Any Budding Pratchetts Out There???

[PudgyWudgyEsquire]

So I joined up to ask a question I'm hoping someone or a moderator in the know or even gasp! Terry himself, might respond to

I have an idea kicking around in my head set on earth but unfortunately it is important that the characters and by extension the readers do not realise this untill the very end, its sort of a twist/Shyamalanesque shock revelation of shockingly shocking proportions...

So would this do 'cos Ill hate for Terry or one of the judges to start reading my work and think "this clown didn't read the rules"...but if i put it in the synopsis it spoils the aforementioned shockingness.

Sorry for the rambling

 

[michelanCello]

I don't think the jury is like that... They sure will read it till the very last word, but if I were you, I'd write an introduction, in which I'd write that everyone should read all of your story...

Oh, and by the way: WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

 

[ShadowNinjaCat]

Welcome

 

[lwhitehead]

Hello this is the Canadian Asbeger hopful writer who wants to not only win this contest but in real life wants to be the next Terry Pratchett,


Some of you may know that from my previous post that I was inspired by the Overlord series written by Rhianna Pratchett, my Dark Lord and his home kingdom is Possen and he is a fantasy supervillian, a Kasier of the imperial German mold but one of fantasy with dark humor touches.


LW

 

[Tonyblack]

Welcome to the site, PudgyWudgyEsquire!

Speaking as a 'moderator' - I have no idea about the contest. It's being run by Tranworld, Terry's publishers and owners of this site - but we moderators don't have much contact and we certainly haven't been told anything more than what's in the rules.

I'd say - go for it anyway. If you think your plot is a good, original idea then the chances are that others will think so to. And quite apart from the contest, you might actually enjoy the project.

 

[PudgyWudgyEsquire]

Hi, Thanks for the input all...I'll go forward with it I think, what happens will happen

 

[Tonyblack]

Good luck!

 

[MothProofLemming]

Alt history or unwritten future?

Hello. First, my apologies for resurrecting this thread and further apologies for asking what, after 5 pages, is probably a stupid question. However, I am still confused! :-(

I only noticed this prize yesterday! However, I may still be a contender as I have two novels on the go, each completed to the 70-80k word mark. They were originally intended to be stand-alone books that would nevertheless comprise a dilogy/duology (delete as appropriate) and as such, they represent something of a Grand Artistic Vision that has literally been years in the making (I first put finger to keyboard in June 2006).

Yet thanks to the pressures of life and occasionally writing myself into a corner, I've finished neither whilst still accumulating 10 chapters of each.

The genre is science fiction, although I think of them more as speculative fiction as they are fairly realistic, involve no wacky or made-up physics and mostly extrapolate today's world/culture/gadgets into a fictional setting that takes place between 2015 (book 1) and 2030 (book 2).

And now, my question...

Would either of these novels meet the entry criteria?

Note that neither book assumes, or establishes in any way, any alternative historical events or deviations from the time line as we know and understand it in the year 2010. It is future fiction only.

I could adapt either one to incorporate a significant alt. history feature and could adjust the plots accordingly, but would sacrifice my current Grand Artistic Vision. But if I were to do that, I might make it far more likely that I would finish them at all, because adapting them would eliminate the corners I've written myself into!

Do I need to change them? Must I have an alternative history element or does future-based science fiction earn a get-out-of-jail card?

I hope that makes some sense!

 

[Tonyblack]

Welcome to the site, MothProofLemming!

As far as giving advice is concerned, you really know about as much as we do. This competition is posted here because the board owners, Transworld, are running it. No one here is affiliated with the contest and as such we don't have any more knowledge than what is on the contest website.

All we can do is wish you luck and suggest you contact the promoters with any enquiries about eligibility.

Sorry we can't be more helpful.

 

[bikkit]

Welcome from me. I'm liking the username

 

[ShadowNinjaCat]

Welcome

 

[MrMrsHedgehog]

I hope someone might be able to help me with a legal question.
I'm hoping to enter the competition and am working on my first draft at present, by adapting a previous scenario to fit, but am a bit concerned about the possibility of libel.

Going down the trousers of time route, with a different outcome to an actual historical event, there would be real people involved/responsible. If those real people were politicians from the past, but still alive, am I on dodgy ground?

 

[Tonyblack]

Welcome MrMrsHedgehog!

I really don't know the answer to that. Can you change the names enough to cover yourself but still make it obvious to the reader? can you think of other writers who have done something similar and how they handled the matter?

 

[MrMrsHedgehog]

Thanks for your reply, but struggling a bit to be honest.
I'm thinking about such a high profile event, that changing the people would look odd, but even if I did they would stil be recognisable and so libel could still count.
I've looked at numerous other writing websites and forums and there don't seem to be any difinitive answers.

 

[Sjoerd3000]

I know of a Dutch writer (Tomas Ross) who writes fiction but it often involves a few real people (The main characters are always fictional though). Sometimes even politicians who at the moment of publication were still in office. Some of his novels also involve the Royal family in a negative way

I haven't heard anything about him getting into trouble because of that

Welcome to the site btw

 

[Tonyblack]

I suppose that a disclaimer at the start stating that this is a work of fiction might go some way to protecting you.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

I think you can get away with it if you have a weasel-word disclaimer - something like

All characters in this work, real or imaginary, bear no resemblance to or involvement in events that are happening now, have happenedin the past or could or are likely to happen in any multiverse of your choosing...

 

[MrMrsHedgehog]

Thanks all.
I think the disclaiimer must be the way to go.
Even though there are numerous examples of authors using real people and getting away with it, I get the impression that is only because the real people in question choose not to challenge them. Still looks like technically it could be libel, its just a matter of whether it is persued.

 

[Doughnut Jimmy]

I'm not a lawyer but I don't think you can commit libel in a work of fiction because there is an understanding that what you are writting isn't true,

which I guess the disclaimer is there to support

 

[deldaisy]

Well I have read ALL the pages of this thread.... and I'm still waiting for your next chapter Pooh..... hurry up!