Can i become a games journalist? - Page 2

CKeene · 11-15-2007, 05:19 PM

I agree, start a blog. Wordpress is great, as is Blogger. Anything works, just get a blog and get your thoughts out there. Write something every day. I just moved my own writing portfolio to WordPress if you'd like an idea for setting yours up. Though mine is for game writing such as dialogue and narrative, it should still give you an example, hopefully. Not much up there yet, but I hope it can give you some ideas to work from.

Best of luck to you Elliot, let us know how it turns out!

And I apologize for stating you were in high school. Aside from you saying you were in college, I somehow failed to recognize that you live in the UK where the age of post-secondary graduation is 16. Sorry about that, I hope I didn't offend.

IDesert FoxI · 11-15-2007, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elliott

Desert, what gaming magazine do you write for? I'd like to see your work so I can learn from it and...criticize :P

The EVE Tribune, and it's all about the game EVE online. I write under the pseudanym of IDesert FoxI. Havent written anything for a month or so though because uni has really hammered into my free time with non game related journalism.

http://www.eve-tribune.com/

Thumper_34 · 11-16-2007, 06:04 PM

Ya I went to a technical college first,

They are alright, but you can do better. As I just stated in another post, its all about learning the concepts. Great artists know their programs by heart, but that doesn't make them a good artist. The core fundamentals or illustration. Then they add there technical skills to create their artistic creation. You will have all the time later to practice. If you don't nail the concepts, you'll never get the rest.

Elliott · 11-17-2007, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CKeene

I agree, start a blog. Wordpress is great, as is Blogger. Anything works, just get a blog and get your thoughts out there. Write something every day. I just moved my own writing portfolio to WordPress if you'd like an idea for setting yours up. Though mine is for game writing such as dialogue and narrative, it should still give you an example, hopefully. Not much up there yet, but I hope it can give you some ideas to work from.

Best of luck to you Elliot, let us know how it turns out!

And I apologize for stating you were in high school. Aside from you saying you were in college, I somehow failed to recognize that you live in the UK where the age of post-secondary graduation is 16. Sorry about that, I hope I didn't offend.

Heh, no worries. I already started a website too and linked it to a semi-daily blog.

Thumper_34 · 11-19-2007, 07:08 AM

Well then

Your on your way, keep up the good work and update us on your progress.

Shez · 11-28-2007, 06:19 AM

Elliot

I think that your enthusiasm is fantastic and I'm really excited that you found something you'd like to do. I'm also pursuing a game related career and have picked up a lot of advice/tips along the way.

I read through your blog and while I was impressed by the enthusiasm, I have a few suggestions, if you're serious about becoming a full time game writer or game journalist.

1- Most importantly, remember that your blog is a professional representation of your work. Future employers might read through your blog, so you have to be sure that what you post is what you'd like for them to see. Keeping that in mind...

2- Before you post make sure to give the content a quick read through to pick up grammatical/English errors. This may sound harsh but there is a lot of poor English on your blog, which reflects on your writing skills regardless of how casual you feel the blog may be.

3- Avoid using profanity. In the professional word profanity is simply unacceptable. On that note, it's also completely unacceptable to use the word 'gay' to describe something; it shows that you're either 1) unprofessional 2) ignorant. I certainly don't think that you're either of those but the language you use reflects on you personally.

4- Avoid bias. As a writer you have to remove blatant bias from your articles and reviews.

5- When you write a game review be sure to review all the aspects of the game. Your first review, which was also your best, only really included two sections: storyline and gameplay. Most articles will include: graphics, sound, music, multiplayer experience, time to play, difficultly, performance, price, etc. People read reviews because they want to know as much about the game as they can before they buy it.

6- Keep at it! As long as you're willing to work hard and continue to write, you'll attain your dream one day.

Elliott · 11-28-2007, 04:45 PM

Yeah, I know my grammar isn't exactly the best and I can be immature a lot, but thats the way I was raised and can't help it when I'm writing, it just seems natural to me to write that way.

For some reason though I re-read my posts about 3-4 times before I post them but I always seem to find a flaw in there somewhere along the line...thanks a lot for your feedback and I'll try to write more cautiously and think about what I say

Thanks

IDesert FoxI · 11-29-2007, 12:52 AM

There's some advice that i was given the other day that I find very true. Don't sub your own work! Get someone else to look at it as well, as they can usually pick up mistakes that you missed. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't still check it yourself though.

IDesert FoxI · 11-29-2007, 02:29 PM

Taking advice from this thread and university lecturers, I too ahve decided to start a blog. I would love some feedback/criticism if anyone has a spare five minutes. If its rubbish at least I had fun writing it (and whatever you say it won't stop more being written). Cheers guys.

Linky:
http://anthony-playeronestart.blogspot.com/

Elliott · 12-01-2007, 04:50 PM

I love the layout, its very stylish

Lets hope the success of both our websites blows up soon :P