Clarifying the content guidelines for this website (as best as I can…)

I have had some potential writers for this site ask if I could clarify exactly what kind of content is and isn’t suitable for Spacial Anomaly. It is actually somewhat difficult for me to say there are many hard and fast rules, beyond that content should fit under one of the currently established category headings: Art, Books, Crafting, Fandom, Media, Music, Culture & Society. “Arts & Entertainment”, in a nutshell. But perhaps if I give a little more information on each category itself, that will provide some guidance to potential contributors deciding whether their articles could be a good fit here.

Art

This category is for anything and everything related to the visual arts: painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, digital creations. Welcome content includes:

Profiles of notable artists, past and present
Reviews of museum and gallery exhibits
Tutorials on exploring various artistic techniques
Essays on specific art movements (anything from Renaissance art to modern photo realism)

While there are not many subcategories yet in the Art section, that is only because there is not a lot of content there (yet). You are welcome to suggest/create sub-categories that would fit this subject if you have a series of articles you’d like to post on related topics.

Books

Primarily we are interested in books related to certain genres of fiction that tend to have dedicated “fan” followings: science fiction, fantasy, young adult, lgbt literature, romance, etc. Discussion of biographies and non-fiction titles related to other topics of this website are also welcome, for instance: musician or artist autobiographies, non-fiction about art, television, film.

Besides book reviews, which seem to dominate that category currently, profiles of specific authors are welcome. If you are an author yourself, you are also welcome to post about your writing process, tips for other authors, getting into the small press/self-publishing business, etc.

What would not fit this site would be reviews of books on topics such as: parenting, self-help, finances, medical conditions and other personal issues; biographies of political figures; cookbooks—unless it’s a cookbook related to a genre topic (Wookie Cookies, anyone?) or by a celebrity chef known for his or her television series (such as Gordon Ramsay.)

Crafting

This is definitely a wide open category at the moment, and is just what the name says: all about crafting. Whether you do jewelry, home decorations, woodworking, steampunk accessories, Christmas ornaments, whatever—you are welcome to post about it here. Again, there is only a jewelry sub-category right now because that’s all we have content for. Propose a new sub-category for me where you’d like to write about your specific craft projects and I’d be happy to oblige.

I would say that the focus is intended to be on crafting projects and topics for adults more so than for kids’ crafts.

Fandom

Fandom is for anything related to what it’s like to be, well, a “fan”. A music fan, television fan, sports fan, theater fan, etc. This category is for articles on topics such as:

Convention reports
Academic/meta-discussion of fandom itself and its development through the years
Fan-creations such as fan-fiction, fan-art, fan-videos, and fan websites

Media

Television and film—I think those two sub-categories are fairly self-explanatory. What kind of content is welcome?

Reviews of specific films and television series
Recaps of ongoing television series’ episodes (I would love to see more people interested in this, as recaps are definitely big draws to the website.)
Profiles of specific actors, actresses, directors, screenwriters, etc.
Meta-discussion of trends in media entertainment

Comics, manga, and anime content or a similar nature would also be welcome.

Gaming: Discussion of currently popular video games or online games is welcome; articles about collecting classic electronic or board games; what’s involved in designing your own game, etc.

If there seems to be a heavy focus currently on cooking/reality series, that’s only because that’s what I personally watch a lot these days and enjoy writing about. That does not mean these are the only kinds of tv shows which are welcome as subjects of articles for this site.

Music

This is another category which I think is pretty self-explanatory and wide open to almost any kind of content. Concert and album reviews, discussions of collecting music memorabilia, musical equipment, music theory, etc.

While much of the content so far in this category is related to rock music and jazz, these are not the only categories of music that are welcome. Love country, classical, or world music, for instance? Share about it here!

Culture & Society

This is perhaps our broadest topic with definite room for growth. I am interested in seeing articles that provide:

Information on important cultural figures in society and history
Travel guides to historic cities, unique locations around the world that have cultural importance
Articles about archeological sites and what they reveal about ancient arts and cultures

“Why don’t you have a category for…?”

If you think I am missing a category or topic that would fit in at Spacial Anomaly, I’m not opposed to considering it—and provided I feel it adds to the arts, entertainment, and fandom culture theme of the site it could be added in the future.

What this site is not meant to be is an all-purpose, any-topic-at-all content platform. Part of my reason for initially establishing this site was to provide a platform where certain niche topics could be the star of the show, topics which are often drowned out on sites like Squidoo, Hubpages or Zujava that tend to be dominated by “mommy blogging” niches: parenting tips, kids’ projects and crafts, home cooking, home decorating, relationships, family issues, etc. This is not to criticize such topics at all, but just that they definitely are not what the focus of this website is meant to be about.

As always, if you have questions about whether a particular topic or article would be welcome on the site, all you have to do is contact me and ask.

-sockii, June 2014 (updated May 2015)

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