Write For Us

[JohnCresswell]

Write For Us
When www.VillaTalk.com was originally set up we wanted to create a fansite where supporters of Aston Villa FC could air their views. We wanted to provide the chance to create an ‘online fanzine’ – so fans can mix articles about current affairs with others – some humorous, some historical and some articles completely out of the (claret and) blue.

While we post most articles we receive, sometimes we have to decide not to post it up onto the front page.

The following guide is a suggestion on how you can approach writing your article, which will ensure that it is posted up.

Length
Please aim towards having at least 400 words per article. This may seem an awful lot even if you have very little to say. Try to add a few quotes from players on the subject then back it up with what you think.

If this still isn’t enough then consider posting it on our message board.

Text
Keep your sentences to the point – don’t ramble! Please remember that we have a readership of both sexes and all ages – so keep your language appropriate for the audience.

If you can write your introductory text (the bit shown on the front page) then that’d be great. This is input into the ‘Story Text’ with the actual article put in the ‘Extended Text’ box.

Try to be clear and concise – grouping your ideas into logical areas.

Research
If you think facts and figures will back up your argument – find them! It’s supports what you are saying and gives the article a much more ‘professional’ feel. Most football stats can be found at www.soccerbase.com .

While all postings are the responsibility of the user, please keep it truthful and legal!

Spelling and Grammar
We recommend that you write your article in a word processing package first – such as MS Word or Open Office’s Writer. Then you can check your article for spelling and grammar mistakes – making it much easier for the moderators to post it up.

Keep to standard English and ignore internet acronyms such as TBH, FFS and IMO. Not everyone knows what these mean!

A few more ‘pointers’:

• There is nothing more annoying than having to edit out articles with lots of ‘……’ between each sentence. One full stop and a capital letter is enough.
• Please don’t put more than one exclamation mark after a sentence! These bad boys are used far too much anyway, but if you feel you must use one then keep it at one!
• Hyphens need a space before and after their use.
• Please use capital letters for names and places – it saves us having to edit them into the article.

And Finally…
Try and enjoy it. If you know what you want to write it makes it much easier to actually get your ideas put down. We accept articles on anything to do with Aston Villa – bizarre rumours, personal stories, humour and details of rarely told stories on the history of The Villans.

So, what you waiting for? Get writing!

The VillaTalk.com Team.