How To Write Your Own Fanzine
by Jason "Flynn" Kemp
The process of creating and producing your own fanzine can be very rewarding, in a creative sense. You won't make money off of it, but you'll discover a lot of new skills and make a few new friends along the way.
Below are a collection of thoughts on the subject of creating your own fanzine, based on my own personal experiences with Stellar Reaches.
First, and most importantly, keep things in perspective. The fanzine is not your life, and it shouldn't get in the way of your family or your job. If you are concerned about the time it takes, then either look to the long-term or find people that can help you out. Perspective is very important, because if you don't keep it, you'll end up like most people out there, with great intentions and no follow-through because Life is guaranteed to get in your way once you start a project like this.
Out of the four efforts I've seen announced in the last three years or so, only Stellar Reaches actually produced a first issue. I attribute my success in those regards to one thing and one thing only: I didn't tell anyone what I was doing until I was ready to release the first issue. That way, I wouldn't be another false hope. For those of you with aspirations of producing a fanzine, this may be something to consider.
Now that you are ready to begin, pick a concept to center your fanzine around. For me, I aimed for general support for the fans of CT and T20 primarily, and wanted to capture the feel of the old 80's fanzines as a type of nostalgia production. Other than that, I had no other goals or themes. On the other hand, DGP produced the Traveller Digest, an excellent themed fanzine focusing on developing the Imperium over the course of a Grand Tour from Regina to Capital to Terra to Kusyu and back to Regina. In a similar vein, a 1248 fanzine could focus on the Great Rescue (as has been suggested elsewhere).
For Stellar Reaches, I looked at what I considered to be good examples of fanzines from the period: Third Imperium, High Passage, Far Traveller and Security Leak, for example. I looked for similarities, for things that interested me, and things that I thought would contribute to the Traveller fanbase in general. Here's a brief list of the things I figured would be in most issues, give or take a bit:
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Fortunately, there are some great people out there with a drive and willingness to contribute to such ventures, and Stellar Reaches became a community project long before I had to do all the work to carry it. Still, if need be, I know that I can write enough to deliver at least 20 pages per issue, though I like it better when it's a bit of everyone's contributions.
Okay, so you've got some ideas and some material. What next? Well, you actually have to create the product. There are several ways to do it, either using a word processor or a desktop layout publisher. You can get acceptable results with a word processor, so long as you are careful with it, but you'll get better results (IMO) with a desktop layout publisher. Issues #1-3 of Stellar Reaches were done in MS Publisher. Issue #4 was done in MS Word as an experiment. Both work well, but there are other options that will make for a more professional document, if you have the cash to pick it up and the time to learn how to use it. (Also, the layout skills may serve you well with the small D20 publishers out there, who are looking for people to pay a small pittance in order to get a nice product to sell. It'll at least pay for your gaming book habit, if you can build up a reputation for good work.)
Once you have a master document, you'll need to practice on your PDF creation abilities. Usually, that's pretty easy. I use Adobe Acrobat 5 (and I'd love to move up to AA7, but that's more money than I have right now.) However, you can use free solutions like PDF995 or OpenOffice and get good results, with practice. There are a lot of websites out there to help with learning how to do layout, and include good advice on fonts, margins, artwork, etc.
Speaking of artwork, you should try to get at least one good piece an issue, for your cover. There are plenty of volunteers, so long as you give credit where credit is due, and if all else fails, there's public domain or royalty free imagery out there if you dig hard enough. (See Wikipedia for some great, and not so great, examples.)
In the end, though, it'll be your own personal drive that really makes or breaks your fanzine. If this is something you want to do, make a realistic plan and go for it. Start small, take it a step at a time, seek help when you need it, and you'll be amazed at how well things come together.
I hope this helps, and if nothing else, maybe it might give you some insight into the level of work that goes into making a fanzine. In the end, you have to be a writer, a layout designer, an artist (of sorts), an editor, a salesman, a spokesman, a dreamer and a diehard fan with realistic perceptions. Remember, in the long run, you're doing it for the dream, not just yours, but everyone else's, too.
I hope this helps,
Flynn
by Jason "Flynn" Kemp
The process of creating and producing your own fanzine can be very rewarding, in a creative sense. You won't make money off of it, but you'll discover a lot of new skills and make a few new friends along the way.
