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Phoenixlotar wrote:

But that's like saying the best basketball player in the world can't join the Chicago Bulls because they don't have the right shoes

Your way of looking at it is like saying that the tallest man in the world should be the best basketball player, even if he has no grasp of the basics of the game though.

I posted this in the other rejection thread, written about a writer's experience in working with WotC:

In reality, you can’t expect to be mentored or taught the basics of the field. You are given one (maybe two) chance to deliver what they asked for on top of what they assume you know about their expectations.
And those expectations are thus: deliver top grade, engaging manuscripts that will require no or minimal editing in terms of grammar, syntax and spelling. Those are very stringent requirements which you can’t afford to brush off.

Yea, agreed, they're not there to hold your hand. I don't know many places who would offer to mentor freelancers. To do so would more or less defeat the actual point of bringing a freelancer in to begin with.

 hungryp wrote:

Phoenixlotar wrote:

But that's like saying the best basketball player in the world can't join the Chicago Bulls because they don't have the right shoes

Your way of looking at it is like saying that the tallest man in the world should be the best basketball player, even if he has no grasp of the basics of the game though.

No, I think my example was sufficient enough.

I was a Copywriter for 3 years, writing for both online and magazines; grammar and punctuation could be changed, bad writing couldn't

So the tall man analogy doesn't work. Here is another one:

A musician auditioning for a band, has the experience, played many shows, has a van and knows the bands back catalouge but doesn't get the job because his guitar is slightly out of tune

I posted this in the other rejection thread, written about a writer's experience in working with WotC:

In reality, you can’t expect to be mentored or taught the basics of the field. You are given one (maybe two) chance to deliver what they asked for on top of what they assume you know about their expectations.
And those expectations are thus: deliver top grade, engaging manuscripts that will require no or minimal editing in terms of grammar, syntax and spelling. Those are very stringent requirements which you can’t afford to brush off.

Im certain most people aren't that bad with grammar

The point is they get thousands of apps that they trying to whittle down to just a few, non of it is "Shakespeare" quality they just want people to write small blurbs and fluff. If your one of 500 they have of look at today and have lots of trivial mistakes that's one they can eliminate quickly and move on to the next.

 Dentry wrote:
Finally. My years of experience writing erotic fiction can pay off; this seems like the next logical step.

You will need basic knowledge of Games Workshop’s intellectual property and a desire to learn more.

Check!

Hahahahaha. I laughed way more than I should have at this.

My first commission came through last week. Bit more substantial than I had expected - it isn't just a few box texts for White Dwarf!

I love the fact that their freelance writers are held to a higher standard than their codex writers on spelling, punctuation and grammar.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I love the fact that their freelance writers are held to a higher standard than their codex writers on spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Change has got to start somewhere!

Phoenixlotar wrote:

 Gantoris wrote:
With so many applications i expect they are spoiled for choice, why tolerate someone who might need excessive editing.

The most depressing thing about my entry is i got it in after 2 days, i had fully 5 days to get it proof read by someone. Feel like such a mug for screwing up in such a stupid way.

But that's like saying the best basketball player in the world can't join the Chicago Bulls because they don't have the right shoes

It's nothing at all like that. If you want to make an analogy, it's like showing up for a first date without having showered or changed your clothes for a week. You can promise all you want that next time you will still be dewy from the bath with your shirt still warm from the line. It doesn't matter because when you made that vital first impression, you stank to high heaven.

If you're applying for a writing job, you have to show that you know how to write. Phoenixlotar, you claim 'you can change a bit of grammer,' but how do they know that? All they could see was that the sample that you thought was worthy of professional consideration had significant issues with spelling, punctuation, and grammer. That was how you chose to make your first impression to them. It doesn't matter how good your ideas and plot were, if the piece you showed them demonstrated a poor grasp of the mechanics of writing.

The only thing they had to evaluate you on was what you showed them.

Phoenixlotar wrote:


Im certain most people aren't that bad with grammar

Having been on the other side of the editorial desk, I regret to say that this is not true by a long shot.

And I imagine that's only going to get worse too as we enter the Mobile Age of Speaking and Writing!

Reading this thread reminds me of a Ronnie Coleman comment “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.”

Congrats to those who got selected but some who didn't get selected need to learn to take rejection with good grace and learn from it.

 Alpharius wrote:
And I imagine that's only going to get worse too as we enter the Mobile Age of Speaking and Writing!

LOL ikr

 Alpharius wrote:
And I imagine that's only going to get worse too as we enter the Mobile Age of Speaking and Writing!

I remember reading articles on how internet communication, with BrB, using 8 instead of '-ate' and emoticons were destroying the ability of our youth to write, and held up examples of school reports and resumes being submitted by teens full of such l33t speak as proof.

