Projects Take On Weight When You Have The Connections To Get Them Published

I remember when I was in my 20s that I could keep three dozen project ideas spinning in my head at any given time. From horror stories, to roleplaying games, to modern fantasy novels, they came out of my brain like cotton candy, and all I had to do to keep them in the air was lightly tap them every now and again to make sure they didn't fall out of place. It wasn't that they didn't have substance, or that it's somehow easier to create when you're young, either. Real talk, it was so easy to keep all those ideas in the air because there wasn't any immediacy to them. I'd work on them as I had time, polish them up, put them in a bottle, and toss it out into the world. They were a gamble that might pay off, but it was equally possible I'd just get another rejection letter to add to my growing pile.

Now that I have a publishing history, industry contacts, and the ability to skip the queue in a lot of circumstances, it's another story entirely. It's not that I don't generate fresh ideas with nearly every breath I take (it's a stress response, and 2020 has been nothing if not stressful). Rather, it's that those ideas are no longer maybe-one-day potentials; they are real seeds I have to make a decision on right now. Because now I can send a few emails, make a pitch, and get these things out of my head and into the hands of an editor as fast as I can commit them to a word document... and that immediately raises the stakes.

Brain to inbox is now a pipeline.

On the one hand, that is an amazingly freeing, powerful feeling. On the other hand it means all those ideas that were just so much fluff in the wind are now lead balls... and I have to throw them extra hard to keep them in the air.

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When It's Time To Put Up, Or Shut Up

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of writing, as a profession, is playing around in the imagination sandbox. It's freeing to make worlds, create characters, map story arcs, and just do whatever strikes your fancy. And when getting those ideas published is still theoretical instead of practical, there isn't really any weight to them. Because the supply chain from your mind to the hands of your readers hasn't been created, so there's no real pressure on your follow-through just yet.

When it does exist, though, suddenly those ideas aren't just whimsical musings; they're raw gemstones. And you have the responsibility of figuring out which ones are good quality before you cut, polish, and put them out for people to ooh and ah over as fast as you can get the tumbler to tumble.

Space opera with a wild West twist? Sure, people seem to like that. When can I have it?

To be clear, I'm not asking for sympathy here. I'm also not trying to pull the whole, "Woe unto the creative genius, for he has universes within his mind, but can only reveal them one galaxy at a time," nonsense. This is more of a tradesman's warning for folks out there who haven't experienced this shift in thinking/fortunes yet.

Because when you're just starting out, you're free to make basically whatever you want, as you want. And when you're wildly successful you can do basically the same thing, except now there's probably a big, fat check attached to it. It's when you're established enough that you can get your projects reliably green lit, but you don't yet have the audience, clout, or sheer volume of past work to coast on, that you find yourself deciding which seeds to plant now rather than later in order to get your garden growing.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

The Strangeness of Professional Possibility (You Never Know Where Your Ideas Might Go)

We've all had those moments as writers where we sit back, and imagine what it would be like to get a chance to contribute to a favorite property of ours. A shot at writing for a beloved TV show, getting to tell a story for your favorite comic book, or to have your fiction be part of a game universe you love; these are the things we contemplate in our wildest flights of fancy. For a lot of folks out there, they think these ideas are just fan fiction that's never going to go anywhere, and it's just for their own amusement.

After all, we probably won't be one of those writers. The ones who get to drive the plot bus and lay the track for new canon. Surely there's a whole, secret process for how big companies pick who gets to contribute to popular media, and who is allowed to actually handle these properties that we love so much.

I mean, they've got to have a list, right?

I've felt this way for a long time, myself. I grew up reading Marvel comics, watching classic TV shows, and thinking to myself, "Man, I wish I could get some of my creativity into those things... but there's no way that will ever happen."

Funny thing, though... it totally could. And far more easily than you or I think.

No, This Isn't an Announcement Post

Let me be clear, I have not been picked to work on an Avengers script, or to provide my "What-If?" stories to Marvel's next edition (though if any folks with executive power on those properties is reading, shoot me a message and we can talk). I do have a new novel coming out from Ring of Fire September 1st (check the slate), but that's neither here nor there.

What I'm trying to say is that there's no hidden cabal of editors who pull writers' names out of a golden chalice. There's no creativity Olympics where only the best and the brightest are offered a chance to let their work shine in the public arena for all to see. You get these opportunities the same way you get practically everything else in the writing world; connections, impressions, and sheer dumb luck.

I'm serious... lucky opens at LEAST as many doors as talented.

As an example, I've sat on panels with people who've written comics for Marvel (Seanen McGuire has some killer insights if you get a chance to sit and listen to her, by the by), I've rubbed elbows with bestsellers, and I've shared drinks at after parties with the head editors of RPG companies. To be clear, I don't know a lot of these folks well enough to email them and ask for a job, or to give my input on the direction a property should go. But some of them know my name, and recognize my face when we pass in the halls.

There have also been times where I've had a conversation with someone, and they said they'd keep me in mind if a future project comes up. Or a time when I sent in an email asking if there were spots open for something, and got the response, "Sure, what'cha wanna write?" For the record, that's how my short story The Irregulars would up as part of Paizo's canon for the Golarion setting.

My experience isn't new or unique, either. Every panel I've ever been on where someone asks the question, "How do I break into the writing business?" the answers are almost universally to be in the places where you can make connections. Because it's true that winning awards or selling huge numbers of books will get attention, you don't have to do that to get your foot in the door. Volunteer to be a panelist at your local con, help run the green room, and put yourself out there. Even if it's a digital convention, or a social media group, there is no telling who you'll run into and what connections you'll make.

And if you never thought you'd have the chance to write a story about what would happen if Frank Castle made a deal with Mephisto to get him out of Vietnam where he becomes the next Ghost Rider... just wait. You might meet run into someone who hears that, knocks back their drink, and says, "You've got my attention, when can I have the script?"

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!