I hate freelance writing today... whine, whine, moan, moan.... I have a bunch of articles and an e-book edit due out, none of which are painful, but I’m itching to get back to my edits.
In a perfect world, I could work eight hours a day on just my fiction. I keep picking it up anyway, it’s just flowing so well right now and I hate to stop working on it. But then, the freelance will pay in a matter of weeks, where the fiction won’t even be ready for submission for a few months – and there’s no guarantee of payment at all there.
I wasn’t supposed to work on the fiction at all yesterday, but I wound up allotting myself one hour to work on the chapter I was on.... that hour turned into the whole day, because it was just flowing so well. I’m in the editing process and the first few revisions get the story out, but at this stage of the game it’s all about making sure that the reader is involved, all of the plotlines are going the right way and none of them dead end or waver. I’m cutting all of the back story, which seemed so necessary in the heat of creation but I know only serves to pull the reader back from the experience.
As a means to pat myself on the back some, the chapter I just finished was torture to write originally. It bored me to tears, but had to be in because it introduced key characters. I’m sure those of you who write have been there – you know what has to be said, and where the characters should go, but it’s torture getting it on the page... Well, after a full day of tooling re-tooling, playing and finagling, I love this chapter... it brings you right into the character’s head without spoon feeding at all, and if you’ve read my posts before you know that’s my main flaw in writing.
So what’s on the agenda today? Finish the e-book edits and send, get a leg up on the articles due out this week, and not touch the fiction until after I hit my quota if at all.... And what’s sitting in front of me right this second? A hot cup of coffee and my next chapter.... maybe just one hour on my fiction first.....
Showing posts with label freelance writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freelance writing. Show all posts
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Ethics in Ghostwriting
In another post, found at Laura Spencer’s blog, the discussion on ethics in freelance continues… For those of you not aware, there have been a number of blogs posted lately debating the ethics of ghostwriting.
I did drop a rough response at Lillie Ammann’s Blog on the subject, but thought a fuller post detailing my answers to some really profound questions posed by Ms. Spencer would be a great springboard for discussion. For those of you interested, both Laura Spencer and Lillie Ammann included thoughtful insights into the topic as well as a host of excellent links to follow for other writer’s opinions. Here are my answers:
1. Would you completely write a book, play, or other creative work and allow someone else to have the credit?
Most definitely not!!! But that’s not to say that I consider it unethical, I’m not judging anyone else’s mode of writing – for me, fiction is out as far as ghost writing is concerned.
2. Would you write a blog and allow someone else to claim it as their own?
Yes. Not all business owners can write well or capture an audience, but blogs are a fantastic way to keep constantly updated information on your website and to build a community feel for your business. I don’t see anything wrong with hiring a ghost blogger to update company blogs on a regular basis.
3. Would you use a pen name or pseudonym?
Yes – actually, my byline for fiction is my maiden name, which for me is more my own than my married name and I prefer to keep it that way… I use my legal name for non fiction, freelance, and this blog as a matter of fact – as well as editing.
I don’t see anything wrong with a pen name, and am not quite sure how it made it into the topic of writing ethics – many authors have multiple facets of interest and they may not want their primary writing to cross over to their side or hobby work… say a children’s author with a pension for erotica – you can see how the pseudonym might come in handy there.
4. Would you write a nonfiction piece and allow someone (or something as in the case of a company) to have the credit?
Yes, and I have done this type of ghost writing. There are certain instances where this may border on ethic dilemma, but that’s up to the writer to study and decide.
5. Would you write someone’s term paper for them?
NO! NO! NO! Anyone who writes a student’s work, thesis, anything along these lines, is as much of a cheating lowlife as the student who hired them… This is a huge pet peeve with me – but let me just clarify, in case some ‘writer’ who’s done this stumbles upon my blog – You are not a writer if you take this kind of work – you are a dishonest moron enabling a new generation to miss out on their education and infiltrate the world with mediocrity.
I’ve actually covered the ethics of cheating college students and the idiots who enable them in multiple posts at my old blog, Merryone Those posts will probably be moved here eventually, as I clean out the old blog of the extraneous and move the better nuggets here.
I would like to take the time to invite any writer, freelancer, or reader to respond to the above questions, or simply post their own take on ethics in writing on their respective blogs. Drop a link here so that I can find you – or drop a comment to more fully discuss.
I did drop a rough response at Lillie Ammann’s Blog on the subject, but thought a fuller post detailing my answers to some really profound questions posed by Ms. Spencer would be a great springboard for discussion. For those of you interested, both Laura Spencer and Lillie Ammann included thoughtful insights into the topic as well as a host of excellent links to follow for other writer’s opinions. Here are my answers:
1. Would you completely write a book, play, or other creative work and allow someone else to have the credit?
Most definitely not!!! But that’s not to say that I consider it unethical, I’m not judging anyone else’s mode of writing – for me, fiction is out as far as ghost writing is concerned.
2. Would you write a blog and allow someone else to claim it as their own?
Yes. Not all business owners can write well or capture an audience, but blogs are a fantastic way to keep constantly updated information on your website and to build a community feel for your business. I don’t see anything wrong with hiring a ghost blogger to update company blogs on a regular basis.
3. Would you use a pen name or pseudonym?
Yes – actually, my byline for fiction is my maiden name, which for me is more my own than my married name and I prefer to keep it that way… I use my legal name for non fiction, freelance, and this blog as a matter of fact – as well as editing.
I don’t see anything wrong with a pen name, and am not quite sure how it made it into the topic of writing ethics – many authors have multiple facets of interest and they may not want their primary writing to cross over to their side or hobby work… say a children’s author with a pension for erotica – you can see how the pseudonym might come in handy there.
4. Would you write a nonfiction piece and allow someone (or something as in the case of a company) to have the credit?
Yes, and I have done this type of ghost writing. There are certain instances where this may border on ethic dilemma, but that’s up to the writer to study and decide.
5. Would you write someone’s term paper for them?
NO! NO! NO! Anyone who writes a student’s work, thesis, anything along these lines, is as much of a cheating lowlife as the student who hired them… This is a huge pet peeve with me – but let me just clarify, in case some ‘writer’ who’s done this stumbles upon my blog – You are not a writer if you take this kind of work – you are a dishonest moron enabling a new generation to miss out on their education and infiltrate the world with mediocrity.
I’ve actually covered the ethics of cheating college students and the idiots who enable them in multiple posts at my old blog, Merryone Those posts will probably be moved here eventually, as I clean out the old blog of the extraneous and move the better nuggets here.
I would like to take the time to invite any writer, freelancer, or reader to respond to the above questions, or simply post their own take on ethics in writing on their respective blogs. Drop a link here so that I can find you – or drop a comment to more fully discuss.
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