WotC Open Call for Novel Proposals
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
caudor
Adventurer
Ghostwind said:
I clipped had this off the internet and had it stashed in my notes. I don't even have the source, but it was some writer's site, I believe:
"The average novel contains approximately 100.000 words, that's 400 pages or 40 chapters.
A Romance Novel usually has an average page count of 350 bringing the word count to 87.500
A detective story on the other hand usually clocks up about 70.000 words where a Pulp Adventure like "Naked on Roller Skates" never goes above 60.000"
Scribe Ineti
Explorer
Novels generally fall in the 90K word area, some much longer, some shorter. Chapter breaks are at the writer's whim, based on the needs of the story. There aren't any hard and fast rules on writing a novel, other than make it good. 
www.nanowrimo.org is the link to the November Novel writing event in case you need a quick link.
Good luck!
www.nanowrimo.org is the link to the November Novel writing event in case you need a quick link.
Good luck!
BSF
Explorer
Abulia said:Yet haven't been published anywhere else? If they're that good then why would they wait until now? ("My work is too good for Pocket Books or TOR -- I'll wait until those Wizards guys have an Open Call….")
Well, I will pipe up on this. My wife has a complete novel that she has run through editing processes 3 times. Unfortunately, a lot of publishers are simply not accepting unsolicited material from unpublished authors.
Those authors might not be just waiting around. They might be knocking on doors and receiving polite disinterest as a response. An open call is an open call. The publisher is looking for somebody new and is soliciting new material. Yes, they are setting the bar low. It's kind of like posting a job opening with lower requirements. You are willing to look through all the applicants, but if somebody with more then the minimum comes along and looks good, you are happy.
Valiantheart
First Post
So to clarify their "offer":
You must completely write the entire submission with no monetary assistance from your publisher in 5 months and they expect to take full ownership of any potential spin offs or merchandising it produces. Man what an awesome offer.
You must completely write the entire submission with no monetary assistance from your publisher in 5 months and they expect to take full ownership of any potential spin offs or merchandising it produces. Man what an awesome offer.
Insight
Adventurer
If this is anything like the Campaign Setting fiasco, I expect to see someone with multiple published novels win this thing, and probably someone who is also already in the gaming industry.
Nevertheless, I may end up entering this thing, if for no other reason than to motivate me to get something done by March.
Nevertheless, I may end up entering this thing, if for no other reason than to motivate me to get something done by March.
Lots of good advice in this thread.
I'd write as much as you can and as well as you can and leave it at that. Maybe your rough draft will be better than someone else's polished draft. Maybe not. Telling non-writers how much they have to write has never really worked, from what I've seen. If you're a writer, write. Get it done. You know what you have to do. If you're not a writer, no level of logical reasoning is going to turn you into one.
I have two novels that are already sitting in publisher slush piles, and have been doing so for a year apiece. I'm likely going to withdraw one of those, particularly since the publishers have a lousy track with losing my stuff, and submit one to Tor. Either that, or I'll submit the novel I'm currently in final-rewrite stage on -- it's almost ready to go to publishers, and it will certainly be in shape to do so by March.
Not counting non-fiction or gaming articles (or grant letters or technical writing or letters I write to my mom, or my blog, for that matter), I've got about 10 sales -- two of which still haven't gone through to publication but will hopefully do so early next year. So I'm published enough to know what I'm doing, but I'm not a name.
There were other threads on this topic, and what the rights-thing roughly boils down to is this: It's no longer your world. If you want to do sequels, better hope WotC likes you. If you want to sell foreign rights to your book (which makes you a lot of money in the long run), tough luck. If your book gets turned into a movie, a video game, or a Saturday morning cartoon show, you see no money.
A lot of writers on writers boards are discussing this and coming away unhappy and saying that "no professional writer would go for this". I don't agree with them -- pretty much for the "It'll be on the shelves in Borders" reasons you mentioned, Two -- but I think it is a valid reason to be wary. I write my books standalone, or at least "can-stand-alone", so I'm not giving away a world I had a 10-book series planned for. Nevertheless, I don't intend to give them a world that I have specific plans for in any way, if that makes sense.
