I can’t believe that it was just two weeks ago we launched the Fantasy Writing Contest. Considering we only announced the project on January 1st 2012 and opened the competition on February 1st 2012 the interest and number of entries has been nothing short of phenomenal.

People seem to be agree with the Fantasy-Faction team that there is not currently a ‘must-pick-up’ anthology out there right now within the fantasy genre. What we want to do with this anthology is provide one that each and every year, you guys (fantasy fans) look forward to and anticipate falling through your mailbox / arriving on your e-reading device. Certainly, with the quality of stories that have been pouring into our mailbox this looks increasingly likely to be the case.

So, what exactly is going to be in the anthology? Well, allow us to refresh your memory:

• Introduction by Editors of the Anthology.
• 7 Short Stories by Fantasy Authors (2 still TBA!).
• 6 Short Stories by winners of Fantasy Writing Contest (Still Open!).
• A Community Short Story (Launches March 1st!)
• 10 Articles by Fantasy Authors and Industry Experts.

So far we have had Michael J. Sullivan, Myke Cole, Mark Lawrence, Jon Sprunk and Adrian Tchaikovsky send stories across for our approval and I have to say that we have thoroughly enjoyed them. The interesting thing for me has been how different the stories have been from what we expected. It seems that the authors have taken this opportunity to write something that really interests them and because they haven’t had to consider the demands of a publisher or the market – we’ve had some really intriguing and even unique stories. Anyone expecting an anthology packed exclusively with Knights and Dragons is surely going to be surprised! Back to the editing process though, it’s quite a surreal experience, receiving work from authors you have admired for years and knowing that it is now your responsibility to edit their work ready for your anthology. We are  still waiting for two more stories by another two successful authors that we haven’t even announced yet and ten articles by ten authors/industry experts that we also haven’t announced yet – so yes, it is a really, really exciting time for us right now.

In addition to working on the anthology and our usual roles at Fantasy-Faction, we were lucky enough to meet up with a few authors who will be featuring within the anthology at the SFX Weekender, a British Fantasy/Sci-Fi Convention.

A lot of people are asking when we will begin announcing the remainder of names for the anthology and I guess I should tell you… no… not the names yet, but the dates at least, is that fair? Well, either way, the answer is; the 1st of each month. So, from now on we will release either one or two names of authors that will appear in the anthology on the first day of each month . Therefore, you will need to return to either this blog or sign up to the newsletter to find out who they are… Feels almost like blackmail, but I like it!

Ah, another thing people are asking is how many entries we’ve had. Simple answer; lots! Paul Wiseall and I are relentlessly reading through all these stories, but every time I finish say ten, I check the email inbox and find another twenty waiting to be read – it’s an exciting and slightly scary feeling too! I’ve already read a number of stories that I have placed on the short list – some traditional fantasy, some urban fantasy and we’ve even had a bit of new weird that has been quite interesting. Certainly, we really have our work cut out when it comes to choosing a winner because of the quality of entries coming in. Just to confirm things for you too, the contest is now open for submissions until June 30th 2012 and you will be able to send your short stories through to us any-time until then.

And finally, I want to say a huge thank you to those who have supported The Anthology and Fantasy-Faction by pre-ordering the anthology. For those who don’t know, the anthology is a not for profit project. The reason for this anthology is to promote new and upcoming authors as well as pay the Fantasy-Faction server fees (which sadly are rather expensive!). If you would like to pre-order the anthology you can do so by visiting: http://fantasywritingcontest.com/pre-order/
It is in GBP(£) but Paypal will convert that into your currency for you during the checkout.

So yes, thank you ever so much whether you are supporting us by submitting an entry to our contest, buying a copy of the anthology or even just telling your friends about our existence… it is only because of you and our wonderful community that we are able to do these things we love so much.

Marc Aplin
Fantasy-Faction / Fantasy Writing Contest

What a crazy week it’s been for us here, at the FWC. We’ve only seven days to go until we open submissions for your short stories and so we’ve found ourselves up to our earlobes with the little bits and pieces that we hope will ensure everything will run smoothly. The majority of them seem to be small things like preparing email inboxes but there were some things that we simply hadn’t anticipated which needed a bit more attention. For example, it wasn’t until we started advertising the competition that we realised the need for a detailed press releases so other bodies could help share in what we’re doing. In fact, now that we’ve started publicising the competition and the anthology, the question of advertising has cropped up repeatedly.

