Same thing as the orange guy

[Menteroso]

I was wondering what would be a good size for a portfolio for an aspiring freelance writer.

Also, what format would be most acceptable to readers? I have the tools to create PDFs, but I don't know if that would make me look like I'm trying too hard.

I have a couple of short pieces ready (I think), and am currently working on some others.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Menty

[Lord Iron Wolf]

Hello Meteroso,

Be prepared to work your way up the feeding chain. Start with articles in amateur 'zines or minor ezine publications. When you have some "clips" to show editors in the often fast dying semi-professional magazines then ask for guidelines to write articles for them. If your clips are good enough or they are desperate enough, you will get to write some articles. It will be several years of playing this rackett, at least, until you are ready for Dragon.

When you get assignments always honor a deadline, if you don't it's the fastest way out of the business. Try to get to a point where you can write up to 10+ pages a day and keep the revisions down to two. You'll probably have to do a dozen revisions for your first articles. If you think the first thing you write is perfect-you are wrong-and you are not ready to improve your writing to a professional level.

In your spare time do a lot of reading in several genres to get a feel for pacing and rhythm. Get away from series fiction: Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Dungeons & Dragons Novels; it's hack writing--and you don't need to absorb that low grade style of writing.

The most important thing to becoming a freelance writer...WRITE!!! Writers write, posers do everything else. Expect to produce a half million words before your writing quality is up to doing magazine articles and a million+ words before you are ready to produce publishable fiction.

Good Luck and start pounding the keys,
Lord Iron Wolf

[Tim Gray]

The most important thing to becoming a freelance writer...WRITE!!! Writers write, posers do everything else. Expect to produce a half million words before your writing quality is up to doing magazine articles and a million+ words before you are ready to produce publishable fiction.
I'm going to query this, because it's a model that suggests you have little ability/skill to start with, and in that case you'd have to *really* want it to make it worthwhile. If you don't have decent writing ability it may not be worth chasing this. Of course, not everyone has a realistic idea of their ability.

As for the "freelance" part, editors in general want people who can do a competent job in good time and are pleasant to deal with. There are plenty of people who'll hassle them, complain, etc - those aren't the ones they'll want to deal with again. Different work requires different styles. Academic writing is a poor preparation for article work - it rewards you for length and high-flown language, whereas real-world pieces aim to communicate points as clearly and concisely as possible.

Of course, writing for games has its own specialised requirements - others can cover that better than I.

[Chris Aylott]

Originally posted by Tim Gray
I'm going to query this, because it's a model that suggests you have little ability/skill to start with, and in that case you'd have to *really* want it to make it worthwhile. If you don't have decent writing ability it may not be worth chasing this. Of course, not everyone has a realistic idea of their ability.

I like to think that I have always had decent writing ability, and I've got a pile of clips dating back to high school that may support this opinion (I haven't looked at them in about 10 years).

That said, I've done about a million words of writing and editing over the last three years. There is a huge difference between my skills now and my skills then. Compared to now, I sucked then. Compared to where I hope to be in another million words, I suck now. I probably have the same (not particularly impressive) ability I did in high school, but now I have some skill at using that ability, and the results are much better.

Some writers have so much ability that they write well from the start. Some people who write can't be helped with 10 million words of practice. But I don't see how writing (and submitting, and trying to improve) a million words is bad advice for any writer. And if you "really have to want it to make it worthwhile", is that a bad thing? Who said professional writing should be easy?

yours,

[Michelle Lyons]

1) I'm going to disagree with the gentleman who said to stay away from game line novels and "hack writing." This is due to a couple of things:

--Gameline novels are sometimes bad writing. The good thing about reading bad writing is that you learn to recognize it in your own work. Learn to know shlock when you see it.

--Game line novels are formulaic. They aren't anyone's answer to the Great American Novel, really, but they are popular--and frankly, the editors and line developers don't want the next Great American Novel. They want a book that will sell to the sci-fi/young adult market. If you can learn the formula and learn what elements make up that novel, you can figure out how to write one of your own that's better than the lesser ones you might find on a shelf somewhere. You may also learn how to write in a shared-universe, which is not as easy as it seems.

2) Learn how to write a proposal. And a query letter. These two things will take you further than you would believe. Look at submission guidelines for the games you like and are familiar with, and see the type of things they want. Write articles for those games for fanzines, such as the Origins-nominated The Shadowrun Supplemental (http://tss.dumpshock.com/) Oftentimes the developers look there when looking for new freelancer prospects. They also often take more time to work with new writers, and a great place to get your "writing legs" as it were.

[AdrianChapman]

As a fellow hopeful freelancer I've learned something from this group of net-boards. Lots of publishers frequent here, most of them use their posts to talk about their companies and (often) in their profiles list a web edress for said company.
The main way I've used this place to find work is to follow those links, find the people who want submissions, and sell myself through my writing skills and professionalism.
At least thats the plan.
Just thought I would speak up.

AdrianChapman

[Elissa Carey]

Originally posted by Menteroso
I was wondering what would be a good size for a portfolio for an aspiring freelance writer.

Also, what format would be most acceptable to readers? I have the tools to create PDFs, but I don't know if that would make me look like I'm trying too hard.

I have a couple of short pieces ready (I think), and am currently working on some others.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Menty

First things first - I believe Michelle and Chris are spot-on. Whatever amount of talent you have can be improved by continually writing. Reading a wide variety of books can help, with emphasis on the genre in which you may be doing the most work.

Now to address your questions -
1. Several pieces, perhaps one in each genre you like, should be sufficient. A listing of publishing credits, with perhaps a clip from or a link to them, may also help. The latter is optional, however, as helpful as it may be (particularly if you're just starting out - I had none of these and managed to jump in solely on the strength of an adventure proposal).

2. That may depend; .PDF's can be pretty, but I would use that as an option. Printing one out as a kind of hard-copy resume is a nice touch. I think, however, that your best bet is to set your work in clean, quick-loading and easy-to-read (no glaring colors, animated backgrounds and so forth) HTML. Most of the folks whom you want to see your work don't have a lot of time, and if they have to wait for a .PDF or terribly fancy webpage to finish loading before they can see your work, that may set a subconscious bias against you. (I am speculating on this point, based only on putting myself in their shoes.)

Good luck. :)