As for the snarky comment about "Oh, it didn't sell at Tor, but it might sell here" -- try submitting. If you don't immediately get rejected by the unpaid intern reading the slush pile, you're looking at a return time of more than a year. Wizards might have a shorter turnaround time, and while I won't send them something I have a ten-book series planned for (or, in other words, I won't send them my "this is what I want to write for the next decade" series), I will definitely send something good but floundering in the slush at Tor, Baen, and Daw over to Wizards for a look.
Word lengths:
I've heard that Romances are in the 70-80k range, Mysteries are in the 80-90k range, and Fantasy is usally in the 100k range, unless you mean Big Fat Fantasy, which starts at huge and gets bigger from there.
If we're talking SF or Fantasy, 80k is not going to get the door slammed in your face as too short, and 130k might be the highest you want to go before your novel's length really becomes an issue. Those are utter guesses, though.
Good luck to everyone!
I'd write as much as you can and as well as you can and leave it at that. Maybe your rough draft will be better than someone else's polished draft. Maybe not. Telling non-writers how much they have to write has never really worked, from what I've seen. If you're a writer, write. Get it done. You know what you have to do. If you're not a writer, no level of logical reasoning is going to turn you into one.
I have two novels that are already sitting in publisher slush piles, and have been doing so for a year apiece. I'm likely going to withdraw one of those, particularly since the publishers have a lousy track with losing my stuff, and submit one to Tor. Either that, or I'll submit the novel I'm currently in final-rewrite stage on -- it's almost ready to go to publishers, and it will certainly be in shape to do so by March.
Not counting non-fiction or gaming articles (or grant letters or technical writing or letters I write to my mom, or my blog, for that matter), I've got about 10 sales -- two of which still haven't gone through to publication but will hopefully do so early next year. So I'm published enough to know what I'm doing, but I'm not a name.
There were other threads on this topic, and what the rights-thing roughly boils down to is this: It's no longer your world. If you want to do sequels, better hope WotC likes you. If you want to sell foreign rights to your book (which makes you a lot of money in the long run), tough luck. If your book gets turned into a movie, a video game, or a Saturday morning cartoon show, you see no money.
A lot of writers on writers boards are discussing this and coming away unhappy and saying that "no professional writer would go for this". I don't agree with them -- pretty much for the "It'll be on the shelves in Borders" reasons you mentioned, Two -- but I think it is a valid reason to be wary. I write my books standalone, or at least "can-stand-alone", so I'm not giving away a world I had a 10-book series planned for. Nevertheless, I don't intend to give them a world that I have specific plans for in any way, if that makes sense.
As for the snarky comment about "Oh, it didn't sell at Tor, but it might sell here" -- try submitting. If you don't immediately get rejected by the unpaid intern reading the slush pile, you're looking at a return time of more than a year. Wizards might have a shorter turnaround time, and while I won't send them something I have a ten-book series planned for (or, in other words, I won't send them my "this is what I want to write for the next decade" series), I will definitely send something good but floundering in the slush at Tor, Baen, and Daw over to Wizards for a look.
Word lengths:
I've heard that Romances are in the 70-80k range, Mysteries are in the 80-90k range, and Fantasy is usally in the 100k range, unless you mean Big Fat Fantasy, which starts at huge and gets bigger from there.
If we're talking SF or Fantasy, 80k is not going to get the door slammed in your face as too short, and 130k might be the highest you want to go before your novel's length really becomes an issue. Those are utter guesses, though.
Good luck to everyone!
Scribe Ineti
Explorer
This is pretty much standard for anyone writing a novel for submission to anywhere, unless it's work-for-hire. The general process is to write a novel, then start looking for agents or publishers.Valiantheart said:
5 months is an average length of time to complete a 90K word novel.
Actually, the open call info states that WOTC is looking to buy full book rights and an option for entertainment rights. A smart writer will negotiate these terms, naturally.Valiantheart said:
Scribe Ineti
Explorer
The twist being that this open call is for genre fiction, not gaming material in specific. The winner might end up being an already-published writer, but not necessarily published in the gaming industry.Insight said:
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