WRITER’S BIBLE
Writing for Dumbo Feather
Dumbo Feather is a quarterly magazine, each issue telling stories of change and positive action. We
cover global, newsworthy people and events—but through the lens of impact and hope. Who is making a
difference? What can each of us do better in the world? How can we, as a community, change things for
the better? Sometimes we cover well-known stories and people, sometimes, we might introduce you to
someone new, or tell you a story you’ve never heard. We highlight people living with passion and purpose,
be it in their personal lives, or on a larger scale.
WRITING A PROFILE
Dumbo’s profiles are a space for slow,
deep, playful consideration of real
people. We scour the world for people
worth knowing and we tell their stories in
direct, human ways.
As a writer, you also need to be a person
worth knowing. Sycophants are not
worth knowing. Though the profiles
take place largely in the form of Q&A,
they are not flat interviews. They are
conversations, and they should poke and
prod and challenge the subject. There
should be sparks.
You don’t need to tell a person’s life story,
but a reader needs to finish the article
feeling that they’ve learned something,
and that they know somebody. They
should feel as though they’ve made a
new friend that they weren’t expecting.
Ideally, two friends.
WHAT AM I DOING?
You’re telling a story. Not selling a
product or giving space for a product
to be sold.
You’re not on a first date. Skip the
awkward getting-to-know-yous, leave
them on the cutting floor.
Use the leader to put us in the real
space of the interview. You’re not
talking to a close friend. The reader
should never feel excluded.
Your friends passed out hours ago,
they’re on the floor inside. You’re long
past the small talk, and right now
you’re getting to know the real person.
Right at that moment, for both of you,
this conversation is the only thing that
matters. You’re not congratulating
each other, you’re pulling each other’s
heads apart, trying to understand,
to get how they work and how they
got to work that way. Conversation is
generous and hopeful, but rigorous
and deep.
It’s the possibility in conversation just
before sunrise.
THE READERS
Presume your readers are intelligent,
curious and cynical of easy answers.
Presume they’re you.
The readers want to know about world
events but probably does not read
The Economist every week. They
want to know about art but don’t read
Realtime. They want to know about
books but don’t read the New York
Review. They would love to, and they
don’t want to be talked down to. But
they also don’t want to fall victim to
presumed knowledge.
SPECIFICS
• Single pull-quote from interview
that most clearly expresses the person
• 2-400 word leader
• Q&A Interview (4-5000 words)
Submit in a single plain text RTF or
word document. You should not format
your interviews in any way.
Non-feature articles are to be
submitted as specified on commission.
Ask your editor for a sample document
showing best-practice for submission style.
THE LEADER
The leader must serve the purpose of
introducing the subject, as well as your
own character, and your experience
interviewing the subject. Your voice is as
important to the article as theirs. We do
not want anonymous questions from the
sky. Be playful here, be poetic if you like,
use your personality, but, by the time we
get to the end, we need to know:
• Who this person is,
• Why they’re worth knowing,
• Some of what they’ve done
The lead questions of the Q&A should
launch into the conversation without
talking about this background. You
can flesh out the details later in the
conversation, but we start punchy, in
the middle of the story.
Every submitted feature interview
should conform to this structure:
THE CONVERSATION
Imagine the sun is rising on a back step
after a long night’s drinking. It’s just you
and the subject, the world held at bay.
• Person’s name
• 1-2 word description of person
(playful, creative, but clear – Patrick
Pittman is an Editor, Joel
Salatin is a Farmer)
THE Q&A
The Q&A is not a verbatim transcript
– you may edit your subject for the
rhythm of the written page. There is no
WRITER’S BIBLE
need to ellipsis out ums and y’know’s.
Just cut them. You can always edit
your subject to make them sound
better – you’ll be going through an
approval process with them, so don’t
feel there’s any betrayal in this.
Your questions can be rephrased to be
punchier, so as long as the spirit of the
spoken questions remains.
Interviews don’t have to take place in a
single sitting. You can revisit to follow up
on earlier discussions after transcription,
if the subject is open to this.
Interviews should always be face to
face where possible. Video-based
Skype calls are a not-quite-as-ideal
backup. Telephone/audio Skype is 3rd
choice and not preferred. Email-based
interviews are not acceptable.
SO IT DIDN’T WORK
Don’t be afraid to tell us that an
interview didn’t work. Some people,
despite all your best preparation,
research and cupcake baking skills,
just don’t come to the party. We don’t
want you spending weeks trying to
pick apart the carcass of a dead
interview hoping to find some flesh
still remaining – let us know, and we’ll
decide (along with you) whether we
kill it, or whether we try for a second
round with the same person.
HAVE AN EXTRAORDINARY IDEA?
Our magazine does not do interviews
the way other magazines do interviews.
If you have someone you think would be
a perfect fit you can either:
Make a suggestion
We love receiving suggestions from
our community. Please email us ideas
– keep in mind we are a quarterly with
limited space!
Pitch to Dumbo
We’re open to pitches from writers.
Send us a 300-400 word leader
and we can chat. We receive many
suggestions. Sometimes, we receive
multiple pitches for the same
subject. We value excellent writing
and thoughtfully matchmake all our
contributors with feature subjects.
This means even if we love your idea, we
cant guarantee you will do the interview.
SHORTS
Each issue, we cover a theme in the
opening pages of the mag. From
“Going Local,” to “The Lost Art of Play”
to “Into the Unknown”—we explore a
concept in unexpected, hopeful and
curious ways. If the feature profiles are
the deep-and-meaningfuls at the end
of the night, picture this section of the
magazine as the beginning of the night.
