three things that I hate that authors who are taking story commissions do

[eli4785]

 

Well, I pondered a lot wether to post this topic or not, but an issue i had with an author recently and an extreme action I had to take at the beginning of this week caused me to post this topic 

I don’t want to sounds offensive, but I’m thinking thats some basic keystones has to be kept 

the issues I would like to discus are below

1.authors who are taking a commission  writing some portion of it or writing nothing of it  and then disappearing Fading away      - Well, I do understand that for most of the authors writing commission stories and generally writing stories isn’t their main job and in addition they have commitments to their Patreons I do understand they has a personal life and do understand that sometimes things are screwing up a big project in their work that occupying    their time more then they expected a new work an unexpected medical issue and any other  emergency I do understand that sometimes the writing process  is slower then expected I do understand that sometimes an author don’t know how to continue the story  but I can’t understand disappearing and non responding I can wait for a long time for a story to be done as long as I stay updated as long as the author is letting me know there will be a delay 

I don’t have to end it up in a PayPal dispute claim I don’t have to reach a point that I’m demanding my money back  sending a brief update isn’t taking a lot of time and giving the person who asked the commission a feeling the author is still working on his commission and planning to finish it as soon as he can

2.an author who is giving the impression he will begin working on your commission as soon as the payment will be sent and then after the payment has been sent you’re waiting 3 or 4 months until he is free to begin working on it 

I do understand that the author don’t want to miss the commission and do understand he wants to convince the person who required the commission to work with him and do understand he needs this extra money for paying bills but also I have to pay bills and I don’t have a bush full of gold coins and diamonds in my backyard…

Honesty is extremely important thing and yes honesty is giving a reliable schedule I don’t have to expect the story to be done in a few weeks and then find I have to wait way way long time for it 

sometimes even if I’m satisfied from the story I won’t work with this author anymore because he wasn’t honest with me about the beginning time of the writing 

3.an author who is accepting all of my idea’s details and specific scenes  and in the end is including only few those details and non of the scenes I do understand that when I’m asking for a commission it will never be 100% of what I have in mind and truly enjoying to see how the author’s creativity is mixing with my idea but truly not like when all of my special requests has been ignored if something with some of the idea’s details or scenes isn’t suiting well the author can discus about it we can find out  a way both of us will be satisfied but an Ignoration is extremely unacceptable 

I truly appreciate  authors who are declining my ideas and are saying they can’t write it down in a way I’ll be satisfied in most of the cases we are finding out other idea they can work with

 

 

[~Brian~]

@eli4785

14 hours ago, eli4785 said:

1.authors who are taking a commission  writing some portion of it or writing nothing of it  and then disappearing Fading away      - Well, I do understand that for most of the authors writing commission stories and generally writing stories isn’t their main job and in addition they have commitments to their Patreons I do understand they has a personal life and do understand that sometimes things are screwing up a big project in their work that occupying    their time more then they expected a new work an unexpected medical issue and any other  emergency I do understand that sometimes the writing process  is slower then expected I do understand that sometimes an author don’t know how to continue the story  but I can’t understand disappearing and non responding I can wait for a long time for a story to be done as long as I stay updated as long as the author is letting me know there will be a delay 

I don’t have to end it up in a PayPal dispute claim I don’t have to reach a point that I’m demanding my money back  sending a brief update isn’t taking a lot of time and giving the person who asked the commission a feeling the author is still working on his commission and planning to finish it as soon as he can

I would like to point out that there are many authors here that do a lot of different stories. Each particular story is unique and each person who is writing such a story has to be able to write a story in a way that is agreeable to both individuals.  If someone is writing a story, it's almost like the old style authoring of a book. mightily uncle was a author of many books including many on gardening.

When you write a book, you have to plan out exactly what the heck you're going to write about, and you have to be able to set it up the way you think would work as you as you are the one who is putting pen to paper and then doing all the editing work and all the things that you're talking about. It takes awhile for somebody to write a book, and it also takes awhile for a commissioned author to be able to write such a story if They are writing it because you asked them to. each person has their own life like, like you said, and things happen.

