Matrix Games Forums

Hi guys
Whilst battling the penguin...........
Some of you may remember the AAR "the little ship that could"
Much to my surprise, a Literary agent has offered "to give it a go"as a book

I would like some advice, if you were to pitch the story, how would you tackle it?
Who would you aim it at?

any advice appreciated
Anyone here interested in buying it when it comes out?
regards

1275psi

Thanks to the recent thread on movies I can’t help think what Hollywood would do to it!

- Well, it is about a little sheep that gets drafted into USMC...
- They had draft back then?
- Yes. The USMC used the sheep as a bait to lure the meat-hungry Japs out of their camouflaged positions. The sheep basically lived on the frontlines...
- Fascinating...
- The sheep also carried the wounded, attacked the jungle foliage with its jaws and cleared minefields. Basically, it is Cinderella in the Pacific...
- I will get Disney behind it. Let's skip the book stuff altogether and make a motion picture instead. BTW, what's the sheep called?
-Fubuki.
-FUBARuki?

Needs Ben Aflick as the male lead!

- perhaps in the role of a fighter pilot, based in Hawaii?

Wow these ideas as just bursting forth!!

Starring Ben Affleck as Lt. Ben "Major" Afflict, an indefatigable USMC pilot, bent on beating the Japs in any way necessary. He will sacrfice historical accuracy in order to afflict major losses on the enemy. When he learns that the Nazis are trying to supply the Japanese Empire with the Sonnengewehr technology smuggled on a little ship, he vows to find the ship in the vastness of the Pacific oceans. Using his natural gift - his non-blinking eyes and the stone face - he is able to scout the ocean where other pilots squint, blink and miss. Soon, he finds out the ship and a long uneven duel commences.

Directed by Steven Spielberg

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Hi guys
Whilst battling the penguin...........
Some of you may remember the AAR "the little ship that could"
Much to my surprise, a Literary agent has offered "to give it a go"as a book

I would like some advice, if you were to pitch the story, how would you tackle it?
Who would you aim it at?

any advice appreciated
Anyone here interested in buying it when it comes out?
regards

1275psi

It's a common thing with the WW2 novels/memoirs that obfuscate the specific details of military operations for literary reasons.

Geographical features that don't actually exist, a fantasy ship serving along side real ships, campaigns for an island that doesn't actually exist but based on a real campaign.

The novel "Thin Red Line" is a good example of this - the characters involved all serve in a company of the "Nth Division", during the Guadalcanal campaign and various fantasy geographcial features are listed.

Having a read of this book might be good to provide an insight in to how to frame a novel in historical military context without having to worry too much about fitting the plot development of the novel with an actual campaign.

I plan to buy the book as a gift for my son.
I will have to re-read the AAR to figure out how to approach it. Character development is one of the things that made the AAR so immersive.

Tameichi Hara called his book "Japanese Destroyer Captain" but his focus was on describing battles with little info on characters. Your book could be called something like "The Crew" and follow the key characters as they gathered together and separated, fought and changed, dismayed and hoped through the ups and downs of war and life. If your agent insists on one character being the protagonist, pick the one with the most interesting love story. Some will say love does not belong in a war story but they are the ones who have not experienced the loneliness of deployment and the longing for common everyday life.

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Hi guys
Whilst battling the penguin...........
Some of you may remember the AAR "the little ship that could"
Much to my surprise, a Literary agent has offered "to give it a go"as a book

I would like some advice, if you were to pitch the story, how would you tackle it?
Who would you aim it at?

any advice appreciated
Anyone here interested in buying it when it comes out?
regards

1275psi

I'm not able to give any advice but I can say congratulations! [:)]

Now I have to read your AAR!

There is a lot of interest in alternate history. I did buy one from some other guy who posted here, it was no where near as good as your AAR.

I'll buy it [;)]

Just thought of something - since the story is based on the game, you may have to ask your literary agent about whether Matrix has any copywrite claim or other legal interest in the book ...
I know you are not describing the game per se but the battle results arise from it.

