Writing For Toon

Please also read the general Style Guide and Formatting Guides.

Toon Writers' Guideline Supplement

Last Updated: September 24, 1998

Dear Potential Toon Writers:

Hi! We're definitely interested in Toon contributions from silly people . . . You must read and follow our general writers' guidelines, but here's some specific information. (For short submissions, like individual gadgets, you don't need to send a query letter or a proposal. Just hit us with the submission. But remember, without a SASE, we won't return it, or acknowledge it at all unless we use it.)

Look at our existing Toon books. That's what we want! Send us:

• Silly adventures, long or short, written more or less in the existing format, with good characters that are legal under the Toon rules.
• Idiotic charts and tables. We love them.
• Ludicrous new rules and backgrounds (but be careful, because if you make Toon too complex, it quits being Toon).
• Interesting gadgets and devices. In the Toon Ace Catalog, we got a whole book out of them! But we can use a few more in ANY book.

What We Pay:

For a short submission (individual gadgets, characters, and so on) we'll list you on the title page and send you a copy of the book.

For a longer submission (several gadgets or characters, at least a thousand words total) we will also pay 2 cents a word, plus a copy of the book. Or you can take 4 cents a word in credit from our Direct Mail department.

For a whole adventure, or the equivalent: As above, except the title-page listing is more prominent and you get three copies of the book.

For a whole book - or so much of a whole book that you are obviously One Of The Writers - we give cover credit and a royalty, plus your free copies.

Notes on Style And Other Stuff:

1. Don't use the word Toon to describe a cartoon character. Really.
2. Feel free to include illustrations - if they're clear, we can use them as guidelines for the professional cartoon artist who will illustrate the whole book.
3. If you get heavily into parodies of specific people, it probably won't be as funny as you think it is. Try to make it feel like the Warner Brothers classics, OK?
4. But we've seen all the old Warner Brother classics, so send us something NEW that's LIKE that . . . not a repeat.

Best -
Steve Jackson