Black Library May Open Submissions

Eldar & Slayers & Orcs, oh my!

Open to Submissions in May: The Black Library

Following the success of their open submissions period last year, The Black Library have decided to repeat the process and are opening their doors this May to published and unpublished writers alike.

For those of you who don’t know, The Black Library is the publishing arm of Games Workshop, and is responsible for the tie-in fiction set in the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 realities. Their novels have topped the UK Science fiction & fantasy charts, their authors have won prestigious awards, such as the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and most recently Dan Abnett’s latest offering, Prospero Burns, broke into the New York Times bestseller top twenty.

The Black Library’s editors are looking for both short story and novel proposals for fiction based within either Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000. Full submission guidelines are available on their website here.

The Black Library authors are a lovely bunch of people who are happy to see newbies and established writers alike succeed in joining their hallowed ranks. Suitably bribed with promises of coffee and homemade cupcakes, Graham McNeill, Dan Abnett, Sarah Cawkwell, Nik Vincent, Nick Kyme and James Swallow offered up their top tips for anyone planning to submit to Black Library this May.


GRAHAM McNEILL

My rule is to see whether you can say: “but why don’t they just…” when reading back through your work. If you can do that, then there is a problem and you need to rewrite it. How annoying is it to read a book where you think, “but why don’t they just do *insert obvious course of action here*, and then everything would be okay?” That is part of what makes a book weak and it is something you need to avoid.


NICK KYME

Don't be precious about your work; get other people to read your writing and don't be upset if they don't like it. Don't be offended if they criticise or give you feedback, take it on board instead. Being a writer isn't glamorous, it's bloody hard work and anyone who has any illusions about it otherwise will be sorely disappointed. It's tough, but if it's what you want to do you'll do it anyway.


NIK VINCENT

People often ask about ideas, and how we generate them. We think there are probably two strands to answering this general query. The first is that a premise is not an idea. You might have a brainwave, but test that it works by applying the principle of 'what if', so that you have a fully formed idea before you embark on that story. The second is that you should trust your ideas. Don't dismiss an idea as silly before you've given it a chance to grow. Good writers don't have more ideas than everyone else, they simply trust the ideas they have.


JAMES SWALLOW

All too often, I talk to aspiring writers about how they have great ideas for stories that they start writing, but then abandon for others. If you do this, you're not a writer; you're a dabbler. Finish what you start, and learn from it. Even if the work isn't good, when you've done it, you've completed it and it will inform the next thing you write.


SARAH CAWKWELL

Never over complicate your ideas in a submission. Be definite about what happens, not vague and ambiguous. Never be afraid of being over confident. 'I can' beats 'I might' every time.


DAN ABNETT

If you’re submitting to a company, or entering a competition, or taking advantage of a submissions window....follow the rules. If they publish guidelines, follow them precisely. Don’t think you know better, or assume the rules don’t apply to you. If a publisher encounters a writer who can’t follow basic instruction, they’re not going to want to work with them. I know it sounds mind-numbingly obvious, but it’s amazing how often this mistake is made. I recently read a very good Warhammer story by someone who was wondering why they hadn’t placed in a competition. They were asking if I could tell what was wrong. The main problem seemed to me that they had entered a Warhammer story in a Warhammer 40,000 competition...