Right off the bat, I want to apologize for not posting as frequently as I used to. I won’t lie. The past year since my last birthday, knowing I was going to cross into a new decade, filled me with a dread I can’t describe. Maybe it’s a mortality thing. Maybe I feel I haven’t progressed as far as I wanted in terms of my work bringing in finances.
I’ll get back to that second one. Now that I am in my third decade alive, I don’t feel that different. I keep seeing people saying that their twenties sucked and when they hit thirty, their life started to improve. Hopefully, that’s my case as well. Some things have for me, actually, namely, with me being a part of the Shadow Box Archives Patreon.
Ask any independent writer, making money solely off the work you post is insanely difficult. Returning to my second worry about turning thirty, my plan was a sort of money-in-the-hat situation. I post stories free online, and people can tip however much to support me. While I am grateful to the people who have financially contributed, obviously, I haven’t made enough off my stories to be considered even remotely close to a living. Am I upset about that?
Yeah, who wouldn’t be? I’ve been saying artists deserve compensation. I know I’m not as well-known as some larger horror authors or NoSleep authors, for that matter. It’s ridiculous that they aren’t either. For another example, the SCP wiki, one of the biggest fiction sites of all time, and how much do the writers of it make from it? Not a god damn dime.
Then some of them have to make GoFundMe posts to pay for emergencies. I’m sorry, these people have created articles that multiple YT channels utilize to make money from, and they still have to do shit like that to cover expenses. There’s something wrong here. Okay, I’m aware most people are struggling now. In fact, I have been told by someone that they would give me money for my stories were they in a better position financially.
With that said, who the hell are all these people who keep throwing their money at the most generic shit? Especially with this adamancy against AI, you’d think there would be more support for independent art and stories created authentically, but apparently not. At least, not to nearly the degree it should be. I’d be lying if I told you all that didn’t piss me off a bit. Also, I know that just because something is independently created, doesn’t mean it’s good by default. My issue is it’s hard for upcoming artists to get their foot in the door against already established names, even if said names have had plenty of flops.
Matter of fact. I think if you, as an artist, have been putting in the work and are trying to improve, you deserve to make a living even if you don’t have a crazy big audience. Then again, I support the notion that everyone should have their basic needs already provided. That way, people can spend more focus on creative pursuits. Believe me, it’s difficult making art when you feel you’re progressing at a snails pace and you got financial shit to worry about. I’ve complained about this long enough, though, so I’m going to steer this in a more positive direction.
Something to know about me, my education only extends to finishing high school. I never went to college, and I don’t plan to. Other writers have an education. Meanwhile, I’ve gotten where I am on raw talent online, and that’s why I’m the God of stories. In all seriousness, I did think about it initially.
Two reasons deterred me. 1. Even with things like financial aid, it’s still unreasonably expensive. I can’t tell you how many posts I have seen from people who went to college and got into debt from it. Then they got chastised when they complained about how unfair it is by people who told them they needed a degree to be successful. I didn’t feel like dealing with that, so I chose not to pursue that path.
2. When it comes to writing, I tend to be better at picking up information than sitting down and absorbing it, if that makes sense. I’ve heard artists who went to school improved on a technical level, but their style suffered as a result. I guess you can consider that a third reason I’ve decided against it. By the way, I’m not trying to bash anyone who went to or is in college for writing. If someone thinks that’s the way to go, good on them.
I just wish it wasn’t costing them an arm and a leg. For those who want to go to school for that and are unable due to the cost, the next best thing is to learn from people who have. That’s what I did, and it’s helped me smooth out my work. Something else weird about me is that I don’t have multiple drafts of stories. People say, write off the cuff from an idea, and you can edit it later.
That’s not how my mind works. When it comes to storytelling, you could say I write like someone building a house of cards. I try not to proceed until I am absolutely sure of the direction I want a story to go in. Similar to a house of cards, if I can’t keep the story structured, it falls apart. I think when people say drafts, however, they’re usually referring to novels.
Since my work tends to be on the shorter side, it’s a lot more manageable. and easier to catch mistakes. Unfortunately, some still slip through. I can’t articulate how annoying it is realizing I made a mistake on a story because a word or phrase was right in my head, but my hands didn’t write them correctly or at all. Then my brain proceeds like I did, and I don’t catch the error until seeing it much later or hearing someone read it. That’s why we have the edit button.
Grammarly helps, too. Although abandoning the keyboard has royally shafted the mobile app. Before anyone asks, no, I don’t use generative AI. I just use it for grammar, nothing more. Sometimes, if I see a suggestion for how a sentence should be structured, I’ll take it, but most of the time, it’s pretty shitty when it comes to writing fiction.
Speaking of, that’s why I continue on the path that I am, stories are one of the most important things to me, especially horror. They force us to confront the unknown and darker parts of humanity. I’m glad it’s finally getting the props it deserves since it’s been a very looked down upon genre for a while. I’m also happy to contribute to it with my strange stories, even if my work is merely a drop in the bucket. I like to think all horror writers do.
In that spirit, I want to thank r/nosleep and r/Odd_directions for helping me build an audience. I’d be posting on them still if it weren’t for Reddit’s stupid ass AI shit. Next, thank you to Horror Facts for letting me post stuff where I can ramble like a madman. By the way, I plan to see Bring Her Back tomorrow, so expect an article on that soon. Lastly, I thank the fans of my work. Your support is appreciated, and I will try to get out of this rut I’ve been in and upload more tales of horror and horror comedy.
If you want to give me a present, I would appreciate it if you became a paying member of the Shadow Box Archives, which I will link here. If you want to give me money, I just added a PayPal link to my Support Me page, which you can find here.