Now, if you follow our Fantasy-Faction Twitter pages (@FantasyFaction or @FantasyContest) you’ll know that we’re not adverse to an amount of shameless self promotion as a means to let the world know what we’re doing. With the anthology and the competition though, it’s a whole new bucket of radishes. And so, in the past week we’ve been getting in touch with everyone who might be interested in what we’re doing and here are a few of the places we approached:

Our former universities, colleges and schools.
We figured that chances are, if students are studying English and/or creative writing at college and university then they’re probably going to be interested in the chance to be published (the opportunity to win money seems to brighten a few eyes too) so they were our first port of call. We ended up speaking to far more than just the literature students though, and hopefully we’ve inspired a few people who hadn’t considered writing a story before to come and get involved. It was also rather nice to grab a cup of tea with old teachers afterwards and get to know them as adults with real names other than just Sir and Miss. I can now hand on heart say, teachers are people too.

Writing Groups.
Writing groups were a no-brainer to approach, even those that were dedicated solely to a certain type or genre of writing have been approached as in the end, writers want to write.

Popular forums.
We spend far, far too much time on forums and boards catching up on the latest news and looking out for cool tips on who to read etc so it felt quite good being able to be the ones creating the news.

Writing magazines
Whenever I read one of my writing magazines (for the record, I’m a fan of Writer’s Mag and Writer’s Forum) I always scrutinise the competition pages for possible chances to get published and make a little moolah on the side… A guy’s gotta eat and all that. So the possibility of being publicised on these pages is very exciting and hopefully, like approaching writing groups, it will entice non-fantasy fans to our beloved genre.

—

Needless to say, there have been a lot of great new relationships forged with others who share our passion and far too many names learned to add to the xmas card list.

Going back to the press release, it was surprising just how many of the people we approached wanted some kind of press release so that they could reliably pass on informed details to others who may be interested. It was also suggested that we create some form of downloadable posters and other promotional materials so this is what we’ve been spending a fair amount of time working on.



The posters and banners have been fun to put together as we cracked our knuckles and whipped out our artistic flair to make something informative and eye catching but the press release was a little more tough with it having to be detailed enough for journalists and bloggers to create a solid article but not so bogged down in the nitty-gritty that anyone reading it calls you pretentious and promptly falls asleep. Eventually though, I think we produced some pretty cool stuff so keep an eye out in the coming weeks.

Another point of shameless self promotion that we touched upon was the idea of conventions and literary festivals. Have no fear, we’re aiming to attend as many as is humanly possible beginning with the SFX Weekender in Prestatyn, Wales on the first weekend of February. After that we’ll be making as many stops around the UK as we can including both Bath and Cheltenham festivals later this year.

Creating awareness of the Fantasy-Faction Anthology is proving to be incredible fun although it’s rather exhausting. We have more ideas hidden up our pyjamas for how we will publicise the anthology but we’ll save them for a later date, once we’ve announced a few more big names. For now, we hope you’re well, we hope you’re as excited as we are and most importantly (in regards to the competition anyway,) we hope you’re short story is coming along well.

Take it easy World,

Paul.
Judge, Faction Editor, Fantasy Enthusiast.

Wow, has it really been just two weeks since we launched The Fantasy Writing Contest site? It seems incredible that so much has happened, and yet, we still have two weeks until the contest opens and around 340 days until the Fantasy-Faction Anthology begins shipping and becomes available for download.

In the 14 days we’ve been up online we’ve had some really exciting developments too. Already, we have been able to announce five very, very exciting writers: Myke Cole, Mark Lawrence, Jon Sprunk, Michael J. Sullivan and Adrian Tchaikovsky! For those of you unfamiliar with these authors, these are some of the finest authors currently active within modern fantasy. Also, we have already set up profile pages for these authors, so click here to familiarise yourself with them and their existing work!

The response to these names has been phenomenal. People have praised us over Twitter for acquiring such renowned authors for the anthology – however, we have to stop you a moment and say we can’t take the credit. These authors; Myke Cole, Mark Lawrence, Jon Sprunk, Michael J. Sullivan and Adrian Tchaikovsky (as well as the others still to be announced) have all subscribed to this project because they want to support us (Fantasy-Faction) and YOU (Undiscovered Fantasy Writers). This anthology has been set up in order to merge the successful and the undiscovered in order to give you a push towards where they are now.