Doesn't Matrix own all forum content?

I can't imagine that Matrix owns the content of our creativity, though it's been so long since I read the terms of usage that I can't specifically recall.

But if that's a possibility, shoot them an email. I guarantee you they'd gladly give permission and be thrilled about the prospect of seeing this come to fruition.

I would think that Matrix owns the actual Forum layout/design/content, so that we don't have the right to take screenies of the actual Forum and make commercial uses of them, etc.

I think BBFanboy has the right idea:

While your knowledge and inclusion of naval machinary is interesting, and surely included in the final novel, but the Pitch needs to be a couple of sentences at most:

Like "Letters from Iwo Jima but on an IJN CVL in an alternate universe developed while playing the best wargame of its genre."

You have lots of great material which can be shifted along 3 story lines:
the Commander and Staff;
the Pilots;
the Black Gang.

But what is the overall story arc... what is it all about?

You have got great bones for a number of differnt tracks, but you need to decided on one to sell in the Pitch.

As soon as you get a good idea of what the story is about, then you need to write up a basic synopsis. It doesn't have to have a lot of detail but give a road map as you then go back to your source AAR material and then start editing/ crafting/ grafting in the overall story arc.

Good luck.

some ideas (no charge [:D]?)

Below the water line

Blue Water Black death

Steam and Sweat under the Rising Sun

The Last wake

Bushido Seamen

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Just thought of something - since the story is based on the game, you may have to ask your literary agent about whether Matrix has any copywrite claim or other legal interest in the book ...
I know you are not describing the game per se but the battle results arise from it.

Absolutely not a lawyer, but I'd imagine what psi proposes would be covered pretty clearing under derivative work standards in copyright law.

Still, this is an interesting thought exercise.

A copyright claim made on a novel deriving some part from events transpiring in a video game is going to be tenuous. The degree of transformativeness from video game to novel is pretty high. The history of the Pacific War is public domain (lol at writing that), so if Matrix was going to make a copyright claim then it would need to be off elements of the story ripped directly from the game.

That sort of legal argument might have basis in a blatant word-for-word transposition of a plot-heavy game, but less so in a game like AE.

Based on my half hour of Google-fu, Matrix could maybe bring a case if they bring out the hot-shot corporate laywers, but I don't see the return they'd get.

Be glad Matrix isn't owned by Disney, however.

ORIGINAL: mind_messing

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Just thought of something - since the story is based on the game, you may have to ask your literary agent about whether Matrix has any copywrite claim or other legal interest in the book ...
I know you are not describing the game per se but the battle results arise from it.

Be glad Matrix isn't owned by Disney, however.

.... yet!

Your timing is interesting. Some gents just wrote a book based on a group of CMANO scenarios and Matrix is promoting it on its news page. I bought the book on Kindle on the strength of some very Clancy-esque AARs posted on grogheads.com, but haven't read it yet.

I'd guess Matrix would be happy to support your book as well. You might want to check with them.

EDIT: If there's any advice I could give, it would be character development is what makes a good novel. I'd stick to a few characters and develop them well--get into their motivations and the like.

Cheers,
CB

ORIGINAL: 1275psi
Some of you may remember the AAR "the little ship that could"
Much to my surprise, a Literary agent has offered "to give it a go"as a book

I would like some advice, if you were to pitch the story, how would you tackle it?
Who would you aim it at?

Is this for a pitch to the literary agent or to a potential publisher(s)?

If the literary agent is already on-board as your post seems to suggest, I would have thought their experience would put them in the best position to advise on the right potential target market (and associated publishers) and the most suitable type of pitch for that market. Normally agents don't take up clients without having already done some assessment of their own as to the potential marketability of a writer's work and how it might be maximised.

Not suggesting anything about the literary agent involved in your situation, just trying to understand the point you are at in the process.

Hi buckrock
Literary agent already aboard

Just thinking bout the pitch to publishers

Book is going to be called; A False Duty