The best thing I can say in this position is that you need to be able to talk to the author in question that you're going to be writing A request for him or her to commission a story for you. each author has their own way of doing things, in their own rules about how they handle things. being in contact with an author is crucial if you are expecting to be able to have a particular commission story by a certain date. It is important that a person who is writing always tries to keep in contact with an author, but the person who is requesting them to write A commission story needs to be able to understand that as you said things happen in life, and things happen and times change period this basically means that you need to give the author the time that they need in order to write what you are asking them to do. remember writing a book or writing a story is no different than taking an ink well filling it with Ink and then writing the story. the only thing that's different is you're using electronic means to be able to publish a work of Art. you don't rush an artist when they're trying to with the Their rembrandt peace or their particular piece that is Very important to the artist. it takes a lot of time effort blood sweat and tears to be able to paint a picture or to do any type of artistic endeavor, and writing is no different. the most important thing is that you need to keep in contact with the author, and when you end up having a contract with an author, each side should agree that there are certain things that you would request be done by a certain date, and if there is a reason why a person would miss that deadline, then you continue to work with that individual and keep them advised, and they keep you advised.

Having a paypal dispute is no fun. this is why it is always important to have a contract when you are When you are dealing with this. a contract is no more than a person saying I will do X if you do Y by Z. if you don't do A by B OR  by C, then this happens.  I always have a couple of good laughs when I hear the following things: if you have ever watched the People's court with Judge Marilyn millian, she always tells you that there are two important things: one is that money doesn't leave your left hand without a receipt being put in your right, that way you know you paid it, somebody signed off on it, and you have the proof. she also tells you, that number 2 is a contract A contract is very simple you just take a crayon in one hand and a piece of toilet paper on the other, and you memorialize the contract so you don't have an issue or a dispute. if you have all your legal stuff in a row, a contract is basically an agreement within the Four corners of the contract. that means if someone says i'm gonna pay you $100 if you give me 2 cows, if somebody If somebody gives you $100 for two cows, and everything's fine, the contract is taken care of. if someone he says I'm gonna pay you $50 for two cows, then there has to be some sort of meeting of the mines to be able to make the change and it has to be Memorialized. if somebody does not make the changes to the contract in a legal manner the original contract stands so you can't end up reading into a contract and putting things in there that weren't. this is why it's always important to have a legal contract or some sort of gentleman's agreement that some things will happen at a certain time, and it spells out what The customer is looking for a comma and what the customer expects, and it also tells the customer what the author is willing to do, their rules regulations and other things, so everybody knows what the heck is going on.

14 hours ago, eli4785 said:

2.an author who is giving the impression he will begin working on your commission as soon as the payment will be sent and then after the payment has been sent you’re waiting 3 or 4 months until he is free to begin working on it 

I do understand that the author don’t want to miss the commission and do understand he wants to convince the person who required the commission to work with him and do understand he needs this extra money for paying bills but also I have to pay bills and I don’t have a bush full of gold coins and diamonds in my backyard…

Honesty is extremely important thing and yes honesty is giving a reliable schedule I don’t have to expect the story to be done in a few weeks and then find I have to wait way way long time for it 

sometimes even if I’m satisfied from the story I won’t work with this author anymore because he wasn’t honest with me about the beginning time of the writing 

what I think you are seeing here is very true. when you pay for someone to Write a commissioned work, you would expect that they are going to work on it whenever they have the time and that is why it is important to have a contract, so that deadlines and expectations are clearly understood between the number of parties involved. it is also important for people to understand that things happen in life, just like you said, and the idea here is that the person who is writing the commission work needs to be able to do it In an appropriate time limit. Sometimes, Life happens, and as such things that you originally may have expected to happen may not, and that is why it is always important to keep in contact with the author of your Commissioned work. if an author is unable to complete the assignment in a reasonable time, then it should be clearly stated what happens and if there's any penalties or any fees, and if not, there should be a way to get money back if that's the way it goes. it all depends on the law and what the contract says. it also means that it will depend on what the authors rules are in how he or she Deals with it.

