Make a Nerdy Living
Page 23
§ A fancy, French way of saying pen name, but also a term for the pseudonym some writers will use.
* Except for Kevin Spacey.
† Aren’t most swords double-edged? Why don’t we just assume swords are double-edged unless we clarify they’re not?
* Unless your topic is selling your soul to dark deities, in which case, yeah, your hands are pretty tied.
* The sunk cost fallacy refers to the tendency to continue doing something that isn’t worth your time, effort, and resources because you’ve invested so much into it you feel like you simply can’t switch.
* The correct answer is, of course, Captain Picard.
† If you’re reading this in the future, Tumblr and WordPress may not still be around. If so, just mentally replace them with similar services, and also try to send me a message back in time to let me know whether or not I should invest in those alpaca farms.
* Friends and family—our invaluable, infinite guinea pigs.
* With the other reason obviously being I am a super-cool dude.
* “B-b-but my favorite writer doesn’t follow all these rules all the time!” Yep, but I’ll bet my bodacious buns your favorite writer knows these protocols so they can choose to break them at the right moment, rather than indiscriminately, unwittingly shattering the rules.
† These tips are all based on American grammar, which is different from British grammar in that the rules are slightly tweaked and it’s 42 percent less fancy.
‡ I see you over there, thinking of mixing them up. Don’t you dare.
§ Same goes for your and you’re.
¶ “Oh my god,” “away from keyboard,” and “rolling on the floor laughing until my spleen bursts and I have to go to the hospital where I meet my twin who got separated at birth and the two of us end up opening a surf shop in Maui,” respectively.
* Author’s note: Katrina also happens to be my super-cool wife.
* Author’s note: Hey, that’s me!
Chapter Two: Video
* Note that for this section, like the rest of the book, I’m not going to cover the more adult-themed ways a person can make a living through online videos. There are many reasons why they won’t be covered in the book, not the least of which is that making adult videos generally isn’t very nerdy.
† Pronounced “nineties” and “ooh-oohs.”
* A pilot is an industry term for a singular episode of an episodic series designed to sell it to a network. Hey! I see you, rolling your eyes, thinking, Yeah, I already knew that. There are people who didn’t and probably appreciate not having to try to figure out what flying a plane has to do with making an episodic series.
* Keep in mind that this list is in no way exhaustive and focuses mostly on geeky, English-language YouTubers because I’m sadly monolingual and can’t vet the content of non-English YouTubers very well. Also know any and all of these channels could disappear at any time due to the creators quitting/YouTube getting bought out/zombie apocalypse.
† That’s not a judgment on you, dear reader. I’m sure you’re a lovely and interesting person.
* Note: For best effect, please read italicized portion in a vaudevillian voice.
* If you are a bit on the serious side, you might want to consider finding yourself a goofy cohost who can play off of your stoicism. It worked for Mythbusters.
* There are a number of celebrity musicians who got their start on YouTube and the like. We’re not talking about those goobers, we’re talking about the more normal/nerdy folks who happen to make their living posting music videos.
* While analysis channels foster discussion easily, they also tend to draw greater criticism and flat-out hatred, particularly if you’re a member of a marginalized population. Trolls seem to follow Anita Sarkeesian’s every move, all because she had the audacity to 1. be a woman, and 2. talk about how poorly represented women are in video games. Sarkeesian’s frequent collaborator, Jonathan McIntosh, discusses many of the same themes as Sarkeesian on his Pop Culture Detective channel, and yet he gets only a fraction of the criticism she gets and far fewer threats of death/rape/doxxing.
† Well, I suppose they could, but good luck getting anyone to buy tickets
* Follow me on Twitter: @rocketllama
* While it was previously considered a no-no, it’s become quite common for video descriptions to have links to products and affiliates to make the content creator some advertising money.
† There’s also the lesser-used rules such as the rule of five, which employs five comedy beats rather than three, and the Family Guy rule, where you repeat a joke endlessly until all humor has left it and your life.
* In the unlikely event you’re doing everything alone, you won’t have to worry about any of this and can instead keep all your money and go swimming in it like Scrooge McDuck.
* Old-timey British for “toilet/bathroom.” Modern Brits refer to toilets as the loo; Australians might call it a dunny if it’s outdoors; and in the world of Eberron, they’re called swirling portals of decimation.
* Yeah, that’s right, I wrote the word meme-able. It’s a meme’s world, baby. We’re just loling in it.
* Why that game in particular? Because it’s freakin’ rad, that’s why.
† May 31, in the unlikely event you didn’t already know.
* Or in the not-flesh. Some of the best streamers in the world are skeletons. #CheckYourFleshPrivilege
* D&D jokes aside, cyberstalkers are very real threats. The best ways for you to protect yourself against them are to be very careful not to post personal information online, to regularly change your passwords, to keep your antivirus software up to date, to keep your home Internet/Wi-Fi secure, and to make sure your closest friends and family know not to post your information publicly. Conversely, if you’re obsessively following someone online, for whatever reason, and it ever occurs to you that it might be crossing the line into cyberstalking, stop it. Get some help. You’re a good person, and you can do better.
