My portfolio—which contains the above, a full resume, and writing samples—can be found here.
Note: If either of the links above stops working, please contact me via email or Discord. I'll do my best to troubleshoot the issue—and it helps to know one exists in case others are experiencing it!
I started writing as a hobby when I was very young, but was essentially doing fanfiction of things I liked at the time (RPGs, adventure games, and fantasy stories). In 2011-2012, I progressed into forum roleplay—and was absolutely dismal at it. If I'm honest, it's only thanks to some dear (and patient) friends from that time that I am where I am today. Those people not only helped me grow as a creative, but encouraged me to start freelancing.
By 2015 (age 16), I was hired to ghostwrite an ebook. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be—and on an artist friend's advice, I joined Lemmasoft to escape the difficult and often unclear working conditions. Between December of that year and the present, most of my experience as a writer and editor has been on visual novels; video games; and adjacent media like Kickstarters, Steam pages, and marketing material.
Although I've gone by a variety of pseudonyms over the years, my current credit is typically Tristan “Cipher” Hallihan—a combination of my usual pseudonym and my real name. In the past, I went by Cipher or CipherSeraph (no relation to certain fanfiction writers; yes, this has come up).
I'd say my biggest strengths are:
- Experience with a wide variety of writing styles (e.g. dialogue / narration, item / skill descriptions, other forms of "flavor text", crowdfunding campaigns / Patreon pages, comic dialogue, and developer updates to name a few!)
- Some experience with game balancing (more so via tabletop games) and ample experience with different genres' conventions and tropes.
- Being incredibly communicative, whether I'm asking questions or answering them.
- The ability to balance positive and negative feedback, as well as provide reasons and examples to ground it.
- A passion for world-building and characterization, especially when shown through natural dialogue.
- A keen eye for detail, and a desire to ensure scripts are error-free.
- Ample experience working with and for non-native English speakers.
- Striving to help the writers grow too, just like my friends and peers once did for me. If we stop growing as artists, our industry stagnates… but I'm also biased—since I view artistic pursuits as forms of indefinite self-improvement.
- Open-mindedness and a desire to learn / improve myself, too.
- Has been a freelance writer and editor since December 2015.
- Credited as Tristan “Cipher” Hallihan.
- Has been credited as Cipher or CipherSeraph in the past.
- Very passionate and experienced, often looking to improve the work, the writers working on it, and himself.
With that said, the type of commission and its length will also factor in. Editing is generally faster because I'm more experienced with it, and may only take a day or two as a result. Writing projects, meanwhile, require greater effort and are affected by inspiration, how detailed the outline is, word count, additional research (if needed), and more.
As far as content is concerned, my limits are guro (gore in a sexual context; gore itself is fine, I just have difficulty sexualizing it), scat, and vore (one character consuming another in a sexual context).
Outside of these, plus explicit sexual content needing to be between adults, I don't think my tastes should affect my writing. I have no issues with violence, gore, cursing, dark themes, or drug / alcohol use or abuse in particular. If something isn't on this list, don't hesitate to ask me!
What I will say is that while I am experienced with cyberpunk, different kinds of fantasy, horror, mysteries, and other genres… I don't have much experience with Boys' Love (Otome), homosexual or homoromantic relationships (Yaoi or Yuri), or more "hardcore" sexual fetishes / content. I'm still happy to do them, but they may need more feedback and refinement than other types of material.
Summary:
- Turnaround time may vary, but aims to finish things within 14-21 days. Long-term collaboration is most preferred where possible, too (e.g. salaried or consistent work).
- No guro, gore, scat, or loli / shota (under any circumstances—especially the last two).
- Most experienced with cyberpunk, fantasy (and subgenres), horror, mystery, slice of life, and supernatural themes / tropes.
- Some inexperience with topics like Boys Love / Otome, Yaoi / Yuri, and hardcore fetishes.
Writing:
- Outlining and discussion (if needed; I prefer having an outline to work from, however)
- Research on relevant topics (if needed)
- Writing in Notepad, Google Docs, or Google Sheets.
- Adding basic Ren'Py (dialogue tags, bold / italic / underlines, comments) or similar formatting.
- Free editing (to my own work only).
- Responding to or asking questions as needed.
- Additional consultation as needed.
- Rewriting, notating, or providing feedback on written material (game / VN scripts, crowdfunding pages, developer updates, webcomics, light novels, etc.).
- Improving spelling, grammar, punctuation, word choice, and sentence structure.
- Trimming, tweaking, and rewriting dialogue to be more natural.
- Adding or removing dialogue to further bolster characterization and pacing.
- Checking for and fixing issues with the content's length / pacing, tone, consistency, and plot (where applicable).
- Giving feedback (positive and negative critique) on the script, with examples.
- Leading other editors / proofreaders (if needed).
- Responding to or asking questions as needed.
- Additional consultation as needed.
I generally prefer to be paid some up-front, as well. Half is the most common, but I'm highly flexible! The absolute last thing I want is to isolate smaller developers when they may need my help!
As I provide professional quality work for less than a professional rate, projects below the rates above will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Free / volunteer ones must be free to the public and under 15k words. Put simply and bluntly: if you stand to make money off of my work in some way, I expect to be paid.
Lastly… another important limit of mine is that revenue share, royalties, and trades are not a substitute for normal compensation. They're fantastic bonuses for my efforts, but only being paid that way is tantamount to saying "I'll pay you later for services you're giving now."
Summary:
- Editing is 2c/word and writing is 3/c word. These are in USD and rounded to the nearest $5. As a note, 4c/word is generally a professional rate for an editor; 5c/word is a professional rate for a writer.
- Pay is through Paypal only. There is a $15 minimum per commission.
- Prefers partial up-front payment, but is highly flexible and open to negotiation.
- Projects less than the standard rate are treated on a case-by-case basis.
- Free and volunteer projects are also case-by-case, but must be under 15k words and free.
- Revenue share, royalties, and trades are not an acceptable substitute for normal pay.
Discord [preferred method for VNs & games]: Cipher5605
Email: tristan.hallihan@gmail.com
Note that my email and PayPal address are different.