writing motoring article for local mag

[CraigW]

Hi all,

I've started writing a very small column for a local village type magazine.

The main reader is pretty much housewives and occasionally their husbands (probably on the bog!)

Interested in ideas for topics to write about.

I can come up with plenty but I always think that with the wealth of knowledge on ph its worth an ask for a different perspective sometimes.

Ps. its unpaid so i'm not asking you to do my job or anything!

[HeavySoul]

Something to counter balance all the spin about the reduction in speed cameras meaning the road death toll with explode out of control perhaps?

Is it a serious article or more whimsical?

[randlemarcus]

Winter tyres? You might even get a bung from the local KwikFit if you drive enough business their way

[CraigW]

randlemarcus said:

Winter tyres? You might even get a bung from the local KwikFit if you drive enough business their way

funnily enough, I have done one for next month on winter driving hahaha.

its lighthearted not heavy so speed cams wouldnt fly

[Petrolhead_Rich]

something about the heavy traffic in the village, surveys indicate an extra 3 cars/month are now using the village??

Or like our local one - ranting about Police cars doing 40MPH with blues and twos on and how deaf and blind people might not notice them....

Then next month we had them ranting about people parking on the pavement....

[Serious mode on] Do you have any motoring related issues in your village, bad parking, dodgy crossing, a bad corner? [/serious mode off]

Bad Parking issues:


A Busy Junction?

[thinfourth2]

Local clubman motorsport?

[CraigW]

good ideas but needs to be a little more lighthearted.

[HeavySoul]

CraigW said:

good ideas but needs to be a little more lighthearted.

Could we have a taster of previous columns? Might help the direction of the thread

[anonymous-user]

maybe one on advanced driving - basically get your local RoADAR / IAM group to do the work for you for that issue!

[CraigW]

winter driving hints & tips
cheap drop top motoring
range rover birthday - how its evolved since the classic

[Petrolhead_Rich]

New Aston Martin???

[copy]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Paste]

Article Complete!

[HAB]

Make sure you use these words & phrases:

Nadgety
At the helm
Dynamics
Maximum attack
Nuggety
Dripping with feedback
Point to point
Well judged damping
Tautness
Hewn from a block of granite
Scalpel
Secondary ride
Turn the wick up

Use in any order/context whatsoever. These are a few good ones for the novice, you can broaden your repertoire when you gain a bit more experience.

Actually, TC16's yer man for this sort of bilge journalism.

[Chris71]

Keep your audience in mind, but try and introduce a bit of flare to it. As an enthusiast it's easy to dismiss the sort of stuff which interests A-to-B motorists as boring, but the challenge is to try and avoid it becoming so.

At the other end of the scale, try and avoid any Clarkson-esque cliches. He does them quite well (usually) but it doesn't work when reproduced formulaically by other people.

As for topics, try and find something you can blag some decent free stuff with.

Local topics and/or current events are good for pointers or angles, but you don't need to obsess about them. If all else fails write a column on something that's happened to you recently - if it's a Parish magazine type thing that sort of 'character' journalism should go down well.

[WhoseGeneration]

You are now a published motoring "journalist", with proof.
Time to road test some of the more desirable mainstream motors, via local main dealers?
Find some sort of anchor, such as, "Are there benefits in a higher driving position on the local roads?". "Petrol versus diesel for a car only used locally?".

[CraigW]

all good, keep em coming, thx all

[TheEnd]

Chris71 said:

At the other end of the scale, try and avoid any Clarkson-esque cliches. He does them quite well (usually) but it doesn't work when reproduced formulaically by other people.

That's what i would have said, don't treat it like an interview for 5th gear with as many witticisms as possible, as you'll come over all wrong.

Try the odd review from a local dealer giving you a free car for the weekend, dull stuff like the usual money saving tips like never using aircon ever again, and checking tyre pressures, and maybe the odd wikipedia style focus on a particular brand and what they have done over the years.

One aim is to make car related general articles that anyone could read, a mini bio of Stirling Moss etc...

[12gauge]

Is there much pressure from garages to write good things?

Local paper around here features road test that are more like an advert. Never finds anything bad about any cars.

A bit like every local paper features unbiased articles completely not related to all the advertising space they sell to estate agents telling us 'now is the right time to buy a house'

[Unleaded Only]

The Crack Fox said:

"With a new K-series Eddie's Rover survives." Geddit.

[markmullen]

JPJPJP said:

maybe one on advanced driving - basically get your local RoADAR / IAM group to do the work for you for that issue!

My IAM group did a tie-in with our local newspaper, the young reporter did her advanced test with us and ran a weekly story on her progress and what she was learning.