Disciples of the Pen (FFXIV)  

A Guide to Writing

Have something to say about Final Fantasy XIV?

ZAM has given posters a rare opportunity to stand in the spotlight and be heard. Disciples of the Pen allows regular forum posters to compose their thoughts and get put on the front page of ZAM as a news post.

However, writing a post on a forum and composing something for publication are two different beasts. What follows is a crash course in writing that can help those interested in taking this opportunity and adding something special to the ZAM FFXIV community.

Contents [hide]

When in doubt, check the map Mind your double-ewes Grammar 101: Or, they're taking their cheese there. Correcting a few common mistakes Art, the pretty way to say it Keep your skin thick The more you know Submitting your own Disciples of the Pen

When in doubt, check the map

Being that Disciples of the Pen is an opinionated editorial, it's up to the writer to decide what their piece is about. Ultimately, though, it is at the discretion of ZAM admins to say whether or not something belongs under the DoP banner.

Being that DoP is so new, it's up to us to shape what goes into it. Ultimately, what becomes a DoP is at the discretion of the ZAM admins, but you can't get somewhere unless you walk the path.

The best place to start when writing anything is putting some thought into where you want to go with it.

Evolving the Fantasy	Discovering Hydaelyn
Front page	Front page
Forum post	Forum post

Above are two previously published DoPs. Each began with a simple concept. For Discovering Hydaelyn, something as simple as a name revealed for a monster in an early demonstration video inspired the writer to do some research, and in doing so they found out that it has a real world connection. For Evolving the Fantasy, they took a hot topic issue and found a way to give readers some information outside of what was being said on the forums, but which still was pertinent to the topic.

Developing a concept should be the starting point. Once you know what your basic concept is, it's time to develop the path you intend to walk. Developing your concept may be the most involved part of the process, especially if you're writing about a field in which you are something of an expert. After your idea is planned out, you can start walking.

Mind your double-ewes

In journalism, every story must answer some basic questions for a piece to be considered complete.

The famous 5 Ws of writing are essential to any conveyance of information.

Who, what, where, when and why are a reader's main concern when traveling down the path on which you're leading them. This is why it is important you fit these in as early as possible. A trick often used by journalists is to put this into what's called a lede – or lead, for the layman – which generally only is up to thirty words long and is the first sentence of a story.

For example, suppose you want to write a piece detailing the history of the concept of open beta, it may start something like this (Note: The information in these examples are not based on research and may not represent factual information. It was only written for an easy-to-follow idea):

Example of a lead.
Square-Enix's soon-to-be-released MMO, Final Fantasy XIV, will hit open beta on the PC in early September, but participating may not be a simple as downloading the client.

Here we've told the reader who, Square-Enix; where, the PC; what, participating in Final Fantasy XIV open beta may not be what they think it is; and when, early September. This is enough to draw our reader into the meat of our piece, and the next paragraph, the nut graph.

This is where you can hook or lose a reader. Complete your 5 Ws and give them the most important pieces of information. We still need to know why. In the case of our example, you've hooked the reader in one sentence leaving them wanting to know why an interested participant may not be able to just waltz onto a server.

Example of a nut graph.

Historically, the term "open beta" hasn't meant that it is open for all to come and test. This is a time in the beta test period when a developer is interested in having a large mass of people test their product. While early "closed" beta phases in a development cycle focus on keeping information secret through the use of a non-disclosure agreement with testers, an open beta generally allows testers to freely discuss what they've seen.

The nut graph has sold the remainder of the piece to our reader. Now they're interested. What evidence is there to support this statement? Are there any other difference between open and closed beta? What are the other portions of the development cycle? How did people come to assume open meant "free-for-all?" When was the first public beta? How has Square-Enix handled betas in the past?

Depending on what your anticipated audience may already know, what you can support with sourced quotes or references and what is pertinent to your point, you can make any concept a quick note or an epic that would overshadow Homer's "Odyssey." Explaining what makes a rocket defy gravity may not be a necessary piece of information in an article for a publication read by rocket scientists, but should be included in a story running in a small-town news paper -- assuming, of course, it's pertinent information.

