We've talked about it enough. And now the time has finally come to unveil this weird and wonderful project. Or projects... Read on to see how you can be a part of it.
Firstly, if you won a competition or placed in a shortlist, you've already netted yourself an invitation to the Atmos Collections. And what does an invitation entail? A guaranteed publication in one of our collections. You don't have to commit to the first one, as we'll be running multiple ones over the coming years. But having an invitation does guarantee your work in print at some point!
But what work? Where? How? Who? And again... what?
The Atmos Collections are a series of collaborative writing projects produced by aspiring writers. The quirk? They aren't themed or curated, they're purpose-written in a shared storyworld.
I think it'll be easier if we do this under headings...
Where are these collections and how do they work?
We've set up a dedicated website just for the Atmos Collections which you can find here.
If you don't have approved login credentials -- ie. you haven't been invited or had your work reviewed by us and approved -- then you'll hit a wall. And that's because these aren't open to submit to in the same way our other publications have been. Sorry about that! But don't worry, we'll be offering the chance to get your work into them even if you didn't win a competition. And more info will follow on that in the coming months.
If however, you do have an invite or have had your work approved, then you'll be able to proceed into a private forum where you'll be able to workshop your pieces, concoct ideas and collaborative pieces, and talk with your fellow writers. This will all be kicking off throughout February and stretching into 2020 at a leisurely pace.
It's our hope that you'll be able to produce a piece of work that fits into whatever world we're creating (with your input and ideas, of course), and take it from idea to finished piece within a supportive environment. We foresee drafts being worked on among the writers so that every piece that appears in these collections will be linked and entwined with the others to create a serious and cohesive collection quite unlike anything else. A dozen or more talented writers all penning a novel together, one character and story at a time.
Sound exciting? We think so too.
How can I get my work in if I didn't shortlist for a competition?
We're going to have an open submission page for those writers who want to participate but either didn't place or missed the competitions that will become available sometime in the spring. We'll be asking for a 'pitch' rather than a straight submission, though. Think of it as a cover-letter style submission with an elevator pitch and just the opening few paragraphs, as well as a little piece of writing that explains why you think your piece would make a great addition to the collections. We'll have more info on this coming soon, when we unveil our first collection.
Will it just be prose, or will there be poetry, too?
We're going to be working on both a prose and a poetry collection simultaneously and those with an invite can participate in either.
Where will these be published?
We're going to be publishing them in the same way that we do our anthologies, but will also be looking for support from publishing houses should we feel the interest is enough to warrant that. Mostly, though, these are for gratification. For the sheer joy of working with other writers and producing something fun and exciting!
What kind of collections will they be?
We'll be doing lots of different stuff, but as this is something that myself (Daniel) and Nathan have conceptualised, and as such, we'll be concocting the core concepts and chairing the development. As such, you can expect high-concept genre-driven fiction that's current, potent, challenging, scary even... Science fiction, fantasy, dystopia, horror, and much, much more. However, that isn't to say that the pieces can't be literary, as we're hoping to connect with a wide audience and really showcase how a single idea can be approached from different angles with different styles and sub-genres coming through. Think of Kauo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. They share a genre on paper, but couldn't be more different. We hope to be able to showcase the variety of writing within the confines of a shared universe in order to create a diverse and dynamic reading experience.
How long will they take and when can we expect them to come out?
We're not putting a time frame on them, as we'll keep working on a collection until we feel it's ready to put out into the world. That could be months, it may be a year. It all depends on how they come together. But we'll keep working on different collections to keep a steady flow of work moving. We want these collections to feel uninhibited, however, and there will be no schedule adhered to. It's an open forum for the writers and an organic process that takes as long as it takes to produce something great.
Sound like something you'd like to get involved with? Head to the site here: https://atmoscollections.com
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