Starting to write Magic articles

[trevaftw]

I currently have a tumblr where I post decklists and a paragraph or so about the deck. Mostly I use it for storage for ideas to be worked on later, but also to show to my friends when I come up with something. Lately I feel like adding more than just a list and a quick overview. So I have a few questions if yall would be so kind enough to answer:


1) What do you like reading about in relation to Magic most (tournament reports, new decks, theory, metagaming, fundamentals, etc.)?


2) What area of Magic writing do you think has most room for improvement?


3) Would you prefer a shorter weekly article or a more in-depth article once a month?


4) What sort of content do you think is missing from Magic writing?

[Tammit67]

1) What do you like reading about in relation to Magic most (tournament reports, new decks, theory, metagaming, fundamentals, etc.)?
Theory, I love arguing theory

2) What area of Magic writing do you think has most room for improvement?
Deckbuilding, card selection, metagaming

3) Would you prefer a shorter weekly article or a more in-depth article once a month?
Anything so long as it is good

4) What sort of content do you think is missing from Magic writing?
Discussion instead of the author trying to sell you on an archetype/card choices

[twndomn]

When you write "starting" that means you have little or no experience in writing articles in any sorts or periodic fashion.

Old habit dies hard, new habits are hard to come by. People make new year resolution all the time, and they give up the next day.

1 article per month, that's 12 articles per year. Sounds easy right? Before you know it, life asks you to delay an article for a week, and then it's 2 articles due in the same month.

I'll see it when I believe it. After you have successfully post 3 articles either monthly or weekly, you then deserve to ask suggestions on what the readers would care about. Otherwise, it's all empty talk.

[Lemnear]

When you write "starting" that means you have little or no experience in writing articles in any sorts or periodic fashion.

Old habit dies hard, new habits are hard to come by. People make new year resolution all the time, and they give up the next day.

1 article per month, that's 12 articles per year. Sounds easy right? Before you know it, life asks you to delay an article for a week, and then it's 2 articles due in the same month.

I'll see it when I believe it. After you have successfully post 3 articles either monthly or weekly, you then deserve to ask suggestions on what the readers would care about. Otherwise, it's all empty talk.

I second this. Regular article scedules can get really annoying and unless you are already a writer in your Job, impossible to realize with a constant quality. Most of the weekly articles of M:TG drift sooner or later into overconfidant self-reflection, repeating old phrases, selling old concepts as breaking new brews, endless Set Reviews or talk about the B&R list, simply because the game don't offer enought movement within a weekly timeframe. Ask the Hatfields.

Unless you get paid for those articles, write and Release them whenever they are finished and not on a scedule.

[Purgatory]

I'd like to echo the opinions above, with some of my own experience:

I just started writing Magic articles myself, and I have thus far completed two in-depth deck analyses in my native language of Swedish. They are published on another big Swedish magic site, but I won't post a link due to my Swedish modesty and I don't want to advertise them here. They both took well over 20 hours to complete and the only reason I could finish them was that one was written right around Christmas, so I had some free time there and the other was written mostly when I had a slow week at work.

Both of these were a great joy to write, and they were both recieved favorably if I may say so, again in my Swedish modesty.

Further, I have some experience writing with a set schedule as well. A few years back, I was involved in writing for an online fan-magazine surrounding the game of Warhammer 40k. I had written a couple of articles for the website 40konline.com (no idea if they are still up there), and was headhunted by another member there to write for his newly started online magazine. I wrote articles on a bi-weekly basis for almost a year, and I have to admit that even though I loved the experience, some of the material I produced there was under a lot of time pressure mostly created by work and school outside of the writing. This part of the experience was highly frustrating, because I often felt that I couldn't commit the time and energy needed to produce something really worthwile.

All of this rambling above answers question 3. I suppose "neither" is my response, boiled down. I'd suggest that you complete articles at your own pace and publish them without a set schedule, at least for as long as it takes for you to make a living on the writing alone. Until then, there will always be things that will push the writing aside.

[Chikenbok]

3) Would you prefer a shorter weekly article or a more in-depth article once a month?

I'm going to first address this question as I too feel its the most relevant question as someone who wants to begin writing:

Think of it like this: When you're an undergraduate, you have papers that are due with a given due date. Generally, unless there is a serious reason as to why your paper wasn't handed in at that due date, your penalized. This generally means that papers are written, not to their fullest potential but rather, with one's ability to produce material in a given time frame.

Fast-forward a few years and you're getting your PhD in (philosophy). Now, those due dates become 'suggestions' - papers are meant to be submitted when you've done your job of proving your point and showing your unfettered knowledge in a given topic. If a paper is due at the end of a course, most professors don't expect to have final drafts given to them until well after the semester has ended.

All in all - don't give yourself restrictions like "one per month," or "one every so and so months" but rather, start writing your article with the intention of finishing them when they're done . You'll find yourself much happier in the end, and everyone reading them will be much happier having something fully presented rather than quickly put together to meet a monthly quota.

Questions #1, 2, and 4 - I'll agree with Tammit, especially regarding point number 4.

[Di]

As one of the few 'pure' Legacy writers online (although I'm technically on hiatus), let me give you a few pointers, that is assuming you're gearing this towards Legacy:

1) What do you like reading about in relation to Magic most (tournament reports, new decks, theory, metagaming, fundamentals, etc.)?
Theory, if only because it's incredibly rare to see it applied to Legacy writing. Writing about theory is usually generic and not tied with Legacy. I did this a few times and I know some others have, but it's uncommon to see which is a shame. The only issue is it's arguably the most difficult concept to write about. Metagaming and deckbuilding is simple, but actually writing something thought-provoking and inspiring is tougher but also far more rewarding.

2) What area of Magic writing do you think has most room for improvement?
See 1.

3) Would you prefer a shorter weekly article or a more in-depth article once a month?
One thing I would certainly stress is not try to put aggressive deadlines on yourself, regardless of the article's length. Just write whenever you can churn something out. I started as a weekly writer but quickly found that it was awfully difficult to come up with new material because information changes much slower in Legacy as opposed to Standard or even Modern so there's less to discuss. Eternal formats are much more stale with change, and thus it's harder to keep your writing fresh if you try to do a lot in a shorter period of time. Pretty much every other Legacy writer either branches out and discusses other formats sometimes, or slows their pace. Just don't try to be aggressive with a weekly article for this format, because you'll run out of material really quickly.


4) What sort of content do you think is missing from Magic writing?

See 1.

[claudio.r]

To a beginner writing magic articles what are the websites to which you would submit your first articles? Or you would publish them in a personal blog or website?