It's Time To Get Writing...

[Dennis the Hamster]

Check out 4pm on the WHTV schedule for Thursday.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/201 ... er-live-8/



Gav

[Rob P]

Thanks Gav, you gent.

Time to get Twitch back up and running.

Are these things usually recorded or do you need to watch live to not miss out?

[Dennis the Hamster]

Thanks Gav, you gent.

Time to get Twitch back up and running.

Are these things usually recorded or do you need to watch live to not miss out?

I don't know... But I'm sure there will be plenty of coverage if it isn't made available later.

Cheers,

Gav

[Xisor]

Cripes! That's exciting!

I wasn't so into short stories* when Inferno was last out (I think I *really* turned a corner reading "Planetkill"), But somewhere along the line my tastes shifted a little... maybe that's the sort of thing to really have a bash at!

This is *exactly* the sort of thing everyone thereabouts ought to be into!

* at that point the only two I'd seriously stomached and could wax lyrical about were Bradbury's "The Pedestrian" (first "suffered" and then internalised from Standard Grade English, if memory serves) and White Dwarf 241's "The Torturer's Tale" by some forgettable, talentless hack or other.

[schaferwhat‽]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/wri ... cklibrary/ news folks.

They hid the closing date of 10th of April in the terms and conditions page.

[Rob P]

Paraphrasing from Twitch and some of it will be obvious or will already be stated elsewhere. It in a bit of a random order.


Part 1 - Lottie LlewelynWells and John French.

- First line must be brilliant. Then first paragraph must be brilliant. And so on. Grip the editors.

- Best polished story preferred over multiple entries. Quality over quantity.

- Editors after one idea that intrigues them and quality of writing in sample - great characters, engaging prose.

- If you're not native UK use UK-English spell checker in Word. Use UK-English vernacular too. Not fatal but, saves editors time.

- Get critical test readers you trust and constructive feedback before submitting. Positive feedback not very helpful.

- (JF) Prose slightly more important than pitch as good idea poor prose is a no, but ok idea and great prose may result in offer for other pitch

- Good pitch = short - para - what it is about - chars - what they want - what is stopping them - how/why they get what they want or dont - tell ending'

- Good pitch = be clear - be direct - be precise - what it's about (reduce to core elements)

- Naming conventions not as important as editors may ask for name changes in any event

- Strong language - novels aimed at 12+. No f-word or c-word. Limited instances of swearing allowed. Think of clever ways of showing it. Use good judgement.

- Violence - Do not depict graphic gratuitous violence. No direct violence against women or children. No sexual violence. If in doubt - tone it down. What's the point of the violence? Does it serve the story? Again, think of clever ways of showing it.

- Think how story would fit in the range - grimdark/high fantasy.

- Don't try and mix all 6 themes. Perhaps 2-3 as a maximum.

- Good story mixture of action and dialogue - Not too much exposition/description. Don't just info dump in dialogue. Make dialogue realistic.

- Length - Short story - 5-7k words

- No preference for description, action or dialogue in sample - just want best writing. Take sample from best bit.

- Follow guidelines to the letter. Read all author advice and FAQs.

- Don't rush to submit - you have until April. Make it as good as you can make it.

Part 2 - Nick Kyme

(to follow - it's not just writing advice and I haven't watched it yet)

[HungryP]

Well crap, I thought it was 4 their time, now I’ve missed it. Thanks for the great notes.

[Rob P]

It was recorded so you can watch it any time on Twitch.

Part 2 - Nick Kyme

- To give your sense the best chance try to write something that catches eye, perhaps something not seen before but close to background and what you would like to read.

- First line ultra-important

- Capture attention

- Think of audience = the editors

General writing advice

- Don't give up

- Read widely and keep writing to hone your skill

- Tell story in engaging way - avoid info dumps - make sure characters drive story

- Read writing advice

- Use critical testers to help you spot things that could be improved as this will help you develop a little objectivity when scrutinising your own work

(Not as much on this one as it was over half new releases)

[Xisor]

Great digests, Rob!

The main take-away I got from it, from both Lottie, Nick, and John, was:
- submit a single entry. (You can submit more, but you're better off polishing one than spamming loads.)
- the prose sample is key.

