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So a 40K facebook page has a writing competition, write a story under 7500 words about 40k before the 31st of August. Since I can onöy write for a deadline I thought why not join?

I know the basics of writing, but are there any 40k-specific tips or techniques I should use?

Also, any ideas for a story?

Last question for a scene I'd like to write: could a Space Marine walk into say 5-10 autoguns firing without dying?

A tip I would say is 40k tends to be in third person. And I would write about a faction you are interested in, and work from there. I am a fan of kroot for example, so a lot of my work has kroot in them. And power armor strength and gun strength varies from author to author. To be on the safe side, maybe the autocannons are older, faulty, and are also a cheaper design so they pack less of a punch?

Sorry if my advice isn't much help, but I hope you find it useful.

Link??

Something that doesn't break canon would be nice, although many established BL authors seem to pay little regard to it. If you've got the Codex for whichever races you're going to be writing about, they are full of motives and backstory which would make really impressive fiction. For example, Biel-Tan Eldar fervently believing they can re-take the galaxy then coming into contact with a hive fleet consisting of five million bio-ships would create quite the dilemma.

Officially published fiction always has to be from a human point of view. Fan fiction written from an alien point of view would have to be done well - Eldar are not humans with long faces, Orks are not Cockney villains who sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

For good hints how to create "alien" characters, try the Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green rulebooks (if you can find them) and try to apply this to 40K aliens - inscrutable, with entirely different motivations to humans.

There are tons of examples of Astartes taking heavy fire, particularly in the Heresy novels where Astartes seem nearly invincible. In reality I'd assume they would be somewhat vulnerable to lucky shots or weight of fire, and anyone wading through streams of firepower should suffer some kind of armour damage and maybe injury, otherwise how would Space Marines ever die in combat?

https://m.facebook.com/groups/136033349788125?view=permalink&id=1168531629871620

So I need a story. Is the Band of Brothers style with Guardsmen too common? A first person story of a guardsman at war?

The breadth of possibilities in "first person, Band of Guardie Brothers" is astronomical. One can be common as mud but at the same time another could be a real surprise.

Take an idea that strikes you as a bit common and start flipping stuff. Pretty soon you'll have readers sitting up and taking note.

The key thing is to concentrate on writing something good over writing something 40k. Ideally, your narrative, characters and themes should work as an engaging story even if you were to remove any reference to 40k and make it a generic sci-fi, or if you replace heretics with Battle Droids and Space Marines with Clone Troopers. A good story and a good set of characters work irrespective of setting. On a general writing note, be prepared to draft and redraft, to edit and to hand your work over (preferably to someone with no knowledge or interest in 40k) to proof read and such, and to take their feedback on board. Especially with such a short piece, every word and sentence has to count.

Don't just write about stuff being blown up. Fun as a shot-by-shot account of a Marine taking down 100 cultists might be to write and imagine, it only works in small doses. To keep whatever story you tell compelling, you need something more than that, the default is adding some Guardsmen in to give a human perspective and play up the otherworldly nature of the Astartes, but that's almost too common and a bit limited. Instead, consider making your protagonist a hive dweller witnessing his city and home being torn to shreds by enemy and ally alike, his only concern being making sure his family survive the cataclysm. Or perhaps a Sister of Battle Novice deployed for her first combat operation; on one hand, she's a fully trained, supremely competent soldier guided by The Emperor and shielded by her Faith, on the other, some small, human part of her is still going to be scared to death when the ramp drops on her Rhino and she's flung into her first battle.

All of that is a roundabout way of saying that you need to be telling a story, not just writing a collection of scenes. 7500 words is both too long to spend describing a battle shot for shot, and too short to give your characters full, complex arcs. With that in mind, it might be an idea to focus on a pivotal moment for whatever character you chose to follow, a defining moment or experience that allows them to change significantly (thus providing an actual story) in a limited space and time. You want something where the reader can be dropped straight in, see the story unfold and walk away having been affected in some way; you don't need to (and almost certainly won't!) reduce them to tears, but the story does need an emotional heart to it, either driving it, or that can be inferred by its absence from the text (for example, a well-written piece about a Marine coldly killing his way through an underhive crawling with renegades should inherently make you think about it from the other side, mortal men facing down an unstoppable, faceless juggernaut of destruction they have no actual quarrel with).

Finally, remember in the grim darkness of the far future there is a whole lotta war... but there is also politics, there is art and music and culture, there are friends and enemies and lovers and families, there are billions upon billions of lives that will go on without ever seeing a Bolter fired or a Guardsman shot down. Don't be afraid to take a step back from the action, and explore something else in the immense sandbox of a setting that is 40k.


Hope that's of some use. good luck!

There's a whole lot of really good advice posted above, so most of what I could have offered has already been said.

I'd just add that I personally find the blending of the mystical and sci-fi aspects of 40k to be some of the most fun things about which to write. Whatever crazy ideas you might come up with can probably be gotten away with by wrapping it in pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo.

There are many, many awesome story hooks scattered throughout 40k lore - find one that's not been covered and use that as a jump-off point for your story.

And don't forget to post the final piece here too!

I always go for "think of what scares you, think of what takes your breath away, think of what makes you furious or gets your blood pumping and put that in your stories"

That's just me though

I've already written 5.5K words for a Tau Commander's backstory.

Prepare for Blunt-Spoon.