† Doxxing refers to publicly posting someone’s personal information, like their address. Swatting refers to calling in phony police threats on someone, often a video streamer, so they can watch, in real time, as a SWAT team descends on the innocent. While swatting isn’t especially common, doxxing is, and both are extremely dangerous, evil things to do to a person. People can and do die from them.
* Speaking of comments, the next time you think about commenting on something, perhaps consider what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of your comment. Maybe only speak up if you feel what you’re saying is legitimately helpful or encouraging. There are enough condescending assholes and trolls making noise out there—don’t add to it.
Chapter Three: Cosplay
* While early cosplay was a free-for-all, after a few specific incidents, conventions placed a universal set of rules to define what constitutes proper cosplay, adding regulations against using food as part of your costume (a rule instated after comix artist Scott Shaw dressed as his character “The Turd,” using peanut butter for his costume and causing a big-ass gross mess), as well as regulations banning full nudity (boooooooo).
* i.e., me
† i.e., going to a lot of conventions
‡ i.e., three is a nice round number
* Or, should I say, talk to everyone politely, without being creepy or rambling or lingering awkwardly.
† No offense to any mummies. I’m sure you’re plenty dateable.
Chapter Four: Crafting
* I’ll have you know the term boner means a goof-up or mistake. I don’t know why you’re chuckling.
* For more information on pricing your work, check out chapter eight of this very book (page 173)!
† That said, you should also use some grown-ass discretion when jumping on the meme bandwagons. Some memes perpetuate harmful stereotypes and ideas, or, in the case of the Tide Pod memes, which encouraged people to eat detergent, are flat-out dangerous.
* Which is about prop-m
aking, not a fantasy hero who crafts foam into weapons to save the land from a dark emperor.
* Shows with free passes for kids are generally not good for your sales, as they attract big families looking for something cheap to do, not people who are looking to spend money.
Chapter Five: Gaming
* Especially that no-good man of yours, Susan. You need to dump him.
* Based on his social media presence, he also seems to be a lonely jerk who says becoming rich and having all his dreams come true was a horrible thing.
* Your more story-driven video games are far less about patterns of reinforcement than they are about creating an engaging narrative. Undertale didn’t become a smash hit through its game mechanics alone; it became a hit, in large part, thanks to its memorable characters, evocative themes, and sharp writing. Chapter nine (page 193) will cover such storytelling elements in greater detail.
* A gaming industry term for when the scope of a game continues expanding during development, slowing down development time and increasing cost.
* Especially Susan’s boyfriend, Steve. You can’t count on that dude for anything.
Chapter Six: Bringing Nerdiness to Conventional Careers
* I mean, maybe with a few exceptions, like if you’re a professional torturer or something.
* Although using a Death Star to commemorate the planet it blew up is pretty messed up, dude.
* The correct answer, of course, is Captain Picard.
Chapter Seven: Podcasting
* For one thing, today’s verbal exchanges end far less frequently in the flinging of feces.
* French for “my frere.”
* This is not an uncommon phenomenon—in psychology, we refer to this as the overjustification effect, where increased extrinsic (external) motivation leads to decreased intrinsic (internal) motivation. It’s definitely not universal, but it can happen, and it’s something you’ll need to be aware of and fight against as you find success.
* Full disclosure: None of the brands in this book have paid me to advertise for them. It’s a weird era we live in, when people are so shifty in their advertising that I have to have a disclaimer basically saying I don’t need a disclaimer.
* The correct answer, of course, is Cap’n Crunch.
* Don’t do that; a podcast-themed supervillain would be really lame.
Chapter Eight: Art and Comics
* An artiste is exactly like an artist, only fancier because of the extra E.
* You’ll notice this section primarily focuses on your pen-and-paper sort of art, not as much sculpting and whatnot since I pretty well covered that way back in the crafting chapter (page 101).
* “Beefcake” refers to sexy dude art—though in beefcake art there tends to be more of an emphasis on big muscles and powerful bodies, so it’s not a one-to-one comparison.
* Creees contributed the illustrations for this book!
* Several of the Beatles are dead, for one thing, so there’s the added cost of necromancy or time machine rental.
Chapter Nine: Writing Books
* What? That’s a real word. Don’t go looking it up!
* Also, people can get weirdly litigious when writers include them (or thinly veiled versions of them) in their work. If you stick to writing fiction, you’re probably fine. If you’re writing an autobiography, however, there’s the potential for some sticky legal issues down the road.
* There will be some of you out there tempted to point out the ways in which you feel these writing rules, tips, and techniques are wrong, citing the work of your favorite authors. Again, let me say what I said wayyyy back in the blogging chapter: One must learn the rules to know when it’s okay to break them.
* He didn’t think that for many reasons, not the least of which is vampires don’t cast reflections.
† Though a team-up between the three franchises would be hella awesome.
* Unless it’s a tragic romance, aka a Nicholas Sparks novel, in which case somebody gon’ die.
* And prepare for a potentially easier path to income, as nonfiction books can sometimes be sold based on a solid query letter, proposal, and credentials, unlike fiction, where you’ll almost always have to have a completed novel before you can begin shopping it around.