Don't Be Afraid to Steal

You're constantly reading, you're constantly watching things, and you're watching all these ridiculous videos. Occasionally, you're going to see somebody either get something  so right it's  So incredible that you need to try and do it yourself or something so wrong you need to if you figure out how to do it right. Worse, you know it's going to drive you crazy until you do it. 

Except that you're going to feel a little bit hesitant; you're going to feel that there's some sort of honor code between writers that prevents you from doing so. I'm going to tell you straight up: Go ahead and steal it. This is one of those things everybody does to some degree. If you listen to a lot of different comedian routines, you're going to hear a lot of the same jokes. I'm gonna go even further: Some of them won't be all that different once you break things down. But the bottom line is you're going to hear a lot of the same jokes because all these comedians are stealing from each other. 

When you start watching movies and TV, you're going to see a lot of people going through the same basic ideas. Again, that's because they saw something really cool or saw something really awful and decided to try and do it themselves. Everyone steals from somewhere: Sure, it may start as a form of flattery or because they're curious if they can do it themselves, and sometimes because they just want to do whatever others are doing because they know it's safe, but the bottom line is everyone does it to some degree.

As a writer I'm telling you to go ahead and steal. Now, I can see some hesitation because everybody feels there's some sort of writers code that prevents this, or you'll be found out as a fraud. That's perfectly natural. However, at the same time writers tend to be a little bit of family and we tend to have a lot of rivalries going on; we do like challenging each other for position. As long as you're doing something that will challenge others and challenging yourself, you're should be good to go. 

Just keep in mind that while there is a certain amount of gray when it comes to ideas, copyright laws are black and white. As long as you don't steal whole pieces of somebody else's work, you should be good to go. You're more than welcome to go ahead and see what you can do with it, so don't be afraid to steal someone else's idea, just make sure that you have some fun with it and make it your own.

Submit For Review

Submitting your comic for review is a really great marketing strategy. It's free, it's simple, and it gets your comics in front of a crowd.

The cool thing from your perspective is that unlike other marketing techniques this technique is usually free. While there are some exception, in general, if you're submitting to somebody for review and the reviewer actually charges you a fee for your comic reviews then you probably want to avoid that person; reviews are usually part of how they draw in readers and listeners so few reviewers charge. Also, if they are charging for reviews then there is something wrong with their policies in general. Better yet, it should only cost you a PDF copy (if you're nice enough to send a printed copy, then you're just being nice).

In short, if they are charging and/or demand printed copies then you may want to avoid them.  

he other cool thing about reviews is the bad reviews. While it's crushing to get a negative review, they can actually be better for you as a creator because they tell you a lot of where areas where you need to work on. Also, a bad review doesn't necessarily spell bad publicity; you do get your comic in the public eye. So even if it's a really bad review, people that really like that particular genre and looking for something interesting in that genre may still be interested in your comic. There's been a lot of comics that have been really poorly reviewed and have still gone on to become major successes. So if you get a bad review, listen to it, figure out where you screwed up, and correct that stuff later on. 

Of course, if you also get a really good review, don't make the mistake of letting that go to your head. A good review is great for your publicity and it's also great for if when you sell the comic. A really great glowing review says, "Hey, we know what we're doing, buy this book!" Butt don't let it go to your head. You've got these people that are really good artists and as soon as they get to start getting good reviews, they tend to have a serious talent problem because they start believing the press and all of a sudden they develop a major blockage of their talent. 

So definitely submit for reviews as part of your marketing strategy and learn from the reviews as much as you can, but don't let them get you down or take them to heart; reviews, bad and especially good can affect your well being even as they are effective marketing tools.

Make Linkedin Work For You

LinkedIn is a really cool site for people who are looking to establish business contacts and are trying to figure out job and training advice as well as discussing what's going on in any particular industry. This is a really good opportunity; normally, you can only establish contacts within the field with people that are at your level or below. It also means that you can actually discuss things about the industry, to figure out who's messing up or who's doing the right things. There are really cool tips and how to deal with problems you're dealing with. 

For those of us who do a little bit marketing on the side, this is also a really great market for our projects. If we've got this really cool project and we're trying to get a word out, LinkedIn is perfect, especially if we're trying to advertise to people within that industry. This means that not only do we all these really cool contacts offering great advice but it also means we have the potential to get our projects out before our peers and actually have somewhat peer reviewed. They can actually give us advice tell us where we're screwing up and with a little bit of luck, put us on the right track, especially if we pay attention to what they're actually saying. 

So if basically, you're trying to figure out a way to get your message to the public, then head over to LinkedIn; they'll help you if you're having a problem with your writing projects, be it the art or the business side. You've got an entire industry full writers that are willing to give you advice. It can also work if you're having problems getting word out and you want to start generating some sort of buzz for it. LinkedIn is definitely going to be able to help you; just make sure that you are clear in what you need and have a very well defined goal, and LinkedIn will be able to work for you.

Climb That Mountain

Ask any mountain climber: Anything is easier than going up a mountain. Mountain climbing is all about risk; you risk loss of resources, injury, and even death when you go up a mountain. The bigger the mountain, the greater the risks; just consider all of the corpses around Mount Everest.  

It is a lot easier and a lot safer to not take risks. Taking risks should be avoided, because of all the possible harmful consequences. Only a lunatic should take risks.

But...you're a writer. You can't play it safe. You've got to take risks. You've got to explore a direction where nobody else has been to figure out what the deal is. Sometimes you need to go up on a mountain just to see what you can see. 

