Writer Looking for Paid Work (OPEN)

[Caveat Lector]

OPEN AGAIN

I am a young author looking for paid work. I need the money to keep my projects--current and planned--afloat, amongst other things (eventual future financial independence is one potential future goal, but that's more of a distant long-term goal). Right now, my current project (The Haunting of Blackbird School) has been written, and is currently awaiting art assets.

As of 10/5/2016, I now charge ten cents per word, the lowest I am willing to go down to is seven. Payment would still be done through PayPal. I can do commercial or non-commercial games. I can write up to 500-1000 (more or less, rough estimate) words per week and will give you an update on how the writing’s coming along once or twice a week, and will also accept small daily reminders (ie, “Just checking in to see how everything’s going!”). If a sudden emergency comes up that prevents me from being able to complete anything that week, I will let you know as soon as I can. I am up to just about any genre and will do any pairing, but my preferred genre would be mystery and/or horror. However, that is just a preference. If there is something I feel I might have a difficult time with, or certain types of stories I would not feel comfortable with writing, I will let you know.

I’m also willing to write separate routes or scenes for Dating Sims or anything along those lines, but I would also need an overall plot outline and character outline (which goes for just about anything of any genre). And if you want me to describe a scene, I would typically work better with CG’s, sprites, and/or backgrounds of the scene in question so I can get a better “feel” of what I’m writing, but again, that’s just a preference, I can also work without art assets.

Communication and sharing would be done primarily through e-mail, private messaging, and Skype.

Lastly, here’s a small sample of my writing (if you want to see more to see if I’m fit for a particular style or genre, PM me and I will try to see what I have):

At the sound of the last bell, the students jumped up, grabbed their backpacks, and headed for the door, gabbing with each other about their plans for the weekend. All, that is, except for one.

Hope stayed behind in the classroom and gazed out the window. The hot rays of the summer sun were beating upon her heavy brown woolly cardigan, shining off of her blonde hair. School would be out for the summer in just a few weeks. While most of her classmates were excited over this, she was not. She didn't want to leave.

It wasn't that she hated home. It was just that she was much happier here. At home, she was barely noticed. Her parents were too busy attending to both her older and younger siblings. One of the major drawbacks of being smack dabble in the middle in a family of seven was that no one ever noticed you.

But on the other hand, this was also the best part.

Hope swung her feet back and forth and reached out towards the globe on the yellow table. She stood up and walked towards it. She spun it around once, twice, three times, and stopped it. Her finger landed on Russia. She thought about going there. She had seen a few foreign movies in the school library, all by herself, when no one was looking. Some of them were Russian. They were nice. They'd probably also be a tad gloomy for some, but Hope liked them. They opened up a deep wound within her, and reminded her she was here, she was alive. The best type of fiction, she found, had that sort of effect.

Hope spun the globe again, but this time, waited for it to come to a slow, gentle stop before she tapped her finger on a random spot. This time, she had landed on Brazil. Was it as hot in Brazil as the summers up here? Was the Amazon rainforest still around? Or had it been as badly destroyed as predicted in those documentaries shown to the classroom?

Hope shoved the tip of her tongue out the right corner of her mouth. Her fingers danced upon the brown, aging globe, spinning it around slower this time. Then, she stopped.

The Atlantic Ocean.

What lay beyond the Atlantic? Europe, obviously, but was there anything major beyond her own home? Beyond the grass that pricked and soothed her feet? Beyond the torturous sun, the refreshingly cold ocean, or the stifling classrooms?

"Are you going home soon, Hope?"

Hope turned around. Mrs. Major was standing at her desk, closing her binder, adjusting her glasses. Though she was beginning to push fifty, she still looked a good ten years younger, at least in Hope's eyes.

"Uh-huh." Hope nodded. She reached for her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. "I was just looking at the globe."

"Ah yes, such a magnificent globe," Mrs. Major said with a nod. "I first got that globe as a graduation present. I've kept it with me all these years, and it has never once failed me--be it in a geography lesson for this classroom, in helping me remember which Canadian provinces lie next to each other, or in ruminating over which country I'd like to visit one day."

