Internal guide
Writing for Stargate Initiative
Everything you need to know to write your first article. It takes ten minutes to read, and it'll save you thirty questions along the way.
No experience required. That's exactly what this guide is for.
Our articles are written in French: the excerpts below are translated from real articles published on the site.
The voice of the site
This is the most important part of the guide. A reader should recognize Stargate Initiative without looking at the byline. Here are the six hallmarks of the way we write, illustrated with real articles published here.
We write “we”, never “I”
It's not you talking, it's the site. Even when you give a strong opinion, Stargate Initiative stands behind it. The same goes for interviews and behind-the-scenes pieces.
“We went straight to the source for the answer. We had the chance to interview Joseph Mallozzi, writer on SG-1 and Atlantis, and showrunner of Stargate Universe.”
We open with a question
Almost all of our articles start with a question to the reader. It sets up the topic and makes you want to read the answer. It's our signature opening.
“What if the most unloved show in the saga was actually the bravest of them all?”
“Is there a science-fiction saga that brings people together quite like the one we're talking about today?”
We talk to the reader, directly
We sit them down, take them along, call out to them. The tone is that of a documentary narrator telling a story to someone sitting right across from them.
“Get comfortable, we're reopening the case.”
“Ask the question in any fan group and get ready to watch the thread go up in flames.”
We hammer it home with repetition
Repeating the same phrase three times in a row creates rhythm and drives the point home. It works, but it wears thin: once per article, not three times.
“Stargate Universe is the black sheep. It's the show accused of betraying the spirit of the franchise. It's also, as we're about to prove, the show that was judged too fast.”
We cut it short and set the pace
A long sentence, then a very short one. A two-word fragment to close a paragraph. That's what keeps a three-thousand-word feature from dozing off.
“Two seasons, forty episodes, and a final full stop on May 9, 2011. Curtain.”
We give dates, names and numbers
That's what separates an article from an opinion piece. A precise date, a full name, a checked number. If you can't verify it, you don't write it.
“Stargate Universe premieres on October 2, 2009 on Syfy, created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper.”
How an article is built
The fields you fill in the editor, and what each one is for.
- The title
- 140 characters max. It goes out to Google and to Facebook shares. It has to make sense on its own, without the article around it. Ours often announce an angle rather than a topic: “the show we buried too soon”, “they didn't wait for Amazon to reopen the gate”.
- The standfirst
- Two or three sentences under the title, in the news list and on social media. It sums up the article AND makes people want to read it. It isn't the first sentence of the article: it's a separate piece of text, written for someone who's on the fence about clicking.
- The body
- One paragraph per idea. Section headings every three or four paragraphs, or readers drift off. Our subheadings tell a story instead of describing: “The balancing act that killed the show”, “The fandom writing in the sky”, “Two guys, a phone, and a burning urge”.
- Key points
- Three takeaways for readers in a hurry, shown in a box. Optional, but widely read. The “Suggest from headings” button fills them in from your subheadings; all you have to do is rephrase them.
- Before you read
- A warning, and nothing else: spoilers, a sensitive topic, prerequisites. Two sentences max. It's not a second introduction.
- Social media summary
- 120 characters, plain text. It's the line posted on Facebook, X and Bluesky. It has to stand on its own without the link.
Style rules
Short, non-negotiable, and easy to follow once you know them.
- ✓No dashes as punctuationNeither short nor long, not even to set off an aside. Use commas, colons or parentheses instead. It's the strictest style rule on the site.
- ✓Full names the first time“Joseph Mallozzi, showrunner of Stargate Universe”, then just “Mallozzi” after that. The reader may not know who they are.
- ✓Dates spelled out“May 9, 2011”, never “05/09/11”.
- ✓Spoilers get hiddenThe Spoiler button blurs the passage, and the reader clicks to reveal it. Use it whenever you give away an ending or a twist.
- ✓Cite your sourcesA number, a statement, a piece of news: where does it come from? If you can't say, don't write it. A media outlet is judged by what it refuses to publish.
- ✓Credit your imagesSelect the image, then write its caption and where it comes from. Publishing someone else's photo without crediting them puts us at risk.
The editor, in practice
It does a lot on its own. Here's what you need to know; you'll discover the rest by hovering over the buttons.
Paste a video link
YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Instagram, TikTok: the player shows up in place of the link.
Paste any other link
It becomes a clickable link. If you've selected some text, that text becomes the link.
Drag in an image
It's uploaded and dropped where your cursor is. Then select it to position it and add a caption.
Write in Word if you prefer
Paste it here: we keep your structure and throw away the formatting. Nothing to clean up.
The Preview button
Shows the article exactly as it will appear, on desktop and on mobile. Check it before you submit.
Everything saves automatically
If your browser crashes, your text is still there when you reopen the page.
How your article gets published
- 1DraftYou write. Nobody sees it. You can come back to it as many times as you like.
- 2Ready for reviewYou're done: you move the article to this stage. It stays hidden from the public and lands at the top of the team's dashboard.
- 3PublishedA team member has read and approved it. It's live.
Review isn't an exam. It's a second pair of eyes, and everyone goes through it, including people who've been writing here since day one.
Before you submit
Six questions, thirty seconds.
- ☐Does my title make sense on its own, without the article around it?
- ☐Does my standfirst make people want to click?
- ☐Did I write “we” and never “I”?
- ☐Is there a dash used as punctuation anywhere?
- ☐Have I checked my numbers and dates?
- ☐Did I look at the preview on a phone?
Got a question this guide doesn't answer?
Open a ticketAnd if you're still hesitating because you don't feel qualified enough: that's exactly what we told ourselves before we started. The site exists anyway.