Black Library Submissions Call
“Attention, servants of the immortal God-Emperor! Charge your mnemo-quills and dust off your data-slates, because Black Library is recruiting once more…”
If those two sentences are enough to electrify your nerves and make your skin tingle then you’re in the right place, because after a lengthy absence the Black Library submissions window is back!
At my count it’s been three years since the last window, and if you’re wondering why I should be counting at all then it’s worth remembering that I too am a submissions window baby. It was 2011 (remember that?) when The Tilean’s Talisman squeaked in under Black Library’s door and became my first published story, so you can understand that I’m thrilled to see Black Library opening up to submissions again.
This time, however, there are rules?
“First of all, we are only looking for short stories featuring the Deathwatch, set in the current Warhammer 40,000 era.”
Got that? Good. Paying attention to submissions guidelines and successfully not submitting a Death Guard or Deathwing story is hurdle number one. It doesn’t matter how excellent your Death Korps of Krieg tale is, it’s not what they want so it won’t get picked up. And will probably elicit a sad sigh from the reading editor too. You’re all nice people, and so obviously wouldn’t want that.
“Secondly, we only need a single paragraph which summarises your idea for a full short story, followed by a sample of your best writing from that story. The sample should be no more than 500 words (and we will be checking!) but should be of sufficiently high quality to engage/excite our editors who will be reading each and every submission.”
Note that ‘best writing’ bit.
I spent a long time perfecting the opening 500 words of the Tilean’s Talisman before deciding to submit what I felt was the best and most exciting bit from the middle. That’s fine. This is a showcase for your writing prowess and doesn’t need to do anything more than that. Will they be rejecting samples of 501 words? I don’t know, but why chance it for the sake of a few extra words? How you actually go about producing 500 words of irresistible 41st millennium action goes some distance beyond my power to explain. If I knew how I did it then I’d spend a lot less of my time in the periodic bouts of self-doubt I currently enjoy.
And then I think I’d write a ‘how to’ book and make lots of money.
Here’s a few tips that spring to mind, largely garnered from advice and writing courses I’ve been on and that have stuck in my mind for one reason or another
• Avoid overuse of adjectives.
• Steer clear of the most well-worn clichés.
• Given a choice of several words with the same meaning, use the one that produces the tone and feeling you want.
• If in a characters head, stay in the character’s head. Describe the world as they see it, as they hear, smell, and feel it. Don’t wander.
• Getting an honest third party to look at your work and edit it is always helpful. The best of us are capable of overlooking the most outrageous contortions of our own prose
Next up is the summary. That’s not too scary either, although there is a practiced art to condensing a 5000 word story into a 200 word (or less) paragraph. Be complete but be succinct. Shorter is always better. I tried to find the summary I wrote for Tilean’s Talisman, but it seems to have been gnawed on by the rats and I can’t find it. As a consolation prize, here instead is the summary to my second story, The Karag Durak Grudge:
The Book of Grudges of Karak Kadrin tells of the fall of the outpost of Karag Durak and of the maiming of the Dwarf Thane, Grimnar Half-handed, as he valiantly battled the rat-kin warlord, Queek. Such was the Thane’s courage that day that the skaven were driven back, allowing many doughty warriors to escape with their lives.
With the Dwarf’s abandonment of the mountain keep, Queek’s mission that day was a great success and much warpstone and glory were showered upon him. But long has the rage within him burned over his defeat in single combat to the Dwarf, Grimnar, and long has he plotted his revenge. After many years, he receives the news he has been waiting for: Grimnar has left the Slayer Keep to reclaim the lost treasures of Karak Varn. Seizing on this golden opportunity, Queek hurriedly assembles a force and races to the seeping ruin of Karak Varn, eager to face his old foe once more to prove once and for all that the dreaded Queek Headtaker suffers no equal.
Now you’ll immediately notice that that’s two paragraphs, instantly failing me on my own advice of reading submissions guidelines and adhering to it. I get away with this kind of anarchism, but be safe and keep your to the regulation one.
