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 Malika2 wrote:
Hmm, guess the rest of us will need to find some other freelance gigs. Any idea where to find any?

Maybe try Mantic.
They're in the middle of a Kickstarter for their expansion/update to Not Necromunda (Deadzone).
One of the stretch goals is apparently fiction collection in their Not 40k universe.

 His Master's Voice wrote:
If they're like any other normal company employing freelancers, they'll have a tiered list of people that passed the initial test to dispense between projects. I very much doubt they're "filling spots".

I meant that they probably had an idea of how many they're looking for, and they're more than sure than have more than enough at this point, which is why the posting came down.

 Malika2 wrote:
Hmm, guess the rest of us will need to find some other freelance gigs. Any idea where to find any?

I'd be interested to hear of people are getting any feedback from GW at all - positive or negative.

 hungryp wrote:

 Malika2 wrote:
Hmm, guess the rest of us will need to find some other freelance gigs. Any idea where to find any?

In other words: back to square one.

Well, I just sent my test briefs in. I still have about 12 hours to go, but I don't trust myself to not blow the deadline with my usual routine of sleeping in and a leisurely breakfast. Now it's just a matter of hurry up and wait.

Just sent mine in too, a day early but I need to stop the incessant tinkering...

Today is the fourth working day in a row since I submitted. It took four days for them to reply to the first submission. I'm wondering if they'll only respond once the deadline for ALL test submissions are in?

I think they might take more time at this stage than they did for the first stage. I'm guessing it will be more like weeks rather than days.

Especially if they have a lot of entries to go through

I wonder how much weight they will put onto how close to the deadline one sends in their entries. All things being equal, I'd feel more favor towards someone who go their short piece done and in with plenty of time to spare, over one of equal quality that was pushing the deadline.

 Portugal Jones wrote:
Especially if they have a lot of entries to go through

I wonder how much weight they will put onto how close to the deadline one sends in their entries. All things being equal, I'd feel more favor towards someone who go their short piece done and in with plenty of time to spare, over one of equal quality that was pushing the deadline.

That's a matter of taste/preference and shouldn't play a role.
My father is a professional writer (scripts) and he alsways claimed that if you didn't work on something till the last minute, you didn't deliver the best you could.
I always disagreed, but like I said, that's a matter of preference.

Mutter wrote:
My father is a professional writer (scripts) and he alsways claimed that if you didn't work on something till the last minute, you didn't deliver the best you could.

Or you could be like me and don't do anything until the last minute!

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Mutter wrote:
My father is a professional writer (scripts) and he alsways claimed that if you didn't work on something till the last minute, you didn't deliver the best you could.

Or you could be like me and don't do anything until the last minute!

My approach to any kind of creative endeavor is very inspired by H.R. Giger, in that you must work as quickly as possible to get the ideas out of your head and into a physical form, before your mind corrodes and taints the idea. Artistic ideas are best served fresh, and are not to be lingered on for too long. YMMV.

 Portugal Jones wrote:
I wonder how much weight they will put onto how close to the deadline one sends in their entries. All things being equal, I'd feel more favor towards someone who go their short piece done and in with plenty of time to spare, over one of equal quality that was pushing the deadline.

I imagine they probably put more emphasis on how close to the 250 word limit you got - don't want enthusiastic young Hemmingway wannabes going overboard (or indeed falling short) and messing up those meticulously set out standard codex layouts...

BTW, did anyone receive a confirmation of receipt email for their submission?

I did not get confirmation of receipt.

I also got both paragraphs in within 12 hours, and both were exactly 250 words.

I have no idea how I managed to achieve either of those feats.

 Iapedus wrote:
emphasis on how close to the 250 word limit you got - don't want enthusiastic young Hemmingway wannabes going overboard (or indeed falling short) and messing up those meticulously set out standard codex layouts...

