[spoilers] Ruth's Diary

[almh]

The personal files are really useful, but if you would like I think that we could post a summary of the key points up somewhere for you to access, so that you know any information required about Ruth.

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OK, so at the moment there are 4 of us Anyone else who wants to join please let us know ASAP because I have to give the names to Nitrus.

Here seems like as good a place as any to make a start. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas at any point, let me know. These are just my ideas, so obviously they aren't rules and they aren't perfect so any changes you think would be necessary, let me know. I don't bite (I promise!)

So, here is what's gone on so far. Nitrus PMed me to say he likes the idea, and will set up a sub-forum for us in the Character Area just for posts to Ruth's Diary. Only the people involved in Ruth's Diary will be able to post on the area, so obviously I need to know who's involved so I can tell Nitrus. At the moment the people involved are:

Me (ALMH)
Beatriz
JHyde
Tea Lady

If there's anyone else let me know. We will have some rules for Ruth's Diary from Nitrus, but they're things like people must contribute equally, and we have to put the date and title in the subject part of each thread, but they're only minor things.

The first thing we really need to decide is when do we start from. I personally think that we should start with her life before GCHQ, just because in my opinion she has so much of an interesting past it would be a shame not to write about it. Anyone have any opinions on this?

The second point would be how are we going to write this? Please remember to jump in and say if you don't like this idea, but I was thinking maybe if we all planned out roughly when each chapter would be in Ruth's timeline before hand and what key events would occur in that time period, then maybe we could go in a cycle of writing a chapter each. Another thing would be that it would be useful, once a chapter has been written, for everyone else to see it before it gets uploaded, just in case you reference something off-hand or don't mention something that would affect a chapter that someone else is writing. It also means that any accidental errors can be picked up on (because we are all HR geeks and do tend to remember tiny pieces of information that are meant as through-away comments on the show, and so if the writer misses out on one of those pieces of information, someone else will pick up on it.)

As for the third... well, I can't remember it any more, but please do give me some feedback on these ideas. Are they good? Do you have another idea? Doesn't matter if you think it's not any good, tell us anyway because it might be amazing

[Beatriz]

Start: I agree, her diary should start before being a Section D member, and before some crucial events happened as her step-brother's death; perhaps the moment she enters GCHQ and at certain dates she could remember sth from her past...

I think we should have a way of communication, to discuss the main points of the story and our "schedule". Perhaps by email or we could create a messenger account in order to talk there, any ideas?
It's a good idea to read each others stories (mine, above all) to make sure it's all correct.

I've just realised I have to rewatch series 2 to 5, I've only watched them once and I can't remember everyting (must take notes)

I'm nervous!!

[almh]

No worries, we'll all be fine

I'm going to upload all the information from the Confidential Files and save it as an attachment so that you can access it.

The private area would be good. We could do it on Spooksforum by PMing but it isn't the easiest system to use. Email would be good, or messenger. The problem with email is that with every new point a new email would have to go round to everyone, so if two people had a conversation about it via email whilst the others were busy then the two busy ones would end up with a ton of conversations to read.

Just had a brainwave - what about googledocs? We could set it up so only we could access the files for Ruth's Diary, and it would mean an easy way of sharing information. For example, people can upload ideas onto a document, and others can then add their own comments into the document, keeping all the notes and ideas together so it makes more sense. Also any additional material that might be useful could also be uploaded onto there. It does, however, require that everyone has a googlemail account but they are free and easy to access so maybe that's an idea?

I'd recommend re-watching 2 to 5 and even series 8 as well - they'll all be useful in building up Ruth's character, although when writing you have to remember to write for the write 'era' of Ruth (i.e. don't write Ruth's character pre-series 2 as the same Ruth who came back to the Grid in series 8). I'm going to write some notes as well - do you want to share? (This offer is open to anyone else involved too.) That way if we both (or all,) write notes, then we can cross-reference them to make sure that we have everything. Not everyone has to do this, but it helps me to write fanfiction if I can remember everything about a character. Normally I just re-watch an episode, but for this it may just be easier to write it up in note form so it's easier to access.

[Beatriz]

I agree emails would be a little messy, googledocs seems a great idea for the entries we will be making. My idea was to create a freeforum elsewhere and it would be an easy way to comunicate, I'm not an expert, I could try and create one.

[almh]

Are there any other places to create a free forum? Not really up in that kind of thing.

[Beatriz]

Yes, I thought aout that in order not to give too much trouble to Nitrus... I've PMed him to ask what he tought about it...

[JHyde]

My main concern is how we establish a "voice" for Ruth with 4 of us writing for her.

I can't use googledocs on my computer, so I wouldn't be able to check that as frequently as what I do the forum.

I think that starting with her time in GCHQ is a good idea, but remember that her step brother could only have died on 1st May 2005, by which time Ruth had been on the Grid for 2 1/2 years. Perhaps we should start with how the opportunity arose to be seconded to MI5 briefly, as she'd obviously been looking for a way in for some years, and this legitimises her starting and keeping a diary. (I have that date for the step brother from working backwards from the date provided in Harry's diary.)

[almh]

I know - that is a problem, to make sure that Ruth's voice stays the same throughout each entry and does not vary. One possible solution could be to copy what they do in shows such as Doctor Who, where you do have guest writers frequently writing for the show, is to get one person, or all of us together to write the first entry and set the tone, so every person works towards making sure that their entry is similar to the first.

Ok, so googledocs is a no then. I know that Beatriz said about a freeforum, any other ideas?

How about before we work out exactly when we start the diary (although I do think around the time she was in GCHQ is a good idea,) perhaps we should do something similar to a timeline, so that we know when events happened in her life. That way we could find a suitably big moment (such as the opportunity for secondment to MI5,) to kick-start the diary and so that would also provide a reason for Ruth to start a diary.

[Beatriz]

I think almh's idea is good to keep the same tone in each entry, we could make the 2 first entries together... Apart from that, we could note a few ideas about Ruth's character so we could stick to them as "ours" while writing

The opportunity for secondment to MI5 good start point.

We need a timeline, yes, to have in account what events marked her character.

I said messenger before, but I think it would be very difficult for us to set a time to talk....

Today, I've watched 2.02 and taken notes

[JHyde]

I think setting a timeline for the major events in her life is a good idea. You have the Personnel Files don't you? Are there major milestones we should know about?

And yes, you're our showrunner