   Writer seeking work
  Hello, I am a 19 year-old college student located in Eastern Pennsylvania, not too far from Philadelphia. I have many years of writing experience, both as a hobby and in extra-curricular activities during high-school. I have written editorials and reviews for a local friend's small (and now shut-down) gaming website, as well as writing and editing my high-school's newspaper. I am currently writing a novel which I hope to have ready for submission by the end of summer 09. I am extremely knowledgeable about both video games and the video game industry, and I regularly keep up on news and events. I am fully capable of writing any sort of editorial regarding gaming, and in addition I am well versed in the many aspects of story-telling and composition. I find that most modern video games have extremely lacking stories with one-dimensional characters and weak plots, and this is something I would like to improve upon. I have also worked a great deal with writing film scripts (which are nearly identical to "gaming scripts") and am extremely familiar with the style, format, and pacing of such writing. I realize I don't have a lot of solid evidence to show for my experience, however I will gladly send samples of my work, be it creative or editorial (whichever the job specifies), to whomever is interested in my abilities. I don't require a lot of money at all, and though I'm only looking for part-time I would still do full-time depending on the job. Anyone interested please feel free to contact me at fmb137@hotmail.com   
  For clarification, you are a beginning college student near Philly whose looking for a paid writing gig. While you do not have any samples publicly available, you can provide some on request. Do you have anyone who can vouch for you? A bit of verbal backup might be helpful in lieu of publicly available samples.Can you give better details for your pay expectations? Most people don't want to waste time haggling.Could you describe your style and influences? This sort of background information is key.   ;  On the creative writing side, my biggest influences as far as authors go would include Cormac McCarthy, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Christopher Baer, and Chuck Palahniuk. I suppose one could classify my writing as being minimalist/realist. My stories generally involve morally ambiguous characters that are not easily defined as being good or evil, and I like to detail the emotional responses of people put into situations that may test their virtues and ethics. I specialize in crime fiction, having done a huge amount of research into organized crime (particularly the American-Italian mafia as well as the Japanese Yakuza). However, I've also done a lot things of with science fiction and fantasy, generally hard sci-fi. As far as pay goes, it's hard to say without first having some knowledge of what I'd be doing, but I'd like to note that I'm not going to be picky at all and would settle for pretty much anything that isn't ridiculous. For editorials, a few cents a word is acceptable. For constructing an entire story, I'd really need to speak with the interested party before I can make a legitimate request. When it comes to having people vouch, I could provide some way of contacting my high-school for proof of my role in the newspaper, as well the name/number of my English teacher. I could also provide the name of the owner of the website I wrote for, but I don't know that he could do anymore than say what I did for him, which I feel wouldn't exactly be sufficient for most employers. I realize that without much evident experience or a decent resume it will make it hard for people to take me seriously, however I'm confidant that given the opportunity to prove myself, anyone interested would be pleasantly surprised. I would post examples of my stories but none of them are copyrighted and I'd rather not subject myself to the risk of being plagiarized, however unlikely. But, like I said, I am perfectly willing to provide such samples to anyone who shows an actual interest.  ;Quote:Original post by Francis Michael BuckI would post examples of my stories but none of them are copyrighted and I'd rather not subject myself to the risk of being plagiarized, however unlikely. But, like I said, I am perfectly willing to provide such samples to anyone who shows an actual interest.In all countries where the Berne Convention standards apply, copyright is automatic, and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights. However, while registration isn't needed to exercise copyright, in jurisdictions where the laws provide for registration, it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright and enables the copyright holder to seek statutory damages and attorney's fees. (In the USA, registering after an infringement only enables one to receive actual damages and lost profits.)Hope it is informative.   