor Who story. I came at it from my area of expertise -- Jungian psychology and archetypes -- and chose one point. It just happens to be a point of modern interest: the Doctor's identity, and the concept of "Doctor" as persona that came into play during Steven Moffat's tenure as showrunner.

And uh. That all sounds really high-flown and cerebral, but I promise you it's not. One thing I've had to learn in recent years is that if I want to make a point, I need to be ready to present the tools required to understand that point. Or else I sound like a babbling fool (more than usual). So I do take moments to discuss exactly what Jung's going on about when we talk the Shadow, or his concept of houses being symbolic of people. I've hopefully done a decent job of making sure that, as you're reading, you don't get lost in anything.

It also goes without saying that this isn't the only possible read of Heaven Sent. Other Black Archive titles (I'm thinking of Purser-Hallard's own Dark Water/Death in Heaven specifically) are more like collections of multiple essays, focusing in on one story from a variety of angles. While I do come from a variety of angles, this is most definitely one interpretation. And one thing I love about Jung/Archetypal reads is that they tend to go "here's what's there because we as humans transmit these ideas that are important to us," rather than observing them at the exclusion of all other interpretations.


As an aside, I have to offer massive thanks to Rachel Talalay for her master class in Heaven Sent a couple years ago. It made me completely re-outline and rewrite the second chapter of the book. So if you're wondering why a Nightmare on Elm Street movie is in the bibliography of a Doctor Who book... well, there you go.

I'll admit right now I'm super nervous, even though I write stuff like this constantly (especially for sites like Sartorial Geek). For one, this is my first non-self-published book. I've self-published full-length books and I've been in anthologies, but this is the first, er, "all me" deal. And secondly, The Black Archive is a (rightly) respected line -- so I've got a name to live up to.

Black Archive #21 - Heaven Sent officially drops next month. But if you'd like to preorder, you can do so on the Obverse Books website.