10 Tips for Writing Exotic Articles About Where You Live
Think about this: Each year habitancy all nearby you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars traveling to "exotic" destinations. What makes these destinations "exotic"? The fact that they're dissimilar from the general home environment. That means wherever you live is an "exotic" locale for habitancy in most of the rest of the world. So, write about it.
10 Tips for Writing Exotic Articles About Where You Live
"Here? There's nothing worth writing about nearby here," you might say about your hometown. With the right focus on where to look, virtually any locale can yield many gems convenient for articles and stories. Investigate is the key. Here are offbeat and practical sources for generating new ideas no matter how small or dull you feel your hometown is. My colonial hometown of York, Pennsylvania has a habitancy of less than 60,000. Still, I've found numerous gems just waiting to be dug up, polished and marketed. Here are some topics and resources to stimulate your reasoning in even the tiniest, plainest, most remote towns.
Starting off: One principal resource is the telephone book. These pages comprise adequate beginning facts for you to produce reams of articles, if you know where to look. The front pages often comprise maps, feel data for government agencies, museums, libraries, other reference sites and key organizations. Listings under clubs, fraternities, and organizations yield special interest groups just clamoring for promotional or human interest pieces. Thumb through your directory, you'll start generating ideas right away.
Buy every postcard you can find connected to your area. Key names, dates and facts on local sites will be printed on the back. Be sure to check out any ready ancient postcards of the area as well. Assemble them into a hereafter reference scrapbook. Enter your town name and local sites key words from the postcards into any internet quest engines. By following up on the results, points you'd never imagined can create report ideas or new slants on "old" stories.
You'll doubtless be spending eons of time at the library anyway, so get to know the reference agency staff if you don't already. They are invaluable allies in your quest for all types of knowledge. For the price of a cup of coffee rich rewards can be reaped as you chat with staff members informally. Ask for suggestions for report ideas. Don't have a library card? Get one - and use it. Readers may not be writers, but writers are all the time readers. If you're not scanning the daily papers and historical archives at the local library you're missing out on a treasure trove of idea-starting news pieces.
The Tv/radio news and commentary: Local events are often mirrored at broader levels. Never assume that a seemingly "local" question is only of interest locally. When houseflies became a serious question in a small Latin American town, I queried European and Asian magazines about potential interest in an report on what the townsfolk did to not only solve the problem, but make money from it too. An international magazine expressed its interest approximately immediately. Tune in Am band talk radio broadcasts. Note the issues and feel information. witness them from dissimilar viewpoints. Talk with the station, friends, and family. Investigate radio or Tv agenda featured sites, locations or businesses.
Crime: What was the most publicized, infamous crime committed in town? A robbery? Kidnapping? Arson? Murder? A contemporary re-telling of the events or a follow-up on the aftermath might be of interest to numerous crime magazines, police gazettes, law obligation and assurance business trade publications. Ghost tales can be both curious and profitable. Is a local site reputedly haunted? Cemeteries are a veritable cache of curious ideas. Look for the unique, researching facts by Internet or newspaper archives. Talk to caretakers too.
Food: approximately every place has a hometown recipe or concoction they're proud of. What's its origin and special significance? How long has it been passed down? Are ingredients only ready locally? Can habitancy make it elsewhere? Can unavailable ingredients be substituted? Hotel, cafeteria and bed & breakfast reviews are also marketable. In my hometown, eighteenth century Pennsylvania Dutch specialties like shoo-fly pie, apple butter, three bean salad, and chicken corn soup grace our tourist- attracting menus. An informative or historical piece, or perhaps a recipe collection might be just the ticket.
Celebrity appearances: Maybe Elvis didn't sleep there (or maybe he did), but if anyone of note passed through, stopped or stayed, there are those who'd like to hear about it. The celebrity can be historic or modern, characterize any walk of life from Art to Zen, or be their spouses, family and descendents. With an improve agenda of events, you can profile upcoming concert performers and try for interviews. Social relations and publicity offices carry stock bios on celebrities, which you can use as a start.
Music is of worldwide interest; an unusual type performed in your area could spiral into specialized pieces on local artists, artisans or exotic instruments like the accordion, harmonica, dulcimer, harp or zither. Where and how are they crafted? Are lessons available? Why is the instrument attached to the local area? If it exists elsewhere, compare your area with any others.
Nature: Are there seasonal invasions of bees, butterflies, bats, or other critters? Is your area home to an unusual species? A haven for hummingbirds? A wildlife sanctuary? Wildlife and environmental publications might like the story. Zoos, insect museums, pet shops and university departments are good beginning sources. I discovered a family-run company that cultures butterflies then releases them at weddings, parties and other special occasions in expanding to giving presentations at schools, trade shows and environmental conventions. Have you noticed a bizarre or curiously-shaped tree? Check with neighbors and the city planning commission. See if there's a tale attached to that trunk or another natural wonders in the area.
Sports or Fairs: Cover city, county or state events with an eye to unique angles and many marketing. Look for curious viewpoints. Talk to kind winners. Are they elderly, ethnic, or handicapped? family secret sharers? View the events in dissimilar ways. Take photos. As a matter of fact your area proudly hosts some tournament, race, rally or marathon? How contestants prepare, interviews with sponsors, family and fans are potential report generating material. When a backyard row of huge collard greens drew concentration to my late grandmother's fertilizing methods winning her a
mention at the county fair, I wrote it up. (She'd used free elephant dung from a visiting circus as fertilizer.)
Whatever your writing genre, diamonds-in-the-rough ideas for articles abound all nearby you. Continually note ideas, brainstorm, observe, listen, converse and ask everybody you can. Keep a calendar of local and regional events. Stay abreast of happenings. You'll never again say, "Here? There's nothing worth writing about nearby here."
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