Assuming you're being as sarcastic as I'm reading it, being too short on word count actually is a problem when doing page layouts. It's not a matter of "fill this space." It really is "we need this many words of text to fill this space." Now, the quality of the layout...that's an entirely different matter.

 hungryp wrote:
Assuming you're being as sarcastic as I'm reading it, being too short on word count actually is a problem when doing page layouts. It's not a matter of "fill this space." It really is "we need this many words of text to fill this space." Now, the quality of the layout...that's an entirely different matter.

No no, I was being completely serious If they ask for 250, they want 250 as being over / under by one word can mean a extra / missing sentence screwing up the no doubt standardized Codex Layouts. I've edited enough student newspapers to know ho much of a pain this is

I know your pain. You need not suffer alone anymore.

I thought I would just share my experience. All told, it has been an interesting experience and I'm not bummed at all about not being accepted.

Timeline:
18 Mar - Sent my proposal
19 Mar- GW replies with the response I've seen posted here, "we were delighted by your enthusiam, however...." I decide to write the tests anyway.
23 Mar- Submit my two test briefs.
27 Mar- Received a reply stating that my submissions don't meet the standard they require.

Here are my test briefs as I submitted them. Of course, I found a lot mistakes after the fact. I think GW likes to use simple past (or past perfect) tense. My test briefs are all simple present tense.

Please forgive the wall of text.

The Test Brief Part 1

Rodrigo wants to put a bolt round in the ork’s head and it could be an easy kill. But, close combat it is. The Imperial Fist calmly attaches the bolter to his bike, lifts his chainsword and directs his hatred into a leaping overhead attack off the seat of his broken bike. The ork halts his charge and laughs as it receives the Astartes with sweeping deflection of his ax. Rodrigo lands in a roll. Already, the ork is on him to deal a killing stab with its power sword. Rodrigo jabs his chainsword hand guard into knee of the beast, eliciting an ear-splitting growl. The ork responds with a powerful kick into the Space Marine’s side. A crack announces a breach in his chest plate. Rodrigo rolls back on his feet and readies his guard. Frustrated, the beast bellows another challenge and scrapes the charged power sword off the edge of the choppa resulting in a high-pitched keen. A furious exchange of blows follows as the ork presses its attack. The beast manages to get inside the Space Marine’s guard and executes a deft sword slice through the elbow. Rodrigo gasps. His right arm nearly severed at the elbow, Rodrigo locks the ork’s sword arm with his left arm and jams the roaring chainsword into the neck of the ork. Cries become gurgles and the monster drops to its knees. Rodrigo curses himself for not shooting the ork with his bolter.

The Test Brief Part 2

“Let’s go over it again,” Sergeant Cerros casually waves. He sits on a stone slab behind the gathering of the Scouts.
Nesmith, a team leader, enthusiastically reiterates the plan by rote.
“Well briefed, Nesmith,” Cerros walks around the circle and points to a Scout holding a sniper rifle. “Mattias dies during insertion. Who is now your sharpshooter to cover the advance of ‘B’ team?”
“I’m the next best shot, sergeant,” Julian announces, “I can cover.”
“Of course you can, Julian. But, what is your designated role in the plan?” Cerros feigns concern.
“Sergeant, I am signaler to ’B’ team. When the enemy is at the target point, I am to flash my laser designator three times,” the scout says.
Nesmith interjects, “I will take over the signaler role.”
Cerros looks disappointed, “Nes, you’re team leader. You cannot have too many duties.” The Scout looks down in shame. The sergeant takes Nesmith’s reaction to deliver the final lesson.
“You all know the plan. This one has holes. It requires every scout to have a particular duty. I have, perhaps, designed it to have such flaws.”
The Scout squad looks puzzled. The sergeant continues, “The final lesson should be clear. You will execute this according to your own abilities and gifts. I guarantee this mission’s execution will not follow my plan.”
The sergeant made eye contact with every scout and smiled wryly, “you are Ultramarines and you will find a way to succeed. Now, mount up.”

