Angry Robot Round II: Epic Fantasy

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Filigree

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I'm still trying to decide if my science fantasy is epic enough: it's got similar science fictional touches as Scott Lynch's work, but the setting is more late Renaissance on a secondary world. What the heck, I have until April. I might as well try to do the revisions I need, and see what happens.
 

Debeucci

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Good luck to everyone involved. It is a rewarding and frustrating experience at the same time. I think I met the best writing support group while waiting last year with the others in the editorials.

Regardless of the outcome, it is a worthwhile experience.
 

BradCarsten

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Lee Collins here. I landed a contract with them through the Open Door month for my novel The Dead of Winter.

Congratulations! Thanks for weighing in here, its always good to hear from someone who went all the way.
It makes it just that much less intimidating. A drop less, but i'll take what I can get :)
 

lauralam

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I'm just weighing the nine-month wait. But by April, I should know if any of my other writing projects have takers, so that will free me up to approach AR.

It might not necessarily be that long. Last time it was for four weeks, not two, submissions were for all SFF genres, and there was an intermediary reader before it went to editorial. This time, it's straight to editorial and they'll be sifting through them. However, they're incredibly busy so it could very well be longer than 9 months. You never quite know.

But if you get an agent before then, I think you can move up the queue.
 

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I've quit looking for agents, alas. The science fantasy that I'm planning to sub to Angry Robot couldn't garner any real agent interest, even though it got some fairly high contest honors in 2011. And the genre that I'm working in now doesn't require agents.
 

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If I hadn't trunked my epic fantasy and switched genres, I might consider them.

Same with me. My epic fantasy has been trunked for the time being. I meant to do revisions on it, but then the other project took up all my time.

So we'll see. Maybe I can get something done.

EDIT: I'm going back through to work on it. It's just so... so... cheesy.
 
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leebattersby

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Hi guys,

Lee Battersby here. Like Lee Collins, I survived the hallways of death and the hunter seeker drones and made it all the way to AR publication. A couple of things to pass on from my own experience: if the guidelines say 'Epic/classic fantasy" then that's *absolutely* what they mean-- the first Open Door month garnered 980+ submissions, and it's all too easy to reject something not quite right if there's another 979 still to read. However, that's still a pretty broad definition-- I can't speak for AR directly, but imho Moorcock's Elric books are still High Fantasy despite being set in a post-apocalyptic future (or past, take your pick, but I distinctly remmeber one story with tanks in it.... Ditto NK Jemisin's "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" and Gene Wolfe's 'Book of the New Sun' series, despite them all having SF-nal elements. what's more, it might just be that special spark of 'other' that sets your work apart from the other 970.
 

leebattersby

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Also, the thing that will set your work apart from everyone else's *is* that spark of something indefinable-- if you're unsure whether or not your work is High Fantasy, but you think it *might* be, then submit it-- would you rather the editors rejected you for not fitting, or hear them bemoan the fact that they never received a novel that sounds disturbingly familiar to yours?

The AR Overlords probably won't thank me for saying this, but make *them* make the decision on your work-- you might be the author they didn't know they were looking for (that is, after all, why they started the Open Door Month to begin with), and the oddball not-quite-right-in-the-middle-of-the-genre work you've created might just be the work they didn't know they needed.
 

joeyc

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Thanks, Lee.

You've given me some motivation to get it polished up. Or try to. Worst thing that happens is it goes back in the trunk and I get another rejection for it.

Best case scenario is something awesome.
 

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The idea I had for this has escalated into a three book series at least. I don't do series, let alone to the scale of this one. There's no way I can get it ready for April even though I'm 60K into the first draft. It's just going to go on and on and on. So I'm out of this before I started.

On the plus side, it's got me thinking in an entirely different direction to what I normally write in and I'm happy with that.
 

BradCarsten

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So, how is the writing coming along, for all those who are looking to submit? Are you still on track?

It appears I'll have to wait for Epic Fantasy round two :cry:there is still waaaay too much to do.
 

Arcs

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I "finished" my WIP. I just need to do one last edit before I know it's ready for submission. It's at 95k words right now, so I have room to add those scenes that it might need. :)
 

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I've been plugging away and overall I think I'm making great progress, but it's definitely NOT going to be up to submission standards by the time April rolls around. A darn shame, because Angry Robot seems like such an awesome company, but I'll just have to wait until next time around.
 

Little Ming

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Is anyone planning to submit to Strange Chemistry?

ETA: Never mind, I started a thread in YA.
 
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JeffRen

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I just found this today! I have an epic fantasy and a YA fantasy. Submitting to both!
 

JeffRen

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I want to submit to Strange Chemistry as well, but they're looking for a word count of 60,000 - 90,000. I'm a bit short actually.
 

JeffRen

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They say it's just an approximate guideline, but does anyone know if they're actually strict about it?
 

Debeucci

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Way I see it...when in doubt...submit. The date's fast approaching, and while I would rarely say submit work that isn't ready, one of the authors who did submit and got rather far in the process did it with basically her first draft. So...you never know.
 

AndreaGS

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So...can you/should you submit to the open door while subbing to agents?

I just finished polishing my epic fantasy, and I have a request for a full and an agent who's interested in seeing the 1st three chapters. I'm about to start sending out waves of queries.

What's the ettiquette on this? Angry Robot seems like such a great publishing house and I'd hate to miss the opportunity.
 

Tex_Maam

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Also, the thing that will set your work apart from everyone else's *is* that spark of something indefinable-- if you're unsure whether or not your work is High Fantasy, but you think it *might* be, then submit it-- would you rather the editors rejected you for not fitting, or hear them bemoan the fact that they never received a novel that sounds disturbingly familiar to yours?

The AR Overlords probably won't thank me for saying this, but make *them* make the decision on your work-- you might be the author they didn't know they were looking for (that is, after all, why they started the Open Door Month to begin with), and the oddball not-quite-right-in-the-middle-of-the-genre work you've created might just be the work they didn't know they needed.

That is some solidly reassuring advice! Prior to reading their specs, I would have said mine was straight-up epic fantasy (you know, with the quest, the farm-boy who turns out to Be Somebody, the heroic trek across the wastelands, and all the rest of it.) But it's all wrapped up in Wild West rather than Medieval Europe, and some of the particulars aren't quite "classic" (the Macguffin is a corpse, not a ring or a sword, and there's sorcerous natives and fishmen rather than magical elves and dwarves, and it's decidedly less about saving the world from encroaching darkness and more about atoning for the death of said Macguffin).

Don't know that it's polish-perfect enough to submit it yet, but I will keep your sage wisdom in my back pocket for this and future solicitations - clearly it's a school of thought that has already got you moving up in the world!
 

jjdebenedictis

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So...can you/should you submit to the open door while subbing to agents?

I just finished polishing my epic fantasy, and I have a request for a full and an agent who's interested in seeing the 1st three chapters. I'm about to start sending out waves of queries.

What's the ettiquette on this? Angry Robot seems like such a great publishing house and I'd hate to miss the opportunity.
Submit, but if Angry Robots make an offer (before you get an agent), don't sign it yet. Instead, tell them to give you a week because you'd like to try to secure representation first.

And then start querying agents with "Offer from Angry Robot; would like representation" in your email subject line. You should get LOTS of interest, because you're essentially saying "Easy money!" to the agents (Someone I know recently went through this happy experience; got an agent she adores, too!)

An agent doesn't want to represent a book that has already been shopped, but an offer on the table is proof that someone other than the agent thinks your book is a good investment, and that fact is a persuasive one in an industry as subjective as publishing is.
 
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