The Doctor Who Companion

Get your daily fix of news, reviews, and features with the Doctor Who Companion!

Want to Contribute to The Doctor Who Companion?

The Doctor Who Companion needs you!
The DWC is looking for talented writers to join our wonderful crew. If you’re looking to pursue a career in writing or just have spare time and want to talk about Doctor Who, you’re exactly who we’re looking for!
We’d like writers for all sections, but the News Team is especially in need. Generally, being on news requires you submit one article a week, unless you want to do more. I send you a news article to write up, and you submit the finished thing that same day. If you’re having a busy week, that’s fine: every Sunday, we email the team to check which day they’re free, if at all.
During busier periods, we may ask if anyone is up for contributing more. There’s no obligation, and if it all gets too much, you just say.
Also, you don’t have to stick with a section. The News Team frequently write features. So too do the writers working on reviews. Needless to say, all articles and pitches need to go via the editorial team.
And in 2019, we’ve got some exciting projects planned, giving contributors the chance to write about all eras of the show and truly indulge in their passion – hopefully in a way few other sites offer.

What do you get in return? We simply cannot pay. The DWC right now doesn’t even have adverts, although some might come in future, merely to help run the site, ie. help pay for hosting etc. But there are benefits to writing for the DWC:

  • Reviews: We get review copies of comics, books, audio adventures – all sorts of wonderful things. So no, we don’t pay money, but there’s the chance you could get cool merchandise in return for write-ups about them!
  • Exposure: Your work is read by loads of people. That still feels cool, even after years of doing it.
  • Join the community: The DWC audience base is a lovely one, and you’re already a part of that. If you become a regular writer, you also join the community behind-the-scenes at the site! That means lots of folk to discuss Who with. It means more friends with similar interests.
  • Something cool to put on your CV: Or, if you will, resume.
  • Opens up doors: Doing this, and with a bit of initiative, you can get the chance to do some really great things. Like interviewing! Peruse our “Interviews” section, and you’ll see that fans got to speak to some awesome people simply because they can say they represent the DWC.
  • Occasional fan fiction opportunities: It’s not often – in fact, in our first year, we only had one fan fiction experiment – but sometimes, you might be offered the chance to write some fiction to be published.
  • Learn more about Doctor Who: Getting involved means you’ll inevitably expand your knowledge.

What do you need to apply?

  • Eloquence: Well, yes. If you can’t string two words together, you’re probably not reading this.
  • Good grasp of punctuation: Again, pretty obvious. If you don’t know exactly where to put a semi-colon, though, we’re not going to chase you down. Editors are there to edit.
  • Be enthusiastic about Doctor Who: Knowledge is obviously very important, but you don’t need to have seen/heard every episode, read every Target novelisation, and listened to all Big Finish stories. I guarantee that no writers here have ticked all those boxes. But we make up for it in enthusiasm. Positivity is a good thing, and nurtured by Doctor Who. If you do know Doctor Who inside-out, that’s great; the most important thing is that you love the series and always want to learn more.
  • Self-motivated: We simply don’t have time to prod people all the time for articles. Saying that, you’re never just left to it. If you need help, we’re here for that. We’re also here to talk about the latest episode you’ve just watched.
  • £500 donation fee: Just kidding.


Stuff that’ll help your application:

  • You read the DWC: That means you know our tone, and the type of articles we go for. Although we’re always open to something new! You’ll also know that we have themed weeks, so will factor that into your idea development.
  • Lots of ideas: Not essential, but it depends on which section you want to write for. For News, as an example, editors will send you the article ideas; for features, we want your original ideas, but we will throw some ideas to you too.
  • Knowledge of WordPress: Even basic knowledge is better than nothing, but WP isn’t difficult to get a hang of. Plus, if you’re not sure, you simply email your articles to me and I’ll submit them for you. Easy. If you are a technology whizz, and can clean out the gremlins, we’ll love you forever.

Seriously, if you’re great with tech and willing to help out for free on a couple of issues, please do get in touch. We’ll of course give you due credit, and you’ll have our eternal gratitude.
So how do you apply? Very simply, send us an email! Please be patient: we aim to get back to everyone asap, but we do get busy and sometimes forget to check the inbox.
Just email us on doctorwhocompanion@outlook.com.
Tell us a little about yourself, your love for Who, and whether you have any writing experience. A sample of your writing, whether that’s a link to other online work or an original piece as an attachment, is preferable so we can properly gauge your talent.
We do have limited spaces right now (because this isn’t our day job, so managing teams is hard work), so if you’re rejected for the moment, please don’t be put off. It probably says more about us than you!
Thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Philip Bates

Editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, The Silver Archive: The Stone Tape, and 100 Objects of Doctor Who.

Want to Contribute to The Doctor Who Companion?

by Philip Bates time to read: 4 min
0
%d bloggers like this: