"The standard commandment is 'whatever you do, keep it brief.' Think 'high concept'. Train yourself to explain your ideas in the style and substance of a TV Guide listing. In other words, learn to be a blurb, a one-liner kinda guy, a fool. This is nonsense... Being brief is an axiom created mainly by the people who suffer boring pitches. They are not trying to help you. They are trying to make their lives easier, and you can hardly blame them. Many executive acquaintances of mine claim that spending a day in a small office listening to desperately sweaty tales is like being tied up and whipped in a crowded bar for thirty-six hours."

Those cynical observations come from Art Linson's highly readable guide to being a Hollywood producer, A POUND OF FLESH. It's easy to sympathise with the studio executives here. When you consider how terrible some of the films they make are, god only knows how bad some of the stuff they knock back must be. If you've got to wade through it, at least let it be quick and painless.

Of course, there are other approaches.

'I pray the submission editors know what they're getting into.' One unusual facet of the new Epic imprint is that Marvel is positively asking people to send in entire first issue scripts. Last week saw the publication of MARVILLE #7, which isn't a comic at all. It's a pamphlet containing Bill Jemas' guide to writers on how to pitch for the new imprint. Yes, I've written about Epic before, when it was first announced. But we have a little more to go on now.

As if that entire first issue wasn't providing the submission editors with enough work, Jemas goes on to suggest that you might want to submit a typical issue of your ongoing series in addition to (or instead of) the issue #1 origin story; and the submission guidelines encourage writers to provide scene-by-scene breakdowns for the other issues in their storylines.

Newsarama has estimated that there could be 10,000 copies of this book out there. Now, admittedly, that estimate is on the basis that retailers would order issue #7 as if it were a continuation of the previous series - questionable, I'd say. The idea that there are 10,000 people out there prepared to pay $3 for the privilege of getting a copy of the submission guidelines strikes me as optimistic.

Nonetheless, Marvel is inviting a deluge of material here. For the mental health of the submissions editors, I pray they know what they're getting into. Of course, there will be a large number that can be discarded almost immediately, on the basis of obvious incompetence. Marvel is claiming that these books won't be edited. The exact meaning of that is somewhat confusing, but it certainly implies a low level of supervision. And in turn, that implies that it's a deal that should only be offered to creators who don't need supervision and can produce quality work left to their own devices.

'The content of 'Telling Great Stories' is largely uncontroversial stuff.' What confuses me is the tension between that approach and the desire to hire newcomers. There is little in MARVILLE #7 that is likely to come as a surprise to anyone reading this column. It's a strange publication. It's a mixture of Jemas explaining the commercial realities of the Epic line, with reasonable candour, and giving advice on the sort of stories Epic is looking for.

There is a breakdown of how you get paid. There is an explanation of what sort of stories they're looking for (which, rather curiously, suggests that they're primarily interested in superhero stories and material of that ilk - even while acknowledging that this plays against the imprint's mission statement of widening the audience). And there's a chapter entitled, "Telling Great Stories: how to write stories Epic will publish".

The content of the "Telling Great Stories" chapter is largely uncontroversial stuff. It stresses the importance of clarity; proper character introduction; the need to write in arcs in order that trade paperback reprinting is possible; and the importance of leading the audience rather than being led by them.

Some pieces of advice are perhaps more illuminating as a display of what Marvel in particular is looking for in a story, and a couple are downright questionable - Jemas' fourth rule, on finding the right entry point for your story, seems to err heavily on the side of starting early, which is the exact opposite of conventional storytelling wisdom. The suggestion that you should start slowly is fine if it's emphasising the importance of building to a climax over time, but a few recent Marvel books have displayed a questionable lack of sensitivity to the need to advance the plot satisfyingly in issue #1.

'The exact nature of Epic's proposed editorial involvement is vague.' In any event, much of the advice in this issue is fairly elementary. On one level that's entirely understandable, because the line is aiming to bring in newcomers. On the other hand, some of this is pitched at the level of the absolute novice. Now, there may be plenty of Marvel readers who have never written a story in their lives but have tremendous latent ability just waiting to get out. Entirely possible.

But is there really a constituency out there who needed to be told most of the material in MARVILLE #7, and yet are capable of producing a publishable comic from scratch without editorial supervision? The existence of MARVILLE #7 suggests that Marvel think there is. I can't help thinking that's extraordinarily optimistic.

The exact nature of Epic's proposed editorial involvement is somewhat vague. Jemas writes:

The editor's main function is to be the reader's advocate in the creative process - making sure the books are understandable and enjoyable. But Marvel will not edit EPIC books, you will. This means that, sometimes, you have to think like a reader, not just like a writer. You have to step back from the creative process from time to time and give your work a very objective reading - or just ask your friends and family to read your work and give you honest input.

On the other hand, there are clearly editors involved in the process somewhere. They commission the book in the first place. They review the first five pages once they're available, and can ask for changes at that stage. They do it again once the book is complete. ("If the pages are not approved, we will give you feedback and ask you to make corrections and re-submit the materials...") This gives an out for editorial intervention if need be.

Time will tell just what level of editorial involvement we're talking about here. The spirit of what they're saying is that they're not going to take a hands-on approach, but they reserve the right to step in - and indeed not to publish the comic at all - if you cock up badly. The reality might turn out to be different, especially if Marvel really does commission a slew of stories from total newcomers.

Paul O'Brien is the author of the weekly X-AXIS comics review.

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