Comments on: The Cardinal Rule of Freelance Writing: Know How to Write

By: The Quick and Dirty Guide to Landing Freelance Writing Jobs, Part 1 – Before You Even Start Looking for Jobs » The Life and Times of a Freelance Writer

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:34:23 +0000

[...] Don’t go out into the world shouting “I will write anything!” Narrow it down. This will pay off in the end. (More about this in a later post.) Also, before putting a lot of time and energy in embarking on a freelance writing career, be sure you have asked yourself the age old question, “Can I write?” [...]

By: Jenn Escalona

Jenn Escalona — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:41:13 +0000

Chuck, while I agree that perhaps you are right in the case of our mutual friend, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that people who have the writing itch shouldn’t try it. They just shouldn’t vomit out the first thing that comes to them, refuse to edit it, and then start sending it to agents. That’s where the industry starts to get ridiculous.

You need to read QueryShark. The QueryShark is an agent that dissects query letters in a rather impatient way in order to help people write better queries. I think it would be good for your soul: http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

By: Chuck Fox

Chuck Fox — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:23:14 +0000

I disagree. Not with the blog post, but about that “author” being able to learn to write well. I’ve read it, there’s just no way.
Coming as a screenwriter, I urge non-writers that want to just start writing to NOT DO SO. Stay out of my field with your dumb ideas and awful dialogue! It’s hard enough as it is without agents and studios thinking the majority of writers are brain dead.

By: Jenn Escalona

Jenn Escalona — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:53:43 +0000

Man, I wish I had an editor. Editing my own work is the part of my job that I hate, hate, hate the most. On the other hand, I like editing other people’s work. I think that falls into the same principal that allows you to like cleaning someone else’s house while wallowing in your own filth back at home.

I’m not really saying that as a freelance writer you have to love editing (I guess it helps, huh?), but you should be secure in the fundamentals, like varying sentence length and structure, using your white space to maximum effect, and omitting as many adjectives and adverbs as possible for tight prose.

By: Cedric Solidon

Cedric Solidon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:36:32 +0000

Man oh man. Just when I thought people have figured the writing part out before deciding to become writers. Hehe. One good excuse? I have an editor. He/she can do the work for me.

By: Jenn Escalona

Jenn Escalona — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:36:19 +0000

I haven’t either actually, but you never know! And there’s always The Owl at Perdue for those sticky grammar situations – http://www.freelancewriterville.com/?p=227

By: Savannah

Savannah — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:51:46 +0000

I don’t know a predicate from an adverb, and so far I haven’t needed to! I guess we’ll deal with that day when it comes. Thank God for the Internet, no?

By: Jenn Escalona

Jenn Escalona — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:00:08 +0000

Hahahahaahaha Sorry, but I’m laughing out of sympathy and compassion. It’s very tough walking that line between “Don’t you dare call yourself a published author!” and “Um… great book!”

I feel your pain so deeply. To make matters worse, I had to see this guy every day, so I just declined to comment at all. Of course, then he bugged me about it. And then I had my first story published within two weeks of the whole event, so it became EXTREMELY awkward at best.

I wonder if the world would be a better place if we all just told each other what we thought? It would certainly be a less polite place, but perhaps we would at least have more quality reading material.

By: Audrey Shaffer

Audrey Shaffer — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:47:09 +0000

A self-pubbed author contacted me, wanting to be featured as a guest author. He sent me the first 20 pages of his novel. I managed to struggle through 5 of them. I tried to think of something encouraging to say. Decided on “You may want to take a closer look at your verb tenses.”

His reply: “It’s a thriller, dummy. It’s supposed to be tense!”

Me: “Um…I was talking about your verb tenses. You keep skipping between past and present.”

Him: “Verb…that’s like a name or something, right?”

I was obviously out of my league. I congratulated him on his “published” book and wished him good luck.

*sigh*