User blog:Nausiated/Writing Tips

A lot of appreciative members of our community have often commented on the work I do and ask how I write the details articles I do. So I thought I'd do a little blog post giving out some insight on how I write the articles and give some pointers. So here we go!

Having a Writing Style
The most important thing to establish is a writing style. Meaning, that you have a "voice" when it comes to the way you write about material. Finding your writing style is no mean feat. It takes practice and hard work, which means that you should read and write as often as possible.

People will tell you that you have to have a fancy education to be able to write something good. I say that's a load of BS. The best teacher of the written word is you! I recommend reading a LOT, and I am not just talking about comic books -- although given the subject matter reading comics is a good idea -- But the best way to understand how you can manipulate the written word and find dynamic ways to say things is to read from all sources. Novels, magazines, news articles. Also challenge yourself with what your reading. I'm not saying go and pick up War & Peace, but read different material that would not normally appeal to you. The most important thing you can ever pick up from reading is being able to comprehend what you are reading. This helps a lot, and I will get into comprehension a little later and you'll see how this can help.

The other thing about finding a writing style is that you adapt how you write depending on what you are writing. Just like the way you talk. You talk to you friends differently than you would talk to an authority figure. You adapt how you use language depending on the audience you are addressing.

A good example I will use is that I moonlight as a stand-up comic in my spare time (well the spare time I have when I am not writing on here or getting into mischief in a bar somewhere) and the one thing you learn real quick is to observe who your audience is, see how they react to your material. If you are performing to a garden party you're probably going to bomb if you spend your time telling jokes about genitals and cussing like a sailor. That would be the type of material you'd tell to a dark and smoky bar filled with crusty old men over anything else. The same goes for writing a book report in school, you have to express yourself in a way that's appropriate to the environment your working here. I'll get into the type of audiences that frequent the wiki in a moment.

What's important is you are not going to be a whiz on day one. It takes practice and dedication. When I started to make contributions to this site back in 2005 they were terrible (at least in my opinion) they stank, but with time and regular honing I've gotten much better over time. It also helps that I don't just write here. I write all day long. I have a boring office job where I have to write really boring letters to really boring clients, I run a horror movie website, I write jokes for my stand-up routine. All of these give a change of pace for the stuff I write because it gives me variety. When writing becomes too much of a chore, that's when you turn out nothing but garbage, and you want to avoid that right? Right. Also by writing to different audiences you once more focus yourself on crafting your personal style. The tone in the examples I have provided would all be different, but when you're looking at one to the other you're going to notice that I typically use similar sentence structure, grammar, choice of words etc. Heck I still make the same grammatical errors (which is a good point to state that you should re-read what you write at all times).

Who Your Audience Is
The most important thing you have to keep in mind is who your audience is. The fact that this is a wiki makes it a little easier. There are two components to knowing your audience:

(1) Knowing what sort of information they are looking for. (2) Knowing the purpose of the information you are writing.

A wiki is pretty straight forward. Yes, this is a wiki about Marvel Comics, and we all love comic books and the characters and endlessly debate, rant, rave and gush over these characters and their rich history. But the fact of the matter is that this is first and foremost an encyclopaedia.

I hate to burst bubbles, but just because I'm giving it a scholarly bent does not diminish the fun and excitement you should feel about the material you contribute to the wiki. You should however, be mindful of the fact that this is supposed to be a centre of knowledge on a particular subject.

The other thing that you should do is read similar material. Yes more reading. If you want to know how to present your information it's always good to see how people do it in similar ways. Read the Official Marvel Handbooks and Indexes. See how Marvel does it. Don't just blindly read the information either, notice how the information is imparted. How it's told to the reader. You can get a good handle on how to present your ideas by reading someone else's example.

Your audience is coming here to learn about Marvel Comics and by jove, they're going to expect a lot out of you. However, audiences range from casual readers to super-fans -- From all different age groups and all different walks of life. So here are some ROCK SOLID tips on how you should be writing a character profile, or a issue summary:

Pretend They Know Nothing - AKA DETAILS! DETAILS! DETAILS!
Now I'm not saying that you treat your reader with contempt! Don't write something like "Magneto's name was Max Eisenhart! Didn't you know that you dummy?" That just wont do. But like I said, readers of the Wiki come from all walks of life, they have different level of knowledge or understanding of the material you are presenting to them. So the best way to communicate to them is to explain all the relevant facts in plain detail.

As I said above, reading Marvel's handbooks and indexes is a good way to familiarize yourself with how to write your articles in a way that appeals to all readers.

For example, for the regular Marvel reader, everyone knows who Peter Parker is and how he became Spider-Man. But you cannot always assume that your reading audience does. Plus it fleshes out what you are saying into a more coherent statement.

