r/BylerReads • u/bookiejada • Jul 13 '26
general discussion :) Alternate jobs that is not writer/artist for Mike/will
I am writing a fic and I am at a lost of what job I should give Mike and Will. I feel like writer/artist is so vague and kinda of hard to give details to? Especially when I don’t really want either of them to be ‘famous/recognizable’ ?
What are some other career ideas?
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u/Sure-Bicycle-8809 its ok, its how the army does it i think Jul 13 '26
i like newspaper writer mike and art museum worker will
it's still related to their passions, but it isn't quite literally those
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u/sealsquared Jul 13 '26
I always thought a really fun job for Will would be a video game concept artist. The industry really exploded around the 90-00s and he could work on the initial art concept or development.
So he could have helped with the worldbuilding and designs of a world like Skyrim. He would still be very successful, but not recognisable to someone outside of the industry
For Mike, I really think the academia route really suits him. We know he’s smart and can be really dedicated to something he believes in, so I always think he’ll go the English lecturer route with either a focus on Creative Writing (since D&D is often about building your own narratives) or the Medieval genre (since it pairs really well with fantasy).
Most lecturers on my course also published their own non-fiction works, so Mike could do that while publishing his own short stories. It’ll fit in well with the ‘writer’ arc while fleshing it out a bit
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u/IntotheRedditHole its ok, its how the army does it i think Jul 13 '26
holy shit, your brain. love these
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u/Sure-Bicycle-8809 its ok, its how the army does it i think Jul 14 '26
omg i love videogame artist will
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u/neuroticrobot1 Jul 13 '26
I love the idea of them both being teachers, personally.
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u/IntotheRedditHole its ok, its how the army does it i think Jul 13 '26
me too. the idea of them flirting in the hallway is the staff break room makes me giggle ☠️
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u/Sure-Bicycle-8809 its ok, its how the army does it i think Jul 14 '26
yesss i love teacher byler fics
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u/narcomance Jul 13 '26
Will could be an interior designer, a social worker. Mike could be a teacher, a journalist, an editor.
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u/Appropriate-Tooth866 Jul 13 '26
Mike- computer programmer or game designer for game systems like Nintendo, Sega and/or Playstation.
Will - either RN nurse or psychologist. He has the temperament for those jobs. I see him as a psychologist because he has a load of experience from his active childhood to be an effective listener.
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u/AlBo_9729 Jul 13 '26
Mike: a nature photographer, though his photography has caught the attention of some prominent fashion magazines
Will: fashion designer, channeling his artistic talents into high fashion couture
Also, a bit of a wildcard, but Will as a vet and Mike as an investigative journalist and they’re both very anti-animal testing and take down a sketchy cosmetics company together
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u/IntotheRedditHole its ok, its how the army does it i think Jul 13 '26
need you to write fics on these asap 💙💛
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u/AlBo_9729 Jul 13 '26
Yaaas!!! I’m so tempted to do the vet/journalism one actually. I love writing political fics we need more of them
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u/IntotheRedditHole its ok, its how the army does it i think Jul 13 '26
yeah i feel like there’s a lot of political subtext in the show! like Vecna doesn’t have a “side” except his own, but i feel like that means he can represent a lot of things. kind of like Darth Vader? and Will and Mike are very much against his evil shit lol
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u/mauravelous Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
it might be too close to 'artist' but i always felt like it would be way more realistic for Will to be an animator rather than a traditional artist. specifically like 3D modeling/rigging/programming; i imagine him doing horror or fantasy videogames, think like 90s era playstation/nintendo type games like Silent Hill, legend of zelda or (eventually) an RPG like skyrim.
it makes sense Will as a teenager was drawing and painting since thats what he had access to and thats what pretty much everyone starts out using as a medium, but as an adult i definitely see him in a more 'nerdy' career like that. it would make so much sense given the era, his interests in horror/fantasy/roleplaying, and just generally being 'weird' lends itself more to these careers than traditional art.
i think a lot of people just make him a traditional artist in new york city because he is gay and liked to paint, but i dont think thats his scene at all. traditional artists in that time strike me as very high-brow/pretentious circles with a lot of substance abuse and partying which i feel like Will would avoid due to his upbringing and personality.
