Erstellt am 03.11.2014 - 15:29

Do you know what nanowrimo is about? NaNoWriMo is the "National Novel Writing Month" where crazed writers try to type at least 50.000 words in only 30 days - starting November 1st - without much sleep inbetween, in many cases. But I suppose many of you know that already, so I'll say:

Hi all you crazy nanowrimo'ers.

Three questions from my side:
Is there anyone among you, who thinks about writing in an ancient/medieval/fantasy setting?

Would you love to see the NaNo effort of this year published - in an anthology, if unfinished, or as a complete novel if finished?

Would you like to see your novel in print, with a real ISBN number, with a free copy for yourself - without paying either the printer or the publisher?



If you answered all three questions with "YES!", please consider setting your story on a world you might not no anything about - yet. "Myra" is a world shared by over 1000 writers, artists and gamers alike for over 20 years now - and it's ready and waiting for your story. Still sounds good? Read the details below.

If you answered all three questions with a cautious "maybe" or "maybe not" - please feel free to check out myraworld, the LJ community recently started for all english language contributions. It might still be to your liking, even though your NaNovel may be about something else.

I'll answer question No.1 directly:

Q: Why should I even bother trying/submitting my NaNo effort?

A:

Because we *want* more stories set on Myra we can publish your chances are very good to be published.
If what you write is any good, even if it is not complete, it can and probably will be included into an anthology of stories, possibly ending with the words "to be continued".

If what you write is very good and completed, well-rounded and edited so as to fit within Myra (and to not make spellcheckers cringe), you will have your writing efforts published, in print and ebook form, with a copy for yourself to keep, without paying the printer or the publisher, with a real ISBN and a real price-tag we'll agree upon (the price-tag can be 'zero' for the ebook, if you want a larger audience).



Q: Can I just write a short story about anything in the world?

A: basically yes.

There are some rules which apply to all shared world concepts, though:

"Thou shalt not destroy or spoil what others have created"
...is probably the most important of them all. Obvious, I hope. If you write in or about an area of the world, which someone else has adopted, that person becomes something of an editor for what is written about his/her part of the world. Same goes for using the characters of others. A cameo that leaves the idea of the character intact is fine, killing someones character off isn't, not even if it was a minor one - at least not without the inventor's consent.

"Thou shalt not create whole continents if the story could also take place in a much smaller area" is a lesser one. Obvious as well, I hope. Whatever you write will be assigned to a certain spot in the time and space of Myra. The less ground on Myra your story covers, the easier it will be to make it fit in, i.e. the less editing it will take to fit. If for your story to work you just need, for example (like Lizzy Paffrath), a gloomy cottage in a desolate swamp -and some mist around it- all the better.

The general idea is: Write ahead, we'll try to make it fit in together - later!

Q: Is there a guarantee that what I write will be published ?

A: Not really, no.
Excluded is anything which is or might be
unfit for a fantasy-world -or-

unfit for this fantasy world,

violating the copyright and/or trademarks of third parties --or-

stolen/copied from someone elses writing

stupid instead of potentially funny -or-

written by someone who is not willing to make the adjustments necessary to make the story fit on Myra -or-

just abysmally bad.



Stories that fit these criteria will not be published in print and not be included in any ebook publication. You're free to submit them for critical comments as a digital publication on myraworld though, using LJ-cuts for anything above 20 lines of text. Trolls abusing this idea will be banished to Shanatan, the hollow world inside the Myra globe.


And I repeat:
Q: Why should I even bother trying/submitting my NaNo effort?

A:
Because we *want* more stories set on Myra we can publish your chances are very good to be published.
If what you write is any good, even if it is not complete, it can and probably will be included into an anthology of stories, possibly ending with the words "to be continued".

If what you write is very good and completed, well-rounded and edited so as to fit within Myra (and to not make spellcheckers cringe), you will have your writing efforts published, in print and ebook form, with a copy for yourself to keep, without paying the printer or the publisher, with a real ISBN and a real price-tag we'll agree upon (the price-tag can be 'zero' for the ebook, if you want a larger audience).