(no subject)

[seriousfic]

So, LJ, let’s talk. Lost my job lately. Well, one of my jobs. Not gonna miss those 13-hour days where I work one job, drive to the other job, do that, come home literally too tired to sleep. It’s just the way I lost the job was bullshit. Apparently, I was scheduled to come in on a day I pretty much always have off, but I didn’t know that, so I was at home. And they didn’t call me at all to say “hey, why are you late, is everything okay?" Just, “whelp, guess somebody resigned." Not even kidding, they don’t fire you, they just go “a-ha, you resigned!" Which does mean on my next interview, I’m gonna say “oh, no, I wasn’t fired, I quit. Just couldn’t put up with all the talk about racial purity." Go ahead, Cinemark, deny it. THAT’S JUST WHAT THE WHITE MAN WOULD DO!

Of course, the folks at my other job, who are actually human beings, are being lovely and giving me more hours until I can find a new second job. But it still has me thinking about this commission thing. And what I’m thinking is—twenty bucks a pop for a story, that’s good for some walking-around money, but it’s not a fucking career, ya know? Don’t worry, I’m not raising prices or calling the whole thing off. I just need to redouble my efforts at getting published, which is where the buy-your-mom-a-car money is. Because you gotta buy your mom a car, y’know?

Plus, I realize times are tough, and though a lot of you would like filthy dirty tapioca pudding fic to call your own, you don’t just have a Jackson lying around. That’s, like, halfway to buying a movie ticket on the weekend, when the theaters show the extra-special movies they don’t show during the week (and you wondered why it was more expensive!). So I wanna make y’all a deal. You beta my book—gimme dem notes, gimme dat feedback—I will write you a story. Yes, you can read my writing in order to read other of my writing. Don’t think about the logic of it, pretend it’s Teen Wolf.

As long as we’re sharing, LJ, let’s talk about this commission thing. Two things. 1. I think I’m going to have to increase the turn-around time on this to two weeks, just because I’ve been doing it about three weeks and I’m not comfortable with the amount of “robbing Peter to pay Paul" I’ve had to do to get these shipped out in time. With a two week timeline instead of one, there’ll be some breathing room, I think I’d be able to do a “one for them, one for me" kinda deal. Do a commission, then something original, then on to another commission with my batteries recharged. And the upside of this to you is, optimistically, I think I’d be able to update all of my longfics at least once a month. Which is at least some momentum. I don’t want to leave you Wicked Stepmother fans hanging without anything to complain about.

Speaking of which, I think I should set a ground rule for these commissions, and that’s this: I’m really flattered that some of you want to pay me to update this fic or that fic, but I just can’t accept. I mean, I am a stinking capitalist running dog, but I’m not EA Games. I probably shouldn’t say this, but you buy a paperback for seven bucks, you get 100,000 words or so. So if I’m gonna charge twenty bucks for only 5,000 words, the only justification is that it has to be *your* story. Yeah, you could get oodles of Lost Girl fanfic for free, but if you want that super-specific story about Kenzi eating tapioca pudding out of Dyson’s hair (I’m not judging), it’s worth something.

And with these longfics, for good or bad, they’re my story. I wouldn’t feel right charging someone for a story that’s A. sorta-kinda for me, and B. something I would’ve written anyway. These commissions, the point is that they wouldn’t exist unless money changed hands. But if it’s something I’m working on for free and just haven’t had to chance to develop lately, to monetize that, it’s like I’d be an even bigger asshole version of those people who go “no update until I get ten comments."

I suppose I would consider sequelizing stories that I consider finished—as shown by the handy-dandy Complete marker on all reputable fic hosts—because that would be in keeping with the well-known “they drove a dump truck full of money up to my house!" principle of capitalism. But as for those other stories, don’t worry, I’ll be getting to them. After all, I suppose I’ll have some more free time, and I can’t spend all of it playing Max Payne 3 (what? I have needs, and one of those needs is killing people in bullet-time).

Comments

[beerbad.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about your job -- WTF.

If I can still coerce you into a Warehouse 13 commission, let me know! I'm in no rush - this is a 6-month hiatus, after all - very willing to play by your timetable and pay based on length.

Not that I'm desperate or anything. (I am.)

In the meantime I shall continue to enjoy my Lost Girl fic!! :D