Angry Robot Open Submissions - Interview with Marc Gascoigne

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An Interview with Marc Gascoigne

Of all the genre publishers out there, Angry Robot has got to be one of my favourites. Everything I've read from their label has been of awesome quality, and sufficiently different from other things I've read to keep me heading back for more. As I've mentioned before I am a big fan of speculative fiction, and I would heartily recommend their books to anyone who shares a love of SF, F, and WTF?!

A couple of weeks back, editors Lee Harris (interviewed here) and Marc Gascoigne announced via Angry Robot's website that they were going to open up to unsolicited manuscripts for one month – March 2011. Judging by the excited waves rolling through twitter as a result, they are going to get a lot of submissions from aspiring spec fic novelists two months from now.

Angry Robot's chief editor, the lovely Marc Gascoigne, was kind enough to answer a few questions about the open submissions window, despite suffering greatly with swine flu and being banned from doing anything strenuous. That, my friends, is called "dedication to the cause".

Hi Marc, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us, hope you are feeling better. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and sum up your literary career to date?

My name is Marc Gascoigne. I'm 48 going on 16. I've worked professionally in the fantasy field since April 1984. I've worked as a book editor and publisher, a roleplaying and boardgame developer, was consultant editor for Puffin on the Fighting Fantasy range for ages, and my Wikipedia page (where you'll get lots more detail) appears to list 54 books with my name or pseudonym on them - though many of those are as editor or compiler rather than sole author.

I know that asking an editor to name their favourite writer or book is like asking a parent to select their favourite child, but behind closed doors and away from where the kids can hear you, which are your fave writers / novels published in the last five years?

I read widely, fiction and non-fiction. In the former, I especially like well-written near-genre work. My favourite author is probably Jonathan Carroll, but I will always also rave about William Gibson, Graham Joyce, Michael Chabon, David Mitchell, Lucius Shepard, Kelly Link, Mark Helprin and so many more. I also read loads of non-fiction, on as wide a range of esoteric subjects as I can.

Do you have a weakness for a particular genre / archetype / setting?

That magic-realist, near-fantasy trope practised by Carroll, Joyce and Link, where a touch of the fantastical colours someone's everyday life. I can dream...

Tell us about Angry Robot; how long have you been running and what is it that you publish?

I set it up in September 2008, and recruited fellow editor Lee Harris in January 2009. We had our first books on sale in the UK in July 2009, and following a brief hiatus in 2010 as we moved owners, we launched in the US and Canada in September 2010. We publish imaginative novels with a modern feel, in a range we repeatedly call SF, F and WTF?! Our books tend to blend between genres (though not all of them do) and are written by men and women from various parts of the globe. All our books are out as eBooks as well as paperbacks, and we're about to announce an audiobook range too.

In March this year you are opening to unsolicited manuscripts for the first time... why have you decided to open for submissions, and why only a month?

Normally we only accept approaches from literary agents, or from authors who are already known to us. That still makes our unsolicited submissions pile pretty high, and like all publishers there's rarely enough time in the working week to keep on top of it. But at the same time, we continue to get approaches from authors who've put a hell of a lot of work into their debut novel. We discussed ways in which we could reasonably get this stuff reviewed without compromising our own ability to get scheduled books out. Lee's approach - to recruit a panel of trusted readers as a first stage - seems to offer a good compromise. If it works in March, we'll consider doing it again towards the end of the year.

You've mentioned that Angry Robot actively seeks work that isSF, F & WTF?! ... I take it this means that cross genre novels are acceptable for the open submission window?

Very much so. We've been disappointed to hear some of the stories from great writers who've brought us books that have been rejected by a corporate publisher because they didn't know which shelf a chain bookstore like Waterstones would put it on. Our belief is that the field has already changed and cross-genre already happens - indeed, it always has - and it's just a game one plays with the chain book-buyers. The readers just know books are enjoyable or not; they don't walk away just because a horror novel has an SF premise, or a fantasy has a crime plot.

So what DON'T you want to see?

The frank answer: Lacklustre books written by people who have only ever had one idea in their life and as a result think it must be a good one.

The detailed answer: Straight zombies or vampire novels, urban fantasies featuring Celtic gods or the wild hunt somehow rampaging through a US inner city; silly SF space opera; near-future thrillers about genetic boys who are the next generation of human; books about UFOs; horror novels about a "thing" living under a town or in a forest. And books that are just a bit too similar to our own existing range. "Comedy" SF fantasies where in the opening chapter someone is turned into a toaster. And above all - novels in which the main character is fuzzily portrayed, wishy-washy or just meh.

So what will a submission consist of?

A one-line synopsis, a one-two page synopsis (plot, characters, intentions), and the first five chapters / 6-10k words. The novel must be finished. We will only review one novel, but brief notes regarding sequels are OK. The most important parts for me are that one-line synopsis and the first few pages of that first chapter.

Many of us aspiring writers tie ourselves in knots over writing synopses – as do some established novelists. Seriously, how important are they? Do you read them before or after you read the first five chapters?

It depends upon the editor or reader, of course. But for me, I'll always, always read the synopsis first. Just like that movie poster, I want to know a little of what I'm going in to see. So give me a snappy line, a good set-up and I'm yours before I've read one word. In fact, my most common complaint is that a novel doesn't deliver on a great one-line synopsis. But that's where your helpful editor can come in.

I know that for some writers, both multi-published as well as beginners, the synopsis doesn't come naturally. They write in a more organic way, or do that bizarre "make it up as it goes along, see what happens" approach. But for me, I want a rattling good yarn, which implies an efficient, sixteen-cylinder engine powering all the charging about and plot-advancing.

Are submissions limited to one per writer?

Yes, definitely. If there's a sequel planned or finished, mention it; but do not send more than one novel.

Assuming that someone has read this far and is thinking they have the perfect novel to submit to you, can you sum up a key piece of advice for them in one sentence?

There are plenty of guides and thinking points on our website's Submissions page.

If I had to add one thing to all of those, it would be this - Really, really work on that one-sentence elevator pitch/movie tagline for your novel with your pitch. If you can't get the very basics of your book down into one sentence, or the line you come up with is desperately dull, perhaps you should take that as a hint J

Many thanks to Marc, who has agreed to come back and be interviewed again, only this time in more detail about his career as an editor. Yes, he was still ill when I asked and, yes, I am low enough to take advantage of an editor's weakness if it means they will spill the beans for us here at the Literary Project. Angry Robot's homepage is here, and you can stalk Marc over on twitter, too.

Anyway, why are you all still here? We have manuscripts to polish, elevator pitches to work out and the evil dreaded thing of torture synopsis of doom to complete by March. Good luck!