Hookjab is back! (Just not here)

Congratulate yourselves – the ruthless and unrelenting pressure campaign worked. For the last few months I have been overwhelmed with emails, letters and carrier pigeons from both my readers, asking when Hookjab was going to be resurrected.

Well bate your breath no longer, lady and gentlemen. This blog has now emerged from hibernation, and now even has its own little home at www.hookjab.com. Do feel free to drop by and say hello!

Hibernating blog

This will be my last post for a few months, as I’m going travelling to Central America in a couple of weeks time.

When I come back I’ll be busy setting up some new projects so I may be too busy to start posting straight away, but hopefully by around March or April things will have calmed down enough to renew hookjab blogging duties.

Thanks for dropping by to read Hookjab over the last year or so, and hopefully see you again the other side of the winter hibernation!

Milly xx

A tidy blog is a tidy mind

In the spirit of not being too propagandish on this blog, I’ve set up a new page – latest work – which has links to all the articles I’ve written in the last few months.

I’ll add new links on a monthly basis, and that way I don’t have to keep littering this section every time I get excited because something that I wrote is now on the interweb for everyone to see!

Get cape, wear cape, write

Time for a spot of self-indulgence, if that’s ok. It is? Great!

For the last 3 months or so I’ve been working as a freelance journalist for a higher education portal called HERO (higher education and research opportunities).

It’s a lot of fun – I basically get to write articles about anything that’s related in some way to higher education.

We work months and months in advance, which means that only now is any of my stuff up. Of my 16 articles now online, you can read all about… how one-molecule computers are going to rock your world, what it’s like to have a baby while at uni, what a toaster that wants to be an iPod looks like, why students are boycotting Coca-Cola, how much you could earn by writing essays for lazy students, and what Jeremy Clarkson did to get hit in the face by a pie.

And if you have anything higher education-related that you think should be a HERO feature, drop me a line!

5 worst mistakes when writing to young people

Kids, teenagers, young adults, youths. Whatever you call them, everyone wants to talk to them. Not ‘with’ them, mind, but ‘to’ them. “Don’t have unprotected sex.” “Buy this ringtone.” “Listen to this band.” “Stop happy-slapping each other.”

But the kids are canny. They know everyone wants to lecture them, warn them, advise them, sell to them. If you really want your message to get through, think before you write.

1. Don’t try to get down with the kids

It’s embarrassing and you will fail. Let Sony be a warning to us all that nothing is more screamingly obvious than fake cool. Don’t browse urbandictionary.com for inspiration. Don’t namedrop bands you think are the latest thing. (David Cameron didn’t impress anyone by casually mentioning Arctic Monkeys, and neither will you.)

Get caught trying to get down with the kids and you will be loudly and unrelentingly ripped apart by the very people you’re trying to impress. (And that’s not cool.)

2. No txt lng pls

Language isn’t really about transferring information. Language marks territory.

People under the age of 20 have known mobiles all their lives, and they don’t write in text language because they’re too stupid to spell, or because it’s easier, quicker or it let’s them be more creative.

The main reason for using text language in writing is because older people don’t use it. Text language is used to talk to peers, usually via phone messages, online instant messages, chat rooms and emails. Don’t think that losing vowels is a shortcut to writing to young people – the format may be familiar, but if it’s on a local council poster about the dangers of drug abuse, then the context will be wrong and the message is likely to be rejected.

3. Don’t patronise

Inexperienced writers tend to try too hard to ‘write young’ and underestimate what their target market know. Make an effort to understand exactly who you’re trying to talk to – how old they are, what their level of education is, what they’re used to reading.

Bear in mind that if a 13-year old is intelligent enough to read a science textbook then he or she probably won’t struggle with the odd multi-syllable word. Obviously having said that, you should always try to write in plain English, using short, simple sentences, regardless of who you’re communicating with.

Invest time in getting the register right, but remember that even the loneliest of teenagers doesn’t want you as a friend. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but you must be strong if you want the truth.

4. Ask permission

Everybody wants to communicate to young people, which makes for a lot of advertising noise. If you think your message is important, target carefully and respectfully. Don’t send unsolicited emails, letters or texts.

Ask how people would like to receive what you want to say – either by opt-in facilities or simply by conducting focus groups (fancy marketing talk for structured chatting) to find out what common consensus is. It’s not a fool-proof method, but it’s a start.

5. Have a conversation

This is by far the most effective way of communicating with young people, and it makes perfect sense. Nobody likes to be preached at, everyone likes to be listened to. Make it easy for people to give their opinions on what you’re saying – set up an online forum, allow comments, enable text message interaction, even meet them in person to hear what they have to say.

Moderate if you’re worried about swearing, but resist the urge to delete or edit negative comments if they appear. Negative comments buy you credibility; they prove that a) you haven’t made up the comments and b) you really are listening. And who knows – if you really listen to what’s being said, you might even learn something from the very people you’re trying to influence…

Roll with the punches, roll out the door

Welcome to HookJab. HookJab started as a humble paper zine – a chance to write and publish articles on music, feminism, life, language. But I’ve now left the world of 5p photocopies and pritt-sticked fingers, oversize staplers and exhausting distributions, and officially joined the future. Say hello to the world’s squillionth blog.

HookJabBlog has grown up from HookJabZine. When I started zine-ing I was a student, and I wrote on any whim or flight of fancy. However, since I’ve been a professional writer for the last few years, it makes sense that this blog should be primarily on writing. Writing for the web, writing for search engines, writing for a living. Writing that disgusts me, writing that alarms me, writing that makes me swoon with jealousy.

So here’s the deal. I write, you read; then you write comments, and I read. Oh wait you knew that already, because you’ve been blogging since 1986…