Forum:Posting advice

How to post an article on a poet by George Dance (Note - the following article is a collection of guidelines, rules, and prejudices I have about posting articles . While it's specifically geared to biographies, some of its points apply to other articles. Note, too, that articles you may post that do not meet these criteria will not be rejected, but that the administrator reserves the right to edit them so that they do. )

Writing an article for Penny's Poetry Pages (PPP) is easy. It's a great way to get your own ideas on a subject out there. If you write poetry, you can even write an article about yourself. (I did.)

To start with a simile: Articles on PPP are like the poems in an anthology: No one expects them all to be the same, and no one would want them to all be the same; if they were, it would be disppointing and probably rather boring. What facts you include. and how you say them, are up to the writer: you. If someone else doesn't like the result, they can suggest or make changes; but it's not their job to tell you how to write your article.

At the same time, the poems in an anthology have a standard format, to make it easier for the reader to navigate, and that's what we try to do here. We confine the standardization to level-2 headlines. (A level-2 headline is like the one below that says, "Introduction.") An article on a poet contains the introduction plus six other main or level-2 sections: Life, Writing, Recognition, Publications, References, External links. The first three of those should be written in paragraph form, while the last three are lists.

Introduction
This is the easiest section to write. An introduction can be as short as one sentence giving only (1) name (2) birth (and death) date(s), (3) country of origin, and (4) the information that the subject is a poet. For example:
 * George Dance (born October 28, 1953) is a Canadian poet.

That one sentence, along with (1) a reference and (2) an external link for more information, is an article, of the type that used to be known (on Wikipedia) as a 'classic stub.' So you could stop right there if you wanted. But you don't have to. You can list the person's major accomplishments, the things that would get a reader's interest. If the poet has one or two famous works, then mention it or them in the introduction to. You do not have to say "She is notable for...", but try to confine the introduction to mainly things the poet is notable for.

You do not have to, and you are encouraged to not, give too many details in the introduction; save those for the appropriate section. Also, do not make your introduction too long: two or three paragraphs is enough. The preference here is for short introductions, so that the contents box (with its list of sections) shows on the same screen as the article title.

And please do not give this section an "Introduction" headline. Begin your headlines with this next one:

Life
"Life" is the first standard heading. Not "Biography," as that sounds a bit offputting - "too much like a classroom" is how one contributor put it. You are free to make this section as long or as short as you like, and to add whatever subtitles you like to organize the section. Here suggestions; but you can use whatever divisions you like, or none at all.

Early life and education
Literary career Personal life Keep the information, for the most part, chronological: that is, start with the poet's birth and end with her death, with everything in between arranged in order from birth to death. (For the most part, since you may want to deal with some aspects of the person's life in a separate subsection, like the "Personal life" in the above list).

(2) do not include detailed information that belongs in another section. For example, suppose your poet won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for her book, Best Poetry Ever. You can mention in the intro that she won the Pulitzer, and in the "Life" section that she won it in 1989, but keep the complete details for the "Recognition" section (which is where a reader will be looking for them).

Writing
This section covers evaluation of the poet's work. Once again, you can divide it into whatever subsections you want. Some articles have different sections for each book the poet has produced; some have no subsections at all. Other options for subheadings include:

Influences
All options are fine. As a rule of thumb, a section should not be longer than five paragraphs, so if it gets longer consider breaking it into smaller subsections; but this is not mandatory.

Recognition
This section includes everything that has been done to or for the poet. Things that can be listed (and possible subheadings include:

Awards and honors
Awards won by the poet in her lifetime. 'Honors' are things like honorary degrees from universities.

Legacy
Schools, parks, prizes, or other things named after the poet.

Influence
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Acknowledgements by other writers of the poet's influence on their own work.

In popular culture
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Modern references or allusions to the poet and/or her work.

Quotes
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">This is an optional section; use it only if you cannot fit the material into other sections. If you do add this or any other new sections, put them here: after the three written sections, and before the appendices or point-form sections.

Publications
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Use this section to list the books the poet published. Do not call this section "Bibliography", since that could mean either of two things: a bibliography of the poet's writing, or a bibliography of the sources you used to write the article. You are again free to use what subheads you want, or none if you prefer. Some sample subheadings include:

Poetry
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">use this subheading for books of poetry, not individual poems.

Children's books
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">As you can see, there is duplication in the above list. Use only the titles you need. If the list is short, you can bulk it by including articles as well as books, and also by adding.

Edited
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">For books the poet edited.

Anthologized
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">For poems the poet had published in notable anthologies (like the ones with articles on Penny's Poetry Pages).

Poems
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">For individual poems.

<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Contrariwise, if the list is too long, you can cut it down, while giving the full list on a new page ("Poet X bibliography" - yes, the word can be used there), which you'd link to this section, with a template.

Add a category
<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">Every article needs to be in at least one category, or some people will be unable to find it. Four that you can always use are: "19__ births" (fll in the year), "20__ deaths" (or, alternatively, "Living people"), "Canadian poets" (or "American poets", or "English poets"), and "Poets". (Note that we want the poet to appear in the "Poets" category too, since that category page is used as the index of all poets on PPP).

<p style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">And now you're done. Congratulations on a great article.