What I believe you are trying to say also is that sometimes people will take a commission, and then they'll say that they will write what you are saying they will write, and then they ghost and you never see them for months on end, or you are afraid someone is going to run with your money and you don't get what your product. Unfortunately, this is something that may happen, but I have not heard of such A situation happening, but I'm sure that many commissioned story authors can say whether that happens or not. If you're paying somebody to write your story, You are expecting them to be able to write your story and not just take your money and run. it is quite difficult in some cases to be able to win a dispute with paypal if they are tied up In the dispute process, and that can be a pain in the butt - Ghosting someone is what I think you're talking about, and no it is not a good thing. most authors that I have heard from are honest and they wouldn't do this as far as I can tell. that is also why it is important to keep in constant contact with your commissioned author so that they can keep you updated as to what is going on. it is no different than if for some reason there is a role play here for example and the story has been going on, and then an author wants to know what is going on with their partner or partners in a story. they end up posting something either in the storyline in parenthesis or in a particular way so that it is distinct so people know what's going on Or they message the individual privately so they know what is up. it is always a good idea to keep in contact on both ends. people that just take money and run, which is basically what ghosting is probably Think they are trying to get away with something if they're being devious. I don't think any of our authors here that do this on Request our devious, but you have to know what's going on. this is why a contract that is well thought out and well executed is needed. that way everybody knows what the hecks going on, and there's no surprises on the end of communication.

15 hours ago, eli4785 said:

3.an author who is accepting all of my idea’s details and specific scenes  and in the end is including only few those details and non of the scenes I do understand that when I’m asking for a commission it will never be 100% of what I have in mind and truly enjoying to see how the author’s creativity is mixing with my idea but truly not like when all of my special requests has been ignored if something with some of the idea’s details or scenes isn’t suiting well the author can discus about it we can find out  a way both of us will be satisfied but an Ignoration is extremely unacceptable 

I truly appreciate  authors who are declining my ideas and are saying they can’t write it down in a way I’ll be satisfied in most of the cases we are finding out other idea they can work with

 

In this case it is more A point of Subjectivity. for this I mean that you have particular ideas for a particular story, and the idea is you're trying to find a commissioned author that will put your particular ideas down in a story that would make sense, and then try to bring your characters to life. it is hard for an author in my opinion, to be able to take An idea and run with it sometimes. it's almost like when my grandfather used to paint signs. my grandfather being an artist, doing regular signs and neon signs, uses things like paint and Other things to make to make the Sign pop and do other things that the customer wants. when you do a sign, you are providing a work of art to a customer, and a customer is requesting certain things be done to it. Sometimes what the person ask for is possible, and sometimes what the person ask for is not. i've seen my grandfather when he has a situation whereas a customer, and they always have some sort of a meeting, and they come to an agreement my grandfather my grandmother and the customer, and they discussed Discuss things and they might try different things. i've also had a situation where a guy commissions or pays my grandfather for a sign and it's not exactly what he wants, but grandpa was always willing to work with a customer to make the sign or signs or whatever it is What it should be according to him.

Sometimes it is very hard and sometimes it is very easy to be able to take your ideas and be able to mold them into store Form. it's almost like taking a piece of nice soft modeling clay. when you start out of story you just have a clump or a lump of humongous clay on your table and you have to shape that thing into the story That you want. the customer tells the author ideas that he or she would like to see within the story, and then the author has to be able to do like my grandfather does and be able to mold it and shape it and cut it and everything out, and be able to put it together so that the story flows and makes sense. sometimes sometimes this is easy to do, other times it is more difficult, but the idea here is that the people that are writing these stories at work extremely hard and I do understand very well that you may not agree that the story that the author comes up with is similar to what you're looking for, And that is why you have to be in contact with the person who is your commissioned author. Most likely you can work with a particular author to make your story the way you would like to see it, and sometimes the best stories are those where you throw down a bunch of ideas and you let the commissioned author act as if you're working on a work bench with a hammer A nail a square a blueprint and a whole bunch of different other stuff. it's just that you have to be patient and let them work through What they're doing, and that is why you should have a good contract, because it tells the ground rules and the penalties and the way that things are taken care of.

