How to Write an Article
You should write an article! Yes, you! Reading this right now! Did you know that this online magazine of ours, Zooey Dot Pub, is actually a community magazine That's right! As much as this might seem like "Tarro rants about things and sometimes makes zoo references" in the style of an early 2000s blog, in fact this is actually something much more! When asked about the magazine, I really like to compare it to a town square, or a soap box. It's a platform open for anyone to use (with some moderation of course) to present their ideas to a wider audience. It's a way to talk directly to the zoo community, the haters, or to the wider world at large. We want to be a megaphone, amplifying your voice to everyone!
And yet, not a lot of people actually do end up writing articles. Which is fine! You certainly don't have to! We love our dear readers after all! But sometimes I'll talk to people who say that they want to write an article, but they can't. That might be for a number of reasons. Maybe they don't feel like they know how to write, maybe they don't have an idea, maybe they aren't sure what the best way to go about it is. Well, today's article is meant to devoid those people of all of their excuses! I want to go over the process of writing an article from start to finish. That way, I (selfishly) can use this as a resource anytime anyone asks how, but also in hopes that you can see just how easy it really is, and hopefully inspire some people to try slamming some keys and writing something of their own!
So, you want to write an article, where do you start? Well, step one is to have an idea of something to write about!
A lot of people get stuck on this step, but as someone who's written a LOT about zoosexuality let me tell you it's probably much easier than you're making it out to be.
Here's the thing. Ideas are inspiration. You need to have something to talk about if you want to talk about something. If you don't, you're experiencing something called writer's block. That's when you want to write, but you don't have anything to say. Everyone gets this sometimes. I know I literally just said how easy it is to find ideas, but that doesn't mean there aren't times that I'm sitting on my couch staring at a blank ord doc thinking to myself "God I need something for tomorrow or the editing team is going to kill me" but nothing happens.
Thankfully, writers block is actually something that's pretty easy to fix! This works you just have no idea about what you want to write! Especially if it's your first time writing! Let me teach you the secret.
Pick something that you like. It can be literally anything.
I'm serious, right now in your head before you get to the end of this sentence you better have something that you're thinking about that you like. This is possibly the easiest thing that's ever been asked of you. Just literally pick one thing that you like. Got it? If not, go back to the start of this paragraph and start reading again. If you do, great! Now put a zooey spin on it!
This might seem like a weird principle depending on what you've thought of, but I promise you that I've done this a thousand times and there's always an angle. For instance, say that you're someone who loves video games. Well, we currently have two articles about League of Legends, one article about Baldur's Gate 3, and an article on Pokemon. One of the League articles, as well as the Pokemon and the Baldur's Gate one are examining the ways that animals are treated in that fictional world, and asking whether or not there are zooey elements to the game. The other League of Legends one is a total shit post about how League player and being a zoo are both very hard sometimes. I'm sure that if you're a gamer, you can think about a game that you like that has animals in it, and you can examine the ways that those animals are treated. Hell, if you wanted, instead of focusing on a single game you could do a whole overview of how animals are treated in games, or in media in general. Who's doing well, who's doing poorly, what would you like to see from the industry in general? Or, if you for some reason don't like any games with animals in them, you could look at a more sociological view of the game. Is there an oppressed minority in the game subjugated for something that they can't control Obviously there's a lot of reasons that people have been treated unfairly across all of gaming, but it might make an interesting article to talk about revolution, and the way that the heroes of that game are able to overcome that oppression, and what we can take away from that story for our own struggles.
You can do this kind of topic breakdown for literally any kind of subject in the world. Do you like to cook? Amazing! You could talk about how different ingredients are good or bad for different animals, how various species "taste" in different ways, or you could talk about some awesome treats you can make that both you and your partner will love.
Say that you're really into certain animals that you don't see represented in the zoo community a lot. That's a FANTASTIC place to start for an article. What makes that animal special and unique? What are some fun facts about them? What might people misunderstand about them? Why are they worth loving?
If you live outside the US, that's another really easy article idea. How are animals treated where you live? We're unfortunately a very localized magazine. I would love to know what animal rights looks like in other places around the world. Same with pet ownership! Or even just cool facts about other animals I might have never seen before. I recently learned what a sounds like and holy shit I was dialed in for like a week learning everything I could about them. seems like such awesome content!