“Finally, you should make your submission by email only, to blacklibrarysubmissions@gwplc.com – please attach your submission as a Microsoft Word document (not Works, not OpenOffice, not RTF or any other weird and wacky file formats) and also copy your single paragraph summary into the covering email. Failure to follow those basic requests will result in your submission being rejected.”
That’s my bolding – I figured it was important, and rather neatly emphasises what I’ve been saying all along. It ultimately boils down to: ‘do as your told.’ Also, do read your covering e-mail before sending, and not while so tired after yet another round of editing that you don’t notice that you’re writing about the skaken story your sending them. I remember that typo because it haunted me for weeks. The moral, I suppose, is that good writing (if I do say so…) will always win out, but don’t give an editor an excuse to disfavour you from the start, or even reject your story outright before they so much as read it.
Oh, and think positive and turn off your spam filter. Yahoo was good enough to shunt my acceptance e-mail into my spam folder, and it was only rare good luck that meant I saw it at all. My spam filter remains off, and it’s fine.
And finally: don’t delay!
When I first discovered the submission window three years ago, my first inclination was to give it a miss and wait until next year. There was only two weeks left to it, and I hadn’t started, and I’m pretty lazy really by nature. I figured I’d wait until the next year. But of course as we know there was no window next year, and who knows when the next one will open after this?
I’ve been ridiculously fortunate to have written what I have for Black Library these past few years, and it goes without saying that I wouldn’t have done any of it had I given into my first instinct and sat on my hands. So don’t think, don’t procrastinate; plan your story right now and then write it. Submissions close on 26th January and I hope that a lot of you are going to submit. Partly because I want you all to get the chance to do so, and partly for the very selfish reason that I want to write a Deathwatch story and for that to happen Black Library need enough high quality stories from you guys to justify an anthology.
That’s right; you’re doing this for me.
So go prepare your submissions, and read the rest of the guidance on Black Library’s website:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/Getting-S... And good luck!
Death to the Xenos.
(I first wrote this article for Fifty Shades of Geek - to hear my chitterings early, go to http://www.fiftyshadesofgeek.org/feat...)
If those two sentences are enough to electrify your nerves and make your skin tingle then you’re in the right place, because after a lengthy absence the Black Library submissions window is back!
At my count it’s been three years since the last window, and if you’re wondering why I should be counting at all then it’s worth remembering that I too am a submissions window baby. It was 2011 (remember that?) when The Tilean’s Talisman squeaked in under Black Library’s door and became my first published story, so you can understand that I’m thrilled to see Black Library opening up to submissions again.
This time, however, there are rules?
“First of all, we are only looking for short stories featuring the Deathwatch, set in the current Warhammer 40,000 era.”
Got that? Good. Paying attention to submissions guidelines and successfully not submitting a Death Guard or Deathwing story is hurdle number one. It doesn’t matter how excellent your Death Korps of Krieg tale is, it’s not what they want so it won’t get picked up. And will probably elicit a sad sigh from the reading editor too. You’re all nice people, and so obviously wouldn’t want that.
“Secondly, we only need a single paragraph which summarises your idea for a full short story, followed by a sample of your best writing from that story. The sample should be no more than 500 words (and we will be checking!) but should be of sufficiently high quality to engage/excite our editors who will be reading each and every submission.”
Note that ‘best writing’ bit.
I spent a long time perfecting the opening 500 words of the Tilean’s Talisman before deciding to submit what I felt was the best and most exciting bit from the middle. That’s fine. This is a showcase for your writing prowess and doesn’t need to do anything more than that. Will they be rejecting samples of 501 words? I don’t know, but why chance it for the sake of a few extra words? How you actually go about producing 500 words of irresistible 41st millennium action goes some distance beyond my power to explain. If I knew how I did it then I’d spend a lot less of my time in the periodic bouts of self-doubt I currently enjoy.
And then I think I’d write a ‘how to’ book and make lots of money.
Here’s a few tips that spring to mind, largely garnered from advice and writing courses I’ve been on and that have stuck in my mind for one reason or another
• Avoid overuse of adjectives.
