Aaaartists Take Heed: Stay Creative the Indie Pirate Way

In times as troubled as these the fear of jumping into a creative endeavor grows even more paralyzing. But the truth is, one must also look at this as opportunity knocking, (although it's knocking so softly it's hard to know whether it's really at the door or it's just the shutter rattling)



Freelance creators must be like pirates, boldly searching the sea for an opportunity to strike and grow their legend.

Publishers Weekly has a write-up about the fall-out from Diamond Distributing's new minimum sales threshold which has some solid suggestions for how to approach the business side of comics and publishing in general.

Optimum Wound's Jason Thibault has most excellent primer for comic artists to survive and thrive in any economy.

I had a similar link for writers but sadly, it has disappeared into the ether. But I cannot recommend indie writing maven, rabble rouser and super mom Ariel Gore's book, "How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead" highly enough for providing the same call to arms.

Both Gore and Thibault don't waste time telling you HOW to write or draw, that's up to you and your muse. They just give you lots of options for how to get your stuff out there so it's seen. Both provide far more inspiration than their word count suggests.

Even if some of their suggestions aren't for you, you may be inspired to find your own way, like these creepy Russians who may be offering pirate hunting cruises off the coast of Somalia. Shades of Richard Cornell and his short story "The Most Dangerous Game" (also called The Hounds of Zaroff).

Reel hunter vs. real hunters.

This 1924 Collier's Weekly short story has spanned a veritable industry of novels, short stories, television episodes, comic books and movies using the exact same plot. From King Kong to Star Trek to James Bond to Predator to, in essence, the entire Lost series, it's the plot that keeps on giving.


And this is likely just another plot. A quick check of Snopes.com discredits it and Cruisecritic.com also lists numerous reasons to doubt.

Still, sand, surf, champagne and murder on the high seas. Now that's a vacation. And a Hell of a tale.

Someone should write or draw about this.

Hmmm...

Beavers Up!

**Jason Thibault reminded me about No Media Kings excellent site, a resource for all writers eager to get their stuff out there. I'm ashamed to admit I forgot about them! Thanks again Jason! For some reason the Commnents section wouldn't let me thank you there, so I'm doing it here.

So why don't you non-artist writers and artist/writer hyphenates check out "10 Ways To Get Your Writing Out There" by NMK mastermind, Jim Munroe ? He's also posted an excerpt from Ariel's book for you to check out yourself, "How To Become A Famous Writer".