Writing References, I <3 SR Fiction Options

[Curator]

Ok so this has been on my mind and i need to ask. i really look forward to some responses

I'm currently writing some shadowrun novels', about 3 maybe 4 depending on how things turn out. Full novels. I love shadowrun & it's universe. So here's my questions

1. If I decide to dedicate my time to this, how realistic are my chances of getting published? Are they planning on releasing more full novel's in the future?

2nd. if it is possible, will they have an editor do fact checking? will they go half way through it and realize that for some reason my story coincides with their stories? how reliable will their checkers/editors be?

3rd. in regards to fact checking, will I basically need to do all my own research? mostly on being exact on specific locations history, known equipment, and corps. anyone out there willing to help? or will the publishing/editor help?

and 4th lastly let's say that one novel takes place that has almost no history in shadowrun except for the fact that it does still exist. maybe a brief mention and i mean BRIEF. am i allowed to make up some history and 'folklore' for it?

So ok i think that's my questions. let me give you a brief history of my SR history.
played the sega and SNES games when i was 10 to death. loved it. i knew of the game in high school, read the rule book. found out about the novels about 5 years ago. read and own... 15? i'm about to start on the 2nd series in the 2060's. Just got my 5th edition rulebook for Xmas. Since then i've read about.... 6 more 4e books like augmentation, street magic, seattle 2072 and the world almanac. I'm currently reading up on Combat Biking for reference. I love reading all these books i can't get enough. I still haven't played a game. although i plan on fixing that in the coming months since i've been getting more friends hyped about SR in the last 6 months. Really my trouble is spending tons of time looking up very specific things (which i need to know) or ordering books to learn. but i feel like i can read for the next few years and not be caught up. i love this website too... i wish i played the game more but the universe is cool enough to let me enjoy it. so um yea thanks guys! can't wait to send out some rough drafts this story is turning out juicy like the rest of the books.

[Critias]

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'm going to try and nip this in the bud before you shoot yourself in the foot, here.

That's not really how getting published works. You don't just write things willy-nilly and then expect someone to publish them, and certainly not with projects the size and complexity of proper novels. If you sit down and write a novel, then send it unheralded and unasked-for to someone -- anyone, this isn't unique to Shadowrun or gaming at all -- they'll probably destroy it, and even if not they certainly aren't likely to publish it. Unsolicited work is routinely ignored by publishers, precisely because it's unsolicited; they didn't ask for it, they don't want it, and you've wasted your time writing it.

If you'd like to write for Shadowrun, the first thing you want to do is get ahold of Jason Hardy, the SR line developer (there are email links on the main Shadowrun pages, I believe, if not shoot me a PM and I can try to find out what email he'd like you to use). He's the guy that can look at samples of your work and decide to use you or not, he's the guy that can tell you what projects are on the way and might need some fiction, yadda yadda yadda.

All that said, I can tell you that yes, full-length novels are in the pipeline right now.

[Curator]

thanks that's what i needed to know. i haven't wrote as much knowing that's probably how it was going to work, instead divulging in reading and researching more. i have a massive respect for the universe and game and knew i wouldn't be able to expect to get published with a full novel with no prior knowledge to the actual product developers. appreciate the inquiry to the link too. no worries on the cristicism as long as it's constructive. i was just sorta discouraged by the so what happened in the end thread. o well. so i guess i'll drop them a line in the near future, read a few more books in the coming months and such. still there is so much history... i don't know where to stop and end on it sometimes.

[Curator]

i actually discovered dumpshocked by researching for these. i wish i knew that there was this much of a world to it much earlier. i think the silly kickstarter game got me back into it.. although i was into the novels a lil earlier but i didn't know there was this many publications. oy vey. so sweet

[kzt]

And you can't indie publish SR fiction, it's a derivative work and as such you need the approval of the main copyright holder. Which is technically Topps, not CGL IIRC. So it's probably Topps who the cease and desist letter will come from if you publish it without a license.

You can file the serial numbers off and indie publish it, but it can't be obviously a SR book. Heinlein's Magic Inc, Anderson's Operation Chaos and the Lord Darcy series show that the idea of magic and technology was hardly created by FASA, so as long is it isn't using the characters or setting pieces (like Aztechology, Ares etc).