this isn't a thread about selling writing. Actually I was interested in invented currency for your stories, or do you not use money at all? How can a character make money? If they have nothing ie homeless. Robbing or mugging seems too obvious.
Re earning a living: Barter. A character can buy things in one location and sell them for a profit or trade up in another setting. Or the character can hunt and sell the meat or furs. They might carve little things or make tools that people buy from him/her. Currency depends on the setting.
My homeless characters are mostly petty thieves. It's not all muggings and breaking and entering, but sneaky pickpocketing and swiping stuff from stores - both things you need and things you can pawn/trade. There's also prostitution as an option for some. And there's always panhandling, whether just more direct 'begging' or performing in some fashion should you have the ability. As for inventing currency, the system of "100 copper to a silver, 100 silver to a gold" is pretty tried and true. In my sf 'verse I have rather vaguely-defined 'credits' which in value I think of being more equivalent to yen than the USD. However you want to do it, really. I like making things simple since currency in the real world - well in the US anyway - the amount of different types of coins seems pretty arbitrary and pointless in this day and age, but you could also have fun coming up with historical rationales for really frustrating and complex systems, hahah. "Remind me how many Xs there are to a Y?" "Thirteen.""Why do we have this terrible system??" "Because of that time three other countries tried to invade us and we ended up as one country with four different kind of currency and had to figure out exchange rates between them." Hahah, I don't know if you're talking about a medieval setting, but I've been playing a lot of Skyrim the past few days so I feel like I have to mention hunting to sell meat, furs/leather, fat, bones and antlers/horns/tusks, and mining, if applicable.
in one of my stories i think it varies from place to place but they mostly use bronze coins however this may change as i develop my story more lol YEAH wouldn't that suck having to remember so many exchange rates?
My book takes place in modern times. One character's an accountant. The other's a computer programmer.
Just about every form of currency possible has been tried by someone. Cowrie shells to cows, to paper. Just look it up. As for making money, how does anyone make money? Unless your world is a very strange one, there are always work opportunities. Provide services. Make things that people want. Take away things that people don't want.
I've been writing since I was a very young, I love it. I've been writing for anybody except my grandfather. I've never thought about making a career from it, bacause, you know, it always seemed to be something impractical. But recently I changed my opinion and started writing screenplays. Guys, to be honest, it's a job of my dreams. But it doesn't matter. What I'm trying to say is that there are lots of different ways to earn money if you're good at writing. Look at me, I used to be typical clerk, one of pin-striped masses, but right now I do what I like and, frankly saying, it's great. I work remotely as a freelancer, get my money via worldcore.eu payment service provider (so I can work with all international film making companies in Europe), drink coffee at home and create. What can be more perfect?
Hmm, my setting gets a bit weird on many aspects. The main society does not use a form of currency because the settlements are small and labor is split up by species, all people must work and contribute to a common goal. For groups of 100-500 persons, the structure means there is no need for currency. When trading between settlements, bartering is done though the value of special tubes of medicine might as well be taken as the closest form to a inter-settlement currency. The Daneks do use currency, but these are "work tokens" and define a day's worth of unskilled labor. One can avoid harsh physical labor by paying these tokens, so skilled craftsmen will take several "work tokens" or such for an item to prevent themselves from having to work as an unskilled laborer. As long as a person's work is valued high enough, they can essentially take long leisurely breaks or pass it off onto others. If a person is homeless, ill or destitute in a Danek society, they enter a protected status in which they make no work tokens, must contribute to production in some fashion. Once their work becomes skilled enough, they may accept paid work and pay off their social debt. The process works because performing such labor takes no work tokens and they get paid one token. So if they work 5 days in a row, they can theoretically take 5 days off - so craftsmen needs to produce at least one work token a day to prevent themselves from going to the field. However, food and other costs exist so depending on the productivity of the base, food could end up being costly and pull more skilled laborers in if times get tough. It should be noted that many people choose to be laborers and amass sizable coffers for various purposes. Another group, the Huden, have no concept of currency in the general sense - they are on a barter or trade system that allows for robbery and backstabbing to an extent. The strong or risky types will form raiding parties to acquire valuables from non-Huden travelers. The highest prizes are human women, a single woman can buy power and luxury - for it buys the lives of their own kind. Babies and immature young girls even fetch a high price, they are sold back for ridiculous tribute - such as 20 years worth of food for an entire clan. A Huden who is destitute and unable to work in their society is made a eunuch and is castrated publicly, they become the dogs of others, who's very life is at the will of their masters.