• Steer clear of the most well-worn clichés.
• Given a choice of several words with the same meaning, use the one that produces the tone and feeling you want.
• If in a characters head, stay in the character’s head. Describe the world as they see it, as they hear, smell, and feel it. Don’t wander.
• Getting an honest third party to look at your work and edit it is always helpful. The best of us are capable of overlooking the most outrageous contortions of our own prose
Next up is the summary. That’s not too scary either, although there is a practiced art to condensing a 5000 word story into a 200 word (or less) paragraph. Be complete but be succinct. Shorter is always better. I tried to find the summary I wrote for Tilean’s Talisman, but it seems to have been gnawed on by the rats and I can’t find it. As a consolation prize, here instead is the summary to my second story, The Karag Durak Grudge:
The Book of Grudges of Karak Kadrin tells of the fall of the outpost of Karag Durak and of the maiming of the Dwarf Thane, Grimnar Half-handed, as he valiantly battled the rat-kin warlord, Queek. Such was the Thane’s courage that day that the skaven were driven back, allowing many doughty warriors to escape with their lives.
With the Dwarf’s abandonment of the mountain keep, Queek’s mission that day was a great success and much warpstone and glory were showered upon him. But long has the rage within him burned over his defeat in single combat to the Dwarf, Grimnar, and long has he plotted his revenge. After many years, he receives the news he has been waiting for: Grimnar has left the Slayer Keep to reclaim the lost treasures of Karak Varn. Seizing on this golden opportunity, Queek hurriedly assembles a force and races to the seeping ruin of Karak Varn, eager to face his old foe once more to prove once and for all that the dreaded Queek Headtaker suffers no equal.
Now you’ll immediately notice that that’s two paragraphs, instantly failing me on my own advice of reading submissions guidelines and adhering to it. I get away with this kind of anarchism, but be safe and keep your to the regulation one.
“Finally, you should make your submission by email only, to blacklibrarysubmissions@gwplc.com – please attach your submission as a Microsoft Word document (not Works, not OpenOffice, not RTF or any other weird and wacky file formats) and also copy your single paragraph summary into the covering email. Failure to follow those basic requests will result in your submission being rejected.”
That’s my bolding – I figured it was important, and rather neatly emphasises what I’ve been saying all along. It ultimately boils down to: ‘do as your told.’ Also, do read your covering e-mail before sending, and not while so tired after yet another round of editing that you don’t notice that you’re writing about the skaken story your sending them. I remember that typo because it haunted me for weeks. The moral, I suppose, is that good writing (if I do say so…) will always win out, but don’t give an editor an excuse to disfavour you from the start, or even reject your story outright before they so much as read it.
Oh, and think positive and turn off your spam filter. Yahoo was good enough to shunt my acceptance e-mail into my spam folder, and it was only rare good luck that meant I saw it at all. My spam filter remains off, and it’s fine.
And finally: don’t delay!
When I first discovered the submission window three years ago, my first inclination was to give it a miss and wait until next year. There was only two weeks left to it, and I hadn’t started, and I’m pretty lazy really by nature. I figured I’d wait until the next year. But of course as we know there was no window next year, and who knows when the next one will open after this?
I’ve been ridiculously fortunate to have written what I have for Black Library these past few years, and it goes without saying that I wouldn’t have done any of it had I given into my first instinct and sat on my hands. So don’t think, don’t procrastinate; plan your story right now and then write it. Submissions close on 26th January and I hope that a lot of you are going to submit. Partly because I want you all to get the chance to do so, and partly for the very selfish reason that I want to write a Deathwatch story and for that to happen Black Library need enough high quality stories from you guys to justify an anthology.
That’s right; you’re doing this for me.
So go prepare your submissions, and read the rest of the guidance on Black Library’s website:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/Getting-S... And good luck!
Death to the Xenos.
(I first wrote this article for Fifty Shades of Geek - to hear my chitterings early, go to http://www.fiftyshadesofgeek.org/feat...)
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