Writing Guidelines RESURGENCE WRITERS’ BRIEF
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at the heart of earth, art and spirit Writing Guidelines RESURGENCE WRITERS’ BRIEF project, got the law changed, written a pioneering book, The new Resurgence Writers’ Brief is Here are five very general guide- THE ‘BIG FEATURE’ banged the drum long before anybody else…etc etc. Usually based on a face-to-face interview, in essence, this needs to be designed to help you – the freelance lines that we adhere to when We are always open to ideas for the Big Feature, which is an article that challenges the status quo. writer – understand better the commissioning and considering actually a collection of features around the same topic/theme. For example, Consciousness (Sept/Oct 2009); Resilience Nature Writing internal workings of the magazine unsolicited articles. (Nov/Dec 2009); and Liberty (Jan/Feb 2010). The topic This series started in 2008 with an invitation to published so that you can more confidently itself has to have depth and will be given an international nature-writers to introduce the nature-writer(s) that focus in the magazine i.e. developed and developing inspire(d) them to Resurgence readers. This brief is on-going, pitch the right kind of ideas for the 1. Non-academic & jargon-free: no countries. That said, the topics are generally selected in-house, but we have broadened it to include non-published writers right sections. references or footnotes please! several months before publication. For more information on and their proposals. The emphasis of this slot remains on Under each section, we’ve upcoming topics for 2010, please contact editorial on 01237 the language writers use to engage their readers and involve 2. We have a bio-centric perspective; 441293. them in nature. You must be passionate about nature and included examples of recent articles knowledgeable about this genre. This is not the ‘I went for Resurgence represents nature with See examples of Resurgence features a nice walk in the woods’ or a poetry slot! This is usually a we have published in the magazine double-page spread and 1,200 words. to illustrate the brief for that section. a capital ‘N.’ One key thing to remember is Sense of Place 3. We only use non-violent and BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY This is a very broad brief; a sense of place can be literal (in that we are bi-monthly and in the time and space) or more inward-looking and esoteric. It respectful language in our articles. In a bid to enhance the authenticity of this section, we are needs to be an evocative and intimate piece of writing that readers’ hands for two-and-a-half really keen to include more Bio-Cultural Diversity features takes the reader on that same journey which makes it one of months, which means we have to be 4. We encourage a healthy and written by writers indigenous to that part of the world that our more personal writing sections. It can link to a project/ is under discussion in the article. We also run bio-cultural course or other kind of trip that has a profound impact on careful about topicality. positive perspective. diversity pieces written by authoritative experts, investigating the writer. Again, although the piece will make the reader It is also worth noting we are an bio-cultural & diversity issues and shining a light into those want to ‘go there’ too, this is not a travel piece. This is also a 2 international publication; distributed 5. We are non–campaigning and corners that may otherwise remain in the shadows. The key double-page spread and 1,200 words. 3 unbiased. thing to remember is that these are not standard travel pieces in the USA, Australia, Japan, South giving a visiting Westerners ‘impressions” of a locality and its Slow Travel challenges. The usual word count for bio-cultural diversity If you cycled, walked, ran, swam, trained, rode a horse or Africa and the UK. articles is 2,000 words. a camel, sailed, rafted, hitch-hiked, canoed, skated, skied, glided or skipped somewhere then you qualify for the Slow See examples of Biocultural Diversity articles Travel section. In other words, you did anything but fly! Slow Travel articles are all about the journey, more than the destination, which is good old-fashioned travel writing! an Undercurrents feature is 1,200. FRONTLINE Usually, a double-page spread and 1,200 words. : See examples of Undercurrents articles REGULARS This section is a selection of grass-roots around-the-world See examples of articles from our Regulars section news, normally compiled by contributing editor, Lorna We tend to run between six and seven of our Regulars, Howarth, or in-house. If you know of projects deserving of which can be one- or two- page articles. Obviously, a number this kind of publicity, please contact [email protected]. KEYNOTES of our Regulars are written by commissioned Resurgence columnists, but we do welcome proposals for those outlined ARTS & CRAFTS See examples of Frontline articles