Back around 1997, 98, in response to the exploding popularity of AIM and ICQ.

 Bookwrack wrote:

Phoenixlotar wrote:

 Gantoris wrote:
With so many applications i expect they are spoiled for choice, why tolerate someone who might need excessive editing.

The most depressing thing about my entry is i got it in after 2 days, i had fully 5 days to get it proof read by someone. Feel like such a mug for screwing up in such a stupid way.

But that's like saying the best basketball player in the world can't join the Chicago Bulls because they don't have the right shoes

It's nothing at all like that. If you want to make an analogy, it's like showing up for a first date without having showered or changed your clothes for a week. You can promise all you want that next time you will still be dewy from the bath with your shirt still warm from the line. It doesn't matter because when you made that vital first impression, you stank to high heaven.

If you're applying for a writing job, you have to show that you know how to write. Phoenixlotar, you claim 'you can change a bit of grammer,' but how do they know that? All they could see was that the sample that you thought was worthy of professional consideration had significant issues with spelling, punctuation, and grammer. That was how you chose to make your first impression to them. It doesn't matter how good your ideas and plot were, if the piece you showed them demonstrated a poor grasp of the mechanics of writing.

The only thing they had to evaluate you on was what you showed them.

You're right.

I have done a few writing jobs in the past but when it comes to Games Workshop, They are a huge company, the standards are there for a reason.

I think I am just in a bit of a sour mood, I am thinking of re-applying.

I am definitely reapplying, I was pretty bitter at my rejection and still don't completely understand it, but I do know that I didn't put a great deal of effort into it.

I want to write, but I've never tried to better my writing. Writing for GW is like racing for Ferrari - some fat dude sitting on a couch at home isn't going to jump in the drivers seat and get pole position.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Also, basic googling found this for me -> http://thewritepractice.com/write-story/

Of the ~10 secrets to better writing~ (authors hate him), I wasn't doing any. Rather telling for me.

 Bookwrack wrote:

Back around 1997, 98, in response to the exploding popularity of AIM and ICQ.

Er...and?

Because I'm pretty sure it actually *has* gotten worse!

Just that almost 20 years later (feeeeeeeeeeeeeth! I feel old now!) society still hasn't degenerated into a series of post-apocalyptic blood feuds between the C U L8R H8Rs and the LOLmageddonites.

kb_lock wrote:
I am definitely reapplying, I was pretty bitter at my rejection and still don't completely understand it, but I do know that I didn't put a great deal of effort into it.

Which very well could've been what ended up getting it rejected. The writer not being particularly invested in his work can be the kind of thing that ends up coming across to the reader.

A good way to look at it is that it's not like racing for Ferrari. Dropping metaphor and simile all together, all they asked for was 250 words(x2). In writing terms, that's almost nothing and given the time allowed, if someone is not able to deliver two polished pieces of that length, then what level of working capability have they demonstrated? That's a very critical factor in this type of thing.

If the first assignment is a 3,000 word fluff piece with a two week deadline, even if the ideas are fantastic, if the mechanics of the writing are shoddy, that's a lot of extra work under a rather tight schedule (because some number of days are probably also going to be lost to discussions about the base idea and such, and these things always ending up eating more time than you'd imagine). When you're an editor under the gun, you want the finished piece you get to be as polished as possible. If your deadline is for shipping the finished WD layout files to the printer, the last thing you want is getting a story, no matter how brilliant, right before the deadline that's going to need two working days of revision before it's publishable.

 Bookwrack wrote:
Just that almost 20 years later (feeeeeeeeeeeeeth! I feel old now!) society still hasn't degenerated into a series of post-apocalyptic blood feuds between the C U L8R H8Rs and the LOLmageddonites.

I know we're:

1) On The Internet
2) Talking about fiction for GW

but...that's a healthy dose of hyperbole there, friend!

I'm a bit of a closet grammar Nazi, and the crimes against the written word that occur daily on my Facebook feed often make that vein on the side of my head throb uncontrollably.

What I really struggle with is given that there's only your or you're; there, they're or their or to, too and two, statistically shouldn't they get it right once in a while?!

The irony of you misusing that semicolon is delicious

You've got strange tastes then as that's probably just a typo!

 Bookwrack wrote:

kb_lock wrote:
I am definitely reapplying, I was pretty bitter at my rejection and still don't completely understand it, but I do know that I didn't put a great deal of effort into it.

Which very well could've been what ended up getting it rejected. The writer not being particularly invested in his work can be the kind of thing that ends up coming across to the reader.

Absolutely. I mean, I wasn't trying to rush it or half-ass it or anything, but I could have put in so much more effort - instead I just banged out a story, made it fit the word count, and then shipped it.