Link doesn't work, what's the name of the group?

It's Warhammer 40K, probably the biggest 40k group.

So I've sketched out some basics: an agricultural world being slowly taken over by Chaos Cults summoning daemons. Possibly involving a CSM invasion.

It'll follow three characters, a Guardsman involved in the attack on the planet, a Scout tasked with killing the leader or a cult, and a member of a cult, not knowing it was chaotic, thinking it was for the Emperor.

So, a few questions:

How would Guardsmen deploy onto a planet from space?

How crude would cultists be in making vehicles, makeshift buildings etc (from a scale from STC to Ork, how good are they at building)

How human are SM Scouts? Like do they still have emotions such as regret or sorrow? Will they feel remorse in killing innocent people?

How would a cultist become a daemon prince? Can they become daemon princes?

Thanks!

When I read the premise to your story I feel like it shouldn't involve Guardsmen, Space Marines, any of that. Maybe a few PDF soldiers in over their head, a local hunter instead of the scout; local defenders, really. They'd be without Imperial support so must face the growing threat on their own.... Just food for thought.

I think I've found the group. Is it the Showdown modeling/painting/fluff competition for the 31st of August or something different? Camus see anything about 7.5K stories...

1) Anything from Valkyries, Drop Pods (Only in very good circumstances) or parachuting.

 NoPoet wrote:
There are tons of examples of Astartes taking heavy fire, particularly in the Heresy novels where Astartes seem nearly invincible. In reality I'd assume they would be somewhat vulnerable to lucky shots or weight of fire, and anyone wading through streams of firepower should suffer some kind of armour damage and maybe injury, otherwise how would Space Marines ever die in combat?

By getting shot by something beefier than autogun?-)

Power armoured they are fluffwise basically walking tanks. Even unarmoured I wouldn't hold high hopes stopping one with mere autogun never mind if they are wearing power armour(termie armour? Forget it).

Things get tougher for marine if you bring in say at least autocannon level weapon. That packs more punch than autogun so much more viable.

Failing that krak grenades could be used at a pinch though getting one explode close enough(marines aren't exactly slow movers) would be tricky.

But yeah 5-10 autoguns...If distance is close I would expect dead heretics and fast. Their only hope is hitting weak points of armour from fast moving death that is shooting and hacking them apart pretty darned fast. Possible but not likely.

Basically, the most successful book series idea for 40k I can think of is a formula that works like this

Imperial world, roll a d6 to determine type 1-2 Agri, 3-5 Hive, 6 Shrine world
Pick the first non-Imperial whipping boy you can think of, they're after some maguffin there
Watch a bunch of 80s buddy cop movies, take notes
Make buddy cop 40k book where main character is an Inquisitor and the buddy is one of their underlings
Also add space marines at some point, humanise them so they don't come across as egotistical jerks

Bonus points if the Inquisitor's catchphrase is "Emperor damn it rookie!"

 n0t_u wrote:
Basically, the most successful book series idea for 40k I can think of is a formula that works like this

Imperial world, roll a d6 to determine type 1-2 Agri, 3-5 Hive, 6 Shrine world
Pick the first non-Imperial whipping boy you can think of, they're after some maguffin there
Watch a bunch of 80s buddy cop movies, take notes
Make buddy cop 40k book where main character is an Inquisitor and the buddy is one of their underlings
Also add space marines at some point, humanise them so they don't come across as egotistical jerks

Bonus points if the Inquisitor's catchphrase is "Emperor damn it rookie!"

I'll probably tear out my innards and put them back into place for admitting this buuuuuuut that's usually how it goes... Unfortunately.

In the ever expanding 40K universe I've become rather numb to Imperial stories about gallant hero's but that's probably why the Arbites are at my front door ready to bash my fraking skull in.

 theCrowe wrote:
The breadth of possibilities in "first person, Band of Guardie Brothers" is astronomical. One can be common as mud but at the same time another could be a real surprise.

Take an idea that strikes you as a bit common and start flipping stuff. Pretty soon you'll have readers sitting up and taking note.

I think this is good advice for any kind of story. It's very easy to worry that what you are writing is a) unoriginal or b) cliched. But let's be honest with ourselves. There is nothing new under the sun. Very few original stories are original ideas these days. Most have derived themselves from another story or a movie or a to show etc etc.

You just have to worry about making your story good. If you focus too much on making it original you could end up driving yourself down a blind alley, or writing something utterly unrealistic. If you have an idea that's good, run with it, if it's similar to something you've read before, that's not the end of the world. As long as your characters are original and they bring something new to that story I think you will likely be ok.

I think there's a lot of potential for originality in low-stakes stories. Say, space scavengers try to loot a derelict starship, only to find themselves fighting their way through tyranids. Or, several soldiers conspire to use the confusion of their next battle to murder their hated commissar. Or, an Imperial pilot crash-lands on a death world and must repair his craft before the native wildlife eats him.



Most 40k stories seem to be about: 1) killing heretics or xenos, or 2) investigating heretics or xenos, but there are countless other possibilities. For example:

Courtly intrigue: In the upper hive, various aristocratic families scheme for power. Feuds, backstabbing and duels abound.
Caper: Thieves are hired to steal blueprints from the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Slice of life: A teenaged orphan must navigate the harsh discipline and demanding training regimen of the Officio Prefectus in order to become a commissar.


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