Let me give you an example:


 * Peter Parker became Spider-Man and started fighting crime. He then stopped Doctor Octopus and had wheatcakes for breakfast.

Pretend for a moment that the reader does not know who Peter Parker is. I know that sounds impossible, but here's another concept... Do you know a lot about Barbie? If the answer is no (and eliminating the desire to know or care) if you were reading a paragraph that read "Barbie is a doll. They sold lots of them" that does not tell you a whole lot now does it? Not at all my friend. So it always helps to flesh out the details. So lets take another look at how to expand on the above statement again (Keeping in mind that I'm going to keep it brief, I don't feel like writing a huge paragraph about Spider-Man's convoluted origins):


 * Peter Parker was the only child of Richard and Mary Parker, government agents who died on a secret mission while Peter was still an infant. Peter was raised by his elderly Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who raised him like he was their own. Peter was a keen interest in science and studied hard growing up. By the time he was in high school the brainy Parker became the target of all his peers and became an introverted loner, wanting only to be accepted. One day while attending an experiment on radioactivity, Peter was bitten by a spider that was radiated by the device on display. Feeling sick, Peter rushed out of the science hall and soon found that he was gifted with amazing powers -- the proportionate strength of a spider, enhanced agility and reflexes, and a "spider-sense" that warned him of danger. Seeing this as a means of earning fame and money, but not wishing his identity known, Peter entered a match against wrestler Crusher Hogan for a cash prize while wearing a mask. He beat Hogan and won the money, and was picked up by an agent. Taking up the name Spider-Man and designing a costume and web-shooters, Peter entered into show business. One night after a television appearance, Peter let a robber escape the security guard. When asked why he didn't stop the criminal, Peter told the guard that it was none of his business. However, later that night Peter returned home to learn that a burglar shot and killed his Uncle Ben. Deciding to avenge his uncle's death, Peter changed into Spider-Man and tracked the burglar down to the Acme Warehouse where the police had him cornered. Spider-Man confronted the criminal and was horrified to learn that it was the same criminal he let escape earlier. Peter turned the crook over to the police, and the guilt ridden teen blamed himself for his uncles death, Peter learned a harsh lesson: With great power comes great responsibility. Peter gave up showbiz to fight crime as a penance for failing to save his Uncle Ben's live, vowing never to fail to act again.

Using the above example, we know where Peter Parker comes from, we know his family background and how he got his powers. We also learn how he became Spider-Man, and how he was motivated into a crime fighter. You'll also note I didn't go into the Wheatcakes (Because it's irrelevant, nobody cares what Peter eats for breakfast) and I did not mention Dr. Octopus in my first paragraph (I'd mention him probably in paragraph 2 or 3 depending on how detailed I got).

Here's an example about how details can help make your reader understand what you are writing about. Have you ever read ? You know, the one published in February 1948? No? So you probably wouldn't know who the Turtle is either?

Well if you clicked on the link for the Turtle, you probably know who he is now. Here's the thing about the Turtle. He's an obscure one off Human Torch villain from the 40s who has never been seen since. But read the article and ask yourself the following questions:

Who was the turtle? What was his motivation? Who hired him? What did he do? When did this happen? Who tried to stop him? How did they stop him? What happened after that?

You can answer all those questions now can't you? It's a basic principal of grammar folks, they teach it in grade school. Keep those basic questions in mind: Who, what, where, when, why and how. If you can't answer any of those questions by what you wrote, then it's time to go back to the drawing board.

I'll take another example for you all, to demonstrate what I mean. This one is from the Wiki and written by another one of our contributors. With due respect to the original writer, this is not meant to belittle your work, I'm just pointing out that it could use some work. For my example, I have chosen the Eternal Kronos. The article (or how it is as I write this) reads:

''::::Kronos had gone to the planet of Titan per the Eternals' agreement that some would go with Mentor and the rest with Zuras.


 * Kronos was working in his laboratory in the Earth Eternals' city of Titanos on an experiment with cosmic energy when he accidentally caused an explosion that destroyed Titanos and Kronos' physical body. However his mind survived and became one with the universe and time.''

There are a lot of things wrong with this article information wise, and I'll get into that later. But look at what is written here. Look at it critically. I purposely picked a more obscure character as an example. Think about how little you know about the character and think of some questions that have left you wondering more. It helps to try and think about it from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about the subject.

Here are my questions: First of all who is Kronos? Who are the Eternals? Who are Zuras and Mentor? What agreement was made? What was events caused an agreement to be needed? What was it about? Why was he experimenting with cosmic energy?

Now, you may know the answers to these questions, but the point is: The reader does not. If your reader cannot take the information you have presented to them and then present it to someone else who knows as little as they did prior to reading your article and make them understand.. Then you've kind of failed at this whole encyclopaedia thing.

