Step 1:  Come up with a concept for a writing article between 300-600 words long.  It doesn’t have to be about superheroes specifically, but it does have to be useful to our readers (who are mostly interested in superhero writing).  When you have a concept, please either e-mail it to me at superheronation-at-gmail-dot-com or leave a comment here.

Step 2:  If the concept is interesting, I’ll ask for a draft of the article.  If I have concerns about the concept (not relevant enough to our readers, etc), I’ll try to suggest something else.

Step 3: E-mail me the article and please leave a comment saying that you sent it.  I’ll get back to you with a list of edits and suggestions.

Step 4:  E-mail a revised version.  At this point, the rest is up to our editors.  The final version as posted here may look very different than what you sent in.

Some miscellaneous tips below the fold…

1. Don’t beat yourself up over the quality. I was really bad– abysmal– when I started this website.  It took me around a year and a half of practice to attract repeat readers.  So it’s okay if you have a learning curve, too!  Professional writing is all about learning.
2. Please avoid using jargon as much as possible. If for some reason you feel the need to use writing jargon, please either define it or link to a definition.  For example, please try to avoid using lines like “Capes aren’t very popular because they’re very Golden Age.”   Most casual readers don’t know what the Golden Age is.  Instead, please try something like “I’d recommend against using capes because they haven’t been very popular since the 1940s.”
3. Be confident and assertive but qualify as necessary. Very few rules of writing are absolutely inviolable.  For example, overpowered characters generally have less interesting fight scenes, but Neo’s fight scenes were kickass.  Qualifying makes it easier for readers to stick with you if they disagree with something you’ve written.
4. Make sure that you clearly state the problems you are addressing and why they are problematic. For example, take an article like “Please Don’t Base Your Characters on Your Friends.”  It wouldn’t make any sense unless it explained why those characters are usually awful.
5. Numbered lists and bullets are very easy for a reader to follow. I would particularly recommend these for really long articles because they help readers process reams of data.  Ahem, check out what you’re reading right now!
6. In general, I’d like to try to keep the articles between 300-600 words. Please let me know if you’d like to go substantially longer.  (This article is ~625 words long, and I bet you will be relieved when it ends).
7. Write the title and first paragraph with “what’s in it for me?” in mind. Ideally, the title and opening will leave absolutely no doubt to the questions whether your article applies to the reader’s needs and how it will help them.  For example, something like How to Beat Writer’s Block is much more enticing than Ruminations on Authorial Productivity.
8. When you draw on examples, explain them enough that they make sense for unfamiliar readers. No matter how much you love that particular novel or comic book or (especially) manga, you have to assume that the reader hasn’t read it.
9. Your article and examples do not have to be superhero-specific. But please pick examples that interest an audience mostly between the ages of 13-22.  Anna Karenina isn’t as good a fit for our readers as Star Wars or Spiderman.
10. If possible, try to put the most applicable material at the beginning and the most niche content towards the end. For example, if you’re writing a list of problematic superpowers, you should start with really common powers like superstrength and work your way down to the exotic ones.
11. Please be careful about issuing orders to your readers.  We’re all about polite suggestions here.  Rather than commanding your readers to do X, it’s probably more effective to say that extremely few series have gotten published that have done the opposite.
12. Please link to relevant articles as necessary. Superhero Nation has hundreds of writing articles, many of which are indexed for your convenience.  TV Tropes and Wikipedia are also treasure troves.
13. Please don’t get upset if your work gets edited. Even pros get edited.

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