Writing Articles That Others Will Read

Original article written by Regina Moore posted 11 years 1 week ago

Articles can be a great way to earn SIM dollars. If you can put together 500 words, you can earn $20,000.

If you care about more than just the money, and hope your piece actually gets read, here’s some suggestions I have, as one who has been writing SIM articles for the twelve game years that I’ve been playing.


WRITE IN BITE-SIZED PARAGRAPHS
We live in a culture of attention spans that are almost non-existence. People want to absorb something new as quickly as possible, and then move on to something else. Therefore, players will be more willing to give your article a read – or at least browse through it – if those 500 or more words are in easily digestible paragraphs.

Even as one from the “sit down and read a book” generation, I find himself often unwilling to read articles that have huge, chunky paragraphs, that can go on for well over 100 words each. My first thought is, “I don’t want to read all *that*.” Yet, break that same amount of words and sentences into smaller paragraphs, and the piece becomes more inviting.


DROP NAMES
I’m not the only player to admit that I usually won’t read a race preview, unless it’s a about a race with one of my horses. Players sometimes browse articles just to see if their names, or the names of their horses, get mentioned. If so, then they’ll actually stop to read.

The Steward has traditionally written a series of “Daybreak” articles leading up to each Steward’s Cup, which are a make-believe depiction of activity going on in the mornings on the backside, and she makes a point of mentioning every player with an entrant in the Thoroughbred races. Not surprisingly, these articles are very popular and eagerly anticipated.

If it makes sense for the subject you’re writing about, drop names whenever possible.


MORE PERSONALITY, LESS STATS
When I used to write a lot of race previews for the money, I never wanted to give an opinion on how the horses were going to finish, because I didn’t like commenting on the chances of other player’s horses. I’m a wuss when it comes to ruffling the feathers of other players.

Yet, there’s no doubt that players are a lot more interested in race preview articles when the writer spends more time talking about who they think is going to win, and less time regurgitating a bunch of stats, in order to get their article to 500 words. Anybody can look at a horse’s record and see the stats for themselves.

Of course, sticking your neck out and stating an opinion does carry some risk. Nobody wants to read that their entrant is considered a lesser contender. Sometimes, they might even point out to you, something you missed in considering their horse’s chances.

I vividly remember, in one mixer stakes preview I did many years ago, where I simply mentioned the last race an entrant had won. I got a private message from the miffed horse’s owner, pointing out that I’d gotten the name of the last race wrong. While this exchange was a “roll my eyes” moment for me, it was very important to the horse’s owner, because her horse was a filly, and that filly had beaten colts in her last start. So, it was (understandably) crucial to her that I realize her horse had won the open division of the stakes race, rather than the filly division.


GIVE EXAMPLES
Sharing an actual experience of something that’s happened to you in SIM can add a lot of flavor to your article, in terms making it more “real”, and something that readers can more viscerally relate to. Consider the paragraph above, where I mention the owner that got miffed at me for getting the name of a race wrong. Imagine how much drier that section would be, without that actual experience to more vividly illustrate the point about players sometimes getting their feathers ruffled.

Of course, certain types of articles aren’t conducive to examples. In situations where I’m writing about my opinion on some aspect of SIM that goes against conventional wisdom, is when I’m most particular about relaying actual experiences I’ve had, to show how my reasoning came about.


WHEN GIVING ADVICE OR INSTRUCTIONS, BE SPECIFIC
I’ve seen a lot of “things I learned as a newbie” articles, where the writer says something like, “I learned a lot, such as not to race my horses too often”. Yet, they won’t spell out what “too often” is. So, if they’re hoping other newbies will learn from their mistakes, they really aren’t being very helpful.

If you’re trying to give information that is useful to others, be specific about what that information is. For example: “I learned a lot, including that racing a horse more often than every two weeks can sometimes result in injury.”


GOOD WRITING SKILLS ALWAYS HELPS
Typos happen, and the SIM administration isn’t going to fix them for you. A few typos aren’t going to get your article rejected, but an abundance of errors will. The one time I got an article rejected, within my first weeks in SIM, was when I wrote about a particular stallion, and it turned out I had spelled his name wrong all the way through. When I corrected the spelling errors, the article was published.

I doubt anyone is expecting Shakespeare with SIM articles, but the more readable a piece is, the more likely players are to invest time in it. If sentences sound awkward or overly wordy, then readers are prone to move on to something more palatable.

In my own writing, I often have to watch for getting off the subject. I tend to do the same thing in writing articles that I do in responding to forum posts – I go off onto tangents and end up talking about something only mildly related to the original topic. So, sometimes I have to ask myself what the point is that I’m trying to make, to give myself a central focus. If I keep wanting to talk about a tangent subject, then I might decide to write a second article altogether.


A NOD TO INTERVIEWS
I love interviews with other players. These types of articles pay a little less – and one can argue that it’s really the player answering the questions that is doing all the work – but it’s always fun to see what other players are thinking.

All the author has to do is send a player a private message to see if they’re willing to be interviewed, and then send them some questions to answer. After the subject player replies with their answers, the questions and answers are then submitted as an article, often with the author providing an introductory and/or closing paragraph. In some ways, interviews are the easiest kind of articles to do.

One caution I would give, if one is considering doing a series of interviews with a handful of different players, is asking everyone the same questions. That can get tedious to read. Interviews are a lot more interesting when the questions are geared toward that specific player’s activities, specialties, and horses in SIM. Of course, if you’re new and don’t know much about other players, that might mean getting to know some other players a little bit first, before deciding to interview them.


BEING UNIQUE IS A PLUS
A number of game years ago, one player decided to host an unofficial contest, via a series of polls, to determine the year’s best article. The winner was a piece on color genetics. It was the only article I can ever recall be written by the author, and she really knew her subject. While color genetics isn't a factor in playing SIM, but more a side interest topic, I feel that the first place ranking was players showing appreciation for the fresh subject matter.

The SIM has seen published pieces where a player interviewed himself, where horses are interviewed, where players write an opinion objecting to behavior going on in SIM, and so forth. I recall, many years ago, a long, in-depth article on economic factors in SIM, and the author got input from many different players for the piece, and quoted a lot of their comments.

So, if you like the idea of writing articles, but are bored by the idea of ordinary topics like race previews and stallion profiles, don’t be afraid to think outside the box, and come up with a new idea, or a new slant on an old idea.


BE YOURSELF
Ultimately, you have to write in a way that feels natural to you, and that sounds like yourself. I’ve seen, both within SIM and outside of SIM, people who try to copy someone else’s style, and it always comes off badly.

If it’s natural to you to want to be humorous with everything you say, then don’t resist the temptation to amuse, just because you’re writing an article. If you have a journalistic background and tend to sound like a news reporter, then go with that. If you tend to relate to others, in print, in a conversational way, then use that tone for your articles. You’ll sound awkward uncomfortable if you try to write in someone else’s “voice”.


Writing articles is a great way to earn SIM dollars, without needing to have a talented horse in your barn. If you get comfortable with writing and submitting articles, you’ll never have to worry about going broke. If you write in a way that makes your submissions palatable to read, more players will appreciate your participation in SIM, and get to know you. That kind of recognition can only be to your advantage.

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