Tangents And Trivia

by Al Hargus

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

So You Think You've Got Something To Write About?

I have always enjoyed writing. I wrote short stories in grammar school back in the 60's. I wrote for the High School newspaper and have been writing for kite publications since I got involved a bazillion years ago! I credit almost all of my writing ambitions to my sixth grade teacher who encouraged me to write about what I thought. (Wish that I had paid better attention in spelling and grammar classes, though!)

There is actually a method to this writing madness. Oh sure you have to have things to write about and a general idea of how to say them. Some of that "How" becomes your personal writing style. Some of that "How to" is what this chapter of Tangents and Trivia is all about. And for starters I'm going to jump in the "Way back Machine" to 1981, Chicago and the Chicagoland SkyLiners Kite Club newsletter "Sky Lines"

The Real Chapter One!

When the Chicago Land SkyLiners were getting started back in the mid 1980's one of the biggest things that the club needed was a newsletter. Something that we could send out to the members that would let them know who we were, where we were going to fly and when. Anita Hoover was the one that jumped in and started typing. The first Chicagoland Sky Liners "newsletter" was a single 8 1/2 X 11 sheet with carbon (Remember carbon paper, gang?) copies that we passed around. The handout encouraged all interested fliers to meet at Horner Park in the center of Chicago. Nothing elaborate, but that single sheet got the word out and the fliers did come.

Anita Hoover held the position of "Newsletter Editor" for four years. Most all of us wrote things for Anita to include in "Sky Lines" and that single sheet grew to several pages of interesting and informative "Kite news". In the late 80's a CSL member name of Pat Daly began to take an interest in the Newsletter and eventually Pat became the Editor. I learned an awfully lot about writing, and especially in the "Nuts and Bolts" of assembling a really large and interesting Club newsletter from Pat. AND we had a really good time doing it too. Between 1986 and 1989 the clubs newsletter "Sky Lines" was actually one of the most sought after and anticipated kite publications in the country.

It's A Kite Comic Book

Sky Lines used what we all called the "Comic Book" approach to writing the newsletter. There were tons of photos, many cartoons drawn by friends and club members. Articles were supplied by people everywhere. BUT there were a few tricks that Pat Daly taught us all about getting people to submit the content for the publication. None of the staff on the newsletter had a computer , so we did almost all of the design, assembly, cut and paste manually. Today there are hundreds of computer based programs for creating newsletters. Would Sky Lines have been easier to produce if we had had one of these programs? Maybe! But by far the hardest part of producing a kite newsletter IS NOT putting it together, but getting articles, photos and content for publication - Something to write about!!! . That "hunt" for content and the "Nuts and Bolts" assembly process is what I learned from Pat, and what I'd like to share with you.

"How To Be The Editor Of The Club Newsletter..." or "How I learned to stop complaining and start cutting!"

Lets assume that you have decided to help out your local kite club and you volunteered to be the clubs newsletter editor. It might seem like a huge and complicated task for the average kiteflier. It doesn't have to be. There are actually several parts to the job of editor (as applied to small club newsletters). First is to actually write, entice someone to write, beg someone for, steal from, buy back from, photograph, collect or invent the "Stuff" to put in the newsletter. The second task, and the one that is the "official" definition of editor, to basically arrange copy, articles, photos, and edit them for final assembly. The third task of the "Editor" is to get the final copy to the printer and ultimately to the club member subscribers.

Acquiring Articles

The first task is probably the hardest, least enjoyable, and least appreciated of all an "editors" duties. Officially, by definition, editors are not supposed to write anything for a newsletter. Unfortunately, their duties and efforts seldom works that way. To start pick someone you think might be reliable and IN ADVANCE ask them to write about a club event, or fly. Give them suggestions as to what to look for, who to ask questions of, generally an outline of what you, as editor, would like to see in the article. Give the "reporter" a deadline. Make that deadline at least ten days before you actually need the copy and PRAY that they will make that deadline. Give your reporter a size of space you would like to fill in the newsletter. Some editors will give an amount of words. (i.e. 350-400 words) Some will give the total number of "column inches" that is a column of a certain width and so many inches tall. This is a difficult area for an editor to deal with. You ask a stunt kite flier to write a report on a certain kite competition. They will then write three or four very flowery pages about the "joy of victory or agony of defeat". You only need 250 - 300 words and feelings will be hurt as you edit for space in the newsletter. Give your reporters parameters (NOTE: The last four paragraphs contained 200 words or five column inches.)

What Pat Daly used to do was to give those writing assignments by the armloads. Many of her requests were not date or time related articles from people, but informational things about kiteflying. For example Pat would ask Elmer Wharton to write about making his prize-winning centipedes. Elmer was really late with his article and missed TWO newsletter deadlines before he got the article in. No problem for Pat she just saved it for the January issue. She'd ask people for a lot more "copy" then she could use in any one newsletter. She rarely had to worry about "too much stuff". If Pat did get more articles then she could use she'd file them in the future editions bin. (Trust me it's easy to make file cabinets grow!)

