Comments on: Ask Dennis – writing advice

By: gavthorpe

gavthorpe — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:36:08 +0000

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.

By: Jeff Preston

Jeff Preston — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:44:26 +0000

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

By: Astronomican

Astronomican — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:34:53 +0000

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.

By: gavthorpe

gavthorpe — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:01:15 +0000

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.

By: Astronomican

Astronomican — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:51:01 +0000

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

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:18:38 +0000

Thank you Dennis!
You have been most helpful.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:19:09 +0000

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

By: Gildor Caranedhel

Gildor Caranedhel — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:27:35 +0000

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.

By: Druchii Unleashed! « Mechanical Hamster

Druchii Unleashed! « Mechanical Hamster — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:22:43 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: I Won’t Do What You Tell Me « Mechanical Hamster

I Won’t Do What You Tell Me « Mechanical Hamster — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:08:37 +0000

[...] 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 [...]