Oh, and just to tease you, we still have two more authors writing short stories still to announce! That’s before we even mention the ten authors/industry experts who are currently in the process of researching and putting together articles… Oh, and trust us when we tell you this – you will not believe some of the names that will be released as the months go by.

So, it seems 14 is an important number today because it is just 14 days until the Fantasy Writing Contest opens its digital doors for your short stories. Are you nervous? excited? Good! Because we are too! We don’t know what on Earth you are going to send us, but we are ready to read anything you do. This would probably be a good place to clarify a few things and answer some questions we’ve had over the past few weeks we’ve been promoting the site. Some of them I should mention are our fault, because we changed some of the rules at the last minute and other things I shall mention are just bits we want to clarify.

Firstly: What is The Word Count? The Word Count is 8,000 words. Originally, we looked at 10,000 words, but after speaking with various authors and getting their opinions as well as looking at page counts and how much a reader could get through in a single sitting – we decided 8,000 was a far better count for us.

Secondly: What does published mean? This is a question we’ve been asked a lot. Again, our fault because we didn’t define it within the rules. We are going to define published as someone who has printed a novel of more than 1000 copies. Therefore, if you have ever written a novel and had more than 1000 copies printed then we are sorry to say that you cannot enter.

Thirdly: Do I keep story rights? YES! You Keep the story rights… However, we do require a single year of exclusivity. That means you will not be able to post your story online or for entry into another anthology for one year. Some people will think this is generous – the reason we are allowing this is because of Patrick Rothfuss… “Huh?” Well, basically, he submitted a single chapter of his Wise Man’s Fear into an anthology as a short story. Obviously, when the anthology was published people read it, loved it and he actually got a book deal because of it. Should the anthology have refused to let him have copyright back then Wise Man’s Fear would not have been the book it was. We don’t want to stop writers producing longer works based on their short stories in the future.

Forth: This Entry Plus Thing? It is as good as it sounds. If you opt for entry plus, you will receive a full critique of your story and our thoughts (as judges). The whole point of this ‘entry plus’ option was that, having myself entered writing contests, writers could find out why they have not won. What used to drive me mad when I entered these things was the not knowing… why did I not win? What could I have done better to win? We have made entry-plus optional, but should you want it – it is there.

Fifth: I can’t wait! Can I please, please just sent my entry now!? No! However, we do want you to come hang out with us a bit… chat with us a bit… therefore, please connect with us
Here: Facebook
Here: Twitter
Here: Goodreads
And Here: Our Fantasy Reading & Writing Forums
—

We hope that clears matters up, but please, if you have any questions just drop as an e-mail through the contact section (you have to scroll right down to the bottom of the page to find it) and we will get back to you!

—

Stay tuned, because next week we will be giving you some behind the scenes information on our PR & Marketing work… It is more interesting then it sounds - honestly. Then, the week after that we will be giving you a sneak preview of each story the authors have sent us!

Welcome to the first blog post in our Anthology Builders series in which Marc and I hope to detail the joys and the headaches of creating a brand new fantasy anthology. This will include everything from us arguing over book cover designs, to judging the masses of great submissions we’re expecting, to that glorious day when we head to the publishers and pick up the very first batch of published wonderment. If you’re considering creating your own anthology or are flirting with the idea of going self-published and want to know what sort of pitfalls others come up against then I hope we can be of some help. Otherwise, we hope that you find our efforts interesting and that that you enjoy watching two guys who love fantasy literature battle their way to publication.

So, where to start today? I suppose the best place to begin is simply by answering the question, Why? Why are we doing this? Well, there are two reasons really.

The first of which is to try and give something back to the fantasy community who have so kindly supported Fantasy-Faction since it was first born over a year ago. In that year we have been fortunate enough to present, in my opinion, some of the finest fantasy related articles, reviews and interviews to be found anywhere on the internet. With the great support of fantasy fans and our fantastic contributors, Fantasy-Faction rose from nothing in to one of the largest fantasy sites on the planet, attracting thousands of hits a day. For this alone, we would like to say thank you very much.

In addition to this, as the last year drew to a close, Fantasy-Faction was slapped with a big ol’ server bill. In order to try and cover this, we had to ask for support from the community in the form donations in order to help  recover the costs of running such a popular site. We didn’t want to, in fact we felt awful asking people for money without them seeing anything in return. The world stunned us though and quickly we had authors and fans alike donating incredibly generous amounts to help keep us afloat. It really was a rather humbling experience.