Sometimes a little theatrics and imagination can help you fill pages for your newsletter. Pat Daly, and the rest of the Sky Lines staff cooked up many a "hoax" story line to keep with our comic book image. One April Fools issue Charlie Sotich offered for sale some flying line he claimed was his own invention. This line looked like any other 30# dacron line but it would puff out to ten times its original diameter when there was no tension on it. Charlie called it "PuffLine" His claim was that the line would fluff out and catch the wind creating lift. It was a "very" serious article and very technical - all a joke! Charlie actually had several people write him and ask if they could buy some of this fantastic new flying line. It was great fun and filled several newsletter pages. (In two issues!) You do need to remember that you are creating a publication for kitefliers. So you don't want to get too far away from the original reason for your efforts - KITES. BUT sometimes you can also use that "other than kiteflying" idea to generate newsletter content. (For a very strange TANGENT on that idea SEE: WEIRD KITE TALES - Charlie and the Peanut Butter Box Kite - in this issue of KITELIFE)

Photographs And Artwork (Non-computer graphics and layout)

If you decide to incorporate photos in your newsletter, get the same person to take them all. Or better yet take them yourself. Color and black and white photos don't print well together. Exposure and contrast can be different. This is another difficult area, photographs are like articles, hope you can be fussy about what you get but pray that you get something at all. One interesting idea could be for you to pass out "Official Newsletter" disposable cameras to fliers at your next fun fly. Collect them at the end of the event and see what you get. (This actually will allow you, as the editor, to get your picture into your own newsletter. A frequent problem in Editorland!) Start accumulating clip art, that is, the black line drawings you see in newspapers and magazines. This can come from those newspapers, magazines, or even kids coloring books. You can get clip art from the local library or purchase books of it from a book store. Artwork becomes a compulsion, when you really get involved. I have a billion boxes of "stuff" I've accumulated over the years that will make great artwork for some article, someday, if I ever get around to using them or writing the article, or remember where it all is.

Preparing "Camera Ready" Copy

This job is the one that can make or break the look of a newsletter, and it's the part of "editorship" that drives printers crazy. O.K. You've assembled all your "stuff". Your ready to put it all in a box and take it to the printer. A list of Do's and Don'ts are appropriate at this point.

Do's And Don'ts

- Do use Black ink; pens, art and anything else should be in black. Black copies best. Don't ever use blue it doesn't copy. Don't use pencil or pastel colored inks. - Do use white copy boards (Paste up sheets) that are not easily seen through (opaque). Don't use colored paper. - Do keep the degree of density (darkness) of all your copy as consistent as possible. - Do use rubber cement, a waxer, or a glue stick for paste-ups. Never use scotch tape. - Don't give the printer copies of anything if avoidable. Always use first generation copy. - Do use as much clear margin around the edges, top and bottom, as possible. At least 1/2" to 3/8" is preferable. Don't run copy to the edge of the sheet. (Over the edge is called "bleed" it will usually cost extra) - Keep paste-ups to a minimum. Use the same color for paste-ups as the background. - Do keep your copy as clean as possible. - Don't use copy from a newspaper it will reproduce poorly. - Don't use large black areas on your copy. They reproduce on copiers poorly. - Don't use color photographs they will reproduce poorly. - Don't use staples. Staple holes will show as black dots on the final copy. - Do work with your printer he is the expert.

Copyrights

If you know artwork, articles, plans or photographs belong to someone else, Don't use them without permission. One of the areas kite newsletter editors violate copyrights laws most often are those springtime kite cartoons. You MUST receive permission from the owner of the artwork for use. Contact your local newspaper for procedure for that permission. A short Trivia note here. In the beginning I took a lot of advice from Val Govig, publisher of Kitelines magazine. She had read a kite review I did in Sky Lines. It was about a kite that had also been reviewed in Kitelines several months before. She wrote me a letter pointing out the "similarities" between my review and Kitelines version. Valerie didn't exactly say "plagiarism" but what she did say was, "If you have nothing new to write about, DON'T WRITE about it!"