Like some of the others, my briefs were 250 words exactly. My reasoning is that if that's what they giving me, that's what I'm using. I'm not leaving anything on the table so to speak. Having said that, my first draft for the first test brief was 279 words. Editing it down took quite a few tries, which were not helped by my adding in more and more detail. Same thing happened with the second one. Though thankfully, I only maxed out at 259, so just had to figure out where I could cut 9 words.

Huh, so four days. I guess if I don't hear from them in four days, I could take that to mean it's a good sign and that I may still be in contention? (Though in hindsight, I probably should have done a confirmation of receipt.)

Thanks for sharing, themonk! Rejection's a bummer, but at least it's better than not hearing any response. I'm sure there are a lot of people here who are glad to have some frame of reference for how soon they can expect to hear back.

Yeah, at least you got a letter of rejection, I sent mine in 12 days ago and haven't heard anything at all, yet. Hopefully no news is good news, but it's still making me anxious... the other option is that mine wasn't even good enough to warrant a response.

I'm entirely surprised to hear they're sending rejection letters. This is being handled much differently than I'm used to, at least with Games Workshop. I think I'll post my stuff as well if I'm rejected.

It could be that ones they know immediately aren't what they want are easy to get out of the way.

For example, I can't think of GW ever using present tense in their fiction, which makes a sample written that way easy to put in the 'no thanks' pile.

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Mutter wrote:
My father is a professional writer (scripts) and he alsways claimed that if you didn't work on something till the last minute, you didn't deliver the best you could.

Or you could be like me and don't do anything until the last minute!

My approach to any kind of creative endeavor is very inspired by H.R. Giger, in that you must work as quickly as possible to get the ideas out of your head and into a physical form, before your mind corrodes and taints the idea. Artistic ideas are best served fresh, and are not to be lingered on for too long. YMMV.

You're familiar with his work, are you surprised he wanted that gak out of his head ASAP?

 themonk wrote:
I thought I would just share my experience...

Thanks for sharing Monk!

Sorry to hear that you didn't make it - I think you hit the nail on the head though, despite the guidance saying they were looking for 'something new' I don't think they would be so bold as to go for a present tense story. Great effort though

For those that are interested in sharing their stories (if / when rejected, or you just missed the submission deadline) I have started a collective thread for them over in Fiction

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/642556.page#7719004

Go ahead and post, maybe we can all get some feedback, C&C and learn from our mistakes for next time!

 Azreal13 wrote:

 Squidmanlolz wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Mutter wrote:
My father is a professional writer (scripts) and he alsways claimed that if you didn't work on something till the last minute, you didn't deliver the best you could.

Or you could be like me and don't do anything until the last minute!

My approach to any kind of creative endeavor is very inspired by H.R. Giger, in that you must work as quickly as possible to get the ideas out of your head and into a physical form, before your mind corrodes and taints the idea. Artistic ideas are best served fresh, and are not to be lingered on for too long. YMMV.

You're familiar with his work, are you surprised he wanted that gak out of his head ASAP?

This reminds me of a conversation between Giger and Ridley Scott. At one of Giger's art exhibitions, he offered Scott a hit of ecstasy, Scott replied by asking why Giger would take it. Giger said that the drugs helped keep the demons in his head at bay. Scott asked, "Why are you afraid? they're just in your head." To which Giger answered, "Exactly." After this encounter, Giger was signed up to design Big Chap in Alien.

Giger was such an intellectual artist that he would even inspire Ray Harryhausen.

Seems like people on other sites such as Warseer have been receiving rejection emails.

Well, I'm still waiting for a reply here so fingers crossed.


On a related note, every time I get an e-mail notification I get excited, only to find out it's from the Loch Fyne restaurant with a new menu, or something work related.

Yeah no news is good news (hopefully).

I want to just get feedback on what I have written, and to see some of the other stories you guys managed to produce.

PM me your stories and I will trade you mine?

I'm pretty pleased that I haven't gotten a rejection yet.
Has anyone been accepted yet?