Freelancing for the Trek RPG?

[Ineti]

I asked this a long while ago, just as this section of the boards was starting, and thought I'd ask again.

Will the creative forces behind the Trek RPG be looking for freelance writers, editors, and/or artists at any point, or are the "stables" full as it were?

This isn't so much a "how do I break into the industry" question as much as it is "how can I attract your attention so that I can work with some really cool people on a really cool product"?

[Dan Stack]

I would go the Dave Biggins route. Dave wrote a ton of adventures for trek-rpg.net and if memory serves (Dave?) one of his adventures was used by Last Unicorn Games at conventions and available via their (now defunct) website.

(Mind you it doesn't have to be adventures - the fan-made Cardassian sourcebook comes to mind as another example).

[Ineti]

Good idea, Dan.

That begs the next question: Is Trek-rpg.net still accepting submissions for game materials? Unless I've missed something, I don't think there's been an update for a while (other than Steve Long's new piece).

Or are there just not many submissions coming in?

[Don Mappin]

Yes, Dave also recently worked on the “Starships” book as an example and wrote some other material for LUG in the past. We still use two of Dave’s adventures for conventions!

None of these comments are directed at Ineti per-se.

IMO the “stable,” as it were, is full. Also, unless you have any prior published work or a proven track record (can you handle redlines in a timely manner, what’s your style like, can you turn in 30K words on time, etc?) then you’re a risk to assign any work to, frankly. Why send work towards a newbie with no track record when, for literally pennies more, the developer can have someone with a proven history write the same material?

My advice would be to go get published—anywhere—and establish yourself as a proven freelancer. Write for any of the numerous d20 magazines or any of the d20 publishers. They’ll literally print anyone. (That’s not a slam at you.) Once you have a resume built up then come back and make your pitch to the proper people. (Contact the developer; don’t make a shotgun post to a message board hoping you’ll be tossed work. It doesn’t work like that.)

Of course, I’m of the opinion that if you had to ask this question in the first place then you probably shouldn’t be freelancing in the industry. Brutal to hear, I know, but you need to be self-motivated to find work as a writer. If you’ve asked “how do I do it” then you haven’t thought it through all the way and I (personally) wouldn’t consider you a serious candidate.

With all that said, Jess Heinig is the man you’ll want to speak with and he can invalidate, confirm, or make “no comment” on the above. Every developer runs their ship a little differently.

Also, if you freelance for Trek, you’re taking away work that I could be doing! Ahahaah!! The pain!

[PGoodman13]

Don mentions that he's working on changing the format a bit somewhere on the news page in his 22 July posting, and I seem to recall him mentioning something to me somewhere around here that he's waiting until that's in place to take new stuff. I could be misremembering something fierce, however. Don, am I remembering things right?

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Don Mappin Why send work towards a newbie with no track record when, for literally pennies more, the developer can have someone with a proven history write the same material?

Makes perfect sense.

My advice would be to go get published—anywhere—and establish yourself as a proven freelancer. Write for any of the numerous d20 magazines or any of the d20 publishers. They’ll literally print anyone. (That’s not a slam at you.)

Good advice.

Once you have a resume built up then come back and make your pitch to the proper people. (Contact the developer; don’t make a shotgun post to a message board hoping you’ll be tossed work. It doesn’t work like that.)

I know that.

Of course, I’m of the opinion that if you had to ask this question in the first place then you probably shouldn’t be freelancing in the industry. Brutal to hear, I know, but you need to be self-motivated to find work as a writer. If you’ve asked “how do I do it” then you haven’t thought it through all the way and I (personally) wouldn’t consider you a serious candidate.

IMO, asking questions is part of being self-motivated. I can envision someone thinking "I'd like to work for an RPG company" but not having the experience to know what the next step is.

And I think it's a given that anyone who wants to write for a living, be it RPGs or novels or scripts or whatever, HAS to be self-motivated. No one s going to knock on your door with work until you've proved yourself.

With all that said, Jess Heinig is the man you’ll want to speak with and he can invalidate, confirm, or make “no comment” on the above. Every developer runs their ship a little differently.

Noted.

Also, if you freelance for Trek, you’re taking away work that I could be doing! Ahahaah!! The pain!

I believe Trek is one big ocean where a lot of people can swim.

Don, thanks for the thoughts. I hope I'm not the only one here who'll get a lot of value out of them.

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Ineti
I believe Trek is one big ocean where a lot of people can swim.

Not in RPGs, my friend. Well, this is where you're in trouble because you've got no facts to back you up. I, on the other hand, do. After speaking with Christian, Owen, and Jess on the upcoming schedule and knowing that Decipher has two full-time Star Trek staff writers already, there isn't much left for the freelancers to deathmatch over.

Let me put it another way: two of the guys that helped design the system and have written in every Trek product to date (Ross and myself) are now on the outside looking in and we're not sure what projects (if any) will get tossed our way. Plus there's a pool of another 5-10 proven freelancers to draw from. Any way you slice it there are already too many people fighting over too little work. (This is a good thing, from a developer perspective, and is the nature of the business. It is not a criticism.)

