h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi folks... I'm Pete, 52 years old and I'm very new and very green here. Quite simply, I am hoping to learn quite a bit here from people like you who have probably been at this stuff much longer than me... In a nutshell, I just have had this passion to write for a long, long time, but really just don't where or how to begin with subject matter, structure, layout, research, etc. etc. etc. Any help, advice or pointers would be very much appreciated indeed, just to help get me starting out... Many thanks indeed folks.

Hi Pete! Welcome to hootoo.

first thing I can suggest if you want to write is look at what your interested in, enjoy, and know something about. Especially if it's not already included in the Edited Guide.

(Tip - do a search in the search bar at the top. It'll bring up the most relevant entries and if it's an edited entry it'll say beside it.)

Also, click on the link "Contribute" to the left and it'll give you some advice too.

Have you thought about an evening class in creative writing?
Community College classes, often in schools in evenings, are usually quite good with good tutors. The students are often motivated too as there by choice!

Sounds like a good thing to check out.

When I write (not that often these days) I find that the main inspiration comes from within. I need to have what I want to say laid out in my head, and taking instructions from others is very difficult for me.
One thing I have learned above all others about writing, though: every writer is different. What anyone else says may work for you, or it may be completely useless.

Yeah, and every subject is different too. Like if you're writing about how to rewire a plug, it's going to be more technical than if you're writing about your favourite stand-up comedian. Some subjects may not allow for light-heartedness or jokes, while others are perfect for it.

Thank you folks for the input there. Already I have some food for thought. Good points indeed. Do you think that I would need to undertake a heavy regime of research, if say, I was going to try and write a fictional novel, or should I kind of make things up as I go along, sort of give the whole thing some type of artistic license? Or would it all indeed depend on my subject matter?...

Have a look at the various showcases for writing on h2g2:
PeerReview is for factual writing on its way to the Edited Guide (which you can <./>browse</.> or <./>search</.&gt.
Writing-Alternative is for just abouts everything else. Material submitted to this forum may well end up in the <./>UnderGuide</.>, or perhaps <./>ThePost</.>. (The Post changes fortnightly. If you follow the links from the front page of the current issue of The Post you'll find an archive of back issues somewhere.)

TRiG.

I think that the amount of research you’d need to do would depend on the specifics. If you are writing about something you already know about then you could throw in some details without having to hunt it all down. If you were going to try to include details about something you’re less familiar with then I’d look it up. You wouldn’t, for example, get anywhere describing an encounter with a grizzly bear unless you were sure your story was set in grizzly country.

It was another website, but I once saw someone get chomped to bits over his description of….oh drat I can’t remember the name of the thing but its that psychological test where you look at the little dots and say whether you see a butterfly or someone hacking up his parents. Anyway there is a specific number of those things and the guy wrote something that got that number wrong.

I don’t think people here are quite a mean about that sort of thing though.

That depends who reads it!



For the most part i've found peer review friendly enough, and I try to be when I pass through.

I've not managed to nail a 'hit' yet though, and havent had the time for my Pantera article...

Yeah, Peer review can be useful.

And like was said, research depends on what you're writing about and how much you already know. For me, I've 3 articles about George Best being edited for the EG at the moment. I really wanted to write them, but I don't know much about football so I did some digging about what teams George played for, what comptetionins he took part in, etc. Really helped to get that sort of thing checked out. Then I went into Peer Review and got feedback and tweaked as was suggested. Really useful.

Do as much research as you think you need. If you don't know something, look it up. It may well be, though, that if you don't know something then neither does your reader.
Try showing your work to a couple of people you (really) trust, if you're not sure how true-to-life something sounds. If you pick the right people, they can at least filter out anything you got wrong that might be considered general knowledge.

Yeah. Some things people don't pick up on. And it's all context. Moon=blue cheese.