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Hi Dakka,

As a journalist-in-training/beginner, I am hoping to kick off my career with some professional experience, to boost the portfolio as it were . I feel that a good way to do this is to review other companies products. What do you think would be the best approach. Should I start with small gaming product producers, and if so, who? Many Thanks.

TheChaosJournalist

What do you want to write about?

A famous writer told me one time that if you want to write, then just do it. Talk is talk. Got a few people I know that make a large fortune writing, and they do it a word at a time, and put a price on what they write. Got another cousin of mine who writes a bunch of gak, and yet still makes a buck or two off of it.

Review Necros game, Blackwater Gulch.
Review Historica Rodenta.
Review GW's dreadfleet.

Just review something. Good the bad and the ugly, don't suger coat it, and don't pull punches. A good writer to study is Studs Terkel, he just relates what people told him, while putting the other guys thought down on paper. Just grab a company and run with it.

Pulp City.
Cutlass.
USX.
Heavy Gear.
battletech.
Etc.Etc.Etc.


You can write what you want, if it doesn't work, you go back and write again. It is just one of those things... persistance pays off.


Write something soon. I want to read what you got to say.

I write (though not for journals or publication) for a living, and my advice for you is to not waste time and energy going "oh what would you like to see? Tell me what to write about please!"

This is for two big reasons:

1. You are not putting your skills to best use. A good writer will make most topics appealing and engaging. The axiom is to 'write what you know' and if you are going by the whims of a forum, you are either showing you don't know much, and your product will suffer.

2. It shows a huge lack of confidence. It may seem silly, but it really shows in a writer when their writing choices are essentially committee/group decisions. You come across as someone who is not confident in their own ideas, and readers are not interested in that. I know that isn't your intent, but that is the effect.

Your job should be to ask yourself "what game/product do I know well and how can I make it interesting to people?"

Grot 6 wrote:Review Historia Rodentia.

Just spell it right

But yeah, as Grot 6 said: Good the bad and the ugly, don't suger coat it, and don't pull punches.

Don't go asking for review copies without having built up a following/name.

Same as what Grot 6 said...write, and write quickly. I want to read a review

Thanks for the tips guys So far have only really done Forgeworld stuff, since I've had it to hand.

@curran12 Interesting points about not asking for topics. Have been assuming that choosing what people want to read (especially with todays self-agenda setting public) I'd get more readership. You can tell Im literally new to this Thanks for the professional heads up .

Since I know GW/FW stuff well, based on your points, are they the best things to stick to? I could expand into othr parts/accessories producers like maxmini

@Lormax Hopefully I'll have a Malcador Infernus kit review very soon, providing it arrives this weekend Got a couple of CD reviews if you're interested (My most recent is probably better, since it was produced after some very influential seminars )

As someone that also writes professionally, I'll echo what Curran said: you need to be asking yourself, "what I think I can make appealing to readers?", not "what do my readers want to read?" If you have an appealing writing style, your readers will read anything you write. I could read pages of Chuck Klosterman's commentary on the phone book adverts section because its the writing style that is first going to appeal to your readership, followed by the quality of your content.

Having thumbed through your blog, I'll make some suggestions:

1: Know what your voice is, and stick with it. - That's why Klosterman is appealing. That's why Palahniuk is appealing. Sure, they have interesting things to say, but how they say it is such a unique draw that they're able to establish a readership based solely on their voice. Your voice should also be reflective of your intended audience.

2. Establish a routine - Based on your blog, your present reviews tend to be a bit scattered, with inconsistent formatting, etc. Your life as a writer will become immensely easier if you figure out a "blueprint" for different types of articles. For instance, any review I write typically goes like this: Introduction/Product Background, Product Summary, Product Assessment, Final Review. It's a broad set of guidelines that I can make more specific based on product type (so with a novel, I can break the assessment piece into writing style, plot, pacing, etc). Once youre more comfortable, you can modify this blueprint, but to start, it'll help you focus your writing if you have a plan. If you have this plan, it will also make it easier for you to piece story parts together later on (say, if you write your summary, but need to go back and write your background at a later time).

3. Write a lot - Like painting or shooting basketball or sex, you're going to get better the more often you do it. Write as much as you can. Utilize online forums for this, too. Any time you can give yourself the opportunity to formulate cogent arguments and put them on paper, it helps.

As far as choosing broad subjects for what to write for, it all depends on your readership.

Since you have a blog, you can assume a lot of readers from a very wide background. To that end, you're going to want to cast as wide a net as possible, so GW or PP games would be a decent place to start if you want to focus on miniatures gaming. It helps to write for a wider scope, and as you establish yourself and get more solid readership, you can start focusing on smaller niches and specializations.

I'm also going to echo cincydooley here, you're going to want a routine, not only in your style and formatting, but also when you write. The fastest way to shrivel as a writer is not think of it as a serious job. Writing is hard, and there are gonna be days where you don't want to write and are not interested in anything, but you're gonna have to push the updates and deadline without a drop in quality. If you update your blog, do it regularly, it helps a lot.

Cheers for the help. Nice to know people can be honest when people want help Thankfully the blog is updated regularly, but should I make it on specific days? Rather than 1/2 posts a week?

I'd say make it predictable. The more regular, the better.

If you update in a wide window, you run the risk of a person seeing nothing new after a few visits and getting frustrated.

Sounds a plan Would one post at start of the week and one at the weekend seem fair (E.g. every tuesday and saturday)

As someone that reads reviews often and doesn't write for a living, please actually have the product on-hand before reviewing it.

Too often I see a blogger writing some comments on studio images or studio paintjobs.

Absolutionis wrote:As someone that reads reviews often and doesn't write for a living, please actually have the product on-hand before reviewing it.

Too often I see a blogger writing some comments on studio images or studio paintjobs.

Don't worry about that . I find it difficult to review based solely on images/single tracks (in terms of music), since it tells you nothing about things like feel, size, casting quality etc.