Everything else is secondary, really. If the prose is excellent, but the idea crap, they can workshop with you towards a neater idea.

If the idea's good but there's better prose in other submissions, then those other submissions will get looked at long before your good idea is approached. (Think about it this way: it's easier [for everyone involved] for a good writer to tell an ostensibly boring story than a less good writer to tell a conceptually amazing story.)

---

In short: get practicing, get polishing.

(And if you simply can't tell the difference between your best prose samples, you're allowed to submit multiple, but ideally you'd do better to avoid that temptation.)

[schaferwhat‽]

This is really disheartening my ideas are much better than the goodness of me writes.

[Rob P]

Xisor, I think you've condensed it perfectly.

I imagine the editors reading the first lines of the samples then throwing story after story into the fire.

I don't think there was anything new on the Twitch that people wouldn't have already heard at any writing seminar at BLL/BLW.

[Squiggle]

well I needed a kick up the proverbial to start writing again, so the time is now!!

if anyone wants any help etc with their entries please give me a shout. I have a long and proud history of not getting submissions past the door!

[Erunanion]

Thanks for this Rob - as you say, it isn't really new information to those who've been to BLL seminars in the past but it's good to know what was in the stream for the sake of my paranoia ("What if they gave away the True Secret of Writing in that Twitch stream and I'm too cheap to pay for it?!")

[Rob P]

If (big ''if'') I take a crack at it, I think i'll go AOS setting.

Like Squiggle, i'm happy to discuss any projects with a view to polishing the sample/summary.

I might even have an idea brewing! I just need to read a bit more into the AOS lore.

[David Earle]

Threw my hat in the Inferno! ring with a 40K pitch. We'll see how it goes.

[Duke_Leto]

So I am almost ready to submit but I am still struggling with this "single paragraph" requirement. Just not sure where to strike the balance between an "elevator pitch" and short synopsis. I mean, do you really give away the ending of the story and overall structure in a single paragraph?

Above it says...

Good pitch = short - para - what it is about - chars - what they want - what is stopping them - how/why they get what they want or dont - tell ending'

Good pitch = be clear - be direct - be precise - what it's about (reduce to core elements)

Anyone got any guidance. Is there an ideal word count for the single paragraph/pitch?

[HungryP]

It can be hard to break it down so much. I usually take a few passes at a summary, trimming it down as much as I feasibly can. Try to get it down to a couple sentences for each of the following: identify the protagonist, conflict and setting; identify major plot turns,conflicts, and characters that need to be mentioned for the summary to make sense; show how the major conflict is resolved.

I just submitted myself. To strip my synopsis of details, it goes a little like this:

Protagonist goes to place with friends for reasons. Bad things happen. They prevail for reasons, but big bad plot turn. Protagonist saves the day by doing thing.

“Be concise” is key. A wordier version of those four sentences summarize a 5-6,000 word story. They don’t need to know every turn along the path, just that it goes through the woods, where there are monsters.

[Rob P]

If you compare what they say here to some of Gav Thorpe's sample short story synopses (which are very detailed), you can see that they are asking for something different, and I suspect, checking whether your subject matter and basic plot are appropriate.

e.g. https://gavthorpe.co.uk/sample-synopsis-the-ninth-book/

[Xisor]

Yes, that style of trimming down is v sensible. For a full project synopsis, that short-sharp abbreviation holds.

But the editors themselves have said they don't *especially* care about the specific content.

Rather:
- the 'idea' is compelling (werewolf with a shocking secret tries to steal the crown jewels, and thereby save her marriage; it works out, but not in the way she thinks!)
- it can be executed (the sample shows the writer is competent)

[Dennis the Hamster]

So I am almost ready to submit but I am still struggling with this "single paragraph" requirement. Just not sure where to strike the balance between an "elevator pitch" and short synopsis. I mean, do you really give away the ending of the story and overall structure in a single paragraph?

Above it says...

Good pitch = short - para - what it is about - chars - what they want - what is stopping them - how/why they get what they want or dont - tell ending'

Good pitch = be clear - be direct - be precise - what it's about (reduce to core elements)

Anyone got any guidance. Is there an ideal word count for the single paragraph/pitch?

I'm just about to publish a post on writing pitches / synopses...

Gav