Join the new world

After Athanaric exited the game a few days ago I began to think about why I enjoy writing and how I could help newer players get into it as it is something we had both discussed several times. The media module isn’t something you can just step into and be instantly successful; it takes time and work to put together meaningful articles that will be read by people all over the nation or world. Today, I’m going to discuss some tips for young writers and showcase the benefits of taking the time to write well thought out articles. This is also dedicated to Athanaric who is one the best eUS writers and is now leaving.

Tools

A good writer employs some method to organize his or her thoughts before sitting down to knock out a full article. Brainstorming is a time consuming process in some cases and it doesn’t always come at once, so here are some tools you should utilize when preparing an article.

• Notepad – Whether it is notepad on your PC or scribbling notes on a pad of paper, you will need to have something ready to jot down ideas at all times. Good ideas don’t always come at once, so be prepared to brainstorm throughout the day. For example, I outlined a great deal of this article in my accounting class this morning because ideas just happened to flow at that time. Sometimes things just come to you, so being ready to write them down is key.

• Outlines – These allow you to schedule a basic order for your articles with all the relevant material. They also provide a guide to help make your writing flow easier onto paper. Trying to remember everything you have thought of will not work and you will inevitably miss something you had thought of. Also, an outline will help give your articles a more full feeling and better coverage of a topic.

• Drafts – Some people like this and some people don’t. I recommend typing up your article in Word first before bothering to bring it to eRep for several reasons. First, you want to proofread it and eRep’s article publisher is ugly in comparison to Word. Second, if you don’t stay active on eRep, you can type up an article and lose the whole thing when you attempt to publish it because your session timed out. That sucks, so don’t do that to yourself. You’ll want to punch the computer out of rage if you do, I promise.

• Proofread – Grammatical errors and poor sentence structure make your writing look bad and most can be found by proofreading your work or asking someone else to do so. Read your article several times slowly before you decide to publish and you will save yourself some embarrassment. This has happened to me and it’s always annoying when some grammar Nazi jumps all over you in your comments section.







Tips

• Learn to parse relevant material from irrelevant material. Stick to one main theme in an article and avoid tangents that take away from that main point. If you have a tangent that seems like good material, then I would set it aside and see if you can build another article around it. A series of articles with separate points based around a main theme can make for fun writing and can also draw in readers easier.

• Experiment and find your own unique writing style. Over time you will develop your own style, but at the beginning I would recommend trying different things and reading other people’s work to see what they do. Personally, I tend to write as if I am educating someone. I don’t know why, but this appeals to me and seems to work well for my readers, so I have stuck with it.

• Don’t be afraid to prepare multiple articles at a time. Sometimes you won’t have all the pieces to a particular article and that’s ok. Find something else to brainstorm on and build a portfolio of ideas that you can work on over time. This allows you to have options on what to write about and gives you the freedom to mix up what you write about from day to day. For example, this article was one of four articles I have been pushing around my desktop. Once I got enough material for this article I decided to take it to a draft and eventually publishing. Meanwhile, the other articles I have can be kicked around more until they reach maturity.

• Make your articles flow. Break up large sections into smaller chunks in order to keep the reader engaged. Utilize bullet points to highlight the major points of your article (this is also easier on the reader’s eyes). Also, insert pictures, headers, and section titles to key in on what each section of your article is about. Lastly, make sure to use connecting words so your articles don’t feel like each new sentence is a brick wall stopping the flow of your writing.







Benefits

• Writing can be fun! I find writing to be a huge stress reliever and a way to let my mind work on something I am truly interested in.

• This is a way to present your ideas to the eWorld. Be confident and concise in your writing and be prepared for constructive criticism or trolling. Learn from the constructive things people say and don’t get offended by their remarks, but make sure to ignore trolls as responding only makes you look foolish. This applies to both writing suggestions and opinions to your ideas. If you are able to think critically and consider other’s points of view when you write, you will be able to build your own views as well as nurture relationships with other people.

• If you want to do politics, then this is an absolute must. Politicians in this game must be able to write clear, concise, and thoughtful statements for various outlets. Whether it is a forum post, article, or comment you will become better at conveying your thoughts as your writing abilities progress.







I hope this article will help to inspire and guide more Americans as it is circulated. The eUS needs more writers and thinkers to help penetrate our media and the minds of our citizens in order to encourage activity and conversation. I would love nothing more than to see increased national discussion of major topics in our media again, which in my opinion, has been pretty dead for a long time in this country. With that said, I appreciate your time and hope I can influence some future media moguls!