A Guide to Writing - Lesson 1

Day 1,980, 14:19 Published in USA USA by Dogpyle

*please note - the below links do not necessarily reflect my views or opinions in the game. They are well written, coherent articles that have caught my eye or, at the very least, are articles that contain well written information about the goings on in eRepublik.*

The Value of Loyalty:
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-artela-the-value-of-loyalty-2246883/1/20
Artela nails it.

Mindless Minions?
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/an-age-of-mindless-minions--2246549/1/20
Very valid points (even though I am one of the offenders)

Somebody is on a roll.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/i-want-to-go-on-a-great-crusade-2247497/1/20
This is the second week in a row Bucephalus92 has made my list. Keep it coming, Bro!

Shoi12 shows us how it's done.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/more-interesting-crap-2247861/1/20
Crazy good. Somebody was up all night writing this.

Link of the week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fhprKms_6M

New Journalist of the week
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/a-new-player-s-perspective-2248557/1/20



Writers Guide #1
So, a couple of articles back, I mentioned doing some sort of writing guide, and I'm sure many of you (myself included) rolled your eyes and were all, "Yeah, whatever Dogpyle. Like you can write." And we may be on to something, you and I. It's no secret that I am not what you would call an "Award Winning" author. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But I believe there is one thing that does qualify me, Dear Reader, to write said guide. What thing might that be, you ask? I read. A lot. Like a Walmart parking lot. So I can tell you what is appealing to the reader (or at least, this reader). And that's kind of the point, isn't it? (now if only I'd take my own advice...)

A Lesson from Mom
Do you remember when you were a kid (well, maybe you still are, but let's play dress up and be big people for a minute), and you'd go out in public dressed in your "play" clothes, and your mom would give you hell 'cause you looked like, well, crap? Remember that? And you'd be all, "But moooooom, who cares what I look like?" And then your mom would try to explain to you about first impressions, but you'd already be going, "Oh! Oh! Oh! They got Twinkies here! Can we get some Twinkies? Can we? Can we, huh? Or some Ho Hos?"

Yeah. Well, it took me a lot of years to learn that lesson, and despite learning it, I still go out in my "play" clothes, because to be honest, I usually don't care what people think of me. But that's me. Besides, I'm kind of a freaky lookin' guy anyways. Thing is, despite my appearance, once folks get to know me, or even just interact with me for a minute, they realize I'm not a complete waste of oxygen. Sometimes they even like me (I know, right?). But it's that first impression that puts them on their guard in the first place. The problem with first impressions when it comes to writing, is that you don't usually get that second chance. There's a lot of papers out there, and once you turn someone away, it's tough to get them back.

This is not a good first impression


First Impressions
So this is lesson #1 about writing a paper. First impressions are everything. Before anyone even reads your article, you have to give them the impression that they are going to enjoy it. It has to be inviting. It has to say. "Hey big boy, come on in and have a seat, while I slip into something more comfortable." You need to seduce your readers before they read a single word. This is where mastheads (that's the thing at the top of the page) and quality formatting come into play. Formatting comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes in this digital age, but today, we're going to stick to the basics: Paragraphs and punctuation. But first...

Mastheads
For a good masthead, you're going to need Photoshop or some other decent editing software. If you don't have access to anything like that, don't worry, your ol' pal Dogpyle is here to help. Just send me a PM. If you ARE doing it yourself, you don't want your header to be any wider than 675 pixels, and in my opinion, no higher than 300 pixels if you can help it. Keep it neat and tidy. A good masthead, aside from being inviting, also helps people recognize you. Mr. Swagg has an awesome masthead, as does NewAzazel. Check them out.

Paragraphs
The second the peoples click your link and are confronted with a wall of text, they're going to bail. I know, because that's what I do (Ok, that's a lie. I read it anyways, or try to, but I'm a freak so...). You've got to break things up a bit. Paragraphs are a good start. Actually, paragraphs are a must. Line breaks are good every couple of paragraphs too, or even better yet, a funny or pertinent picture (you may need to resize), but we're getting off topic. One of the things that paragraphs are notorious for doing (like The Notorious B.I.G. but only different) is breaking up the thought process. They keep different thoughts from contaminating other thoughts. Here, watch:

"But Dogpyle, I don't know when or how to use paragraphs!" Well, you've come to the right place then, haven't you? It's actually quite simple really. And to be honest, there really aren't any hard "rules" when it comes to paragraphs. In my opinion, the best times for a new paragraph are whenever you start a new topic, or even go off on a different tangent on the same topic, introduce a new time frame, a new speaker, or just want a dramatic effect. You can even start a new paragraph if you think your current one is starting to get to long. The idea is to break everything up into chunks to make it easier for your readers to follow you. See? Easy.



Punctuation
Another very important thing we need to talk about is punctuation. Punctuation does an even better job of breaking up the thought process so that you don't find yourself typing some big huge run on sentence that becomes completely impossible for people to follow because they don't think like you thank God and then they get lost and have to keep going back and re-reading because there is absolutely nothing but this huge chunk of text that never seems to end and then their brain can't take a break and then they spontaneously combust from sensory overload and you don't want that to happen do you of course you don't because then you wouldn't have any readers and then your articles won't get any votes and then you'll be sad and probably won't want to play this stupid game ever again.

So, yeah. Punctuation is really important. See how it breaks everything up into digestible, easy to read sentences? You don't necessarily need to use it well (Lord knows I don't), you just need to use it. Sentences and paragraphs, when used together, can be almost as awesome as chocolate and peanut butter, or peas and carrots (if your into Forrest Gump). And that's all I have to say about that.



But wait, there's more!
A couple of quick tips: Always write your article in an editor ( MS Word or something similar) and then copy and paste to your newspaper. Why? 'Cause you don't want to be like me on your first article and type out 1000 words just to watch it all disappear because Plato logged you out. For serious.

Always preview your article. Who knows what you messed up along the way? You spent all that time writing to tell the peoples something or other, take just a bit more and give them the quality article they deserve. They'll appreciate it. They might even vote you for it.

I don't want to overwhelm you (or myself, I'm notoriously lazy), and this is starting to get long, so check back in a week or two and I'll have some more for ya. We'll talk about coding, content, and other happy stuff.

Until then, I'll leave the light on.


Don't forget; If you or someone you know wants to start a paper but can't afford it, please contact me.

Comments good or bad, always appreciated.