Story commissions ?

I've just been trawling the 'art' section of this forum and noticed various artists offering commissions, i.e: they'll draw or sketch whatever you like for a small fee.

That got me thinking, what if you could commission a writer to write a story of your choice, involving characters selected by you, on your very own subject.

I'm certainly not offering myself up because I can't write, but I just wondered
if you could pick a subject what would it be ?, and which of our talented scribes would you get to write it.

Any ideas ?

I dont think I'd pay for a story but if I did it would be a writer like Kunzite, I think his story 'Kate Python: The Mobster's Vendetta' was brilliant.

I'd have to pass on a subject matter cos my imagination is far to kinky for most writers (and readers for that matter) lol, but def F/F and def nylons.

It is possible...

But, it depends on the demands of the consumer(reader) versus the supplier(writer). I've written a couple of nylon/socks tickle fetish stories(because that's what I love). I've received PM's from readers of my stories who said they enjoyed them(or complimented me), and requested me to write a story for them. I wouldn't mind...

Unfortunately, the requests for the stories were ideals that wouldn't flabbergast my hormones(more importantly, creativity). I could never write a story and post; without looking back: "Was that passion, or just killing time?" *I was asked by a couple of members to write barefoot tickling stories.*

Basically what I'm saying, if you want(to ask nicely - commission) an author to write a story for you. Make sure the stories they've previously posted before meets your interests as well. Or, at least give the author liberty to preach his own fantasies prior or after your request. That is how you will get an original story.

More than one person has asked me whether I would write some fantasy, and usually treat me to a brief but passionate description of it. Usually the description is so excellent and vivid that I can't imagine myself possibly doing a better job than they could, and I try to be honest about that.

Even so, I would be interested in writing for someone if they were a particularly good friend and our relationship was kept healthy by a desire to explore and listen to each other's insights about what we like and why. It'd be like a literary version of the mutual gifts exchanged in typical relationships.

It used to happen

Back in the moss-covered days before the internet,... when "underground" drawings, stories, audio tapes and the occasional video tape traversed the country in the postal mail, and the TK community was emerging for real, you might say. I did exactly that, and I wasn't the only one. I had a small ad in the back of a seamy magazine,.. announcing that I would compose a story-to-spec just for you.

Frankly, when I first did this, I never would have believed that I would get any inquiries, but I did. Clients could specify virtually anything,.... characters, what the characters looked like, what the precise action would be and how it would unfold, etc, etc. Story length was also prescribed. I actually ended up writing about a dozen or so stories in this manner, always guaranteeing, of course, that the story would never again be published or re-used by me in any way. My fees varied somewhat, but I once received $200 for a highly custom 20-page story.

One problem is that story commissions can get very expensive very quickly. If "a picture is worth a thousand words" then a thousand-word story would cost as much as a typical drawing commission - and a thousand words is very short for a story (a "short-short") A "typical" short story ranges up to 10,000 words or so, and thus would cost several times as much as a drawing commission.

The usual way around this is to get as many people as possible to help pay for the story. The extreme case is a best-selling author who gets a buck or so from each novel sold - with a zillion people buying the novel and the author thus getting a zillion bucks. Or if the author can manage to get a few thousand, or a few hundred, or a few dozen people to buy in with a shorter e-published story, then that can make it worth the writer's time as well.

But one person paying for a story makes it a stretch for both the reader & the writer, in terms of the cost/payment for the story. Not impossible, but a stretch.

One possibility is to use something like the "Street Performers Protocol": The author agrees to or makes a story proposal, and calls for pledges to reach a goal of $X. Various people interested in seeing the story will then make pledges of payment, and the author will start writing the story. When the pledged total reaches $X, the author posts the story, and the people who made pledges pay up.

A Different Take?

I don't know if the "co-op" approach would work; I believe that most of my early clients had such highly personal angles which they wished to see in a story (and about which they were understandably furtive) that they would not care to enter into a fee-splitting consortium if it meant their private tastes were being aired.

The "prospectus" approach is fine, but you may as well just go all the way to conventional publication outlets such as magazines,... or to video producers, should they be interested these days in filming anything slightly more complex in terms of storyline.

And that is something I've wondered about. Are there any vid producers looking to film a more extended and artistically complete piece on the subject? Or perhaps I should be asking if anyone has already done it? (I don't keep up - my last vid was from Ana circa 1997) You know,.... it could be something no more elaborate than the plot line of a sitcom, but it would have a plot, characterization, resolution, etc,... and I would be especially into a vid portraying some of the actual real-life issues encountered by members of the community..... the hapless guy trying to reveal his fetish to his girlfriend, for example. Sitcom there, eh?

And there certainly must be a reasonable source of script material to be found right here among these stories, whether from the "sword & sorcery" variety, or the true experiences (my favorite) A little adaptation is all it takes. Oh,.... and some money,.... more of it, at least, than goes into the standard productions out there now. But I bet enough folks in the community would want a print that the effort would be worth it.

Well, the "co-op" approch would take advantage of Ugol's Law and the existance of communities such as this one.

Over on Tickle Theater, the story forum has a "story requests" subforum, and requests there often get an "I'd like to see that too!" response.