Thread:Turtle365/@comment-15395126-20151027125547

This may just be because I'm a perfectionist, but I'm having some difficulty with the script; the format I've chosen for the episode is making the writing process quite complicated, as it does not flow as a normal Doctor Who story does, let alone one that introduces a new Doctor…
 * The episode opens with a flashback of the Doctor waking up from his post-regenerative coma, one that lasted several decades, hence the TARDIS's battered exterior covered with overgrown foliage. When he does, the thought "I must find Gallifrey" enters his mind, so he rushes off to do so.
 * The episode then transitions in an unexpected way; it is revealed that this was a flashback, a recollection in the Doctor's mind as he read from the pages of the Five Thousand Year Diary (the latest version of the Two Thousand Year Diary).
 * This opening recollection presents a challenge, in that the Doctor's opening monologue/voice over establishes the story arc, but it does not (or cannot) really convey his new personality.
 * Still in the present-day, the Doctor grows frustrated; the need to find Gallifrey is urgent at this point, for he has already wasted centuries searching, without any luck. The Five Thousand Year Diary isn't giving the Doctor any leads.
 * Somehow in the present, the Doctor needs to recall how his previous thirteen selves sealed Gallifrey away, that he fought on Trenzalore, and that he realized he was an idiot and learned what it meant to truly love another. This connects the Thirteenth Doctor to his previous selves.
 * Eventually, the Doctor decides to keep reading from the diary, in case he missed something.
 * From here, we see the Doctor stop at several locations across time and space, from ancient Rome, to alien planets, and so-on. All of these are places the Doctor has checked for clues about Gallifrey's location; they are all brought to life in a similar fashion to the opening of the episode as recollections in the Doctor's mind as he reads about them.
 * This is a very Doctor-heavy episode; he only interacts with other characters in his flashbacks, and that's where his new personality needs to be conveyed. Otherwise, the Doctor is completely alone for most of the episode, if not all of it.
 * The reason why I say "most" is because I'm tempted to reveal/introduce a new character as a sort of plot twist: the potential new companion, a teenage girl who is very mysterious and Ashildr-like, one who has more secrets than can be revealed right now. This girl appears out of no where, for the Doctor has been alone in the TARDIS reading for the whole episode, yet she claims she has been there the whole time. We thought the Doctor was talking to himself/the audience the whole time, when in reality, he was talking to her, or so she says…

Thoughts on all this? I'd like to finally get writing, but I'm having trouble with the execution of all these ideas. I feel like I cannot convey them correctly and that things are not flowing as they need to be/should be. Again, my struggle right now could be because I'm a perfectionist…I usually abandon projects when I get frustrated with them like this…but I don't want that to happen anymore. Not with this. Perhaps we should compose an outline for the episode, from beginning to end, or something? 