If you have literally anything that you like, you have at least one hundred articles you can write. And if you have something you like but you can't think of any way to spin it, message me and I'd be happy to help you figure out your angle! I mean, we have an article on flag design and vexology, I promise you there is no topic that can't have a zooey spin on it that's still really entertaining to read about. And even if your reapproaching a topic that we've touched on already, every voice is unique and so long as you have something new to say, don't be afraid to retread ground.
Okay, so you've got an idea. Now what? Well, now you write it! There are two types of writers in this world. Planners and pantsers.
We've had a couple planners write for us. These people tend to be very detail oriented, very interested in making sure every point they want to make fits in, and they're willing to do more pre-work to get that goal. To that end, they might make a game plan before they start writing. Your typical essay game plan looks like this.
Intro (Introduce the topic, general overview)
Problem ( a problem that your article is going to solve)
Topic transition (Shift to point one)
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Summary (Re-contextualize the points based off of the intro)
Call to action (What can do to fix the problem)
Conclusion (Wrap everything together)
Basically any of the articles that I've ever written fit into this formula, it's a really helpful place to start if you're someone who needs some structure. Let's use an Op-Sec article just as an example.
Intro:As zoos, our privacy is really important to us. Lots of people want to dox us, and we don't want to be doxed. As such, we employ something called "opsec" or operational security.Problem:The thing is, a lot of people don't really understand opsec, and in this ever changing technological world it's hard to know what you should and shouldn't do to keep yourself safe.Transition:Thankfully, I'm here to help. I'm going to give you a few simple tips to follow to make sure that you're staying safe, without getting mad every time you open your computer.Point one:Having strong passwordsPoint two:Not clicking weird linksPoint three:Summary:All of that might seem like a lot, but our privacy is our most important thing behind our partners. I know all of this can seem like it's a lot, especially if you're a zoo without a big following, but newer zoos are actually the people that get targeted the most.Call to action:If you implement these steps, I can't promise you'll be safe 100%, but I can tell you that it's going to be very very hard for anyone to get your data. You'll be keeping yourself and your partner safe.Conclusion:It sucks that opsec is so important to us, but that's the world we live in right now. Maybe one day I'll be able to go to pride parades and post selfies of all the fun I'm having. But until then, stay safe, and don't make it easy for them.
And bam, just like that, you've got an outline for a really great article! From here, you would go through point by point and really flesh everything out. Give it the bulk, add some more details, some jokes, whatever stylings you'd like to make the article read great. This is a really really fantastic way to write articles. Think of it like an artist doing linework before inking. It makes it easier to see what the finished product will look like without just doing it.
And definitely don't think of this as a "easier" way to write either. From the best essayists to triple A fantasy authors, starting with structure is a very common way to begin. While fiction is a bit of a different beast, authors start with some kind of plot layout where they line up the beats of the story, and then start to flesh it out from there. Also, just because you're following a formula doesn't mean you have to always stick to the script! As you get better at writing, you can adapt this method to a ton of new options. Maybe you want to start with the conclusion and work backwards, maybe you want to dive right into point one first, and then explain the intro stuff afterwards. Maybe you want to tell a framed perspective where each point is accompanied by its own intro and outro. All of those are super valid, and also can still fit with trying to use this method of writing.
That said, particularly attentive reader will have noticed that I said there are two kinds of writers when I was first broaching this topic. The second, lovingly referred to as a "pantser" as in "by the seat of your pants" is the kind of writer who doesn't use any planning and instead writes by . Basically, the idea is that you have what you want to say in your head, and you just sit down and write. This is a fantastic method for some people! But, it too has its upsides and downsides. Let's start with the ups.
First, it feels very much like the "better" way to do it, in terms of skill and time efficiency. If you don't need to do a framework and you can just crank out content it's theoretically much easier to fly through it. It can also sometimes lead to a text that feels more emotionally concise and together. If you're in the same frame of mind the whole time you're writing things can just naturally flow better, as opposed to if you start, stop and then start up again but you're in a different mental state.
There are also some big downsides though. First of all, this style of writing is like sprinting. You hit the ground running and go as fast and hard as you can to get to the end. But what happens if you start running and you're going in the wrong direction? This method makes it really easy to run into dead ends where you're forced to stop and realize that what you're writing isn't leading anywhere. This is especially true for new authors who think this is the only way to write. You dig yourself into a hole, and because you never really knew where you were going in the first place it makes it really hard to course correct. Speaking of which, this style of writing is also generally much harder to make revisions to. If you write out a whole article, but then realize that point three is kinda weak because everything is so interconnected having to rewrite that section can make it really stand out. I know I'm coming down on this style much harder than I did the other, but I know this is what everyone wants to do, and I just want to make it clear that in the grand scheme of things, unless you sit down and write a perfect article the first time with no roadblocks at all, it takes just as much time if not longer to write this way, since problems are so much more complicated to get around.