It always helps to take a look at what your writing and try and see it through the eyes of someone who does not know what you are talking about. When trying to present key facts, pose the facts like questions and then see if you can find the answer in what you wrote. Using the example above. When looking at the sentence "Kronos had gone to the planet Titan per the Eternals' agreement that some would go with Mentor and the rest with Zuras" Pose it as a question like I did above. Are any of the answers to those questions up there? No they are not. Can you see how a reader might get lost?

But you have to have balance, you don't want to lose your readers in too much detail. With the magic of the Wiki you do not have to go into a whole lot of detail about exposition if you do two things: Provide links and references. Stick to key topics.

Who is Kronos?


 * Kronos was one of the original members of a race of being known as the Eternals, who were created millions of years ago by the Celestials. Following their creation, both Kronos and his brother Uranos ruled over the Eternals in unison until they disagreed upon the direction the Eternals should live. Kronos strove for peace and enlightening, while Uranos desired war and conquest. This eventually erupted into civil war that divided the Eternal race in two.

There is more to the story. However, by linking the Eternals and Celestials, a reader who wants to know more about who the Eternals or Celestials are can click on the link and go to those profiles. I also put a reference slug in there (If you don't know how to do this check out the tutorials or check the code of any page) Because the other thing your reader might want to do is see where the information you go came from. If your explaining a huge milestone event, you can't always assume that people know what exact comic you are talking about. References help the reader identify your source material. It's a great help. How many times have you scratched your head wondering when an important battle happened, or what issue a major character change occurred in? Unless you actually have the comic book yourself, and it's not something current chances are you're not going to know unless you either (a) do the research yourself or (b) someone tells you.

Which brings us to our next point....

RESEARCH! REFERENCE! FACT CHECK!
Nothing sucks worse than reading an article that's wrong, or does not cite it's sources. Ever have one of those discussions with someone about a comic storyline and you feel like a total j-off for getting a fact wrong and then being showed up? Well think about your reader. They're probably going to talk about what they're reading and if you got the information wrong, not only does your reader look like a j-off, but so do you, and so does the wiki. People will not think it's correct, or accurate, and just not read it. Kind of defeats the point right?

So it helps to always check your facts. That's what good researchers do. And if your writing articles on an internet encyclopaedia, guess what bub -- you've just volunteered to be a researcher.

The best resource materials you are ever going to have the actual comics. They don't have to be originals, just know when they were originally published. Another great resource to have are the Marvel Handbooks and Indexes. Always be sure that you have the most recent versions for the subject that are available. Also check out online resources. Two of the best would be the official Marvel Comics wiki (www.marvel.com/universe), the Unofficial Appendix of the Marvel Universe (http://www.marvunapp.com), and the Marvel Chronology Project (http://www.chronologyproject.com).

It is always important to check your facts and find references (or citations) of where you got your material from.

As any Spider-Man fan will tell you, if you tried to write an article about Peter Parker's early days as a superhero by only reading first 32 issues of Amazing Spider-Man, there is a lot of material that is missing. Crack open the Official Marvel Index to Amazing Spider-Man and you will notice that there is 50 years of Spider-Man continuity, a lot of that includes back stories and "untold tales" that happened between those issues. Having an Index handy (or if you can't find one for the character you're looking for the Chronology Project or the Appendix is a good substitution) you can get an idea of the stories that happen between issues... Such as stories published in later years that are "untold" or "flashback" tales, or cross-overs and guest appearances in other titles. Another resource to check is the handbooks, while they never give citations, they give you an idea of what happened in a roughly chronological order. With these tools you can maximize the accuracy of the information you find.

also list your references! Like I said, some people want to know what comics your talking about so start listing those citations!

Remember the Kronos profile I referenced above? Well it's also rife with inconsistencies and all the chronology is out of place. Had the person listed references and did the proper research they'd have probably known this. I'm sure the person put in a valid effort and all, but with a little fact checking and citing references you can avoid embarrassing mistakes. Did you find the mistakes in the article? Well lets look at it one more time:

''::::Kronos had gone to the planet of Titan per the Eternals' agreement that some would go with Mentor and the rest with Zuras.


 * Kronos was working in his laboratory in the Earth Eternals' city of Titanos on an experiment with cosmic energy when he accidentally caused an explosion that destroyed Titanos and Kronos' physical body. However his mind survived and became one with the universe and time.''

First of all, the paragraphs are in the wrong order. What happened first was Kronos was working with cosmic energy in his lab, then the explosion that made him one with the universe. This happened on Earth.

