Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 william_cairnstone_dup Jan 07, 2004 3:14:51	Well, that is indeed my question. I know there mustn't be a fixed set of rules, a procedure which will start from 0 and give a new freelancer in the end, but I trust there are only a fixed number of ways of becoming one. I'm just asking you to tell me what are the usual ways and possible, if you're willing to partake it, how some of you have managed to become official writers. For instance, did you send your works regularly to companies until they were accepted ? Did you instead send articles for magazines and then became noticed ? Did you start your own company ? Did you begin by developing your website ? Were you an established writer of something else beforehand ? I do think I am suited to making games for others and I wish I'd eventually become a game designer, so why not ask for advice here ? Thank you all. Alex Miranda
#2 rucht_lilavivat Jan 08, 2004 11:28:59	I can only tell you how -I- became a freelancer. I go to alot of conventions. It is something that I highly recommend to everyone. =] Conventions are alot of fun, and there's nothing like that carinval atmosphere that a convention provides. Well during my long tenure of convention-going, I've run a great deal of Ravenloft games. For instance, I'm heavily-involved in the ongoing Living Death campaign, which is set on Gothic Earth featured in the Masque of the Red Death setting. (No, it's not live action.) I started running numerous tournaments and I was fortunate enough to win a number of awards. After a while, people kept telling me, "Hey, you're a good judge, why don't you write some modules?" So, that's how my authoring process began. At this time, I also started to catch the eye of a number of game designers and authors. At one time, Robert Wiese offered me an authorship of a product for TSR back when there was a TSR because of the work I had done on a number of RPGA Ravenloft modules. Unfortunately, the deal fell through. I also got involved with a number of people in White Wolf, most notably Jackie and Nicky, who are the Arthaus developers. All of these contacts were made through convention-going, mind you. I continued to write modules for the RPGA, meeting people, dropping my name, selling myself, etc. I was "auditioned" a number of times by White Wolf. Once for some of their live-action games and another time for their Kindred of the East line. I never heard back from them, but that's life in the publishing world. As an author, you have to be used to the word, "No." To make this quick, when I "auditioned" for writing in the Denizens of Dread book, I made the cut. Luckily, Jackie and Nicky were already familiar with my long history with the Ravenloft setting. However, just like all of the other folks that submitted to them, I had to wait my turn to see if my work was up to snuff. Fortunately, the decision was made that is was. From my experience, anyone can become a freelance author. You just need to submit your work, and submit it often. It certainly doesn't hurt to know people as well. The gaming world is a very small niche of society. It's not very hard to meet some of the movers and shakers in the industry. Fortunately, most of these people are very cool folks, too. It just goes to show that gamers can be some of the nicest people. ;)