If you're new to Bitmob and don't know what it is that we do here, read this.
(In short: We write stories about games for the front page. You write stories about games for the Mobfeed. We take your best stories, clean them up, and then promote them to the front page to sit alongside our content.)
If you're just visiting to read our stuff, stop here! The rest of this article is for those who want to write and contribute and is likely to short-circuit your noggin.
Since our community contributors are constantly looking for feedback, especially now that they have a chance to be published in a magazine, we figured we'd share some of our internal notes on writing and editing (this is literally the type of feedback we'd circulate among the editorial staff at Bitmob and old EGM). This should help you produce much cleaner copy -- easier for you to get noticed...easier on our editor eyes.
This isn't a comprehensive list by any means, but these are common enough problems that they're worth bringing up....
Stylistic writing stuff:
1. Don't: Use cute, non-descript headlines
For Internet writing, headlines must be descriptive and enticing for people to click on. Think about all the places (like our Mini-Mobfeed over to the right) where you see nothing but a headline and a link, with no story summary, description, etc., so they must do the job on their own.
2. Don't: Blow off your introductions and conclusions
Those are the two most important parts of any story. And of course, make sure the entire article is cohesive and concise (longer isn’t always better).
3. Don't: Start your stories with history lessons
Too many stories start out with old news, a recap of the last game in the series, or background on a company. Yawn. If you need to state that stuff for context, give it to your readers later. You need to grab them right away from the start!
4. Don't: Write huge blocks of text
No one wants to sift through giant walls of words -- use paragraph breaks and images.
5. Don't: Use the same key words over and over
Especially close to each other. The thesaurus or, better yet, The Synonym Finder are your friends. Find new ways to say the same things.
Ugh:
The game is one of the best games around.
6. Don't: Use clichés in your writing
If we've heard it before, we probably don't want to hear it again unless you're going to do something really clever with it.
More ughs:
Shooter fans, rejoice
X, Y, and Z...oh my!
Only time will tell
Best. Something. Ever.
7. Don't: Write in passive voice
It’s considered bland and lifeless.
Red flags that usually indicate passive voice:
• The sentence/clause/phrase doesn't have a subject (someone or something doing the action)
• The verb uses or can use “by”
• “There is/are/was/were”
• A variation of “to be” followed by a verb ending in “-ed”
Examples of passive voice:
There are a lot of games coming out this winter.
The race was finished. (The “by” is implied here: “The race was finished by the drivers” -- both ways are passive.)
8. Don't: Use Roman numerals
It’s Final Fantasy 7, not Final Fantasy VII. You can thank the concept of search engines for that.
Also, outside of game titles, with a few exceptions, the numbers “nine” and below get written out as words, while “10” and higher get written out as numerals.
