Avoid Freelance Horror - 6 Lessons from Stephen King
Did you realize that Stephen King was an expert on the art of freelancing? Neither did I until I read Salem’s Lot. Surprisingly, King’s vampire novel has quite a bit to teach.
Warning: Mild spoilers ahead.
1. Trust the prickling on the back of your neck
When writer Ben Mears came to Salem’s Lot to write his story about the old Marsten house, looking at it gave him the creeps. Now imagine what the story would have been like if, instead of trying to investigate, he’d gotten as far away from it as possible. Not much of a horror story is it? Good. That’s what a freelancer wants.
2. When the locals say a house is haunted, don’t go ghost hunting
It turns out that besides giving Ben the creeps, the locals had lots of eerie stories to tell about the house at the top of the hill. Undeterred, Ben continued to investigate it. Don’t be Ben. People like Ben get into nasty situations by not paying attention to the warnings of others. Ben’s job in the book is to advance the drama. The freelancer’s is to cut the drama short if at all possible.
3. Don’t hang around with people who suck the life out of you
Say you ignored lessons one and two, or maybe you just had the bad luck to get stuck with a client or partner who drains all the life from you and your work. There’s a name for these types of people: vampires. They may not drink your blood, but they’ll give you a long slow death nonetheless, taking away your dreams, ambitions, and even your will to live. Though you might can ward them off temporarily with a bit of garlic, in the long run there’s only one way to get rid of them; take a stake to the heart of whatever forces you to be around them.
4. When the problem is bigger than you are, get backup
Faced with the prospect of overwhelming evil, Ben finally turns to his friends for help. They include a priest who has the tools they need, an old English teacher who knows everything there is to know about vampires and the Marsten house, a girlfriend who inspires him, and a twelve year old boy who doesn’t seem afraid of anything. Because the team has all the skills they need, they can begin to stem the tide. When you are fighting overwhelming forces, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you have to do everything on your own. Others can help, whether they are mentors, subcontractors, or just friends willing to give you a hand.
5. There are three ways out of a situation gone bad
- You can stay, fight, and die a miserable death.
- You can stay, fight, and (barely) survive.
- You can run and hope that it doesn’t catch up to you.
In the freelance world, unlike a horror novel, if you stay with a project gone bad, you probably won’t die. But by the time it’s over you may wish you were dead. Once a project reaches the point of horror, the smart thing to do is run.
6. Keep the faith
At one point in the novel, one of the characters has the choice of whether to act on his faith in the Good or to rely just on his tools. It turns out that in a battle between good and evil, tools aren’t much good without faith. The same thing is true for freelancers. Even if you’ve got your technical skills down to perfection, it doesn’t matter a bit if you don’t have faith in the Goodness of your work.
Joshua
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About the author: Joshua Clanton is a freelance web designer specializing in clean, usable design. He also writes a design and productivity blog which recently featured an article on The Business of Fiction - 5 Ways to Help Your Business by Reading a Novel.
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This post was featured on “The Business of Freelance Writing Carnival, Edition 2” on ThursdayBram.com
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12 Rockin' Comments
January 8th, 2008 at 6:47 am
brilliant analogy of Stephen King and freelancing
January 8th, 2008 at 7:36 am
I haven’t seen a creative take like this on business in a while. My question is, did Ben bring the proper tools and resources to go ghost-hunting even though he knew he shouldn’t be hunting ghosts in the first place?
Hm. Wonder which King novel represents a bad client? Misery?
January 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
@James: Glad you liked it. Unfortunately, Ben only brought the tools which were good for exorcising his inner demons, not external ones. Perhaps he’s one of the freelancers who becomes convinced that the problem is with him and not with the project/client?
Misery sounds like a good candidate for the ultimate bad client relationship. Although it might be a better analogy to a freelancer who is forced back into the corporate world. :-)
January 8th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Misery *shudder* that sounds about right.
Nice comparisons. :)
I did cut and run from something which I shouldn’t have gotten involved with anyway–prickling and all that. But they weren’t too upset, I made a good case for it.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I still work as a freelancer and those are great tips, specially from such a great writer :)
January 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
The visuals of the post were awesome! Next I want want we can learn about contracting from batman.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I am seeing very strong parallels to a project I’m working on right now. I had a project go awry last year and it carried over into this year. Its rare that this happens. When something goes wrong though you certainly learn what not to do next time.
I think its time I dig my running shoes out of the closet. Thanks.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I never would think you could turn freelancing into a novel by Stephen King. Just discovered your blog today, you got a subscriber :)
January 9th, 2008 at 1:55 am
@Shane: That actually sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe after The Dark Knight is in theaters. ;-)
@Sean: Yeah. It stinks when that happens. Good luck.
@Jacob: You have no idea of the strange connections my mind can make with literature and movies. (7 Relationship tips from Smallville…) :-) One of the benefits of having studied literary criticism a bit, I suppose. Thanks for subscribing!
January 10th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Ha, there. We’re all going to take our worst projects and turn them into bestselling horror novels.
We’re obviously in the wrong line of business.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Nicely done!
You got another subscriber!
(And stephen King has someone re-reading an old novel!)
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