Creative Writing Career

Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books: Creative Mentor, Book 1

By: Justin Sloan

Narrated by: Thomas Block

Your guide to positioning yourself for a career as a creative writer.

Including author interviews with the following:

• Stephan Bugaj (Pixar and beyond)
• Anthony Burch (Borderlands 2)
• Joshua Rubin (Assassins Creed 2)
• Will Wight (the Traveler's Gate trilogy)
• And many more!

Everyone wants to be a writer, and they want to know what they can do to make that dream come true. However, most aspiring writers do not understand how to position themselves so they are ready when presented with an opportunity. They identify themselves as writers but have no writing samples, or their websites and social media talk all about their paintings or music but say nothing of who they are as writers.

Based on a lifetime of struggling to make it as a creative writer, Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books is a guide for aspiring writers to help them position themselves in an extremely competitive field. The book includes information on the writing process, and ways to improve one's craft, but mostly focuses on how to get discovered and where to concentrate energy in the meantime. The content of the book is supplemented by writer interviews, featuring some incredibly gifted people who share the wisdom they have gained. With writing, as with most aspects of life, I have chosen to rely on those with demonstrated wisdom to move ahead. This audiobook presents that wisdom for the listener to do the same.

©2014 Jusitn Sloan (P)2015 Justin Sloan

perfect for those starting, vets and pro

this is a great book for beginners to start understanding what it takes to start in the industry of writing. for vets and some pros it's a good refresher

Insightful look at different paths in writing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I think I'd recommend this book to any of my writer friends. It gives an inside look into creative writing careers most people (or at least I) don't know all that much about - video games and screen writing.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

No. The narration was not great. It made it difficult to listen to in long chunks.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found it very inspiring. While the author gives a lot of insight into markets for different writing and the business side of things, he also seems to be a big believer in writing for writing's sake. Or at least in the internal rewards of creative endeavors. It's definitely an upbeat book that makes you feel positive after listening.

Any additional comments?

If you're curious about screenwriting or video game writing definitely check it out. They're whole worlds I was unaware of. Also if you enjoy interviews check it out. The book benefits from having a lot of different voices and perspectives via several interviews throughout.

I like it

Where does Creative Writing Career rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

1. I love nonfictions and books about video games in general.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Since this is a nonfiction book, I like Sloan's interview with Assassin Creed 2's writer.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Not sure. Didn't remember so well.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

I haven't read so many articles about creative writing on movies and video games, so I guess that's a thing I really like.

Any additional comments?

None.

Read the book for the Content

What made the experience of listening to Creative Writing Career the most enjoyable?

Not much, really. The read was quite the snorefest and made me struggle to finish it.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Definitely would've gotten a new reader for this book.

What didn’t you like about Thomas Block’s performance?

Not so great here. Maybe he's good on other stuff but for THIS book, he was wrong choice.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

PIXAR's 22 Rules of Storytelling.

Any additional comments?

Yeah. As with most types of these books, there's always some nugget of new information that you can learn and apply to your writing, so there's value here.
Though, I believe you can get more out of this with digital, or physical book.

Great book for beginning writers!

What made the experience of listening to Creative Writing Career the most enjoyable?

Creative Writing Career is the second book on writing that I’ve read or listened to since I decided to become a writer myself. After I first listened to it, I thought it was good, but didn’t feel I knew enough about creative writing or had read enough on the topic to give a valid review.

So I waited. I read several other books, and I took an Introduction to Creative Writing course through SNHU. One of the things I found was that, although I enjoy listening to audiobooks, it’s good to own hardcopies of any that you might want to reference later on. So, I ordered the paperback version of Creative Writing Career. I like to reference it sometimes when I’m having a hard time writing, and I’ve probably reread most of the book that way.

What did you like best about this story?

Last summer, I listened to the audiobook version of Creative Writing Career by Justin Sloan. I had been listening to the CWC Podcast for a couple months by then and had read Sloan’s first fantasy book Land of Gods, so I already knew a little about his background. I knew that he had worked as a writer for Telltale Games and had done some screenwriting as well, but it was his experience getting started writing fantasy novels that I most interested in.

In Creative Writing Career, Sloan writes about methods that can be used to build a successful writing career. He doesn’t get deep into the mechanics of writing itself. He leaves that to the many other writing books out there, but he offers recommendations on which ones to read, to learn everything from learning prose and structure to writing for television or video games.

Which scene was your favorite?

In the first part of the book, Sloan writes about positioning yourself to become a full-time writer. He talks about staying focused and finding inspiration as well as getting an education on writing craft. Whether it’s through formal college courses in the classroom setting or online, joining a writing group, or self-study, there are many options available to anyone who wants to improve as a writer.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

About half of the book contains interviews with other writers who talk about how they got started and what recommendations they have for anyone seeking a successful writing career. Some of them are authors of novels, but Sloan also interviews screenwriters, video game writers, and non-fiction authors. Most of them have experience in multiple writing fields. While I really just want to write novels, I still found a lot of value from the other interviews.

Any additional comments?

It was really useful for me when I started developing my own career plan to become an author. I still have a long way to go, but I get inspired from learning about others who have done the same.

Very Helpful

Always love learning and hearing about peoples success stories.
I hope I'm going to be able to get past the "dream" aspect of being a screenwriter, and one day actually BECOME a screenwriter.

Many names, scarce content

If you live in California maybe this book can be helpful, since many of the places considered are located in that area.

Otherwise, the author produces endless strings of people, festivals, books and even holiday locations he likes, brags about his always amazing careers, and gives very little and trite advise on the craft of writing. On the up side, hearing from people who love the craft motivated me to keep writing.