Funding?

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quixote100104

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Greeting :),

I'm trying to find information on what sort of financial assistance might be availible to an up and coming writer. I know nothing about this, having rarely asked the government for anything other than to be left alone.

My cousin Brandon is 24 as of the end of this year. He's a far superior writer to me (meaning he regularly produces content ;-) ). He writes prose (current focus is fantasy), plays and screenplays, self-published a novel before grduating high school and wrote/directed/produced a feature length dramatic film with some of his college drama friends. He lives in Pennsylvania (the other PA ;-) ), like me and has a pretty low income (he's a server in a diner).

Any assistance in forming a potentially productive line of inquiry would be appreciated: grants, loans, gov't,private, whatever. I'm willing to do the legwork myself, but I'm starting out with neither map nor compass :).

Thanks :),
 

icerose

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Check out your state arts council. They have yearly writing contests. There are also some grants, not sure what you have to do to get them but they should also be listed on your state arts page.

http://www.nasaa-arts.org/aoa/saadir.shtml

I wanted to clarify that if you go for a grant it cannot be used for living expenses at all. All funding must be used solely for the arts. Say for example if you built a home office for your writing. That office could only be used for writing. You could not use the computer for any other purpose or the office area.

If you got a grant for say doing a film, you could only use the funds toward that film.
 
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Jamesaritchie

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Finding funding for writers can be tough. There are millions of beginning writers, and the economy ain't what it once was.

The best funding is selling what you write. The second best is finding a job that pays reasonably well, but that leaves you time to write. The next best funding is having a spouse with a good income.
 

icerose

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Finding funding for writers can be tough. There are millions of beginning writers, and the economy ain't what it once was.

The best funding is selling what you write. The second best is finding a job that pays reasonably well, but that leaves you time to write. The next best funding is having a spouse with a good income.

Very true.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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I know there are government fellowships through the NEA for novelists and poets. I think they do that every other year. One of the criteria is you need to have published at least 5 short stories. But the deadline for application was March of 2009. The poetry deadline is March of 2010. Not sure what the publishing criteria for that is.

Here's the link.
 
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