Welcome to this instalment of Writing for Black Library, a new series of quick author interviews in which I chat to Black Library authors about how they got started with writing for the worlds of Warhammer. Whether you’re actively hoping to be published by Black Library yourself, or just interested in getting a peek behind the scenes, these interviews will offer insights into the backgrounds and working processes of some of the authors who are lucky enough to contribute to the ongoing development of Games Workshop’s various worlds and settings.
In this interview I spoke to Robert Rath, one of Black Library’s newest authors, who made it through the 2018 open submissions process to have his debut short story – The Garden of Mortal Delights – published as a standalone e-short for Digital Monday in May 2019.
Track of Words: Tell us a little about you as an author – who you are, where you’re from, what you like to write.
Robert Rath: Well I’m from Honolulu, Hawaii, a place that shaped me as a writer in a couple of lasting ways. It’s a very historic place, and a lot of my career has involved researching and writing about the past – if anyone recognizes me, it’s probably from being the head writer of the YouTube show Extra History.
Hawaii is also a place where people of many different cultural and religious traditions live together, so a lot of my writing involves characters who see the world very differently but end up finding common ground, even if only temporarily. I’ve also lived in Hong Kong for the last six years, which has just doubled down on that theme of culture clash.
As for what I like to write, I’m a big fan of historical fiction and crime thrillers – often with a dose of black comedy.
ToW: Were you already writing regularly, or did the BL open submissions window spur you into writing?
RR: It was a bit of both. When the submissions window closed I was writing an Extra History script each week, but hadn’t written fiction in a while. So even though I’m an experienced writer I felt pretty rusty.
ToW: Had you submitted to Black Library before?
RR: I’ve either submitted or tried to submit every year the submissions window has been open, but often I’d work up a pitch, be unhappy with it, and either get busy and forget to submit it or decide not to send it. In fact, that almost happened with my entry that got chosen!
So that goes to show that even if your pitch isn’t perfect, go ahead and fire it off. You never know.
ToW: How did you decide upon a story to pitch? Was it something you chose having read the guidelines, or had you planned (or written) any of it already?
RR: I really loved the guidelines, since I think it shook people out of their normal holding patterns and caused them to come up with stories they wouldn’t have considered before – which has made the Inferno! anthologies really rich and exciting.
After reading the guidelines, I decided to pitch a crime fiction story – a genre I like a lot, and that has a recognizable enough style that I could demonstrate my ability to write it in a short sample.
In the end I had two pitches, but only enough time to write a sample for one, so I chose the pitch that I thought would be the most unusual and eye-catching.
ToW: Did you write the whole story, or just the 500 word sample?
RR: I wrote about 750 words, which gave me enough leeway to cut the bits that didn’t really work and still have a strong 500-word sample.
ToW: How did you find writing the pitch? Any advice for someone planning their own pitch?
RR: I’m accustomed to pitching and developing projects quickly, so I have a system that works for me.
A good pitch includes a ‘hook’, which basically boils down to the question What will interest someone in this story immediately? Maybe that’s a situation, a character, a problem, or just an unusual genre mashup that’s very cool.
For example, I’m really looking forward to Mike Brooks’ upcoming 40k novel Rites of Passage because when I see the description “political intrigue novel with Imperial Navigators” I’m basically sold right out of the gate. That’s a killer concept.
Knowing and communicating who your characters are and what they want is also extremely important. But the key is to do this in very few words, which is the hardest part.
ToW: How would you describe the first story you had published through Black Library? Was it what you originally pitched, or something different?
RR: My first story for Black Library was The Garden of Mortal Delights, an Age of Sigmar short about a Sylvaneth Branchwych who’s been imprisoned by a Slaaneshi Lord and forced to grow fruit for his feasting table – using the bodies of her half-dead dryads.
I joke that it’s like Beauty and the Beast, except Belle is a monster too.
It was a lot of fun to write, especially since Sylvaneth and Slaanesh play off each other in such unexpected ways. Their worldviews are both weirdly complementary and completely opposed at the same time, which makes for some surprising, funny, and horrifying moments. I also loved making the Sylvaneth every bit as frightening and twisted as the Hedonites. After all, nature can be simultaneously beautiful and deeply hostile – so it’s right and proper for the Sylvaneth to be scary!
My open submissions story has yet to be announced – so stay tuned! But based on the kind reception The Garden of Mortal Delights received, I think people will like it. It has a lot of the same elements of culture clash but in a completely different setting and style.
ToW: How have you found the whole process of submission through to publishing?
RR: Honestly? Wonderful.
I’ve been reading Black Library since the original Inferno! days, and can still point out the bus stop I was sitting at when, as a high school freshman, I finished reading First and Only. The closing chapter was so exciting, I flipped back to the beginning and started the whole thing again. From that moment, I knew that working with BL had become a career goal.
However, I’m experienced enough to know that when you have long-term goal like that, actually doing the work is often different from your idealized expectations. So I went in excited and enthusiastic, but with a clear head professionally.
But I was thrilled to find that everyone I worked with at Black Library was both passionate about the material and excellent creative partners. It’s really been a joy to collaborate with their team and find that not only are they very good at what they do, but they’re extremely pleasant to work with as well.
ToW: Can you talk at all about anything else that you’ve got in the pipeline (for Black Library or otherwise)?
As I said, my Open Submissions story hasn’t been announced yet, so keep an eye out for that. If you want to catch any announcements of that type, you can follow me on Twitter @RobWritesPulp – I won’t be quiet about new releases, as I’ll be more excited than anyone!
Past that, I can’t say more. The Inquisition has eyes everywhere, and though I’m a decent-sized guy, I’m not sure I could take Harlon Nayl.
Outside of Black Library, Extra History posts every Saturday on YouTube. Right now we’re doing Joan of Arc, and the Inca Empire and Angkor Wat after that.
ToW: Finally, do you have any overall advice for anyone hoping to submit this year?
RR: Think of your pitch like a movie trailer. You don’t need to show them everything, just use the pitch to give a sense of who the characters are, the setting, what kind of problems they’re facing, and the tone of the story. Then in your writing sample focus on giving a feel for what the completed story will read like with regard to tone. The pitch is where you lay out the story, the sample is where you prove you have the writing chops to tell the story.
If you want practice, read the back of a few Black Library paperbacks. In the same way the back of a novel tries to hook a reader into buying a book, a pitch tries to hook an editor into acquiring a story. A pitch doesn’t tell the editor everything about the story, just enough to get them interested.
After that, the biggest thing is to be patient. Publishing is not a fast business and they get a lot of submissions. If you haven’t heard back months later, it’s not necessarily bad news – at least it wasn’t in my case!
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Many thanks to Robert for taking the time to answer these questions, and provide such interesting and thought-provoking answers! If you haven’t already read it, you can find my review of Robert’s debut Black Library short story The Garden of Mortal Delights right here.
For further information about the 2018 Black Library open submissions window, and more advice and ideas from authors regarding how to prepare for the 2019 window, have a read of this article.
Click here to buy The Garden of Mortal Delights.
If you’ve got any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or come find me on Twitter or Facebook.