Kronos did't go to Titan either, at least not initially. The "agreement" referenced here is a gross simplification or mixing up two plot points about the Eternals. The first, was that prior to the lab explosion, there was a civil war between the factions of Kronos and Uranos. Kronos' side won and banished Uranos and his followers into SPACE. Much later, after Kronos' lab accident, his sons Zuras and A'Lars did not know who would lead, so the Eternals formed the Uni-Mind to determine who would rule. When Zuras was chosen A'Lars decided to exile himself to avoid another civil war. Meanwhile, Uranos and his minions (to paraphrase) ended up on Uranus, found a Kree colony, fought a Sentry, built a shop to escape and got blasted out of space by a Kree warship. They ended up on the MOON of Titan (Titan is not a Planet) A'Lars ended up on Titan after a war wiped out all of Uranos' followers except Sui-San and HE started a colony. Eventually, the conciousness of Kronos came to reside on Titan, but that was not until MUCH later.

This could have been all figured out had the person did the proper research and correctly cross-referenced his sources.

But in doing so you......

Don't Plagerize. Ever.
Seems pretty easy, but really, don't just copy information word-for-word. Only lazy, unoriginal, *** holes copy other peoples work. The wiki is an open source environment, if the person who originally wrote up stuff wanted their work to appear on the wiki, they'd copy and paste it here themselves. Otherwise, the whole point of writing articles is to present the information in your own words. It's one thing to find references and fact check, but it's entire thing all together to copy and paste from another material source. Oh, and I don't mean change words here and there. Like write your own material. Period.

Best example of the worst act of plagerism on this site is the entry for Dracula. It's just awful. Somebody needs to go and rewrite the whole damn thing (or at least they needed to when I wrote this), because the numb nuts who wrote the majority of the article pretty much copied the profile out of the Marvel Horror Handbook.

Shameful!

Remain Neutral
We all have our opinions. What characters rock, who sucks, who we think is really the stronger or better character. Having an opinion is a fine thing, but you have to put it in it's proper place.

When writing an article you have to remain IMPARTIAL. Meaning, your opinion must not come out of the material you are writing. The point of an encyclopaedia is to state FACTS.

So basically, keep your opinions in the Blog section and keep them out of your article about the Hulk's strength.

This is a Community - Or, How not to be a D***
The internet is a place of multiple differences of opinion, and in an open source environment where someone can go in and make changes to your hard work it is impossible to avoid a situation where a conflict might come up (even if you weren't out looking to cause trouble). People tend to take stuff way to seriously. I've had to deal with some very egotistical jerks who throw a huge power trip over things.

The key thing to remember when contributing to the Wiki is that there are other people working on this site and that we're a TEAM. We should work as one. By sticking to the POINTS and FACTS, we can avoid PERSONAL disagreements cropping up in contributions.

Treat your fellow contributors with mutual respect, they are equals to you no matter how long they have been here and how much knowledge they do or do not have.

Have dialogue instead of argument.

If you disagree on a fact, discuss it instead of having an editing war (Editing Wars are a HUGE d*** move. Talk about why you disagree with something before you go in an rework someones work)

And most importantly, don't take everything so bloody personally. It's the internet. Have fun! You get ticked off, take a breather.

I've have witnessed people have complete blow ups on here over such mundane little things such as a article deletion tag (which does not automatically delete an article, it flags it for DISCUSSION on if it should be deleted or not and ultimately decided by census of the contributors). The person in question ranted and raved about how he "wasted his time here" and how "he doesn't need us" and that he was "going to quit"

It was all very childish on his part, guy lost his cool and started an edit war instead of talking the situation out with someone.

Also he made himself look really foolish: Those comments are going to be on the internet for a very long time. Profile. Picture. Real Name. People are going to see that and say "Wow, what a jerk, I don't want to work with this guy"

He makes himself even more foolish because the Wiki is an entirely voluntary site. People CHOOSE to contribute to the site. They CHOOSE to write things of their own free will. Nobody is forcing them. They write on the site out of their enjoyment of the subject.

However, what some people don't understand is that the site is not an autocracy, you don't always get your own way and with the open source nature of the site things are going to get re-written, things are going to get changed, added or deleted, or moved. That's the nature of a Wiki. GET USED TO IT.

And I speak from experience. I've been contributing to this site since 2005 (as I said) and I have had many articles changed, deleted, renamed, and moved by other people. Some of them I agree with, some I do not. The fact of the matter is, when it comes to those changes it's not one person who has decided, but an number of people who had an interest in the subject to finalize the suggested changes.

A democratic environment in other words.

Instead of getting mad, get involved in the decision making process! Engage in conversation, not angry barbs! If you don't speak up and present your case in a mature fashion, nobody is going to take you seriously, consider you a temperamental bully or worse consider you a trouble maker and not listen to you.

The other thing is that the more you write, the more you contribute, the more diverse information you provide, the more credibility you make for yourself. If you engage in discussion with your peers you can foster an understanding of opinions.

Or in other words, don't be a d*** about things.

Anyway, that concludes this blog post. Hope you found it informative.