Bear in mind that the average reader's attention span is around 250 to 350 words, or a page to a page-and-a-half double-spaced on most word processors.

Of course, not every DoP need be a news story. After all, this is an OpEd opportunity. This structure can be applied to any concept and help ease the reader into what you have to say, even if you just want to be eloquent about your opinion on oh, say, surplus.

Grammar 101: Or, they're taking their cheese there.

Being such a wide-spread language, it's subject to regional dialect, slang and evolution over time.

Regardless, a commitment to proper grammar can be the difference between a reader taking what your have to say seriously and them moving along to something else. The Internet has a wealth of information about the proper usage of words and sentence structure, and it never hurts to just ask someone.

Which would you rather read?
u no wut i thikn? they shud implimint sum kind of recepee book fur crafts how else r we supost 2 no how 2 mak stuf lol dis gaem iz gunna fail unlest they do it itz not like fighterz have to guess what there abilityz r called
I believe it is essential that Square-Enix add a recipe listing. Crafting is hard enough without having to guess which ingredient combinations produce results, it's not like fighters have to guess the names of their abilities.

You're not being charged by the character here, so text-talk makes little sense. However, that doesn't change the fact that English is a peculiar language. Especially in print. Some of history's greatest authors took the time to set down their pen and act our their scenes. If you're uncertain if you need a comma, a period or to just let the sentence ride, say it out loud. Pay attention to where, and for how long, you pause. Short pauses often are commas, whereas longer pauses typically require a period.

Correcting a few common mistakes

Here are a few ways to remember the correct way to handle common mistakes.

• You're going with your parents?
• The easiest way to remember this one is to isolate your. Separate the contraction, you are, and it's easier to see when this should be used. "You are" prepares the reader for an action or description. You are (You're) going. You are (You're) late. You are (You're) special.
• Separating the contraction leave us with only one natural form, your. This is possessive. Your cheese. Your conjurer. Your Sword of Impending Doom.

• They're taking their cheese there.
• Again, begin by separating the contraction. Just like you're, they're prepares the reader for an action or description. The only difference is this refers to more than one person.
• Their. Like your, their is possessive. Same as above, it just insinuates that more than one person is in possession of the noun that follows. Their potions. Their linkshell.
• There is a place. The easiest way to remember this is when someone is going to a place, ask where. Drop the w and add a t. wHERE are they going? tHERE.

Art, the pretty way to say it

It's a known fact, even those who read regularly get the majority of their information from photos, captions and graphs. Quick, easy-to-digest bits of information.

Art also is another way to pull a reader back into a story. The brain only can take in so much information, so it's important to give your reader a chance to stop, process and dive back in.

It needn't always be something fancy, though. Sometimes it can be something as simple as a subhead – those bold lines used throughout this guide at the beginning of each section. Not only do subheads give your reader a chance to breathe, but they let the reader know you're shifting ideas without using a whole paragraph to do so.

Keep your skin thick

Most of the anxiety related to finally putting your masterpiece out there for the masses to see is knowing it may be scrutinized. People may not agree. They may nitpick. They may even go on a full-on campaign to defame you. But for every one person who comes along with negativity, there are 100 who appreciate an article for what it is.

Just remember that sometimes there are trolls in life. Just keep your head up and have confidence in your work.

The more you know

So there you have it. A brief crash course in being an effective writer. Everything else comes down to subject, audience and personal style, so get those brains churning and let's get some interesting reads buzzing!

Sephrick, a regular poster on the ZAM forums, has offered his assistance to those who still have questions or need general help about creating their on DoP idea. For questions relating to anything from developing an idea to writing to editing, send him a private message here at ZAM.

Submitting your own Disciples of the Pen

Final Fantasy XIV Wikibase™ Guides

If you want to write in and help make Disciples of the Pen a regular feature, just send a PM to Thayos or other XIV ZAM admins with your ideas and submissions!