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G.I. Joe - Amazon Kindle Worlds Author Thread

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Discussion starter · #21 ·
C.A. Bryers said:
It's hard to say where they'll fall on covers. I'd probably say they're going to say no to using covers already in existence, since there's the element of the penciler, colorist, inker, etc. who won't be getting compensated for this kind of usage. If they give us somewhere to simply download the G.I. Joe logo to use on our own covers, that will work for me. DeviantArt would be a good place to go to commission comic-styled covers, hopefully for a reasonable price.

But yeah, the response letter was a bit strange, but nice that they offered up a big 'thank you' for participating. If we do have free reign to do whatever continuity-wise, I'll be adhering closer to the feel of the comic than the cartoon. The cartoon was a bit wacky often, and the comic got downright gritty at times, which is what I'd like to go for with my stories.

At the moment, I'm leaning toward a "blank slate" approach, apart from the characters themselves. That way, you're not expecting readers to know 30 years of G.I. Joe continuity, from whichever source you're drawing your inspiration from. It's hard to say, though. Your readership will probably be fans of the series already, rather than readers new to G.I. Joe altogether. A dilemma, but I'm still thrilled! 8)

EDIT: Just saw Greg's new post, so looks like I get to cool my heels regarding how I'll handle continuity. Get that G.I. Joe bible together for us, Hasbro!
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I put that character history together mainly for my own use in getting my thoughts around this. Still, I think some of the best ways to please fans and not bore new people will be to just put little snippets here and there in dialogue that refer to past events.

"Ha, those blokes ain't got a chance against me and me chainsaw!"

"Yeah, like that time you were tracking Snake-Eyes through the swamps?" Torch laughed.

"Right," Monkeywrench chimed in, "I remember we had to drag your sorry hide outta there bawling!"

Ripper gave them both a dirty look as they laughed, but Zartan was already raising his arms.

"Can it," he said, "we've got enough work to do without you two yapping your traps. Now let's go!"

Something like that I think will clue in some real die-hards and get them to nod their head.
 
#22 ·
That would work too--and might act as nice "Easter Eggs" for the hardcore Joe fans, who--more than likely--will be the main ones reading these anyway.

Greg, when you wrote your Kurt Vonnegut Kindle Worlds story, what was the process like? Did they provide you with rules, or was it simply submit your synopsis/outline/whatever, and they either accept or decline?
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
I just submitted it to them, which is just uploading it on the Kindle Worlds dashboard, which is separate from the main KDP page. 

I had no guidance or anything, but they did email me back a few times saying my author photo couldn't be used in the book, some things with the TOC, and such.

It's a lot easier than Kindle Serials, which I've submitted two twice and never heard anything on.
 
Discussion starter · #24 ·
Bump

Anyone getting some good progress on their stories? 

I've got 6,800 words of 11,000 on my first one, and emailed them yesterday about it.  I asked if anyone in the department would be interested in looking at these stories early.  They're going to have to if they want things ready for launch, I figure, unless they allow you to start uploading a week before or something.
 
#25 ·
Greg Strandberg said:
Bump

Anyone getting some good progress on their stories?
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Not yet. I'm rereading the classic Marvel issues and jotting down ideas. Figured I'd wait until the guidelines are available before writing. The press release noted stuff would be happening over the next couple months, so there's no telling just how soon the property will be open to submissions.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
JimJohnson said:
Not yet. I'm rereading the classic Marvel issues and jotting down ideas. Figured I'd wait until the guidelines are available before writing. The press release noted stuff would be happening over the next couple months, so there's no telling just how soon the property will be open to submissions.
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Yeah, I may be shooting myself in the foot. I picked up the first volume of comics and have been reading them. Right now I'm trying to comb names for senators out of them, or any members of the Jugglers, although I think they come much later. I need a lot of government officials for my darker, more conspiracy-like world.

