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Boarders Writing A Novel: Volume 14 A Memory of Civility


SpaceChampion

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Fingers crossed.  In less positive news, Tor is closing to short story submissions TODAY (6th January).  Any short story writers, this is your last chance, possibly ever, before that particular publication route shuts.
(And for any short story writers who have something ready to go in the realm of near future space flight, the Jim Baen Memorial Award is now accepting entries.)

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Angry Robot is also having an open submission period until the end of the month (Gollancz closes on the 22nd I believe) and neither is asking for an exclusive submission so you don't have to pick one. 

Damn, if only I had mine finished. Hopefully the have other openings sometime later down the road.

If you're not dead-set on a big publisher Inspired Quill will be taking submissions again in March/April (dates yet to be confirmed). 

My stories have lots of magic so I don't really have much to add there. Low magic is not my thing, I like dragons far too much but I do try and avoid the medieval setting. My current project actually knows what things like cinemas and electricity are blames the appearance of magic (and demons) on 'spooky action at a distance.' Turns out trapping light (the particle/wave, not a personification of light) was a really bad idea. 

If anyone knows another word for compound that starts with a 'K' I'd be grateful. Thus far Google has failed me and I'm stuck with A. QUARC (The Association for the Quantification and Analysis of Rarefied Compounds) as the people who inadvertently caused the apocalypse. All things considered it's not a bad acronym but the pedant in me wants to spell quark correctly if at all possible.   

EDIT: Unsung Stories is taking submissions as well (not sure how I forgot them), including novellas. Their word-count guidelines are a little different to Gollancz/Angry Robot  (30k+ for a novel, 5-30k for novella) so they might be worth checking out if you have anything shorter floating around. 

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EDIT: Unsung Stories is taking submissions as well (not sure how I forgot them), including novellas. Their word-count guidelines are a little different to Gollancz/Angry Robot  (30k+ for a novel, 5-30k for novella) so they might be worth checking out if you have anything shorter floating around. 

Thanks. I hadn't heard of them and will check them out. I want my maximum length to hover around 60K maximum if possible. They look/seem really cool ...

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In my previous draft, the point in the story I'm at now was 40,000 words in. In my current draft, I've gotten there in 20,000. Reads so much better, I'm quite happy with my changes. The thing is, it doesn't even feel like I took away much of the story. in all honestly it reads like I have added more to it.

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Working on choosing the right rough draft, I have three and they are all wildy different in tone. This the first time in 5 years I have got my writing Judged by anyone, so it's sort of a big deal on my end.

Just take a step back for a few days and mull it over. Works for me in almost all cases. Good luck with whatever you choose!

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Hey, folks, I now have the cover for WRAITH KNIGHT, Book 1 of the Three Worlds series, my fantasy novel which follows the adventures of the freed spirit of Jacob Riverson, who was the spectral servant of the King Below for centuries. Now released, he must deal with a world which has overthrown its Dark Lord and should have been happily ever after. But the heroes may be worse than the tyrant they overthrew. Thanks to everyone at Ragnarok Publications for publishing this and the fans who have made this possible.

12401014_10204585104707172_4558207614859

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Hey, folks, I now have the cover for WRAITH KNIGHT, Book 1 of the Three Worlds series, my fantasy novel which follows the adventures of the freed spirit of Jacob Riverson, who was the spectral servant of the King Below for centuries. Now released, he must deal with a world which has overthrown its Dark Lord and should have been happily ever after. But the heroes may be worse than the tyrant they overthrew. Thanks to everyone at Ragnarok Publications for publishing this and the fans who have made this possible.

12401014_10204585104707172_4558207614859

I'm going to check this out. Be nice to support a fellow forumer, and the description has me intrigued. Plus, that cover art looks great. Congrats!

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thanks!

Edit:

A piece of advice I'd like to give to any independent authors is to try to branch out in multiple directions. Audiobooks, ebooks, and physical copies whenever possible. Audiobooks and Ebooks almost never overlap so any sales are just broadening your market. Production of audiobooks with professionals is surprisingly underdone by a lot of otherwise competent publishers.
 

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thanks!

Edit:

A piece of advice I'd like to give to any independent authors is to try to branch out in multiple directions. Audiobooks, ebooks, and physical copies whenever possible. Audiobooks and Ebooks almost never overlap so any sales are just broadening your market. Production of audiobooks with professionals is surprisingly underdone by a lot of otherwise competent publishers.
 

I'm assuming its grimdark, right? ;)

I'm on a writing roll right now, finally getting onto paper some of the scenes I've had in my head since 2013, but never had the skill to write properly. They're the kind of scenes you've gone over so many times in your head, imagined them like they're movies, decided what soundtrack would be playing, etc. Some of my favourite scenes I've come up with.

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On 1/12/2016 at 8:03 PM, Wrychard Wrycthen said:

Evil Girlfriend Media has a call coming up. Don't know much about them but the terms sound very reasonable.

http://www.evilgirlfriendmedia.com/submissions/

Looks like a good opportunity for people wanting to get some published credits under their belt. The rates are below professional level though, as defined by the sfwa, which shouldn't bother most people here. I just use their standard as a leveling gauge. Currently it's $ .06 a word for short stories.

EGM is offering a flat $100 for 4,000 - 7,000 words (plus additional if reprinted in an anthology, which is encouraging). 

This isn't to discourage anyone from submitting (or to start a debate) because some writing credits is better than none. Just putting it out there.

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Question. Are mercenary groups still viable within fantasy? And then are mercenary groups with one of them being conflicted about his part in the group still viable?

What about, a former war hero, come, Private Investigator, come former Investigator tasked with bringing the City Watch into a cohesive police like force complete with added corruption. Much like Ashes to Ashes without the am I mad or in a coma.

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2 hours ago, Andrew Gilfellon said:

Question. Are mercenary groups still viable within fantasy? And then are mercenary groups with one of them being conflicted about his part in the group still viable?

What about, a former war hero, come, Private Investigator, come former Investigator tasked with bringing the City Watch into a cohesive police like force complete with added corruption. Much like Ashes to Ashes without the am I mad or in a coma.

As long as you do it uniquely, then anything is viable. Sounds like an interesting enough premise to me, as well. I say go for it, just be careful not to fall into tropes.

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2 hours ago, Andrew Gilfellon said:

Question. Are mercenary groups still viable within fantasy? And then are mercenary groups with one of them being conflicted about his part in the group still viable?

That's hard to answer, since it comes down to the individual reader's taste. Abercrombie has used them extensively and nobody seems to mind. I think it depends on how well you write the characters, really.

My current story involves a small mercenary group too, and only about two out of the eight are happy to be part of it. So you're not the only one attempting it,

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