"Have you ever been to Russia or Brazil?" Hope asked, walking up to her.

"No," Mrs. Major said, adjusting her pearl necklace. "I've only stepped off the continent once, when I went to university in Berlin. But it might be nice to visit elsewhere someday, yes."

The two turned to leave the classroom together. "I'd like to travel the world someday," Hope said, her eyes wide. "Just step outside town for a little bit, and I don't just want to leave for a day trip to the city. I know I'm only twelve, but I know I could make it"

"When you are older, and have worked up the funds for it, I'm sure you will," Mrs. Major said with a small smile. "But for now, try to enjoy your time here while you still can. This is a very small, peaceful town. Try to enjoy the peace for as long as possible."

Hope looked back at the globe. "I will. See you tomorrow, Mrs. Major."

For more information, feel free to PM me and I'll see what I can do.

[Samsam80]

Hey Caveat,

I'm not sure if you've found anything to work on yet, but just as a suggestion, you could try writing for companies like http://quickessaywritingservice.com/ ... I don't know your background but they seem pretty open to people with all sorts of backgrounds in writing. I had a friend who work like that for a while and she thought it was ok going and that's how I know about writing services like this.

Hope you find some work for the summer.

[Caveat Lector]

I would rather search for a position in writing fiction I can take credit for, not writing up essays for someone else. And I would rather not work for something that essentially endorses plagiarism.

[Godline]

If you're going to write what you're passionate about it'd be rare to get paid for it. I'd just collaborate with someone and if the work is good enough then maybe you'll get a payoff.
Good luck with it!

[naqlada]

If you're going to write what you're passionate about it'd be rare to get paid for it.

Some people understand the amount of work it takes to spin a worthy yarn. You may be surprised how important this is a certain few.

[Asceai]

I think the price looks reasonable given that the writing quality is high. I'm more concerned about the fact that a full-length/long-form visual novel would take 8 or more years to write at the rates given (a 1-hour VN taking a third of a year at best).

Now, I realise we aren't commercial Japanese eroge writers capable of filling out the equivalent of a 350,000 word scenario in one month*, but I don't think a project of any size can be scheduled around this pace, even if the writing quality is the single biggest concern of the project.

*Maruto wrote the scenario for Sekai de Ichiban NG na Koi in a month. It's a 1.53MB scenario, the typical unit for Japanese VN scripts being in the amount of space it occupies, written in shift-jis (2 bytes per character) and without scripting commands or name tags. Japanese VN scripts are measured in this fashion and writers often describe their writing speed in terms of KB. Now, I've hence wondered what the equivalent is in the standard English text measurement of wordcount. Thankfully, using translated VN scripts as a guide, I've found that 250,000 or so words of English text per megabyte of Japanese text seems to be a fairly solid metric. Naturally it varies, but this seems to be pretty accurate. Banya Izumi, the scenario writer most noted for his BLACK CYC works but who works as a freelancer now gives his average rate as 20KB per day- which, using this metric, would be about 5000 words. From my perspective that seems feasible (and also insane, but still feasible). I feel like 1000 words a week is difficult to work around though.

[Taleweaver]

This topic is derailing into a discussion of paid writing in general, which isn't what it's about. Slight call to order; you may always open an individual thread if you feel like discussing those matters. I can also split off the posts here and join them into that new thread; PM me if desired.

[Samsam80]

Sorry Caveat, I didn't mean to offend. I just know what it's like to be in a situation where you need money to live. I hope you have gotten some work to help you get to where you want to be. I know for me, I've had to do things that weren't my dream job to get me closer to where I really wanted to be. best of luck.

[Caveat Lector]

UPDATE: I am open for work again, with updated info, see first post.

[Caveat Lector]

UPDATE: I've raised my rates to five cents per word; other conditions still remain the same.

[Caveat Lector]

UPDATE 6/2/2016: I am available and willing as a writer for YaoiJam. For a limited time only, I will offer a discount of three cents per word instead of five for anyone needing a writer for their project.