Valerie also explained to me the legal way to properly request the use of someone else's artwork, photos or cartoons. She used the example of a recent Peanuts Springtime Kite Cartoon . (You know the ones that appear in the newspapers every spring) Val said that you should write a letter to the author, artist or owner of the art you wish to use. Tell them where you saw the cartoon or artwork. Let them know where you plan to reproduce the artwork (Newsletter, brochure, etc.) Your subscriber quantity and how many times it will be reproduced. Make two copies of this letter and information. Send one off to the owner and file the other copy. The owner "should" reply with either permission (Limited to your parameters) or will tell you that you may not reproduce the artwork. If after thirty days they have not replied, you might still use the art. Make sure that you include the author, artist or owners name with your copied artwork. I wrote to Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts, once. No reply, I used the cartoon and kept the request letter on file for the future, On the other hand I wrote once asking Disney if I could use a copy of one of their characters. They had a letter in my mail box seven days after I sent mine. Their letter gave enormously detailed restrictions for use AND a bill (Trust me the cost was so large I decided that Mickey Mouse wasn't really necessary for that next article) I know that hundreds of Copyrighted pieces of artwork are reproduced every year in Kite publications, without permission. You just didn't get caught. Someone put in a lot of time and used a great deal of talent (and possibly money) to create a piece, you're stealing if you use it without permission. Remember Valerie's comment, "If you have nothing original to use, don't use someone else's"

Plagiarism (Or who really wrote that stuff)

With the advent of the Internet and the advances of computer technology, you can download tons of "Other Peoples" stuff at the click of a button. Copyright laws in the United States are a mess. Who owns what? How do they protect it? How do they make money from their efforts? Many computer oriented information centers have given up and are now just sharing all that knowledge. What could they do to stop it? Not much, so why fight it! KITELIFE is a good example of the "Share the Knowledge" idea. Mike Gillard has stated many times that you can download "stuff" from KITELIFE, but if you use it elsewhere you MUST give KITELIFE and the original author credit in your reproduction. (Editor's Note: We ask that you request permission to reuse our material, but we are liberal with the ok's)

The idea here is basically to share knowledge. But remember that it's someone else's knowledge that you intend to reproduce and share, Give the original creator credit. (NOTE: The same permission request method would work for articles and text you wish to reproduce) One of the major problems with the copyright laws is that you can alter some parts, change the format, add new type and rearrange the information and it becomes next to impossible for the original author to enforce their copyright claim. (NOTE: Copyright owners have the task to catch the theft, not the Federal Government)

Just remember that even though it seems like a minor item you plan to use it could be a major effort and expense by the original owner. (Do you all remember the American Kite Magazine and Revolution hubbub a couple of years ago about publication of a quadline design that was just a little too close to the original Revolution quadline kite?) Be creative, write your own stuff, think of your own ideas, draw your own cartoons and take your own pictures. You will feel a greater sense of accomplishment if all your work is totally your own. Remember what Val said, "If you have nothing to write about DON'T WRITE!"

USING THE COMPUTER

You might think it's funny for a guy that is writing for an Internet magazine to say that he doesn't know much about using computers for newsletter publications, but that's true. I am writing this column on a Power Mac 7200 and I'm a whiz with Pagemaker, but my computer skills are pretty novice. Do you all know that I have to "hand deliver" my monthly articles to Mike on a disc because I haven't figured out how to send him them on line yet??

There are a ton of really great newsletter and brochure programs out there. I have yet to use one. Maybe I will, If I can find the time, but right now that's Mike's job. From the point of view of a club president looking for an editor you really limit your choices by saying computer only. A newsletter team is another interesting direction to go. One person assembles photos, another uses a computer to typeset, and someone else does manual paste-up. A great newsletter can be assembled without access to a computer. Computers just make it easier.

I'd like to ask all of you readers out there what computer programs there are out there that would be of use to a kite club newsletter editor? What program are you currently using for your club's publication?

Writers Heaven!

When Mike Gillard approached me a while back about writing for KITELIFE I was very interested. I wasn't writing regularly for any kite publication and the idea of a "free" web magazine sounded pretty exciting. Most Editors give you a limit to what you can write. I've always felt that I've written something well if 95% of the article gets published and only 5% ends up on the editor's cutting room floor. Mike suggested that I just write what I want and as much as I wanted. He gave me no outline or direction for my article. This is a bit of freedom that you as an editor or writer, really can't have and never get in a printed publication. Because my writing is being displayed, stored, archived, and filed as electronic signals there isn't a space restriction. I just merrily write to whatever length my idea takes me and have yet to have Mike tell me, "Too Much Al" (Actually I do have a limit on photos from Mike. I guess that it depends on the number of electrons that we are trying to stuff into those little wires??) The Dieppe, France article I wrote in the Nov - Dec '98 KITELIFE was massive. Most kiteclub newsletter have totally one or two pages less than my article contained. (Photos not included) This unlimited access to space does bring up a major writing consideration. Do people really want to read thirty-six pages of Al's wandering writings?? So far none of you have complained and I have received no horse's heads in my bed! That's a good thing. Because to tell you the truth, I have a lot more TANGENTS to follow

This article cannot possibly cover all aspects of newsletter publication. I just wanted to cover some of the basics. Just like any other activity "Practice makes Perfect". Talk to your printer, BEFORE you are finished, they can give you suggestions that can make your job and theirs easier. Last but, not least you will probably ask your self at some point why you are even bothering to do all this work for what is supposed to be a relaxing hobby. Just remember what Ben Franklin once said about the printed word. "He that controls the printed word, controls the world."