Freedom

Some Advice on Writing

Some advice on writing for the magazine and for book projects

What we don’t like:

  • When people forget to put their name in the text and we have to find out who the author is, which sometimes requires quite a bit of detective work.
  • When texts are unedited, illogically structured or have a lot of unnecessary phrases and we have to go to great lengths to repair, edit and add proper structure to the text.
  • Texts that are too long or off-topic and take our time only to discover that they are unsuitable.
  • When people add fancy stuff to their writing, e.g. lots of underlining, cursive, bold and CAPITALS. Please use these as little as possible. Excessive use makes the text look untidy and unprofessional and requires extra editing.
  • Double spaces between words or unnecessary gaps before and after interpunctuation (no gaps are needed before exclamation marks, full stops, commas and after/before opening/ending quotation marks and brackets).
  • Don’t be lazy – use full words instead of just symbols, such as &, unless it’s the correct spelling (e.g. in a company name). Numbers are written as words up to twelve. After that you may use digits.
  • Please don’t switch tenses (past/present) within the same text, unless it’s intended and you know exactly what you’re doing.
  • Footnotes are sometimes necessary, but please keep them at a minimum, especially hyperlinks. Remember, people are reading on paper, not on a screen.
  • If you add footnotes, list them orderly, put in the proper hyperlink and save us the job of having to untangle a jumbled-up list of notes and links.

What we like:

  • A working title and the author’s name as well as email or address above the text. The title and author name also in the file name.
  • Writing that has been carefully edited, has a logical structure and clear sentences that are easy to read and understand.
  • Clean writing that is well arranged, as if prepared for publishing.
  • Proper sentences (no random notes or thoughts) and continuity throughout the text.
  • Essays that stick to the given topic and don’t exceed or fall below the required length.
  • Texts that are interesting, entertaining, captivating, touching, and when scientific, credible and understandable … altogether, a pleasure to read!