Below are a collection of thoughts on the subject of creating your own fanzine, based on my own personal experiences with Stellar Reaches.
First, and most importantly, keep things in perspective. The fanzine is not your life, and it shouldn't get in the way of your family or your job. If you are concerned about the time it takes, then either look to the long-term or find people that can help you out. Perspective is very important, because if you don't keep it, you'll end up like most people out there, with great intentions and no follow-through because Life is guaranteed to get in your way once you start a project like this.
Out of the four efforts I've seen announced in the last three years or so, only Stellar Reaches actually produced a first issue. I attribute my success in those regards to one thing and one thing only: I didn't tell anyone what I was doing until I was ready to release the first issue. That way, I wouldn't be another false hope. For those of you with aspirations of producing a fanzine, this may be something to consider.
Now that you are ready to begin, pick a concept to center your fanzine around. For me, I aimed for general support for the fans of CT and T20 primarily, and wanted to capture the feel of the old 80's fanzines as a type of nostalgia production. Other than that, I had no other goals or themes. On the other hand, DGP produced the Traveller Digest, an excellent themed fanzine focusing on developing the Imperium over the course of a Grand Tour from Regina to Capital to Terra to Kusyu and back to Regina. In a similar vein, a 1248 fanzine could focus on the Great Rescue (as has been suggested elsewhere).
For Stellar Reaches, I looked at what I considered to be good examples of fanzines from the period: Third Imperium, High Passage, Far Traveller and Security Leak, for example. I looked for similarities, for things that interested me, and things that I thought would contribute to the Traveller fanbase in general. Here's a brief list of the things I figured would be in most issues, give or take a bit:
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- Editor's Note</font>
- An interesting article</font>
- An astrography article</font>
- An Adventure</font>
- A second interesting article</font>
- Something starship related (like a new ship or system additions)</font>
- A Patron Encounter</font>
- A Wildlife Encounter</font>
Fortunately, there are some great people out there with a drive and willingness to contribute to such ventures, and Stellar Reaches became a community project long before I had to do all the work to carry it. Still, if need be, I know that I can write enough to deliver at least 20 pages per issue, though I like it better when it's a bit of everyone's contributions.
Okay, so you've got some ideas and some material. What next? Well, you actually have to create the product. There are several ways to do it, either using a word processor or a desktop layout publisher. You can get acceptable results with a word processor, so long as you are careful with it, but you'll get better results (IMO) with a desktop layout publisher. Issues #1-3 of Stellar Reaches were done in MS Publisher. Issue #4 was done in MS Word as an experiment. Both work well, but there are other options that will make for a more professional document, if you have the cash to pick it up and the time to learn how to use it. (Also, the layout skills may serve you well with the small D20 publishers out there, who are looking for people to pay a small pittance in order to get a nice product to sell. It'll at least pay for your gaming book habit, if you can build up a reputation for good work.)
Once you have a master document, you'll need to practice on your PDF creation abilities. Usually, that's pretty easy. I use Adobe Acrobat 5 (and I'd love to move up to AA7, but that's more money than I have right now.) However, you can use free solutions like PDF995 or OpenOffice and get good results, with practice. There are a lot of websites out there to help with learning how to do layout, and include good advice on fonts, margins, artwork, etc.
Speaking of artwork, you should try to get at least one good piece an issue, for your cover. There are plenty of volunteers, so long as you give credit where credit is due, and if all else fails, there's public domain or royalty free imagery out there if you dig hard enough. (See Wikipedia for some great, and not so great, examples.)
In the end, though, it'll be your own personal drive that really makes or breaks your fanzine. If this is something you want to do, make a realistic plan and go for it. Start small, take it a step at a time, seek help when you need it, and you'll be amazed at how well things come together.
I hope this helps, and if nothing else, maybe it might give you some insight into the level of work that goes into making a fanzine. In the end, you have to be a writer, a layout designer, an artist (of sorts), an editor, a salesman, a spokesman, a dreamer and a diehard fan with realistic perceptions. Remember, in the long run, you're doing it for the dream, not just yours, but everyone else's, too.
I hope this helps,
Flynn