I have to hand it to these commissioned authors: they really know how to make things pop when they write stories and I can tell you right now that I have read many of them. I know that it is not Easy to write something. I don't care if it's nonfiction I don't care if it's fiction I don't care if it's a song, or whatever it is. each one of these things that I described is an art form. you have people here on daily diapers that may end up playing instruments such as electric guitars or hammer dulcimers or drums or something like that. each one of these people have a craft and they use their instruments or their tools to make things happen. A writer or a painter or a sign maker or something like that they each have their tools and they each have their craft and they each are trained to be able to do that craft in the best way possible. when you end up with even in music you might have somebody that's thinking about something or they end up playing the piano, and then some light bulb moment comes on and they say OK this is awesome i'm gonna do it!

either way the most important thing is that you must give person who is your commissioned author now Time to be able to understand what it is they are being asked to do, how fast they have to do it, what you expect and all that. if something does not seem to fit the schedule or something happens, then that happens. this is why it is always important to keep open communication lines. It's also a good idea to make sure that confusion is not A big problem, because that can be a stumbling block. i've had it happen where I think something is one way, somebody else thinks it's a different way, a third person thinks it's another way entirely, and then a fourth person Is confused. then I have to go back in and I have to reiterate what it is that I'm dealing with period they say that you should not have too many cooks with a soup, because if you have too many cooks stirring it up, tasting it, seasoning it, and everything else it ruins the work of Art: basically anytime you're doing anything in a craft you are performing a work of art or making one period it doesn't matter if you're eating it looking at It listening to it writing about it or whatever. you should give the commissioned author enough time to be able to write it, enough ideas to be able to add to the mix, because basically what you're doing is she is helping you or he is helping you build the foundation and help your characters build out Build out, but you are providing some of the construction pieces that you need in order to make the story good. then you ask the author and you let the author spin it up a little, and then they end up asking you your opinion. as I said writing is not something that you can do Almost as easy as you can change your socks. it takes time it takes effort it takes skill and it is something that is a craft. For example, if I decide I wanna make a web page right now, I can easily log into my website pull up wordpress and then make a web page and attach whatever I need, and then publish it. I could go to Weebly to the church website and make the necessary changes to the site that I need, and then you're all set. the most important thing is That what is easy for somebody else may be harder for others. I am not an author by trade, but I do write website content: you still have to be able to proofread and make sure that you have all of your stuff in a row, but writing is something that comes with practice and with skill. and sometimes what happens is the best writer is one that can draw your reader write into the particular Piece of story.

I am sure there are lists of people that are taking commissions, I would take a look at each one of them and make a decision as to which individual you want to write your story, because that is why they're here. if you have a question about anything that has to deal with commissioning @kasarberang hopefully should be able to answer your question, and if there is a particular author Author that you want to have commission a story for you, they have their instructions within that thread. He also adds information for new people who are commissioned Authors, are looking for commissions. you could also talk to someone such as @Elfy, as he may be able to help you if you are looking for a particular piece of information or you want more information about how this is done. either way, a story is a work of art and it is not something that you can just whip out of a pen. you know that, so you understand that it could take time period my main thing that I'm going to hammer one more time is to make sure everybody has an agreement that everybody follows it and everybody understands each part of it so that you can avoid the pitfalls and the bad reputation and all of the fighting. if the contract says it, that's what it says: you have to work within the four corners of a contract: if I sound like a lawyer, i'm sorry but I've learned that because of many years of business law in college!

Good Luck!

