Getting Serious about Writing...

[seawasp]

While I have a good job which has, perhaps, some chance of becoming very lucrative, it could also never change much in its essence. I have, really, only one other talent that might change my family's condition for the better and maybe give us some security by getting enough resources that I'm not spending them about as fast as they come in.

So I really need to look at how to push this forward -- and to exploit the related talents I have of visualization and game design.

Near as I can tell, this means I need to do three things:

1) Develop a backlog of material, so if I get people interested in my stuff, I have something on hand.

2) Get an agent. Possibly two, since most book agents don't do movie, etc., agenting, and in general no one in the movie, TV, or video game industries will talk to you without either an agent or an "in" from Someone Who Knows Someone.

3) (speculative) Find a partner or partners who can help me develop at least one story or concept into demo media -- or, if the technology's gone far enough, a full-blown movie. I can script, I could probably direct to some extent, I can do some acting (especially voices for an animated or CGI character).

The latter point is one I've been thinking about for quite a while. Modern technology has been advancing in leaps and bounds. A lot of my material is very visually oriented. I "see" the movies in my mind. I can write the scripts without almost any effort -- I can see the shots, the zoom in and out, panning, movement...

...but I can't even do a still image worth looking at.

Nor can I code an RPG myself.

But if the technology has advanced far enough that I can do either one for a reasonable price, this is a potential way for me to advance my career that is not yet terribly common.

I'm posting this mainly to reinforce my resolve to start moving forward on at least the first two, and keep an eye out for opportunities to possibly advance the third.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Re. "get an agent" -- if your literary agent is halfway competent they'll have a sub-agency deal in place with a media specialist to handle media rights enquiries that come their (your) way. You don't need two agents; you need one good agent.

[seawasp]

Well, that's why I said "maybe".

The problem is that now I have to get my printer working, since my next set of agent candidates apparently use paper. I don't DO paper, and my printers always conk out whenever I try to use it because I use them so infrequently that the printer heads jam with ancient ink.

[argonel.livejournal.com]

Time to get a real printer. B&W laser printers are pretty cheap and unless you are printing a lot only need toner refills on an annual or biannual basis. If you prefer printing in color you will either have to spend more or suffer along with inkjets for a while longer.

Alternately you might check if your local office store will print stuff for you for a reasonable price. Why own and maintain a printer if you can print whatever you want for $0.03-$0.05 per page.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

http://www.onyxhawke.com/index.php

You already know Mike, I think.

[seawasp]

I do, in the electronic sense. I just emailed him from his site.

Then noticed that this is VERBOTEN from the site. Ah well, perhaps he'll forgive me.

[cordova829.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of agencies out there. You know my situation (well, kinda), and a good agency is worth it. Have you started sending out query letters and such?

[seawasp]

I've gotten rejections on the ones I've contacted up until now.

The next ones on my query list require ... paper, which means I have to get the printer working. I don't generally do paper.

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

Re: #3, you could always try your hand at machinima...

Ditto Rpg modding.

[seawasp]

I can do things like that about quarter-assed. It'd be a lot of fun. But I'd have to spend like three novels' worth of spare time to learn how to do it well enough to be useful. That's why I need people who can do the stuff in question.

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

There are plenty of people out there who know how to do the other parts and are looking for partners. It's just a matter of checking the various forums for partner requests, or posting your own.

[dsrtao]

Re: video games: I have a few friends who are or were employed with video game companies. They make/made games that you have heard of, and very likely played. What I understand from them is that the industry is absolutely filled with people who will work for rather low pay because they want to be part of the industry. There is no shortage of ideas, stories, art or interesting game mechanics...

oh, and many people behave as described here:
http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2009/QBlog130209A.html
- That's Richard Bartle's blog. He invented MUDs, if you don't recall the name.

What I'm trying to say is that they don't even have a slush pile to look at in the land of video games. It's more like the movie industry, where you can either spend years and years working for a series of big studios and hoping, or you should go out and take the Kevin Smith doing _Clerks_ route.

If you can demonstrate that you can write to spec and schedule, writing novelizations and media-tie-ins might be more lucrative. Several notable SF authors have taken those paychecks.

[seawasp]

Oh, but I'm not in the position of the people Mr. Bartle's describing there. They're poor deluded saps who WANT to program stuff. I don't want to program, I want to conceptualize, design, flowchart, and script the things. I.e., I'm writing the story and the world. I just can't program or draw so I can't actually make USE of my concepts without other people. :)

I would gladly novelize or tie-in if it was a fandom/movie that I could tolerate. I've written the last couple of things I wrote as collaborations, part of them to spec, and of course my non-fiction stuff is all to spec, on schedule as it's proposal and report writing for federal and other government contracts -- I do "follow specs and do on time" as a basic rule. I wish I'd known who to contact in time so I could do the Dragonball novelization (no matter HOW much it's changed from the original). There's some tie-in markets I've heard that were very hard to either break into or to conform to, others that were pretty relaxed.

[dragoness-e.livejournal.com]

Interesting; you and I have much the same thoughts on writing and careers, except that you're further along and actually have published books while I'm still talking to myself about it. (Though I did have some critiques of Boundary I chickened out on writing up and sending you.)

(I do have novel-length, high-quality¹ fanfiction out there, so I know I am capable of plotting and writing an engaging novel or three. I just have to kick myself in the self-confidence and try. For some reason, trying to write original characters in an original setting is scaring the hell out of me).

..and I can code RPGs. ;-)

---
¹As attested to by other, fairly critical fans, some of whom are also writing pros, so not wholly self-promoted fangirl suckage.

[seawasp]

You don't have to excuse your fanfic! After all, I wrote (and sometime still write) it myself.

The problem with original material is that you have to build it ALL.

The advantage is that you can of course do whatever you darn well want and that no one can tell you it's not canon!