How to write a Shot

If your Shot has already been commisioned, or you want to see detailed writing criteria, then please download our guide. Otherwise, you will find some general submission guidlines and example Shots below:

• A Shot is a reworking of the original work into modern prose which condenses and clarifies it for a broader audience. A Shot must remain clearly focused on the parent text and not become a critique of it or a commentary on it.
• A Shot should also convey a flavour of the original style, as well as generating interest and enthusiasm. It is not simply a mechanical process.
• Please read one of our sample Shots before applying.

Structure

Each Shot comprises the following:

• An overall summary of the work in 500 – 1000 words, concluding with four or five of the most significant quotations.
• A summary of each chapter/act/section. The length of each chapter is left to the discretion of the author.
• Each chapter should end with three selected quotes from the original chapter upon which it is based.
• The whole Shot should be between 10 and 15 thousand words long.

Style and content

• The best Shots will impart a sense of the original style, whilst using your own words and being comprehensible to an intelligent contemporary audience.
• An intimate knowledge of the text and, in most cases, other works by the same writer is a prerequisite.
• Take care to provide a balanced representation of what is there. It is all too easy to put your own slant on the original, and this should be avoided.
• Although minor reorganisation may be necessary in the interest of clarity, follow the argument and structure of the original.

Other Comments

• A well-chosen, well-written Shot will earn considerably more, over time, in royalties than the initial cash payment, so try to select titles that have the best chance of selling consistently year after year.
• For the time being we are focusing on titles that are out of copyright, i.e. where the author has been dead for over 70 years.