Hi /elite/, I've been asked a second time if I'm doing commissions and I'm a little afraid to start. I don't want to end up having someone feel like they wasted their money, and I have a difficult enough time writing about things I actually want to write about, let alone someone else's idea. I guess it opens me up to serious criticism and pressure to perform and it makes me nervous.
So does anyone have some tips or advice for someone starting out? It'd be much appreciated.

>>2189 (OP)
My opinion? Take a request or two firs, but try to treat in internally as if it you were paid to do it.
If being obliged to write something, of having to do it rather than wanting to do it kills the magic for you, I'd say it's not worth taking commissions at all.

>>2193
Seconding this. I've never taken a commission but I've accepted a few requests that sounded good and regretted it. I can churn out 30 pages a day when I'm in the zone with my own stuff but writing on demand was much harder than I anticipated.

>>2193
Great advice, I'll definitely do that. I might take a request in this thread but I gotta get through finals first.
I started writing for myself, I never expected people would actually offer me money to write for them. Normally I'd brush it off, but turning down 100$ like I was offered no matter what is difficult lol.
>>2194
Same, hell half the time when I write it's just a bunch of crap that never sees the light of day. Add the pressure of trying to make a good story with something that doesn't really interest you that much, along with having to work or go to school, it becomes a bit of an overload. That extra cash flow would be really nice though, plus it's nice to know someone likes your work enough to actually pay you to write something. That is something I'm sure most authors never get offered.

>>2199
I feel you. My own writing process as of late tends to look like that:
1) I wake up in the morning with a couple of decent ideas or concepts;
2) I look at my work schedule and it usually looks empty enough for me to actually write;
3) The moment I decide to sit down to give it a spin is the moment everyone and their mother suddenly decide that they absolutely require my attention, be that work-related or family-related;
4) Day passes;
5) It's 8PM, I can finally sit down and write my stuff in peace, but I'm too tired and pissed off to do it properly and four hours before bedtime is virtually nothing when it comes to it.
And still, I manage to churn out 1k to 2.5k words almost daily. Maybe I'm just not right in the head. Maybe I like the torture that this routine brings. But people seem to like what I write, so no complaints here.

As for requests... if you actually are going to consider this, here's my prompt.

Do this community a solid and write something 40k-related, it feels too damn lonely to be just about the only madman out there who actually does it. Specifically... Hive City, a young couple falls on hard times, semi-willingly joins the an underground Pleasure Cult as they promise food and shelter, shenanigans ensue. Crank the depravity dial slowly, but crank it up to eleven.

If you need any consulting on the matter, hit me up on DA.