Brian

[kasarberang]

As Brian mentioned, try to keep an updated list of writers who are currently taking commissions and their terms over at:

 

However, I understand what you're complaining about. I commissioned someone a while ago through Email, spent over $200 on commissions with them, had the first commission go on without a hitch, then on the second commission I was ghosted after a chunk of it was written. After a year, I emailed the person back asking for a refund and still have not received anything. I'd never do a chargeback or anything like that, and the circumstances for this specific individual are a bit special. However, I totally get where you're coming from, it really sucks to have a commission paid for and for it to not be completed all the way through, especially without a refund or at minimum a heads-up.

I have had nothing but positive experiences commissioning @Elfy, so I can vouch for him as far as quality and reliability are concerned.

[~Brian~]

@kasarberang

I also remember reading the story " revenge of the diaper doctor" by @Cya, and I believe he said that this story was commissioned by someone and then he decided to post it. was a darn good story and it was awesome! i'm not sure if he is one of the commissioned authors that is on this list, but it is worth a look!

Brian

[kasarberang]

3 hours ago, ~Brian~ said:

@kasarberang

I also remember reading the story " revenge of the diaper doctor" by @Cya, and I believe he said that this story was commissioned by someone and then he decided to post it. was a darn good story and it was awesome! i'm not sure if he is one of the commissioned authors that is on this list, but it is worth a look!

Brian

I do not generally reach out to authors to find out if they take commissions (I did for the initial post, so I had some authors to start with), but usually, I let the authors come to me. The page is pinned to the top of the Story & Art Forum, so I assume if people are interested, they'll reach out.

[Cya]

12 hours ago, ~Brian~ said:

@kasarberang

I also remember reading the story " revenge of the diaper doctor" by @Cya, and I believe he said that this story was commissioned by someone and then he decided to post it. was a darn good story and it was awesome! i'm not sure if he is one of the commissioned authors that is on this list, but it is worth a look!

Brian

 

It makes me happy to see that you enjoyed that story. In all honesty, I experienced the opposite problem that the OP had to deal with; the client ghosted me after I wrote the story which forced me to end the "honor system" payment method I had been using for years. He actually paid me after I put the story up so maybe him seeing it publicly posted reminded him to pay me? XD

12 hours ago, kasarberang said:

I do not generally reach out to authors to find out if they take commissions (I did for the initial post, so I had some authors to start with), but usually, I let the authors come to me. The page is pinned to the top of the Story & Art Forum, so I assume if people are interested, they'll reach out.

You did reach out to me, but I never replied because I was swamped with commissions. In fact, I'm working on ten different comms as we speak, but that's why I don't put my information up; I'd rather have people message me so I can get to know them and understand exactly what they want to read in a commission. 

[kasarberang]

17 hours ago, Cya said:

 

It makes me happy to see that you enjoyed that story. In all honesty, I experienced the opposite problem that the OP had to deal with; the client ghosted me after I wrote the story which forced me to end the "honor system" payment method I had been using for years. He actually paid me after I put the story up so maybe him seeing it publicly posted reminded him to pay me? XD

You did reach out to me, but I never replied because I was swamped with commissions. In fact, I'm working on ten different comms as we speak, but that's why I don't put my information up; I'd rather have people message me so I can get to know them and understand exactly what they want to read in a commission. 

Sorry, I do remember reaching out to you, I just didn't recognize the name.

I think you might misunderstand the point of the post, listing authors and their terms. It's not to skip through the communication process, it's more so it get a very basic understanding of the author and advertise that they are, in fact, available and taking commissions. It was a response to the very messy "is anyone taking commissions?" posts that I would see pop up here and there. I figured it'd be easier if authors had one place where their basic rates as well as terms and conditions were up for everyone to see, if they were looking for someone to commission.

 

However, if you have ten separate commissions going right now, it would seem you might be more burdened than anything by having your information on the Writers & Their terms thread.

[Cya]

I didn't misunderstand you at all. My prices are very liquid and aren't quite set in stone. Personally, every commission is different and my prices reflect that.