Intro:

Are thinking about contributing to ScreamingDelkims.se website. It might not be quite the short-cut to fame and fortune you're hoping for, but by telling us your news, sharing your specialist knowledge, or simply entertaining your fellow members, you will accumulate vast amounts of karma. Okay, maybe not, but you will make the site better for everyone, which is what it's all about.

Here are some detailed guidelines for writing news, articles and reports. Please feel free to read them, but don't get obsessed with the technical details. No-one's expecting you to be John Grisham or Stephen King, unless of course you are John Grisham or Stephen King.

Style:
Relax, chill, and remember that all you're really doing is talking to your fellow members. Don't feel you have to use special long words when short ones will do, try to be straightforward and conversational. If it helps you to imagine that you're talking on paper then do it. Call a cat, a cat, or a Kissimiss rather than 'an animate animal of the feline persuasion'. Above all, keep it simple and use a spell checker...

News:
The first paragraph should be an overview of the story - if a Carp the size of Malmö fell on the prime minister in a seedy back street nightclub and killed him, the first sentence would be along the lines of 'PM killed by Fish'. You can fill in the details of stuff like what the carp's name was, how seedy the club was, etc, etc, later on.

Try and keep things short and sharp and they're more likely to be read. Finally, make sure it really is news.

If it's not interesting to the reader, it won't be read.

Features:
Quite often writing a good feature is like making love to a beautiful woman, sorry, like telling a good story. Think about the reader and what he or she wants to know rather than just writing to please yourself. Again, try and keep things simple and conversational.

The first paragraph is really important, if that isn't interesting the reader won't bother with the rest.

Finally:
If you have any questions, please send us an email and we'll get back to you.

Chris Thornhill