How to become a Freelance Forensics Writer
Without losing your Sanity or getting arrested
So you want to be a freelance forensics writer? Dive headfirst into autopsy reports, blood spatter analysis, and late-night conversations with ex-cops, ex-cons, and existential dread? Good. That means your head’s already cracked open just enough for the truth to get in.
Here’s how to weaponize your madness and make a career out of writing about dead bodies, forensic screw-ups, and the dark circus of the criminal justice system.
1: EDUCATE YOURSELF… THEN UNLEARN IT ALL
Sure, you could go the clean route: criminal justice degree, forensics training, the whole Nineveh. But you don’t need a PhD to write like a bloodhound on the trail of a dismembered case file. What you need is obsession. Read everything:
Coroner’s reports.
Autopsy protocols.
Court transcripts.
Scientific journals with words you’ll have to Google six times.
Then read it again with a glass of whiskey and a highlighter the color of arterial spray. Learn the lingo: Lividity. Latent prints. Cast-off pattern. Entomology. Make it poetry. Make it stick.
STEP 2: WRITE LIKE YOU’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME (BECAUSE YOU ARE)
You won’t land a gig writing cold case breakdowns or deep dives on the ethics of bite mark analysis just by scribbling in your notebook and waiting for inspiration to hit. Start now:
Blog like a maniac.
Publish your own essays.
Review old cases with your own lens—biased, brutal, brilliant.
Write as if the killer is still out there reading over your shoulder.And for god’s sake, please don’t write safe. Crime isn’t safe. It’s loud, messy, political, and human. Show up with your sleeves rolled up and a cigarette dangling from your lip.
STEP 3: GET INSIDE THE INSTITUTIONS WITHOUT SELLING YOUR SOUL
Go to crime scenes—legally. Attend court trials. Hang around forensic conferences, shake hands with coroners, cops, defense attorneys, and burnt-out lab techs who drink too much and know everything. Make friends with morgue workers. Learn the rhythm of their trauma and trade it for your words.
STEP 4: PITCH TO THE BIG DOGS (AND THE MAD ONES TOO)
Start small, aim high. Pitch your crime stories, forensic essays, and case dissections to.
True crime magazines
Forensic science journals
zines for dark minds
Podcasters who need researchers with grit
Think pieces for media sites that still remember what journalism is And when you get rejected, just write anyway. You’re not in this for applause. You’re here to dig up the bones.
STEP 5: STAY CLEAN ENOUGH TO CASH THE CHECKS
You’ll flirt with madness. It’s part of the job. But keep your paperwork tight, your sources legal, and your invoices prompt. Be a beast on the page, but a professional in the inbox.
Freelance means freedom, but it also means patience & hustle. Make yourself impossible to ignore. Cultivate a style that screams your name. Be the forensics writer editors think of when someone says, “We need someone who isn’t afraid to write about blood.”
You’re chasing shadows through crime scenes and case files. You’re pulling stories from the mouths of the dead and truths from the cracks of bureaucracy. It’s not for the faint of heart. But if you’ve got the guts, the gall, and the gift of language, then climb aboard & make your bones.
✒️🐲 you’re looking for exclusive content unpublished here on Substack, be sure to subscribe to my Medium Blog! It’s packed with a variety of pieces from Fiction, personal stories, reviews, poetry, health & wellness pieces & finance pieces. Join the community and stay in the loop—consider subscribing. 🙂⬇️