TWCL

[Bjork]

do you have any samples of your work?

[MrConradTheDuck]

Alas I don't typically post alot on the internet... I know there is this http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=911666 a fanfic for the popular online game "League of Legends" I did, but this was a year ago before my writing had gone into full motion. I don't typically like toshow to much stuff, but I have a few things I could show you, but not on here of course show me an e-mailand I can send you some stuff I've been doing, granted it was mostly throw away work I did to practice, I was trying to develop a more lax style of writing at the time but it turned out less then stunning.

[Bjork]

so no samples then

[MrConradTheDuck]

Well... yeah, I posted a link to a sample of something I"ve done, if you mean direct sample of the project I don't just give that out.

[Bjork]

all you posted was a little part of an unfinished story that "but this was a year ago before my writing had gone into full motion" and also some other stuff "was mostly throw away work I did to practice" if people give you their email (yeah right) and you make so many mistakes too

i mean i'm not good at writing so i don't call myself a writer and maybe you're not ready to yet either

[MrConradTheDuck]

Well, excuse me, I hadn't any idea you were so defensive of your e-mail adress. So I suppose the answer is no, nothing I've actually worked, but I'm fairly defensive of my writing so I suppose that makes us about even. hmm?

[Casual Notice]

I'm going to intercede here for a second, and point out to Bjork that mad language skills are not the criteria for calling oneself a writer. All that's necessary for that is the compulsive need to put words on paper.

That being said, Bjork does have a few points to make, even if he was a little argumentative about them.

From your initial post, you make no offer of renumeration or proposal about rights ownership. This is all well and good, but unless your name is John Byrne, Jamie Delano, or Neil Gaiman, you're going to have to audition for anyone you expect to work for free, or even on spec. This means you need to develop a reasonable full portfolio of completed works in a variety of genres and formats.

Your sample is an incomplete fan-fiction narrative. That's wrong for your purpose in three ways. First, you have to show prospective artists that you're willing and able to complete work and complete it on time, if only so they don't feel the pressure of deadlines hanging over them on a comic with a regular schedule.

Second, writing for comics involves creating a script, much like a film script. That means a lot more description and a lot less "setting the tone." As an example, you first paragraph, set as a script:

Code:

Panel 1 Scene:  A dark chamber in the bowels of the Institute of War.  Inadequate light and irregular piles of old trophies and artifacts create a feeling of great age and abandonment. Panel 2 Scene:  Same, except there is evidence of a light wind in the various penants and tapestries, and a small light appears, lower, right. Panel 3 Scene:  Tight shot on the small light, which is now shown to be a cloaked figure holding a small, glowing crystal. Figure:  Renekton... Figure:  I have come as you requested.

And finally, it's a fan-fic. Not that there is anything intrinsicly wrong with fan-fics, but if you intend to attract and inspire a worthy artist, you're more likely to do so with the fruit of your own imagination. Assumedly, anyone who wanted to do art for League of Legends would contact Riot Games with their portfolio and produce the art directly.

Try not to be particularly sensitive or protective of your writing. I am not accusing you of being touchy, I'm simply noting that the potential is there, and you should be careful not to come off that way. I know how hard it is to watch people tear into your work, especially if you don't have the confidence that a professional portfolio allows you; however, people are going to critique and criticize your work whether you like it or not.

Editors, assuming they can be arsed to supply a critique along with their rejection, will cut your work to shreds, tearing across grammar, usage, and even artistic elements like flow of dialogue and elegance of description. For the most part, this will be good advice, even if it stings like a paper cut in a lemon bath. (Of course, usually, they'll just send a boiler-plate rejection letter that says "doesn't suit our current needs", often without reading your work at all.)

Likewise, you're not protecting your work by hiding it. Far to the opposite in the internet days. Your best protection is to slap a copyright on it, post t to your own site and let as many people as possible see it with your byline. It seems counter-intuitive, but hiding your work makes it easier for someone else to steal it, since the thief would have the mass of "common knowledge" backing up their claims of origination.

So, yeah. There's some advice, freely given. You can take it or not, at your pleasure.
_________________
What I lack in sincerity, I make up for in sarcasm.
S*P*Q*R

[MrConradTheDuck]

Thank you for your constructive input, you are right, I have been working towards getting a portfolio together. I'll finish a few things, post them somewhere and see where we get from there.

[Casual Notice]

Thank you for your positive response. Whether you follow the advice or not, it was refreshing to have someone reply to advice in the intention in which it was given.
_________________
What I lack in sincerity, I make up for in sarcasm.
S*P*Q*R