About "Shadow Of A Ghost"... · 9:41pm Jan 25th, 2015
So first off, yes, I'm still around here. Just because I haven't been writing fan fiction doesn't mean I haven't still been reading it.
But on the subject of writing, I was going back over me fanfic "Doctor Whooves: Shadow Of A Ghost" and reflecting back on how it turned out. In the end, it got the job done, and I'm glad there were readers out there who enjoyed it, but it should be no secret that I myself wasn't 100% happy with it. I felt there was a lot of things about it that still needed more refining or done better still, and it had a few pacing issues and could've used a bit better of a hook to draw in readers, especially for, say, the first half of the story or so. And then there are other issues with the story that some of you readers were kind enough to make that left me thinking "y'know, that's a valid point, I should've addressed that."
So this lead me to start thinking about what I could've done differently, which in turn led to the idea of me possibly going back and redoing the whole fanfic.
Now, keep in mind, this is still just an idea I'm toying with and not guaranteed to actually happen just yet. I'd have to find the time and resources first before committing to such a project, just like for writing a potential sequel to "Shadow Of A Ghost" (which I haven't forgotten about, by the way).
But assuming I DID do it, how it would work afterwards is that the changes would be mostly superficial, with a lot of added material tacked on to the preexisting content, and basically just making for a lengthier and more detailed story in the end...
...save for one thing.
I would completely change my approach to how I wrote the Doctor.
I mean, I liked how he turned out originally well enough, especially once I had gotten a good feel for the character towards the later chapters and had his unique and personal idiosyncrasies established (the top hat, his tendency to wave off explanations by just saying "it's complicated," the habit of running two different thoughts together into one statement, his reluctance to "commit" to the Equestrian world, etc.) but I can't help but look back at him and think "it's all been done before." There really isn't anything about him that any of the other Doctors, both official and fan-made don't already have, and that troubles me, because part of the point of this fanfic was to create a Doctor Whooves story that stood out more from all the others in the genre, one that you could point to and go "oh, that one's Scyphi's fanfic" with complete confidence you were completely right without having to reread it.
But I feel I didn't succeed at that. So if I were to redo this fanfic, I would change the Doctor. He'd still have many of the same characteristics, but his personality would be less emulating that of Matt Smith and more like...well actually, I can't think of another Doctor that would quite match what I have in mind (part of the reason why I want to do it).
The point of all of this is that if I do this, the story will likely have a very different feel to it. I went ahead and confirmed this by, as part of an experiment, taking chapter three ("The Stallion") of "Shadow Of A Ghost" and rewriting it with this new Doctor in mind, and despite making a concentrated effort to keep it as close as I could to the original, it quite notably changed the flow and attitude of the writing. There would be no avoiding that, so I wouldn't even bother if I am to do this.
But then that would mean this would result in a different story and would supersede the original (meaning that I would completely replace the old with the new, and the old no longer to be found on this site) I wanted to run all of this by all of you readers (if any of you are even still around to read this) and see what you thought about it.
Again, this potential rewrite is still up in the air, and not guaranteed to happen just yet...
But would you be okay with me possibly going back and making some serious changes to the story, including a new take on the Doctor?
Or would you rather I just leave well enough alone?
Discuss! 
Truth be told I rather liked this version of the Doctor and your writing style. However you as the writer need to be able to look at your work and think 'Yep, I'm proud of this and how it turned out', so if you feel that it could use improvement or that the Doctor should be reworked, then I'm behind you 100%. So long as we end up with a story as great or better then the original, then I have no issues with a rewrite.
That WAS your one weakness.
You could just think of a different actor and filter all your Doctor's actions through him. Tom Hiddleston, for example.
Seeing as I'm weighing in well after you decided to go ahead with it, I suppose it doesn’t make a difference, but I just read Loki: Agent of Asgard and I need to Compare Tom Hiddlestopn to the Doctor somewhere.