License To Write

 Hello readers! I have a treat for you all. Today, we have a guest blogger! Simon A. Forward, author of many novels, has written us a lovely article. Without further ado, here is the piece! Enjoy. 

License To Write by Simon A. Forward

All roads lead to Rome. The same can’t be said of publication. Still, there are a number of routes open to writers. The world of licensed fiction is one avenue I’ve explored fairly comprehensively and as a path to publication it certainly works – I have books published, some even with my name on – but it can be a bumpy road and opportunities are rare.

Still, although I’m now on a different road, I figured I should share my experiences for anyone else considering hopping on board the bus.

From the 90s through to the early 21^st century, Virgin Publishing and then BBC Books were responsible for two ranges of Doctor Who books – continuing New Adventures (or, for the BBC, Eighth Doctor Adventures) and Missing (or Past Doctor) Adventures. Unlike most publishers – back then or at any time – both operated an open submissions policy so lowly fans like me were free to send in book proposals.

Having grown up on Doctor Who – primarily in the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker eras – and with writing in my blood, I had no shortage of ideas to craft into novel proposals for the series. So I went to work.

I couldn’t tell you how many submissions I submitted. Lots. Including, in 1994, one entitled Emotional Chemistry, a sweeping epic of time travel and Russian literature – which I only mention because it will feature later in this tale.

A great many “No, thank you”s and “This is great, but”s later, I was no further forward, but my first break came when the license reverted to BBC Books. After more submissions (aka more work!) I was offered a slot in a short-story anthology and, not too long after that, the range editor phoned to say how much he liked a little idea of mine called Drift – a snowy New Hampshire ghost story, sort of - which was ultimately commissioned and published as a Fourth Doctor (aka Tom Baker) novel.

My first published novel. I was over the moon. I had arrived.

Not being one to rest on my laurels, as much as I was buzzing about that, I was already focused on what came next and building on that beginning.

Hot on Drift’s heels, other Doctor Who opportunities found their way to me – or vice versa. Publication of my first book prompted me to sign up to a Doctor Who internet forum or two, attend a couple of conventions and generally making myself known in so far as my inherently shy personality would allow. At the same time, I continued submitting proposals, to BBC Books, to Telos Publishing (who had their prestigious range of Doctor Who novellas) and to Big Finish (who were producing Doctor Who audio dramas on CD). Not only did those submissions meet with success, but I was soon being asked to contribute to short story anthologies. I was, in my own small way, ‘in demand’.

Long story short, my second Doctor Who novel appeared in the shops a year and a half after Drift, and was a sweeping Russian-literature time travel epic. Yes, Emotional Chemistry. The range editor loved it. It’s worth mentioning as a simple lesson. At the risk of stating the obvious, one man’s “meh” is another man’s “spot on”. Never throw an idea away.

Ironically, it was when Doctor Who returned to our screens, reborn, in 2005, that opportunities in that particular universe dried up. The range of authors was limited to those approved by the production team top brass.

But I was fortunate in that other non-Doctor Who opportunities came my way. (Most courtesy of the same editor who awarded me that first short-story commission. In several instances, he heard of opportunities and passed on my name. Which absolutely supports that old principle of “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, but if you don’t happen to have been born with a silver spoon in your mouth, then there is every merit in benefitting from friendships and professional relationships forged through hard work and sociability. That goes for the publishing world as a whole, not only the licensed fiction pond.

Anyway, I moved on to other projects, such as the Fright Night series and the Monster Republic series, for Hothouse – developers of packaged fiction - which were published – under different pseudonyms - by Puffin and Random House respectively. And, concurrently with some of those, three novelisations for the BBC’s Merlin TV series, again published by Random House.

A long and winding road? You could say that. For me it boiled down to a mix of hard work, dogged determination and persistence, plus good luck. The hard work anybody can do, but the luck can be tricky to emulate.

That said, if I was contemplating exploring the licensed fiction route right now, I would probably be picking out the TV series that I loved or at least knew inside out and submitting proposals to their respective tie-in ranges. Clearly they have to be as professional and as polished as any submission to any publisher or agent, and your task will be to prove that, as well as being able to write, you know the series and its characters, you’ve read (some of) the books and you have a cracking, awesome idea for a story that they can’t afford to pass up. It’s a tall order. But I’m not sure it’s any taller an order than attracting any editor’s attention in a sea of prospective authors.

It might also pay you to join online fan forums (and/or attend conventions), mingle and make your presence known. Also, it goes without saying, write, write, write and write some more. And make damn sure your material is light years above the normal standard of fan fiction.

So there you have it. That’s the secret. The real secret being that there is no secret. This was my own path, of course, and others will have different tales.

But while I can only guess as to how to break in to that part of the industry, hopefully I can pass on some of my experience from the inside.

Since my last Merlin book, I’ve moved on to other things. Including my sci-fi comedy, Evil UnLtd, for which we’ve just launched the second book in the series (From Evil With Love), with the third volume (Evil Utd) on the way for December 2012. Because of the nature of the universe and its characters it almost feels like I’m writing for my own licensed fiction brand. There’s no doubt all those years of Doctor Who – as a childhood viewer, as a fan and as an author - have provided some inspirational fuel for the enterprise. For these books, I’ve taken the bold step of publishing them independently – in ebook and paperback versions – and it goes without saying that this is yet another different world, yet another different path.

In essence, what I’ve done is traded one minefield for another. It’s scary. But isn’t that the thing about the roads to publication? They don’t all lead to Rome, but they are all littered with mines.

If you’re fortunate enough to find your way onto the licensed fiction path, I hope I might have been of some help in steering you through.

Good luck and bon voyage!

SAF

Simon A Forward is the author of several works of Doctor Who fiction – novels, audio dramas, short stories and a novella – as well as a number of other licensed fiction books, including novelisations for the BBC’s Merlin series. These days he focuses on a variety of original projects, sf and fantasy, children’s and YA and adult, only some of which are Evil.

Website: www.simonforward.co.uk

Twitter: @prefect4d

Evil UnLtd books (paperback and Kindle) are available on Amazon with other ebook formats available from Smashwords

Find out more about Evil UnLtd at www.evilunltd.co.uk