The reader needs to be invited in for
a drink first. This doesn’t mean that
shorts are simple or silly. They should
be engaging, thought-provoking,
challenging, yet accessible. The
section usually includes three short
articles (500-700 words) as well as a
DIY activity based around one of
the articles.
WRITING A SHORT ARTICLE
Depending on the issue, your editor will
usually do a call out for submissions
around the shorts theme. Deliver a
short (200 word) pitch by the deadline,
outlining your idea, your intended
tone and why it would work with the
theme. If your idea is suitable for
the magazine, your editor will work
collaboratively with you to refine the
concept and later, the article.
DIGITAL
Our digital platforms are an everevolving beast, which currently,
includes our website, iPad app and
social media. The Dumbo Feather
website is a diverse platform for
content, including blogs, DIYs,
giveaways, conversations and
things we love.
WRITING FOR DUMBOFEATHER.COM
The Dumbo Feather website is a more
fluid platform for content than the
magazine, with room for diversity in tone
and what we choose to write about.
Pitches should be short (200-400
words), engaging and explain why
your idea is suitable for Dumbo
Feather specifically. Please read
the magazine and content online to
gain an understanding of the type of
content we publish before pitching.
If you have an idea, please email
[email protected] and we
will endeavour to get back to you as
soon as possible. We get many pitches
for content on the Dumbo Feather
website every day, so it may take a
little while for us to get back to you.
If your pitch is accepted, your editor
will work collaboratively with you to
determine word length and deadlines.
FEE
All fees are agreed upon commission.
Please understand that as a small
independent publication, we are not
currently in a position to pay for
digital content.
HOUSE STYLE
Dumbo House Style
Dumbo house style is an evolving beast. But it’s a meticulous, well-groomed evolving beast. Historically, we
have been curmudgeons for a very technically correct approach to punctuation, which seems fastidious
but, we like to think, adds another little layer of quality to the overall production.
When it comes to questions of grammar and punctuation, follow the rules of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Give preference to European over American rules where conflict occurs.
For spelling, Macquarie is your bible. Unfortunately, Macquarie equivocates like nobody’s business, and
often refuses to adjudicate between two spellings. Let either Oxford or your gut be the hanging judge.
SOME PARTICULAR USAGE RULES
Aboriginal—capital A
No one, not Noone
Okay, not OK
per cent, not percent
et cetera, not etcetera
Focused
farmers’ market
Recognised (always ‘s’ not ‘z’
– AUSTRALIAN!)
Practise (verb) Practice (noun)
internet (l.c. i)
centre
!? (exclamation first)
God
Direct Quotes/dialogue:
“double quotes”
Paraphrase: ‘single’
Quotes within quotes also take single
quotation marks
Internal Thought: italics, begin with a
capital letter
EG: I wondered, Will it always be like
this?
Nuanced punctuation
Johnny asked, “Why don’t we
have questions?”
Which one of Shakespeare’s
characters asked, “Why are you asking
a question?”.
It was Billy that said, “All the world’s a stage.”
The Quarmbys commit to buying
whatever the nursery produces,
“whether we need it not.”
The Quarmbys are adamant about one
point: “We buy whatever the nursery
produces, whether we need it or not.”
The Quarmbys ask the question,
“Should we really buy whatever the
nursery produces, whether we need
it or not?”.
Relative Punctuation
Elipses
Use three full stops… and a space for
elipses. When the thought trails on,
use a lowercase, if the thought after
the elipses begins a new sentence, use
uppercase.
To call it… pretty underdeveloped,
would be an understatement.
I wasn’t sure whether…. You see, it all
started when my mother left home.
Numbers
One to nine (letters)
10 onwards (numerical)
hyphen –
en dash –
em dash —
These characters are easy enough to
create. On an apple computer:
Hyphen button: Option + Hyphen: —
Option + Shift + Hyphen: —
See the Chicago Manual of Style
and its hyphenation table for more
information.
[Laughs]
“dollars” is spelt out and one-nine rule
applies for numbers above a thousand
EG: $10,000, one million dollars, $100
Hyphens and dashes
Hyphens and the various dashes
all have their specific appearance
(shown below) and uses. The hyphen,
the en dash, and the em dash are
the most commonly used. Though
many readers may not notice the
difference—especially between an en
dash and a hyphen—correct use of
the different types is a sign of editorial
precision and care.
Interjections such as “laughter” are
italicised and enclosed in brackets
(rather than parentheses). The
interjection is treated as part of the
sentence. If it comes at the beginning,
it takes an uppercase, at the end or
during, lowercase.
INTERVIEWER. You weren’t thinking
that this technology would be something
you could use to connect to the Office
of Tibet in New York or to different Tibet
support groups in Europe?
HOUSE STYLE
RESPONDENT. No. Nobody seemed
to have anything to do with GreenNet
in the Tibet world at that time. That
came much later. That’s not really
right. I specifically wasn’t interested in
connecting to the community of Tibet
martyrs and fellow sufferers [laughs]
and the emotional pathological therebut-for-the-grace-of-god-go-I people.
A translation following a foreign word,
phrase, or title (in italics) is enclosed
in parentheses or quotation marks.
If you have interview suggestions,
print or digital content-related
questions, please contact:
The word she wanted was pécher (to
sin), not pêcher (to fish).
[email protected]
11 Princes Street, St Kilda,
Victoria, Australia 3182
+61 3 8534 8040 |
The Prakrit word majjao, “the tomcat,”
may be a dialect version of either of
two Sanskrit words: madjaro, “my
lover,” or marjaro, “the cat” (from the
verb mrij, “to wash,” because the cat
constantly washes itself).
Leonardo Fioravanti’s Compendio
de i secreti rationali (Compendium of
rational secrets) became a best seller.