One of the cool things about going up to Mount Everest is that it gives you the big picture. It's one of the highest places on earth; you can actually see the curve of the earth and that alone is probably worth the price of admission. The problem is the you've got all these people that are cowards, that are scared and have learned that playing it safe is actually exactly where they like being. However, you're you're a writer, you can't afford to play it safe. You can't go over the same territory everybody else does, you need to figure out something different, something that makes it your own. 

Something that will give your audience a different perspective on the same thing, or an entirely different thing. You've got to figure out what your perspective is on things, and sometimes that means going to places that are hazardous for everybody else. Yeah, there's the possibility that you won't come back; if you go in the cave with the dragon, the dragon may eat you. At the same time, there is possibly you and the dragon, hit it off, talk history, and find out that you have a lot in common. For that matter, you could actually kill the dragon and then have a really cool story. 

But the bottom line is you need to go into that cave; you need to take the risk and at least make the attempt at overcoming it. Everybody else can takes the little safe jobs and they're cool. They don't have to worry about looking for bigger, better things. You on the other hand, you need to climb that mountain or it's going to drive you crazy. 

You need to climb that mountain just to see what's there. You need to take risks just to see what will happen. So charge ahead, take the risks, and see what's there. And you can't unless you climb that mountain. 

Follow Your Instincts

Everybody occasionally gets this really bad vibe from something. You'll figure that you're missing something you should be catching, and because of that you just don't feel really comfortable with whatever it is you're dealing with. 

Follow your gut.

Unless you're emotionally locked into something, we're just not going to do all that well with it. If we have any sort of misgivings, any sort of bad vibes, and any sort of bad feeling about something, we're never going to be able to be able to do it. 

We need to have that emotional connection. Unless we establish that connection it just isn't going to be done well. It's just is going to go over about as like a lead balloon. Our gut feeling can prevent us from making that connection, possibly due to our previous experience, because our subconscious sees something our conscious mind doesn't, or just because something doesn't feel right. And that lack of an emotional connection prevents us from doing our best. 

Sometimes you ignore your gut feeling on something no matter how bad your guts scream at you. Some people are way too trusting and that leads them into some really nasty situations despite whatever warnings they were receiving. They don't learn from experience, and it takes them longer to learn to follow their instincts. You need to learn to follow their instincts if you are going to get ahead, whatever that means for that you.

Anybody who's been around for a certain amount of time is going to have some sort of subconscious feeling about something, and they need to learn to follow that gut feeling. Learning to follow your instincts will save you years of therapy, so unless you want to be involved in years of psychotherapy because you will experience the bad effects of whatever your gut was warning you about in the first place you need to follow those instincts. Learn from experience, follow your subconscious feelings, and see where that leads you. You may like the results.

When It's Time to Step Away From A Project

Not every writer is going to be able to do every project. This is an unfortunately sad reality. Sometimes, no matter how interested you are in your project, no matter how much work you've got done for it, no matter how much research you've done for that particular project, the bottom line is that not every project is something you're going to be able to complete. In some cases, you're not even able to even start on it. 

There's an infinite number of reasons for this. You can't connect to the setting. You can't get into the characters. There are even projects that may be just too personal for you. 

That's fine. 

It may be something that's going to drive you crazy. And in some cases it can almost be like you're having to put your pet down.There's absolutely no way to get around that because we're human: We don't like putting an emotional investment into something and then having to walk away from it. 

Unfortunately, part of being a writer is occasionally realizing that sometimes we need to step away from something. Sometimes it's just not working. There's no way we can make everything work. Sometimes it's a limitation or skills. Sometimes it's a limitation or personality. That's fine. Everybody needs to know what their limits are. I don't care how skilled or how talented a writer you are, some projects just aren't going to work. 

So whenever that happens, just step away. Don't feel guilty. I know that last bit is going to be impossible you because you're always going to feel guilty but just just step away.If you don't you're going to go crazy trying to do something that you know is impossible. If you step away then you can deal with all of the frustration then and it won't be as bad as it could be later on. 

So the bottom line is that if you know you can't complete something just step away from it. It may be hard, but it's better to deal with it sooner than later, and frees up all of the energy that you were putting into the project so you can use it elsewhere. So let it go; you'll feel a lot better.

Unleash Your Inner Demons

Writers have arguably one of the coolest jobs in the universe, especially since it does have a little bit of a therapeutic aspect to it. We have a way to get rid of our inner demons in ways that nobody else does. 

Everybody else in the universe has to keep their demons hidden, locked away, chained up, and they have to do this for the good of society. They then have to go to a psychotherapist, who's modern-day equivalent of an exorcist, talk it out, figure out what the problem is. 

For writers, however, it's different. We have the advantage of releasing our inner demons have scenes that are so incredibly evil, nasty and absolutely disgusting, and we actually get paid to do this. We can actually throw them into the world and have a little bit of fun with them. We can explore why they're evil and why they're not so nice. 

Basically, we explore why they don't play well with others. And that's what people love about us. 

I don't care if you're doing horror or if you doing science fiction, you can just let everything go. If you have some sort of evil demon, figure out how to make it even nastier. Throw it into your story and have a lot of fun with it. The more fun you have with it, the more you let it run riot, the more people will love it.

Better yet, by dealing with the demon, by taking time to understand it and to basically figure out where it's coming from you're actually exorcising your own demon, which is sort of cool when you think about it. What this means from a practical perspective is that if you're having a problem, figure out how to set up this really cool villain your story based on that problem. Go deep. have a little fun, explore around and find the darkest, nastiest thing in there. And bring it screaming into the light.

Everyone else has to hide their demons. Writers get to let theirs loose on the world, and get loved for it. Talk about a major perk....