Hello, I’m Dennis, the eponymous Mechanical Hamster. I do all the hard work around here while Gav swans about pretending to be a writer. I taught him everything he knows, which might not be a lot but it’s a start.
Anyway, Gav occasionally witters away at what ever random topic enters his overly-taxed human brain. I thought it would be a good idea to provide a small resource for budding writers out there. This is looking at the craft of writing, rather than the profession as that’s not my area of expertise.
To get started, here’s a few links to some advice that I’ve referred to over the years.
Ten Commandments Gav occasionally refers to
The original Turkey City Lexicon
An updated Turkey City Lexicon
Open University Writing Advice
Good Advice for Novices
My writing advice posts:
Language in Fantasy and Sci-fi
In addition, if you have a topic that you think Gav should witter on about you can contact me and I’ll pass it on.
Please note: I’m a busy hamster and can’t give individual replies.
Contact me at:
dennishamster[no spam]@btinternet.com
[Remove [no spam] from the actual address 
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[...] Dennis has asked me to post a quick note to point you here. Published [...]
Thank you for interesting read (again!) =)
All articles highly appreciated
[...] a Line Under Time Dennis has passed on this questions from the Ask Dennis page, from Dan. Thanks [...]
[...] Thanks to those that have posted comments, and also the brave folks who have emailed the Ask Dennis hotline. This recent comment by Lost_Heretic leads me nicely on to a subject that’s been [...]
[...] a question or comment regarding the new book, please post it as a comment or get in touch via the Ask Dennis email. Please look through the comments first to see if someone has already asked your [...]
I would like to thank your for ‘Angels of Darkness’, which I got a chance to buy and read recently. I have read this book almost in one go!
On the old BL forums there were long topics on ‘AoD’, I read them from start to end and was on incessant vigil for the second printing of ‘AoD’ ever since.
I would like to say that every my expectation of ‘AoD’ was brilliantly met and even surpassed by it! Thank you very much!
Gav – Thanks for the praise. I’m glad that the re-release of AoD has given you the opportunity to enjoy the book, as it has many other fans who missed out the first time around.
Hi my name is Amy and I am a first time owner of a hamster!
I have some questions to ask here..
1. I think my hamster is a bit lonely and I don’t know if I should buy another girl hamster to keep her company my worries are will they both fight and will one kill the other?
2.What is better a bared cage or a plastic cage like the make roskak do?
Please write back to me if you can..
bye, amy.
Hi Amy. I’m afraid that the only hamster I have at the moment is of the mechanical kind, and I can only dispense writing advice with confidence. I would suggest the following websites might help:
http://www.hamsterhideout.com/beginnersguide.html
http://www.bitsforpets.com/index.php?cPath=47_345
Thank you Dennis!
You have been most helpful.
Hi Gav,
hi Dennis,
I have been into Warhammer 40k for some time now and started to write some short stories (since 2005). Some of them I like very much and I want to send them to the BL. Do you have some advices (beside to ones written above) before doing that? Where should I send my stories to?
Beside: Why are there so few Elder and Tau covering books. Is this strategy or are they to difficult to write about?
Thanks!
Cheers,
Astro
Hi there Astro,
Black Library has moved away from its anthology competitions, to a process of ‘open submissions windows’. Nobody’s quite sure what that means, but keep an eye on the BL website, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of announcements when it’s time.
Even though you already have stories written, you need to summarise each one into a one-page synopsis for the editors, and select a few hundred words as a writing sample. Editors of any publisher will rarely read a complete manuscript for a story or novel, despite what you might have seen in films and on TV. Pick a piece of text that you feel best showcases your writing, preferably with a mixture of description, action and dialogue.
Best of luck.
Hi Gav,
thanks for your advice. I will have an eye on the BL website.
Still I have one question: Why are there so few Tau/Eldar stories? Wouldn’t it be cool to see an encouter between Eldar or Tau and some Space Marines. Perhaps a fight between the grey knights and some eldar farseer. Or a Tau force challenging a secret space marine outpost in the eastern fringe. Or – even better – some Tau force which is attacked by some nasty Dark Eldars.
I believe that in the past novels with Xenos as protagonists were almost verboten. They were alien and supposed to be “alien”…something we as humans really wouldn’t understand.
That’s obviously changed over the years. I imagine some authors would be more trusted with the Xenos mindset than others.
Isn’t this more or less accurate? Or am I talking completely out my arse?
Cheers!
JP
For the most part non-human viewpoints (excepting Space Marines!) have been avoided by BL. There’s always a tension between making a character truly alien in the way they think and act, and making them sympathetic (understood, not necessarily liked) to the reader. In many ways, Warhammer is ahead of 40K in this regard with several major non-human characters like Gotrek, Malus Darkblade, Thanquol, and of course the dwarfs books written by me and nick Kyme, as well as the Battle for Skull Pass novella. I understand that there’s quite a bit of expectation for Path of the Warrior, which is both exciting and frightening.