I think this is a good buy, $1 an issue. I read it on my computer, and it's kind of pain because the text is so small and you have to click on each individual panel to read it up close. Time-consuming!

http://www.amazon.com/G-I-Joe-Classics-Vol-1-ebook/dp/B00939OLRC/ref=pd_sim_b_9
 
#28 ·
JimJohnson said:
Not yet. I'm rereading the classic Marvel issues and jotting down ideas. Figured I'd wait until the guidelines are available before writing. The press release noted stuff would be happening over the next couple months, so there's no telling just how soon the property will be open to submissions.
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I'm doing the same, almost through my first collected edition. Since mine are going to be short stories/novellas, I'm concentrating at first of smaller groups of Joes. If things keep building within my little corner of Joe, I might broaden things for a story or two. :D
 
#29 ·
C.A. Bryers said:
I'm doing the same, almost through my first collected edition. Since mine are going to be short stories/novellas, I'm concentrating at first of smaller groups of Joes. If things keep building within my little corner of Joe, I might broaden things for a story or two. :D
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That's what I'm thinking too. Writing 10,000ish word novellas to target the better royalty rate and do stories that feature interesting groupings of Joes. Sort of like that great backup story in the first Marvel issue that featured Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, and Rock n' Roll. Get a few of those out there, then start playing with some slightly longer stories and maybe a couple multiple-title story arcs. Everything I've heard about KW tells me the sky is pretty much the limit as to what you can do as long as you play within the guidelines.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
That's a much better format! I might try that for Vol. 2. I just hate double-clicking to see those small panels, and if I can zoom with my mouse, or if they look like those previews, it's so much better. Thanks!

C.A. Bryers said:
I'm doing the same, almost through my first collected edition. Since mine are going to be short stories/novellas, I'm concentrating at first of smaller groups of Joes. If things keep building within my little corner of Joe, I might broaden things for a story or two. :D
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Do you want to mention which characters you're using?

This is for my Vol. 1:

Torch
Ripper
Buzzer
Monkeywrench
Thrasher
Zanzibar
Tomax
Xamot

Vol. 2:


Hawk
Stalker
Breaker
Clutch
Scarlett
Snake Eyes
Rock 'n Roll
Steeler
Grand Slam
Flash
Short-Fuze
Grunt
Zap

I haven't really started on that Vol. 2 yet so I'll probably winnow that list of characters down quite a bit. Also, I plan to kill one character in each story. We'll see how that goes over. :)
 
#32 ·
Greg Strandberg said:
Do you want to mention which characters you're using?
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Since I'm not starting right away and am in idea collection phase (too much of my original material to get tidied up and released first), I haven't settled on who I'll be using right away. Since the Baroness is probably my favorite character, she'll show up at one point of another, definitely, along with a lot of the Cobra heavy-hitters. Joe-wise, that's pretty much wide open, right now. While re-reading stuff, I'm sure a few will jump out at me, and wind up in the stories.
 
#34 ·
JimJohnson said:
I think I just figured out what I'm doing on my upcoming snow day. :)
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Nice! Wish I'd have foreseen the arrival of Netflix before I bought the complete series footlocker box set! Ah well, it's still good to have.

My influence is going to be coming largely from the comics, since the cartoon was (obviously) more kid-oriented, and therefore, quite silly at times. That's not to say the comic was geared toward adults--it certainly wasn't--but the tone, the complexity of story lines, and the technical language Larry Hama used that became a Joe staple was clearly for (somewhat) more mature readers.

That said, the cartoon is a good place to get reacquainted with the LOADS of characters the Joeverse has. There are also some newer cartoons out that are a little less goofy, such as G.I. Joe: Renegades (also on Netflix), and a stand-alone movie, G.I. Joe: Resolution (haven't seen it pop up on Netflix yet, but it's got a good few major character deaths!).
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
Jim Beard said:
Hi, folks.

A Hasbro rep told me that everything but the feature film(s) continuity is on the table.

Jim!
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Great to know, but what does that mean exactly? I saw the first one year ago, read about the second one on Wikipedia (which sounds like a reboot), and other than that don't know much.

I'm not really interested in the films that much myself. I just hope they don't say some characters are off limits because they're in the film, or died in one or something.
 
#40 ·
Greg Strandberg said:
Great to know, but what does that mean exactly? I saw the first one year ago, read about the second one on Wikipedia (which sounds like a reboot), and other than that don't know much.

I'm not really interested in the films that much myself. I just hope they don't say some characters are off limits because they're in the film, or died in one or something.
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My thought on it is simply that the two films' unique take on the characters and situations cannot be used for Kindle Worlds stories, nothing more than that, and all other forms of GI Joe are usable. I would guess that the only character prohibitions would be any that originated in the films.

Jim!
 
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