The editors wish to make the following suggestions to all aspiring authors:

You have An IDEA! Great!

But you know little or nothing about the seventeenth century . . .

And the Barflies in 1632 Tech Manual will demand cites and sources . . .

That’s OKAY! First of all, not all stories require a great deal of technical or historical knowledge. No one expects Ph.D. dissertation levels of detail. But what you write needs to be correct, so you will almost certainly need to do some research, even on areas you already know a lot about. And now that more than twenty years have passed since the first book was published, most of us need to check on the “up-time” details because it’s been so long. Was a certain song you want to mention published before or after April 2000? What sports figures and musicians were current pop favorites? Which TV shows were popular?

Canon

Everyone needs to follow canon.

Mistakes, Oversights,  & Retcons

If you think you’ve found a mistake, by all means, bring it to our attention. If it could be read multiple ways, the one that doesn’t require us to change a published book might just be correct.  Please keep in mind that situations characterized by “You could/should have done it this way instead” are authorial choice, not mistakes.

“You may have overlooked this” situations are actually kind of fun, because that gives you a chance to contribute to the 1632 universe.  For example, for a while characters were confining themselves to mercury fulminate for caplock primers, until Robert Head came along on Baen’s Bar and suggested another compound.  He then proceeded to go make it successfully, and the newly-named “Head process” was handed off to the French and helped raise the dramatic states in the series.

A few times we have had to change something, and it’s usually at the point where stories were being gathered into novels, and something had gotten ahead of the main plotline.  In these cases, see above: the later version is official.

Canon & Continuity

If you’d like to be published, it would be a good idea to read the first few books in the core series books and several issues of the magazine. Most of the writing you’ll be doing will be for submission to Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond, so you should read recent issues for examples of the types of stories we’re buying now.

1. The more recent issues of The Grantville Gazette will also help you see what is of interest.
2. While it would be fantastic if you read all of canon first, we realize how much that is and it is not a requirement or expectation. But you do have to have read some of the 1632verse.

Stories won’t be published if they don’t conform to canon. The barflies are quite happy to help with that, after you post your story to 1632 Slush.

Mannington vs. Grantville

The town of Mannington, WV, is our model and violent deviations from that town (vastly different business, different agricultural practice, different cultural practice) will not be accepted.

1. Do your research. If you can show that a specific thing was common in rural WV prior to 2000, then you may have justified putting it in your story.
2. Do your research. If you can show that a specific thing was easy to do with things that were common in rural WV (including knowledge), then you may have justified including it in your story.
3. Do your research to ensure you understand the town/lifestyle you are writing about. If your story is set in Grantville and you have most of the kids hating country music or unfamiliar with popular country songs, that is unrealistic. If you have it set in small-town Germany, there are a whole ton of specific details the barflies can give you. For example, both regular bathing and educating children was commonplace in seventeenth-century Germany. Not so much in England at the time.

Mannington is a real town, with real people. The names have been changed and there are some differences, but authors routinely use Google Maps to look around town and figure out where things are. The houses in Grantville by and large don’t have basements because Mannington is flood-prone. The population of Grantville was created by using 2000 census data for Mannington. So while Grantville is fictional, it’s extremely closely tied to the very real Mannington, and we know a lot about what was in Mannington in 2000. Minor deviations are okay. The old bank building and apartments that were in ruinous condition IRL came through the RoF repairable, for example.

Mannington has oil wells. Grantville has a power plant. Mannington in 2000 had a ton of useful stuff in the Bower’s House/Senator’s Mansion. Eric Flint did not learn of this until after two novels were published, so none of that useful stuff came through the Ring of Fire. There are a few other differences where authors didn’t know about resources in Mannington, but it’s pretty limited.

Hard Mode vs. Easy Mode

Yes, you can write a story set at the Ring of Fire in 1631, but that is writing in “hard mode” because you have to be very, very sure whatever you write either fits in with all the canon for the future of the universe (see above: no retconning) or you have to write a story that is small enough that it won’t impact canon.

• “Freedom Arches” in Grantville Gazette #100 is an example of the former. It tied together the known bits about how the McDonald’s became the Freedom Arches.
• “Clotheslined” in Grantville Gazette #102 is an example of the latter. Most of us had assumed clotheslines were already in common use, which they apparently weren’t. As a result, the story had no impact on canon. In addition, people just don’t pay that much attention to what laundresses are doing.

So what’s “easy” mode? A small story focused on a lost-to-history village with made-up down-timers fairly close to the leading edge of canon. Or story populated by made-up down-timers in Grantville. The key points are using made-up down-timers, small stories, and being close to the leading edge of canon.

You’ll still need to do some research because alternate history still has a basis in history, but you’ll have fewer canon worries.

Starting your Research

1. Check this site and other 1632 sites, such as our Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube pages for ideas, inspiration, and help.
2. Do your research.
   1. Search online. If you aren’t finding any reputable-looking sources, ask on the Bar.
   2. Head for your local library and make friends with the reference librarian.
   3. Contact the History Department of your local college or junior college.
3. If you know a specific Barfly has special information, email them.
4. Ask on the Bar if someone can suggest sources of information for a specific subject. We have many experts on a wide range of subjects who are willing to point you in the right direction.

Picking Your Character: The Grid and More

1. Pick your character! This is a very unique part of the 1632 writing process.
   1. If you as author pick and use an unclaimed grid character with no prior mention in someone else’s story, and there are still hundreds of characters (actually more than 2000) in that category.
   2. If it’s on the Grid, you’re stuck with it. If you really can’t live with it, find a different character. That includes death dates, for those who have them, and all pre-RoF (Ring of Fire) information such as jobs and education.
   3. You can develop everything else that isn’t on the grid, such as hobbies and interests, physical appearance, personality quirks, old friends, old enemies, and bad habits. The personality appears when the character is written into a story. It is up to you as the author to ‘flesh out’ your characters. Please note, they need to seem like real people to a reader, not cardboard.
   4. All the up-timers who came through the RoF are in the Grid and you are constrained to what the grid tells you. There was some flexibility on this very early on, but less and less as time has passed. Unless you’re a major bestselling Baen author, do not expect any flexibility.
2. Down-timers are a different matter. Make as many of them as you want! (Just not nobility.)

Barflies

Barflies are friendly and will bend over backwards to help but you should not expect them to do all your research for you. All of us have families, jobs, and other Real Life things that cut down on our research time for our own ideas. We do not have time to do your research, too.

Please do not annoy busy Barflies, especially Virginia, with repeated requests for massive data dumps.

If you do ask for information, and get it, then do not ignore it.  Asking for clarification on historical points is one thing, arguing that ‘it just couldn’t be that way’ is another. We’ve been researching this for decades. If you disagree with us, be prepared to show proof, probably from primary sources. With that said, there are times our Barfliss get stuck arguing why something can’t be done and just won’t look for a yes. It’s pretty clear when that happens and when it does, there are usually a few people patiently explaining why it is possible. If that happens with your story idea, try focusing on the ones say “yes, and . . .” instead of the “no, never gonna happen” replies. Above all, listen to comments from Bjorn H., Bethanne K., and Chuck T. because they are the editors who either will, or will not, buy your story. Especially Bjorn. He’s the Editor-in-Chief.

 

Lastly, WRITE!

If you write, everything else can be fixed.

Your Friendly 1632 Editorial Board

Updated by the Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond editors, 24 August 2023