Novel Writing Made Less Impossible -- How To Parlay Those Credits (You Probably Don't Have)

It's one of the great Catch-22s of the modern work world ... you can't get a job until you have experience and you can't get experience without a job. It's not much different in the field of writing.

There's more than one friend of my acquaintance who wants to write (Fill In the Blank) comics for (fill in the company name). However, they haven't written a single line of prose, much less a comic script. They think doing the writing gig is EASY ... little do they know.

Anyway, too many people of my acquaintance believe they can start at the top. Well, that's kinda tough, really, especially when one's resume appears thin, credit-wise.

However, there's a way to build credits. It takes time, but it's worth the effort.

In horse racing, there's a term called "parlay." No, it's not from Pirates of the Carribean. However, it IS a suggestion.

When you start out in the writing field, be prepared to give some of your work away. I'm not talking about writing a free novel for someone. But you can contribute short articles to websites or write a short play for a community theatre that takes submissions. Then tell the next market you aim for that you have experience. Keep adding until someone starts paying you ... then do more paying markets. It sounds simple, but it takes patience.

In my case, twenty years ago, I had very little in the way of professional credits, aside from publishing some small press comics (read: mini-comics that you can make with copier paper and a photocopier). Then one day, a friend asked me to write a play for his theatre group. They were having a one-act play competition and as he told me, "I've done this before. You're going to write a play because I want one I can actcually READ." Never having written a play before, I went to the public library and studied the form for a couple of weeks. Then I hammered out a plot, followed by the script itself. I made the deadline and the play was accepted.

And the background on this will wind up in a blog entry one day. Leave it to say that the play went well, the cast and I bonded, and I learned the director stepped in during the final week of rehearsals. I also discovered that he'd dropped three pages of my script, but I was so nervous about the play that I didn't notice.

So during the cast party, I received an award for, pretty much, not murdering the director (actually, we'e still good friends and I'd probably give bone narrow for him, I'm STILL that grateful).

And now you know why, on my creative resume, I list myself as an "Award-winning" playwright, in quotation marks.

A couple of years later, I learned that one of my favorite comic book-related magazines needed someone to transcribe interviews. So I wrote the publisher, telling him that I was interested and by the way, I was an "award-winning" playwright. I wound up doing transcriptions for fifteen years, giving up the gig when my writing career took off (and my hearing was getting a bit dulled). By the way, I didn't do transcripts for free.

Fast forward a couple of years ... one of the magazines I'm transcribing for needs articles. I volunteer, mentioning that I was already doing transcripts for the editor AND I was an "award-winning" playwright. So for a couple of years, I sold articles to various magazines. I also placed articles to help friends (I was starting to network by this time) which added to my resume.

Now, I wanted to write comics for a couple of my buddies. They happened to know that I could do the work because they'd seen my small press comics, transcriptions, and articles, to say nothing of knowing I'd written plays.

Then I started writing novels six years ago. Of course, to show my potential customers that I knew my stuff, I mentioned the small press comics, the transcriptions, the articles, and the new comic scripts. Oh, I also mentioned that I was an "award-winning" playwright. None of this information hurt my sales ... nor dimmed my star when anthologies asked me to write for them ... and it opened a few convention doors for me too.

And NO ONE at any point in this journey asked me if, or how much, I was paid for ANYTHING. All they needed to know was that I could do the work.

So in short, don't be afraid to give away your earliest efforts for a while because that's how you get the experience and fill out the creative resume. But as you gain expertise, set your sights towards paying markets. It takes time, as does anything worth doing.

NEXT WEDNESDAY: Think About Your Book Cover

TOMORROW: Feeling Confident About Your Writing, Even If You Have To Lie To Yourself

NEXT APPEARANCE: On March 24th, I will be at the ART IN EQUALITY CON at the Savoy Recreation Center, 402 Graham Drive, Savoy, Illinois. In addition to my own publications, I'll be joined by former wrestler/actor Bishop Stevens, cosplayer Alexa Heart, animator Philo Barnhart, Silver Phoenix Entertainment's Creative Director Charles D. Moisant, writers Monica O'Leary, Austin Malcome, Ariana R. Cherry, and J.W. Wright, artist Candice Comelieri, and great friends such as Sage Stafford, Zitania and Amaris Moon, and Action Jackson Comics.

For more information and tickets, go HERE!

SPECIAL NOTE: My newest book, The Haunting Scripts of Bachelors Grove​, is currently on sale. It's part memoir, part grimoire. The first half deals with my entry into writing indie comics and joining Silver Phoenix Entertainment. I print four of my comic scripts for The Haunting Tales of Bachelors Grove, three of which have not been produced yet. Then I add four horror prose tales, three of which are NEW. All this behind a great cover by my Art Sherpa, Trevor Erick Hawkins, over 300 pages of terror and history for only $19.95 in paperback, $2.99 in e-book (FREE if you belong to Amazon Prime). If you have any questions for me, write to me at Brian@RisingTide.pub. No attachments, please, for security reasons.

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#Writing #Transcribing #Minicomics #Theatre #CreativeResume