$20K (or a possible 120K) for your soul?

[DragonDroid]

Man, a lot of replies in a couple of hours. Doesn't that just beat all?

As for my world, I seriously think I can write 7-8 good novels about my world (some of them independent of one another). If even half or so sell for about $5,000 (usually the industry standard, assuming no royalties), I would have $20,000 AND my world AND some credentials for my next books. This, in my opinion, is better than all of WoTC's offers save one. The last thing ANY writer wants to relinquish, I guarantee, is your expanded, thought-out idea.

Here are the scenarios:

Scenario 1: I lose the first round. No big deal. I go back to writing about that world.
Scenario 2: I win and become one of ten finalists. Then what? Go to Scenarios 3, 4, or 5.
Scenario 3: I lose the second round. See Scenario 1 (though WoTC can try to use the expanded idea and twist it in a way in which I can't sue 'em...)
Scenario 4: I win, write the bible, get a mere 20k for my idea, and lose the idea as well. THIS scenario is the one I want to avoid.
Scenario 5: I win the whole thing. Woo-hoo! This is one I really want to aspire, but it ain't easy, and one in which the world could be warped as well.

Voneth: All I need is a good lawyer to write out the contract in my favor, should the idea sell.

Cevalic: My idea is supposed to be novel(s), and such that, if I put my mind to it, should sell and impress.

Heap Thamaturgist: Ed Greenwood is one example. He isn't too respected for his work (many people at the FR boards hate his stuff), his thousands of pages of maps/stories/etc. has failed to garner the respect he should deserve, and he doesn't make very much off his ideas! (IIRC, he works part-time as a librarian.)

Writing ISN'T what I really want to do for a living unless I make about $50,000 off every book I write, plus options and international rights. I'm not delusional! Oh yeah, you aren't selling an idea. You are selling 111 pages of the best damn work you can write.

Weeble: Whee. Well, I wish you luck on your idea.

Scribe Ineti: I am trying to be a professional writer. I'm not gonna be a cheap hack doing it. Well, two things: One, I was only sixteen when I thought of my world, and two, I had plans on creating a video game, not a novel. The idea to create novels didn't come until mid-2000. If I remember, Ed Greenwood (if his "legends" are true) needed about three or so times that to create the Realms.

You can't just think of something for a couple of minutes, have the lightbulb turn on, and write. That idea has to be part of an "idea net" that makes a good milieu or idea for a novel. In most cases, the idea that generated the novel probably won't be in the final draft, or at least, be only a minor setting. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but expanding them to something marketable and interesting is priceless.

Yes, Stephen King had more than one good idea, and that's better than dozens upon dozens of other bestselling authors with one marketable idea. But I don't expect to be Stephen King.

Krug: LOL.

 

[Krug]

Well, DD, we all have to make certain sacrifices. I would say, don't worry about it until it happens. If yours is the winning game world, that's great, but one does wonder what WotC intends to do with the two finalists that don't make it. They should allow other publishers to pick it up, but should and WILL are two very different things.

If you do get to the Top 3, clarify and see what they say.

 

[DragonDroid]

Mouseferatu: My only mission is to get in the publishing industry. And getting second with 20K doesn't do it. Agreed?

Lady Dragon: (sarcasm) Yup, and I can get a million bucks for staying on an island with some ridiculous schmoes and winning some crazed immunity challenges! Eight times what WoTC can offer.(/sarcasm)

Kai Lord: The parentheses are just for sarcasm. With a couple of exceptions, like the ones you mentioned, the rest have one major hit with the rest almost forgettable except for the fanatic. Will I be the next Spielberg or Shakespeare or Cameron? If I say yes, I have worse than illusions of grandeur.

If I DO get multiple great ideas that become mega-hits, I'll send ALL of you not only signed hardcover editions of all my novels, I'll even send you all of the D&D 3e supplements, as well as all the current FR sourcebooks. Yes, I'll do that for you as well, Kai Lord, in spite of your detestment.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

What are you worried about? If they select you for the next round, there is nothing in what you signed that says you HAVE to continue in the contest. NOTHING! You could even get as far as being selected for the 100 page "bible" and still say, "No, I changed my mind."

So, quit worrying and go back to writing.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Mouseferatu: My only mission is to get in the publishing industry. And getting second with 20K doesn't do it. Agreed?

But that's just it. I don't agree, and I think most people who know the publishing industry wouldn't agree.

$20K is more than you'll get for almost any other single product, short of a movie script. The average novel pays $5K. And let's be honest, the odds of selling a novel, no matter how good you are, are pretty astronomical on their own. Wizards is not going to pay $20K for something they don't intend to use; if you're number two or three in the contest, I can almost guarantee you'll still see your concept utilized at some point in the future, and it'll be credited.