At the end of the day, there are tons and tons of other styles of writing as well, these just tend to be the most common, and I wanted to showcase them both so that you have the options.
Alright, so, you came up with an idea, you sat down and wrote it. What next? Well, that's where we at the Zooey Dot Pub team come in! Reach out to us in whatever format you prefer, whether that's on Twitter, Discord, or by getting in touch with Tarro (me) however you'd like. You can also email us! Mention that you've written an article, and send it over. From there it goes to the editing team. Headed by the amazing Alissa, the editing team's job is to make sure that your article reads amazingly! I like to describe the editing team like playing basketball with aim assist. You're the one running up with the ball and taking the shot. If you land a perfect swoosh from the get go that's awesome, but if it's going to hit the rim and bounce off we're there to redirect it. Our goal is to make sure that your message comes out as effectively and as powerfully as possible.
And to be clear, I would say that like, 95% of articles (including all the ones written by me) require some level of editing. Whether it's just spelling and grammar, or if it's something more severe like structure. So if you submit your article and get a ton of notes back don't worry, it's not because you. t's to write a masterpiece on your own. That's why writers have editors.
As far as editing goes, we use a very cool online editing platform that I hesitate to shout out for fear of people harassing it. But basically, there's a web link that we'll share with you where all of the changes we've made will be highlighted and you can also roll back all the changes to see what it was previously. It's a live platform, so sometimes we can even be going back and forth with you on the same document talking edits and what not. It's actually very cool! At the end of the day, it's your article. You will always have the final say on whether or not a change is necessary in your article, but we have the final say on what . So if we feel like an article doesn't meet our content standards we may say no. t just typically comes down to playing it by ear. I would publish an article from a new voice word choice as opposed to digging my feet in the mud and saying "Do it this way!!" Depending on how much change needs to happen, we might go through a couple rounds of edits, and then once that's done, it's time for the fun part! Publishing!
A quick disclaimer here, not that anyone has ever asked. Any article written by you remains your article after the point of publication. If at any point you want to make changes, or want to have the article taken down, you absolutely have the right to ask and we will always comply. This goes for interviews as well. In interviews, either the interviewer or the interviewee can ask for the article to be taken down. If in the future we ever want to use your article for something, we will always make our best effort to get in touch with the author to make sure that .
Anyway, publishing! As we get closer to the publication date, I'll reach out to you and ask you what you want to go by for the author name, whether or not you have anything that you want to plug (typically your socials), and if you have a cover image in mind you can give that to me to use as well! If you are bringing your own cover image, it needs to be one that's usable commercially. Not that we're selling anything, but it just helps us avoid any weird liability issues. Then, we upload it to the site on the back end, publish it, spread that shit everywhere, and voila! You're a published author! If you're a part of our Discord server you get a fancy gold name to show you've contributed to the magazine, and if you aren't I alway picture you as a little gold-tinted from that point on. Not only have you contributed to the zoo conversation, as well as allowing me (Tarro) to get an extra couple hours of sleep, you've also created something that didn't exist before, and I think that's kinda cool in its own right!
I know this article is a little long for a howto guide, but I wanted to be really thorough to show that really anyone can write. By following the tips in this guide, you can create awesome articles that everyone loves. I've been doing this for a long time. I was writing well before I started running this magazine, so I already have a voice, and a general sense of what I'm trying to do. But we're also more than happy to publish newer authors still finding their footing, so long as they're willing to put in the time and effort, and they're willing to listen to constructive criticism.
Hopefully, this was a good overview of how to write an article! And if you have any other questions, that's what the team is here for! We're more than happy to help answer any questions that you might have! I would really love to see more articles written by people in the community, and not just because I'd also like to have more free time. I think that as we grow, it's going to be important to give as many people as possible a voice. We're only going to get bigger and bigger from here, but that doesn't mean that every single person doesn't have something interesting to say.
So, let's hear it!
Article written by Tarro (July 2024)
Find them at https://x.com/hereforthezoo
Find them at https://x.com/hereforthezoo
Questions, comments or concerns? Check out our Discord server! discord.gg/EfVTPh45RE
