Writing
Writing Inspiration from Digital Visuals
Sometimes a writer will want to write an article for his or her website or blog but is without inspiration or an idea. While a change of scenery can certainly help – perhaps a temporary relocation or a vacation from the daily humdrum of life – another aid for getting fresh ideas to write about can come from digital visuals. Normally when a writer has completed an article and is seeking an image or two to accompany the article, perhaps one of public domain, digital repositories online such as Wikimedia Commons or Flickr will be used just for this purpose. At the same time, many of the images in these digital repositories can also attract and interest the writer enough to get a new idea on…
To Rewrite or Not to Rewrite
How do you decide when to rewrite an article that is more than a few years old and want to republish it? The article could be on any topic and might at first seem to be fairly complete insofar as basic information goes. For example, an article on the Challinor & Taylor Glass Company of Tarentum, Pennsylvania provides only a few lines on the history of the company because that is all that was available at the time when the article was written, in 2008. The bulk of the article consists of the different types of glass manufactures by the company, as well as patented glass design patterns. Thirteen years later, more detailed information about the company surfaces online, which can be paraphrased into your…
Reconstructing a lost silent film chapter
Sometimes when a lost film is rediscovered, a reel or two may be missing from the complete film. In cases where the extant reels are intended for restoration and digitization, the missing reel might be reconstructed. Many times the reconstructed footage will consist of film stills, synopsis elements and film review (which can be found through Lantern Media History) information. In rare cases, depending upon the silent film’s popularity, a film booklet may be sought after, which can be an invaluable research tool for silent film preservationists.Regardless of what language the film booklet is in (Spanish, French, German, English), it can always be translated. Film booklets such as the Biblioteca Films which were published in Barcelona, Spain, have the film story divided by…
Using film exhibitor’s reviews in a movie article
Upon glancing through a vintage Hollywood trade publication, the film writer may see a page or two consisting of three columns of text with no pictures or artwork of any kind. After spending a few minutes reading these few pages, the writer realizes that these are film exhibitor reviews, containing very basic information about a newly released movie.So what exactly is a film exhibitor’s review? Basically, it is a review of a newly screened film by the movie theatre owner – who was often called the exhibitor many decades ago – and submitted to a Hollywood trade publication such as Moving Picture World or Exhibitor’s Herald.In Moving Picture World July 24, 1926, one regular column was titled “Straight from the Shoulder Reports” and…
Writing a public domain comic book superhero
Using a public domain comic book hero or superhero in a short story, novel, flash fiction, non-fiction, or even a poem can be the perfect way to impart a piece of comic book history. There are many different ways one of these long-forgotten comic superheroes can be used: as a literary device, an actual character in the story, or even as a subplot as a means of educating the reader about a personal interest in Golden Age comic book heroes or superheroes.The history of comic book heroes and superheroes is fascinating in itself and there are a number of websites dedicated to the subject. Public Domain Superheroes contains a complete list of these superheroes along with brief origin stories, their creators, and…
Writing the historical short story
History can provide many different ideas for a short story, inspiring enough creativity in the writer and provide a feeling of authenticity to captivate the reader. Of course, the writer of the historical short story spends time researching the time period to be written about, making notes about the habits, manner of dress, type of food eaten, and social norms, as well as mention important historical figures who were in power at the time, such as Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the governor of Louisiana from 1701–1743.In bringing the story’s characters to life, the writer should be able to place them in the proper historical context, including the that belong to the time period written about. Use words and phrases common…
Reconstructing plots from lost films using film booklets
Collectors of paper movie memorabilia might be familiar with and even own a number of film booklets. These film booklets, generally published in Europe, contain film stills plus a condensed story of an American film. The popular Biblioteca Films or Los Films del Far-West publications, by Gato Negro in Barcelona, Spain, are commonly seen in places like antique shops, ephemera shows, or online auction sites. Often printed on newspaper-quality paper, these film books were acquired by cinema patrons in the lobby at the box office. While these film booklets are an intriguing addition to any paper film collection, they can also be used as a valuable tool in writing about a film plot – particularly if none is available through standard Hollywood trade or…
Cataloging your electronic research materials
Having an ample supply of electronic research sources on hand is essential for the writer. While more sources can always be added, old ones deleted, or at least placed in a “rarely used” folder, it can be beneficial to organize them to include descriptions as a means of identifying what topics can be derived from for various articles or stories. This is where cataloguing comes in handy, and best of all, no fancy software is required to complete the job. Any spreadsheet like Excel, or OpenOffice Calc, can be used. Only a few columns need to be created, and one spreadhseet file can contain as many tabs as required, each tab containing a different writing topic. The most important thing is, the catalogue is arranged…
Writing a Historical Photo Story
One of the most common types of articles seen on the Internet today are photo stories. A photo story is a type of article that literally tells the main part of the story using photos, with only two or three short sentences per photo. Websites such as Scribol, Topix, and Headcramp are just a few examples that have photo stories dominating them.Usually media-rich (a photo story layout permits for multiple video-ads), the main value of a photo story is not just to entertain but also to educate. A photo story can comprise a list, or detail a historic event that contains little-known information, or even a mystery.The most important thing to remember when writing a photo story, however, is to…
Using foreign newspaper archives as research tools for writing about film
While an online newspaper database can be a goldmine for film research, foreign newspaper archives can provide both research information and photo images not easily found elsewhere. Newspapers.com contain a few foreign newspapers from countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Ireland – primarily English-language newspapers – but what it does not contain are newspapers from nations such as France, Spain or Germany. Databases such as International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON), Biblioteca Virtual de Prensa Histórica (Spain), Biblioteca Digital das Artes do Espetáculo (Brazil), and Biblioteca Nacional de España are just a handful of online newspaper archives useful for film research. In particular, the ones in Spain and Brazil are especially helpful in researching information about American-made western films…