Plus, being able to put on your resume that you were one of the top three entrants in the WotC open call--that you worte 100 pages that they thought were worth $20K--is a massive boost. Nobody gets $20K for a 100 pages, unless they're writing Hollywood scripts or they've had multiple books on the best-seller list.

Furthermore, I absolutely do not believe that anybody ever has only one worthwhile idea. If you can create one marketable setting--for D&D, novels, or what-not--you can create more than one. Sure, there are a few people who create one good idea by fluke and can never duplicate it, but these peope also won't tend to make it as writers. Why? Because writing, even when you're writing someone else's stories in someone else's world, is all about creating ideas and putting them into words. If you can't create ideas, you can't write. If you can create ideas, you can come up with more than one workable setting.

 

[Green Knight]

Hmm. Apparently unless you're living on the streets starving, you're a sell-out to some people.

 

[Michelle Lyons]

First of all, if you feel that you would rather not have entered it because you're deeply attached to your work, then cool. Understandable. It's hard to part with your baby. I'm not here to criticise you for any decisions that are so obviously your right to make.


I will, however, comment on something you said in your most recent post.

You can't just think of something for a couple of minutes, have the lightbulb turn on, and write.

Actually, yes you can.

The people who have one really great idea, write it down and it becomes a great best seller, taking on a life beyond what they'd originally envisioned... those are authors. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is a great example of this. So is "Gone With the Wind." If you feel this is where you're headed for, then by all means go for it. May genius come and sit on your computer keyboard. I wish it would come sit on mine.

But.

Professional writers (and you can make a living at it, even in the RPG industry, depending on where you live) are people who write for a living. What they write is their craft and their product, not their next-born child, and picking up a half-baked idea and creating a useful, salable work from it is exactly what they do. You get an idea/assignment, you write the piece, you make it the best damn 5,000/10,000/30,000+ words you can write, and you do it all over again the next day. You practice until you can do this regularly, because waiting for writer's block to pass is a luxury afforded to those who aren't counting on this assignment to pay next month's rent.

Amateurs don't often get this idea because they get really wrapped up with their own creation, just like Pygmalion and Galatea (er... well, hopefully not /just/ like that). But eventually, if you really want to write for a living, you join a writer's group or get an assignment where you have to produce good material and do it quickly, and then you get to listen as people who know what they're doing tell you how to do it better the next time.

Again, this isn't intended to be criticism directed at you. It's just late and I felt the need to comment. If you want to be a professional author, more power to you. If you want to be a professional writer, then by all means keep working at it. And if you figure out how to get genius to come sit on your keyboard while you work, by all means let me know.

 

[Napftor]

Let me start with the following: If you're one of those who cooked up a quick idea within one week for WoTC's campaign setting contest, you'll vehemently disagree with me. I've also hidden my identity to avoid possible bias, for I want to see how far I go in the contest.

I answered pretty much all I want to, but I just have to know what this hidden identity thing is all about. Possible bias from whom--the judges? your fellow ENWorlders? This is starting to seem like a cleverly (or not so) disguised troll.

 

[Mark]

So, quit worrying and go back to writing.

Good advice...

 

[DragonDroid]

But that's just it. I don't agree, and I think most people who know the publishing industry wouldn't agree.

$20K is more than you'll get for almost any other single product, short of a movie script. The average novel pays $5K. And let's be honest, the odds of selling a novel, no matter how good you are, are pretty astronomical on their own. Wizards is not going to pay $20K for something they don't intend to use; if you're number two or three in the contest, I can almost guarantee you'll still see your concept utilized at some point in the future, and it'll be credited.

Plus, being able to put on your resume that you were one of the top three entrants in the WotC open call--that you worte 100 pages that they thought were worth $20K--is a massive boost. Nobody gets $20K for a 100 pages, unless they're writing Hollywood scripts or they've had multiple books on the best-seller list.

That IS the reason why I was so skeptical about the contest. Being a) difficult to get published and b) getting paid better for something easy to get published would make anyone worried, even if it is from a respected company like WoTC. I always feel that they have something within their sleeve, and then what? This sudden announcement worries me. Of course, if I lose, this whole thread ends up moot, unless one of the finalists feels the way I would feel. Maybe I shouldn't have jumped the gun.

Michelle: Most professional authors agree with what I said about ideas. If you can think of a good one, then write something GOOD, then good for you, but 99.9999% (or so) of us, including professional authors, cannot do so. I'd rather take the time writing than be the .0001% that can get instant visions of crazed worlds. You have time to think, unless you are starving to death...