paperback writer

I was wrong. I now know where the real money in freelance writing is:

Bridal magazines.

These people pay TWO DOLLARS A WORD. For comparison, most places pay around 10 cents a word. Granted, the bridal mags only come out four times a year, but if you could work for all of them, you wouldn't have to have another job. $2000 a pop ain't bad money.

I finished my project for drama, which was to read a screenplay, make a poster, and do a three to five minute presentation. I picked an easy one: "Chasing Amy".

See, I love Kevin Smith movies. They have the one thing that is missing from most other movies in a similar vein: realistic dialogue. My friends talk like that. We have the snappy, back-and-forth banter that Dante and Randal have, or Banky and Holden have.

I could have done a monologue instead of a poster, but that would have required a lot of extra work. Granted, there are two kick-ass pieces in "Chasing Amy", namely Holden's speech to Alyssa in the car and Bob's Amy story, but I didn't want to have to memorize anything.

I can't decide whether to write a bunch of short stories or do one mid-sized novel for my first attempt at getting published. I'm better at writing shorts, but almost all of my ideas could be fleshed out to either novels or screenplays.

I've been reading a ton of screenplays lately, fished off of the internet. So far, my favorite scripts are "The Breakfast Club" and, of course, "Chasing Amy". I've got maybe three dozen sitting in My Documents right now, waiting to be read.

My only problem with writing screenplays is that I get way too attached to my characters, and I couldn't hand a script over to the director and let him have his perspective on it put up on the screen.

Maybe I should just stick to comic books. Although, it's hard enough to get a job writing novels or short stories. It's insanely hard getting your foot in the door at a decent comics company (DC or Marvel).

Or maybe I should just panhandle. I hear the benefits suck, but the hours are great.