So, Marc and I sat down and discussed ways in which we could support the site while being able to give something back to those who want to help us, and so the Fantasy-Faction Anthology was born. For those who don’t keep an eye on the forums and community at Fantasy-Faction; every day, whether it’s through our monthly writing competition or even just stories sent for our perusal, we regularly find ourselves reading things and thinking, ‘Why in the name of Dutch pancakes has this not been published? The world needs to see this stuff!’

Which brings me to the second reason we have decided to create this anthology. Most anthologies out there are comprised purely of already published authors or purely of unpublished authors – this however doesn’t suit us. Fantasy-Faction was named as such because the idea of a faction, of a community was important. It had to be a place where fans could meet and discuss the genre they loved. Where the avid reader could join in discussions with their favourite authors. We are building this anthology with that idea in mind, as a place to unite all fantasy fans in to one big celebration of a fantastic genre. Therefore, in addition to short stories by hugely successful and renowned Fantasy authors, we have six places within our Anthology up for grabs. This means that in a years time, six previously undiscovered people will be published alongside some true modern greats like Myke Cole, Mark Lawrence, Jon Sprunk, Michael J. Sullivan, Adrian Tchaikovsky and many more besides.

Exciting stuff!

Anyways ladies and gents, that’s me done for today. Be sure to check back regularly to see how things are moving forwards and in the mean time, go and get cracking on writing something that’s going to change the fantasy world. We look forward to reading it.

Paul,
Judge, Faction editor and fantasy enthusiast.
Paul@Fantasy-Faction.com

Well, with The Fantasy-Faction Anthology website finally going live, it seems fitting that we tell you who is behind it and their reasons for wanting to publish it.

Marc Aplin

Marc Aplin started Fantasy-Faction after retiring as a title-holding Mixed Martial Artist in 2010. The idea of Fantasy-Faction was to create an online community that would provide fans’ with not only the latest Fantasy Book News, Reviews, Articles, and Interview, but also a place people could interact and share their love of the Fantasy Genre together.
Just 2 months after the site had launched, it was averaging around 200 hits a day and the forums were growing busier and busier. By the time Fantasy-Faction hit the one year mark they had over 6500 followers on Twitter and the site was ranging between 1000 and 1700 unique hits a day.
Fantasy-Faction continues to grow and whereas Marc works full-time as a journalist, in edition to his University Studies, Fantasy-Faction is a huge part of his life and he hopes the Fantasy-Faction Anthology & Fantasy Writing Contest will bring yet another exciting chapter in his life.

Paul Wiseall

Paul Wiseall joined Fantasy-Faction early on in it’s life. His light-hearted and yet scholarly style of articles struck a cord with the site’s readership. Paul Wiseall has great admiration for authors such as Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, China Mieville, which worked as a fantastic contrast to the founder of Fantasy-Faction; Marc Aplin. Marc had always been more of a traditionalist; J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson for example being among his favourites.
Living in relatively close proximity, Paul and Marc were able to tempt each other to try books that they wouldn’t usually pick up. This started some very interesting conversations in regards to what Fantasy was and what it was becoming.
Subsequently, Paul Wiseall was made editor of Fantasy-Faction alongside Marc Aplin and the American; Jennie Ivins. Since then Paul has contributed to Fantasy-Faction on a daily basis by editing articles, giving inspiration and using his non-stop creativity to take Fantasy-Faction in new directions.

So… The Fantasy-Faction Anthology?

At the end of 2011 the bills, for running such a hugely known and accessed website, came in. The costs took Marc, Paul and the Fantasy-Faction users by surprise and only by the generosity of readers’, writers’ and general fantasy fans’ donations were they eventually covered. With their aim in 2012 to grow Fantasy-Faction even larger, Marc and Paul took a hard look at things and decided that if costs were going to rise, they needed to be proactive and do something to cover them.

This is when the idea of the Fantasy-Faction Anthology came about. With Fantasy-Faction now one of the biggest fantasy communities out there, it seemed a natural progression for the site to put something out there for others to read, judge, speculate upon and write about, just as they have done to other peoples’ work.

However, they didn’t want to do anything commercial. Just as important as covering costs is to contribute to the Fantasy Genre. Therefore, we decided to do something that involved not only published authors, but Undiscovered Writers and Fantasy-Fans throughout the world.