Short Story Writing Guidelines

A very basic guide for potential and commissioned writers 

(Updated) 5th April 2005

NOTE:

 This document is presented on the understanding that it does not constitute an offer of a contract to write a script/story.

As you probably know Dream Realm Enterprises is a developing and growing audio production company. Our current goals are simple:

1. To get our name out there on the net for people across the globe to know who we are, and what we're about.

2. To produce high quality audio drama.

3. To be a medium where fresh new talent can showcase what they can do for all the world to see.

And just who are the DRE team?

Jon P Russell, whose main responsibility is the running of the company, both financially and in marketing terms, and who is the executive producer and CEO of the company (and all series and productions), responsible for commissioning the scripts/stories and overseeing the overall direction of the company. In the immortal words of Frank Capra, "one man, one vision".

Kyle Borcz, our company Vice President, as well as the Series Producer of Doctor Who. Kyle's Job as the Producer of this range is to join Executive Producer JPR in overseeing the production of the range, to consult on the range's direction, aid in casting and writing choices, promote the range, and help ensure the smooth running of the production as a whole.

K. Woo, our Executive Production Manager. The EPM’s duties are wide and varied. They include correspondence between varying productions, to the production staffs of each production, to the vast list of talent accumulated on the group, as well as acting as liaison between all of the above and the CEO, and consulting with the CEO on various production and/or group details (as defined by the CEO). Additional duties include taking charge of the affairs and duties of the CEO if/when he is incapacitated and/or unavailable. She is also called upon to consult on various aspects of various productions, the group in general, and acts as script consultant on various series and productions (CEO’s discretion). In her additional duties, she is also the unofficial story evaluator, deciding if submitted Pro Range story concepts are viable for production. She also acts as Executive Producer of the sketch comedy series 'Schrödinger’s Penguins’, Associate Producer on the sci-fi/fantasy anthology series 'The Realm Weaver' & Associate Producer on the fantasy/drama series 'The Masters of Koani'.

Ronn Smith is the star and Co-Producer of Doctor Who for the fan-based audio range.

What is the purpose of the Short Story Segment of the DRE Gold Website?

Basically, this is an outlet for the talent we already have in DRE and for new talent coming into the Production Group. This particular project is not meant for profit, but simply to display up and coming talent for all the world to see.

So, you want to write a short story for DRE Gold?

Okay, what is DRE looking for, and what are we not looking for?

To deal with that first:

We do not want...

·    Stories that are retreads of everything that's been done before in, either in book form, comic strips, etc. In other words, we don't want stories that are just basic "retellings" of old stories that have appeared anywhere before.

What do we want?

     ·    Original, slightly edgy, thought-provoking stories that are written with intelligence, and with a high standard in mind.

     ·    We only want outlines as submissions at this time. Not

          completed stories. We simply do not have time to read all the

          completed stories we would get in an average month. Believe

          me, we're being pitched new ideas all the time, and if we read

          every story that passed before our eyes we'd never even be

          able to get anything else done.

So, how do you go about pitching a short story to us?

What we want initially is a synopsis - about half a page per story, detailing the story, the events, the climaxes and the characters. A little bit about yourself, your writing experience, etc. would be nice, too. After this, if we want to go further, we'll be in touch, and let you know what we want you to do next. All things being equal, we'll hopefully offer you a spot on the website's short story segment. But none of this happens overnight, and there are many a time a story gets dropped some way into the initial exploratory conversations, because it becomes obvious it's not going to work for one of either party. Keep in mind, nothing is certain until your story is published.

Sadly, we are poor amateur audio producers at this stage of the game; we simply cannot pay anything for your submissions. What each writer submits will be on a voluntary basis. The writer of the material will retain all rights (as they exist) to his/her work, to use and develop elsewhere as he/she sees fit, unless otherwise arranged. We simply are borrowing the material with the understanding that what the writer of the submitted work gets is a writing credit, i.e. their name on a quality piece of literature which they can then point to as an example of their work and experience to future potential publishers. 

What is the wrong way, and what is the right way to go about writing a short story for DRE Gold?

Well, apart from the obvious (like writing stories with bad grammar, or in crayon and so forth!), avoid the lack of originality, bad plotting and poor characterization. Remember, feel free to stretch the reader's imagination. There's no point in doing something in your short story that has already been done on the screen or in a novel.

The Technical Bits

Short stories should be typed in 12pt Courier, with pages numbered sequentially. In most cases, we're looking at no less than 1,000 to about 5,000 words per short story.

Swearing: Always contentious, this one. However, here’s our official line:

Characters should, in general, not swear at all, except if they are very definitely 'modern' or it's a deliberate character trait, or quite light and humorous, or if it's for extreme impact. Basically, use your own judgment. If a story is better told with a few extra swear words, then I'd say go for it, but otherwise, leave it out. Swear words for the sole purpose of having swear words is always the wrong way to go in writing short stories. But, generally, just use your own judgment. We won't reject something with a lot of swear words if they actually move the plot. But, should it get excessive, we will either ask you to pull them back a bit, or put up a disclaimer on the page before your story. In most cases, let's just keep it clean, okay?

Good luck!

Jon P Russell

CEO, DRE Gold