I would love to continue writing for Trek but I'm not sure at this juncture if there's going to be much for me to do, unless "Enterprise," "Voyager," or something with starships pops up on the horizon--all areas of expertise for me. So, your statement that there's plenty of work for everyone involved is, IMO, false by a significant margin.

Best of luck.

[Ineti]

Good information, thanks Don!

Fortunately, there are other avenues for aspiring Trek writers. If we just want to scratch the itch and do game material, we can write it up and submit it here.

And if there are writers who can/want to write Trek fiction, Pocket Books has a couple avenues open as well. It can be done, it just takes skill and persistence.

[Don Mappin]

All true, however my comments are directed towards the original topic of this thread: "Will the creative forces behind the Trek RPG be looking for freelance writers, editors, and/or artists at any point, or are the "stables" full as it were?"

I don't presume to have any insight into the other avenues of Star Trek writing that exist. You should, honestly, drop Jess a line. His word is the gospel; not that of some babbling freelancer with a website.

Best of luck.

[Dan Gurden]

Well Don. Speaking as a babbling freelancer with a website.

Can you give us a hint at when your website will be taking submissions again... After all I wouldn't mind passing this Maquis document I was building to this site for sharing... After all I know how dear to your heart the Maquis was...

[Jesse Heinig]

RIght now, as Don observed, we have full-time staff writers who draw a regular paycheck, so management (the people back east) like to see those full-time staff writers regularly used to <i>earn</i> that paycheck.
Furthermore, we do also have a lot of proven freelancers, like Don and Dave. Plus, since I've been a game developer for a while, I have about four years of <i>other</i> freelancer connections to call upon.
So the verdict is that the writing schedule is very full -- I want to give all of the strong freelancers the opportunity to continue their careers; it's good for us because we get proven writers, and it's good for them because they strengthen their freelance resumes.
This doesn't mean that I won't hire someone on spec; every once in a while there's an opening that might fit for a good newcomer. I like giving newcomers a chance -- I was a newcomer once, myself. Unfortunately the next year's schedule simply doesn't have a lot of space for freelancing, so it will be tougher than normal for people to break in.
Points of advice:
-- Write a lot. Don't hesitate to rewrite, either. Writing lots gets you practice. Even if some of your stuff is crummy, chances are that over time you'll hit the same odds as the hundreds of baboons clacking away at keyboards, and produce something good. If yuou have real talent, writing often will just strengthen it. Yes, even I have bad products and good ones. Just make sure to draw attention to your best work, and don't hesitate to update the things that you submit here and elsewhere. Tolkien constantly revised his <i>Lord of the Rings</i> work, and if it's good enough for Tolkien, it's good enough for you.
-- Please, no fanfic. The <i>Star Trek RPG</i> franchise works on the license of visual material from Paramount/Viacom. In other words, it doesn't matter how cool it was in some novel; if it isn't from the shows and movies, we probably can't use it. In some cases we're allowed leeway to make stuff up, but often times we can't touch the directions that novels may have taken. By the same token, the ubiquitous crossovers with Robotech, Sailor Moon, Star Wars and every other property under the sun are totally unusable to us. For legal reasons (if not quality reasons), they wind up in a trash can without being read. Also, beware the "Mary Sue" effect. Many writers like to write stories about their favorite property (such as <i>Star Trek</i>) in order to insert themselves into the property. Rodenberry did it himself, with Wesley Crusher as his younger alter-ego. In this case it was BAD. Don't make the same mistake. Write interesting stories and useful rules that we can use under the limitations of the visual material.
-- Have patience, grasshopper! If you submit stuff and it's unusable, I'll tell you "This doesn't work for us" or "You need to work on (x)." If I tell you "This is great but we can't hire you right now," I mean it, for the reasons previously mentioned about the schedule. Maybe it will take a year or more for an opening to come up. Use the time to sharpen your skills and, as Don recommended, get published somewhere else in the meantime.
-- Edit and spellcheck. Yeah, it's tedious, but presumably you are sending in your best effort. If it's rife with errors, how can we assume that you will do better on a professionally-paid work?
-- Know your target. As Don pointed out, looking for work on J. Random Message Board isn't usually fruitful. In this case, I do frequent the boards, so you lucked out. (Trek-rpg.net isn't exactly "any old board.") Sure, you have to start asking questions somewhere. If you have specific questions, try sending a polite introductory email to one of the published pros -- Don, Dave, myself, what-have-you -- saying "Hi, I'm interested in breaking in to the industry, and I'd like your honest advice." I don't recommend sending your latest novel as an unsolicited attachment. Ask permission before you get someone to read your work -- I don't like to start my mornings with a hundred pages of hopeful fiction, and some of the pros out there are on dial-up and don't want to waste an hour downloading it.

Best o' luck!

Jess Heinig

[Ineti]

Wow. Jess, Don, thank you very much for taking the time to post all that information. I'll repeat myself by saying that I hope I'm not the only one who will take value from those posts.

I'm jazzed. These posts have really gotten my gears churning, much like when Wizards of the Coast announced their fantasy setting search a couple months ago.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some writing to do.