below. Following on from Undercurrents, our Keynotes feature If you specialize in this area, then do let us know of any is usually a four-page article written either by or about The word count for a one-page article is 600-800 words. upcoming exhibitions/artists/craftsmen and women whose an established opinion-maker. These articles can be work has an environmental or ecological foundation. environmental, spiritual, esoteric, political or a mix of all Pioneers/Visionaries/Political UNDERCURRENTS these. The important thing is that the reader gets the sense of As the name suggests, these are profile (or comment) pieces See examples of articles from our Arts and Crafts section a ‘strong’ voice speaking with clarity and credibility. The usual Following on from Frontline, Under-currents are the longer written either by or about high profile people who actively word count for Keynotes features is 2,500. and more in-depth features on the projects that have emerged make a difference and have something to say about the way from the grass roots. Think of these are the new and emerging we live (environment/policies/esoteric matters) and how Click the underlined links or colour coded quick links See examples of Keynotes articles ideas; environmental and spiritual. The usual word count for to improve society. They may have set-up a ground-breaking below to jump straight to the examples. Resurgence Writers’ Guide Resurgence Writers’ Guide FRONTLINE to be part of a global coalition that a model of how to quickly implement UK NEWS FROM THE GRASSROOTS stimulates innovation and creativity to policies to avoid deforestation. Earlier written and edited by Lorna Howarth enable us to leapfrog over the high-carbon last year, the prime minister of Norway, development path that today’s business-as- Jens Stoltenberg, and President Jagdeo CARE FARMING usual trajectory suggests we must follow.” announced a partnership to support “the A new paradigm for social To this end, Guyana would be seeking creation of low-carbon employment” and UK Climate Camp activists have staged a third runway. Climate Camp protesters international agreements and partnerships, the financial mechanisms to support this. health care with positive high-profile events to raise awareness of were delighted when The Times announced: at the Copenhagen Climate Summit Their low-carbon development the unsustainable growth of coal-fired “The airport operator BAA has bowed to benefits for the entire and beyond, that will make it more trajectory includes hydro-electric ACTIONS THAT power stations worldwide, focusing opposition to a third runway at Heathrow economically viable to leave rainforests generation that doesn’t “entail community. on Kingsnorth in particular, which airport. It will not submit a planning standing than to cut them down. significant forest disturbance”; growth COUNT would have been the first coal-fired application before the general election and Guyana’s rainforest is bigger than England, in ‘ecotourism’ by partnering with small, power station to be built in the UK for will not sign large contracts to ‘bounce’ Climate change activists and provides amongst countless other local companies that place a high value he Japanese visionary and more than thirty years. Despite E.ON a future Conservative government into ‘ecosystem services’ an enormous sink for on the protection and enhancement environmentalist Masanobu Fukuoka celebrate two major claiming that they would be using ‘clean’ accepting it.” T greenhouse gases. Yet global carbon markets of Guyana’s natural assets; producing once stated that “the ultimate goal of technology, if built, Kingsnorth ‘victories’. place no value on the contribution forests biofuels from bamboo and sugar cane farming is not the growing of crops, but would emit between 6 and make to the world’s economy. Instead, it without impacting on food security; and the cultivation and perfection of human 8 million tonnes of CO every This is an amazing victory which 2 is entirely legal and economically rational sustainable forestry products. beings”. This sentiment is at the heart of f you think that your small actions year. If all the new coal plants shows“ how ordinary people can take for Guyana to cut down its rainforests, Admittedly, some of their development ‘care farms’ which aim to combine care cannot make any difference in the proposed for Britain are built, I brimming as they are with biodiversity procedures seem less ‘low-carbon’ and meaningful work in the supportive world then perhaps it is time to recall an extra 50 million tonnes of back power. – including the endangered jaguar – for in spirit, like the road transport link natural environment of farms, woodlands the words of Margaret Mead, who once carbon dioxide a year will be timber extraction, post-harvest agriculture to Brazil, but the strategy also infers and market gardens for some of society’s said, “Never doubt that a small group pumped into the atmosphere ” and mineral extraction.