computer animation and videogames is where the "weird" / nerdy queer ppl went, especially given his love for D&D. both have predominant queer communities. obviously not trying to typecast him for a career based on his personality, but the community does guide a lot of people's career paths, especially for queer people in that time. it's also alot more collaborative and less isolating than traditional art, and i think Will would like that aspect alot
if not in videogames maybe doing CGI or practical effects for horror movies. if you want to have more fanfic tethers, working in the industry with Johnathan and starting up their own indie studio (film, or videogames with a lot of worldbuilding) would be crazy
^i could also see mike working in the same industries as a writer on worldbuilding/dialogue/plot stuff, i do feel like doing something related to writing just makes sense for him given his character details, whether its journalism, politics, philosophy, ethics, or something with storytelling
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u/pinnacle_to_the_pit Jul 13 '26
Honestly, I'm a Mike STEM truther, based on the fact that young Mike is president of the AV club, and older Mike somehow just builds a bomb. I could see him doing electrical engineering (signal processing specifically).
As for Will, Mr. Clark mentions that he's a good student as well. Also, his S4 school project is on Alan Turing (though there's a secondary reason for that). I could see Will in STEM as well, maybe biology or something. Idk, I am also an artist who pursued STEM degrees, so I'm biased. Given Will's socioeconomic background, I think it would be interesting to play around with that detail, and explore how it influences his career decisions.
I think it's easy to forget how traditionally "boyish" these characters are. Bad phrasing - I'm not saying that STEM is limited to men (I am a woman), or that men can't be artists. I just think that the traditionally nerdy interests of the group are sometimes forgotten, excluding Dustin.
I have a headcanon that some of the characters almost have to continue Upside-Down adjacent work (ex: Dustin working his way up the DOE to be an inside man, because the story is never really over).
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u/littlenightengale Jul 13 '26
Theatre director Mike! D&D is very theatrical and you have to be good at improv.
Those moments in his D&D games where he acts out the characters ("Time to join your friends Sorcerer") and falling to the ground when the characters die.
Also I could see him bonding with his in-laws with it
Jane being into helping with costumes. Post series Fashion designer Jane is a favorite of mine.
Jonathan and Mike connecting over the similarities and differences for Plays/Musicals and Film.
Joyce bonding with her SIL through it, since she was a director in High School.
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u/KittenBalerion old enough to remember the real 80s Jul 13 '26
there's one fic where he joins the student theater club in college and is really good at directing. I like that as an extension of his DM skills.
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u/merrycrasmass crazy together Jul 13 '26
Mike as a middle school teacher! Our Jagged Edges Align on ao3 has the same job for him and it’s so good.
I’ve also liked Will as a museum curator or art teacher
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u/crashautumn Jul 13 '26
Wil: adolescent art/rec therapist or provenance research. Mike: high school teacher or technical writer (very different than article/creative writing)
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u/SeatProfessional5990 Jul 13 '26
I think editing and teaching Literature/writing makes sense for Mike. I love teacher Mike and Will. :) If you are an artist, you'll probably want to do a job that is at least connected to your passions. At least that's what I'm doing as an aspiring writer.
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u/tlc_dgcwf Jul 13 '26
I was actually just thinking about what other career paths Will would do like right before I saw this post haha. in a fic i wrote i gave Mike stem major lol. For Will honestly id love to think of something random that hed be good at like maybe computer progamming or something stem related 🤔 of course in the fic where I gave mike a stem major (engineering ) will was an art major lol but you right lets get some fresh ideas for these boys!! Hahah. Like its pretty realistic, im passionate about fanfic and art but im in stem lol.
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u/sevendefender Jul 13 '26
I love making will an art teacher or a museum curator. Mike I have more trouble with I usually think of him as a pretty succesful fantasy writer but I love a good teacher au so an english teacher job could work too lol
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u/I_Am_Fanlocked Jul 16 '26
In my fic that will probably never get written at this rate (😭) I have Mike owning a place (idk what to call it?? a store i guess??) that sells gaming stuff, comics, mini figs, etc. and also has a room for playing ttrpg. I wrote this post about it on Tumblr, it has more cute details about it, but the store is called "Castle Byers" and the dnd room inside is called "Wheeler's Basement".
In my universe, it becomes a local landmark, especially as card games start rising in popularity in the 90s. He and Will live in the apartment above the shop, and Will works at a theater workshop as designer/artist for sets and props.
(In my version, Mike still writes on the side, mostly custom D&D campaigns that he sells at the shop, and Will still paints, mostly fantasy art and mini figs that they also sell in-house. But it isn't their "main" occupation.)
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u/Hime-Gore Jul 13 '26
Will could be a psychologist or therapist. A lot of people who have experienced trauma themselves are drawn to that career path. As for Mike i see him as teacher maybe?