Writing for the Journal...

What did you think of the latest Journal?
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MJE
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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by MJE »

Fiona1986 wrote:I assume as long as whatever you sent could be opened properly in Word then it would be acceptable.
     I don't know whether the formats I mentioned could be opened in Word or not. So if not, then it wouldn't be acceptable - is that so?

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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by Fiona1986 »

If Tony can't open it and read it with the programmes he has on his computer than I can't see it going in the journal. I think that Word can open plain text files, though, so it shouldn't be an issue.
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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by MJE »

     Anyone with a browser can read H.T.M.L.; and anyone with an ordinary text editor (which is probably everyone) can read plain text - a browser can, too, although it may not wrap long lines properly, as a text editor would.
     Both these are universal and open and accessible formats - unlike Word, which is a proprietary format whose details are a corporate secret.
     Of course you can't do things like italics, bold, and so on with plain text.

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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Any readily accessible format should be fine, of course. If in doubt you could send a short piece of text to Tony first, just to test whether he's able to open and read it.
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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by Moonraker »

Couldn't you just email the content to Tony?
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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by MJE »

Moonraker wrote:Couldn't you just email the content to Tony?
     Well, I'm assuming that's how most people would get the content to him. But that's a separate question to what format would be used.
     I was just curious, and am not seriously contemplating writing anything at this point for the Journal - I simply cannot think of any Blyton-related topic where I think I can write in a way comparable to other articles in there. But, unless I heard otherwise, I'd possibly use plain text format if I didn't need underlining, italics, or bold - otherwise I'd use H.T.M.L., which I can code myself, so very little work would be needed at the other end, if any.

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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by Pippa-Stef »

On average how long to articles need to be? I mean is there an "anything up to..." word limit?

I did start writing something a little while ago, and just dug it out again... and I just wanted to know if there was a limit I had to stick to! Baring in mind my uni days are still pretty fresh, I could probably quite easily knock out 2000 words in a day or two! :P

MJE, why not copy and paste the article, in format to Tony? Isn't the point meant to be as long as he gets it...
Of course Tony may have his own views on this, I hate for a moment to suggest how he might or might not do things... just seems like a solution to me.
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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by MJE »

Pippa-Stef wrote:On average how long to articles need to be? I mean is there an "anything up to..." word limit?
     That would be useful information to have.
     There is a newspaper here in Melbourne that features obituaries of notable people regularly, and apparently accepts suitable ones from members of the public. But it's not simply a matter of no more than x words - it is rather more specific, and submitted obituaries must be one of two specific sizes - I don't know, 800 words or 1,400 words or something (I just made up those figures as examples, and don't remember the real figures - and I'm guessing there's some latitude on either side of the figures, but approximately that many words).
     I suppose this is all to do with what fits best into column inches or something. If there is anything like that with the Journal - some specific wordages that fit best into the page format - that would be useful information to have.
     Does the E.B.S. site have a page advising on guidelines for submitting material?
Pippa-Stef wrote:MJE, why not copy and paste the article, in format to Tony? Isn't the point meant to be as long as he gets it...
     Well, I was just asking for general reference, since the topic had been brought up anyway - I don't have anything ready now, and nothing in the offing, at least short-term.
     But copying and pasting is not itself a format, and the format still has to be decided. Normally copying and pasting would be in plain-text (but it's not the format itself, but just an operation for transferring text) - but I understand you can also paste into Word - but I have no idea what it does with the formatting after that - puts it into its proprietary format, I assume.

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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Articles vary a lot in length, but if an article takes up more than a few pages it's likely to be split into two or three parts (i.e. over two or three Journals). It depends how many other submissions Tony receives for that particular issue. The important thing is that contributors write in good English and check facts thoroughly for themselves, as Tony doesn't have time to proofread everything closely.
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Re: Writing for the Journal...

Post by pete9012S »

In the world of comics ie Spiderman,Superman,Marvel,D.C> et al they have what is described as the 'Golden' 'Silver' & 'Bronze' age to differentiate between the artwork, graphics and plots over the decades.

I would love to see an in-depth feature/series of articles in the Journal on the contrasting illustrations and changes in Enid's work in relation to her major series of books and characters over the years since the original versions were published.
This could be done by taking and analysing one important series at a time.

Take the Five Find-outers for instance,even in the original hardbacks there are numerous illustrators.The paperback Armada versions contain yet more illustrators.

I would say that the hardback editions up to the final book,Banshee Towers represents the 'Golden Age' Then the 1960's paperbacks depict the 'Silver Age' We also have the later 'Bronze Age' versions some of which contain very strange (to my eyes) illustrations (if they contain any at all).

I own every Find Outers paperback from the 1960's/1970's and would be most happy to provide scans of the illustrations in this series for comparison with the earlier 'Golden' age' work.

The ongoing comparison of illustrations and overall discussion thereof in something I would love to see considered for inclusion one day in the journal.

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Pete
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