Fanfic/art -- new zine to debut at the con

CarolD

Registered User
Jul 15, 2006
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Hi all,

We'd like to have a brand spankin' new QL zine ready to make its debut at the con -- perhaps 200 pages of great new Sam & Al adventures, with accompanying artwork.

This is the thread to chat about stories you might have in the works, or art you'd like to do for the zine. I know there are writers and artists (all very talented) out there in the membership. What projects do you have percolating around in your heads?
 
Would already-created artwork count if it's never been published in a previous fanzine? I've got two portraits of Dean as well as a chibi pic and a Christmas QL piece that I've already had done for ages that I'd love to contribute. ( http://rjoyhelvie.deviantart.com/gallery/ )

Given that we've got some 2.5 years 'til the con, I imagine I could always finish The Mirror Shattered (in prose) if that'd work.... I might have a cool Al-leap story that might work better (and be a lot shorter).

So, yeah, I've definitely got a lot of ideas, and I've been thinking of doing a new portrait of Dean, too, so maybe I could do one just for this....

:Love To All:
~ Joy ~
 
Beautiful artwork, Joy! I should scan my own drawings onto that site. This talk of artwork is giving me some much needed inspiration to start drawing again. What better to start on than some QL-related drawings? The only catch is I'd have to do them in my own time and my own way or else it won't be my best work. Sometimes being a perfectionist can be a pain...
 
My question is, would crossovers be accepted, I'm working on one right now, and would really like to include it if possible? I think it will be pretty long, I've written already 25 pages on it and there's a bit more material that will need to be added.
 
I think previously done artwork is fine -- I don't have a problem with that. And newly-created art would be terrific as well.

Yvette, I think a crossover would be OK as long as it was basically a QL story that brought in other characters (rather than the other way around). Most of our survey respondees said they want the con to be 100% QL, and I think zine buyers might want a strongly QL zine. But I'll consider each story individually, so we can pick out the best ones for the zine.
 
I'm thinking about submitting something; two and a half years should be enough time to whip a story into shape. Are there any submission rules we should know about?
 
I just have one: no slash. Anything other than that, we can work with. :)

Although, I'd say go light on any steamy stuff, so we don't have to deal with making sure buyers are over 18. (And so we wouldn't offend anyone.)
 
I would like to know how you would like it formatted, how long it needs to be and to also ask if the mention of Evil Leapers will be a negative thing. Being someone who writes in the Quantum Retribution realm as well as the Quantum Leap realm, I would like to know if there are some other "perks" that need to be in the story. I don't want to submit a story to be put into the zine and find out that it was totally massacred when it went to print.

Thanks,
MJ
 
Oh I love the evil leapers, so I don't see why that would be a problem. However, you'd want to stay within the aired episodes canon. I love TVS, but some people reading the zine might get quite confused if anything was based off TVS storylines such as the rogue leaper or characters invented for Quantum Retribution.
 
Of course, Brian. I wouldn't throw in any QR stuff into the mix. I just meant the Evil Leapers part since it was brought up within the series. I think that it's more than viable. I just wanted to make sure, that's all. I mean, I love Lothos, Thames and Zoe. So, bringing them back to life is going to be awesome.... as well as making Al the same leching soul. :)

MJ
 
I don't have any problem with the Evil Leapers. You could bring in your own original characters, too, as long as there's enough setup that readers aren't going, "Who the heck is this, and where did he/she come from?" (Spoken as someone who caught a ton of flack for writing about characters at the Project that Bellisario didn't invent.)

As far as formatting -- Microsoft Word, please, with a minimum of formatting. (No fancy fonts or layout. Our artist extraordinaire, Maryse, is going to work with me on page layout for the zine, so we'll be reformatting with fonts, titles, and so on.) Length doesn't matter. (Although, so that the zine can be a collection of stories, I'd say nothing above maybe 50 pages.)

I know what you mean about stories being massacred, MJ -- I wrote a Classic Trek novel way back when, and the editor decided that it needed to coincide both with the previous zines he'd published, and with his own particular view of the Trek universe. So he deleted an entire storyline, inserted new characters from "his" universe, and put in FOOTNOTES to explain who they were!!! Yep, I was happy with that one. :)

I will say that if the story looks promising but could use some tweaking to make it really shine, I'll work along with the author to spruce it up before publication. I'm really a fanatic about punctuation, too (thank my 8th grade English teacher, Miss Davenport), so I'll look at that along with the author.