Fanfic: Before the Dawn [Doctor Who]

[sweet_anise]

Title: Before the Dawn
Rating: PG
Category: Genfic, Martha-centric (surprised me, too)
Beta: None
A/N: Uber-short little ficlet set during “Last of the Time Lords”. Quotes in italics come from 3x03 (“Gridlock”), 3x11 (“Utopia”), and 3x06 (“The Lazarus Experiment”)

Comments

[giallarhorn]

And you were worried about your writing being stilted :P

I rather liked how you showed her previous roles in relation to the Doctor, to her very much changed one where she's just so much removed, and how the Master isn't a personal enemy on proxy through the Doctor, but on a much more individual and personal level.

P.S. You should write more.

[sweet_anise]

Thank you!

I feel like it's easy to forget that Martha lived a whole, linear year between SotD and LotTL. Depending on what you imagine we weren't shown, and how you regard spin-off novels relative to canon, that could easily be longer than she spent with the Doctor. She wasn't the same woman anymore.

[giallarhorn]

It's kind of weird to consider how we were really, well, robbed of seeing her develop in that year- not to say that I don't understand why it wouldn't be feasible, but there were enough changes in who she was that it'd have been nice to really see how much she had changed. Which I guess is what her appearance in S4 was for.

[magic_7_words]

YOU ARE BRILLIANT. Why is there not more of this?

Favorite line: (She knows she’s brave, but it’s going to be awhile before cowering in the shadows stops feeling so natural.)

Or maybe the one about all the Master means to her.

[sweet_anise]

Thank you thank you thank you!

"More of this" as in this fic, or fic in general? If it's the former, then I agree it's very short, and part of me thought it should be longer, but I decided that these moment-in-time introspective fics are a lot more powerful when they're short. Anything longer, I felt, and it'd be too rambl-y... unless I introduced a plot or had the Doctor and Martha interact, and I didn't want to go AU.

Thanks for noting your favorite lines! It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

[magic_7_words]

Oh, I meant fic in general. I agree that this type is better short.