In my last post, I mentioned the possibility of story-for-art trades. Additionally of course, I would also be willing to work for plain old cash. I like cash.

So here's the basic deal: If you would like me to write a story about one or more of your characters, please let me know. We can work on what you want the story to accomplish--that is, what you would like to see your characters accomplish, how you would like to see them grow, etc. I am fairly easy to work with. If you have a specific premise--or even a complete summary--I'll write to those specifications. If you'd rather be surprised (pleasantly, I hope!), and would rather just define a general idea of what you want, I may ask you more questions here and there, but I can write that way too.

As a rule, stories will start out at around 2000-2500 words. That way, I can give you and the readers a good idea of the characters' thoughts, feelings, physical setting, and senses, not just their actions and words. (Those are still very important, though!) One question I will always ask is what mood you want--it's critical, because I tend to write the entire piece in one mood. Believe it or not, if you're writing about a 2,300 year old vampire, it works better to have the story run as a straight-up drawing-room comedy than it does to yank the reader back and forth between lugubrious angsty Goth stuff (not that there's anything wrong with that) and over-the-top cinematic action movie (not that there's...etc.)

Another twist: For an extra fee, I will do an audio file reading the story. I'll have voice samples up within the next couple of days, and I think some of you will like this option.

With all that in mind, and possibly more to come, here's my current rate sheet:

Text
Per word: $.01
Default length: 2000-2500 words (longer stories available depending on your needs)
Default file type on delivery: .DOC (Microsoft Word 97-2003 format); other formats available upon request)

Audio
Per word: $.05 (Note: text is included at no additional charge!)
Narration style: Narrative voice with basic voice changes for character dialogue
Default file format: mp3 (other formats available upon request)

Rights

You retain ownership of any characters you create. The story itself, and any other characters, settings, or concepts I create or use based on my prior ownership, remain mine. Any other characters remain the property of their respective owners, and will be used for purposes of literary exploration, parody, or other fair uses as applicable.

My work will, in general, be governed by the Creative Commons 2.5 "Non-commercial" and "Share-alike with attribution" licenses. In short, these essentially mean that you have permission to share any work of mine with others, as long as you don't try to resell it without express written consent (which will likely require a percentage up front), and as long as you give me credit for the story. Additionally, your characters will be protected by default under separate "Non-commercial" and "Share-alike with attribution" licenses, so while I would be granted the right to share my work with others, I would be required to credit you for characters you create, and not to attempt to resell my use of those characters, or any other use, without your express written consent. Other licenses are negotiable, within certain constraints. Whew.

My last couple of journal entries cover stuff I enjoy writing. There's quite a lot. If you're not certain. Ask. We'll talk. If you think your idea might be too silly or frivolous or outlandish--well, there's a good chance I'm the author you want.

That said, I want to reiterate that there are a few things I absolutely will not write about, especially if the story you want is sexual in context: necrophilia, scat, pedophilia, and clear nonconsent (such as in a story where sexual assault is portrayed in any way positively). Additionally, I reserve the right to decline to write a story for any reason, though in practice, I will mostly only do so for reasons such as content prohibited by law, and workload (and even the latter would likely just be a postponement).

With all that in mind, if you'd like a story about your characters, give me a shout! My keyboard is all nice and shiny, and I'm not afraid to use it.