Everyone needs to start somewhere, so consider developing your writing skills by writing on an amateur basis. This could help you to demonstrate your interests and specialisms to prospective publishers/agents, not to mention showing them that you have plenty of enthusiasm and motivation.
Most universities (and some colleges and schools) have a newspaper or magazine which is written and produced by students for students. Talk to a teacher if you are at school, visit your Students’ Association or log on to your Students’ Association website if they have one. Find out when the next meeting is going on, or ask to speak to the editor directly about the kind of writing they are interested in.
If you’re under 18, you could find out about becoming a ‘Hack Pack reporter’ with your local Young Scot office. The Hack Pack is a team of young reporters who give up some of their time to research and write articles for their local Young Scot webpages. Each local office has a local section on the Young Scot portal. You can find your local site by visiting the Young Scot website and selecting your local authority area from the drop-down menu. If you feel the site if lacking something (e.g. music reviews, local opinions) why not phone up your local Young Scot office to find out about getting involved?
Visit your local library or bookshop and find out if they know of any local groups.
Free magazines are often distributed in outlets like music shops, pubs, and cultural venues. Keep your eye open for these, as their editors may be willing to consider unsolicited articles and reviews if they fit in with the publication and have the ‘local-interest’ factor. If you live in the central belt, check out the website for ‘The Skinny’, a free magazine which prints listings, reviews and previews and is often looking for contributions. You can submit news stories to The Metro (a national free paper distributed on public transport). If you have a newsworthy story that you think might interest British commuters, you can submit it via an online form at their websites.
It might not seem like the most glamorous kind of writing, but regularly posting opinions or reviews on general or specialist sites could help you develop your writing style. If you fancy book-reviewing, get some practice by looking up books you’ve read on Amazon and submitting reviews. Unlike other submissions, you can be fairly sure these will get posted!
Love your last holiday? Websites such as Trip Advisor allow you to submit reviews on hotels, attractions, restaurants or cities/towns.
If you are 13 – 19, you can submit pieces of writing to BBC Blast. Although the focus is mainly on creative writing styles, quite a few short reviews are posted on the site from user submissions. BBC Blast is a website run by the BBC dedicated to encouraging young people to get involved in art, dance, film, music and writing.
Have a look on the internet for writing projects that you can get involved with for free. Some run for a set period of time while others are more permanent.
Keep your eye open for short-term online projects. Organisations like the BBC, British Library and Womens’ Library often invite online submissions on specific topics to be included in future projects and exhibitions.
If you can’t find an online project you want to get involved in, set up a website or blog and start your own!
By starting your own fanzine, you can write about the things that interest you most. You might be happy just to practice your writing and hand your fanzine out to a few friends, or you might decide to take on the full challenge of marketing and promoting your fanzine. This is one way to get started in a niche market, build up contacts and make a reputation for your self. The challenge will be figuring out the best ways to reach the people who will be most interested in your publication. Traditional methods include standing outside gigs selling copies, or selling them to specialist music shops for distribution. Although a lot of home-made publications revolve around music, you can start a fanzine/pamphlet about anything!
Put the world to rights and develop your writing style. This is a good way to practice writing for a specialist market. A blog is an online personal diary or website where you can tell everyone how you feel, keep everyone up-to-date with your life and share your thoughts and photos. If you have an interest (anything from extreme sports to photography), you could try to build up a reputation by posting links to your blog/website on related sites. If you set up a blogspace/website with a guest book, you’ll have a great means of getting feedback on what you’re writing about.
Published on 07/07/2010
Last modified on 16/01/2012
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