The Theme

So the next thing that we are working on is the theme for this year's magazine. The theme is the soul of the magazine. It controls the look and feel of the magazine. In some cases it may even dictate the submissions that are put in the magazine. The theme can be as simple as a shape or graphic element or as multi-layered as surfaces. The theme should be your first decision before anything else can be done. So what goes into the theme?
When I am trying to come up with an idea I create a list of things. The staff sits around and generates a list of ideas for possible themes. It starts off really random, but the more random the better. The longer the list, the better. From that list the staff discusses and narrows down the big list to a few choices.
In theory the items that are on the small list (Hopefully four or five ideas) are expanded. What I mean is, those ideas should be developed a little. Sketch out a concept for the cover, sections (If you use them), a folio line and anything else that comes with the development discussion.
With those ideas fleshed out a little, a decision needs to be made final. It is important that the theme that is chosen will flow through the magazine. It will help to bring the pages together and create a gestalt for your magazine.

Stuck for ideas? Take a look at magazines from home. You can use these layouts as a style guide, but more importantly you can use them to give your magazine a modern edge. It also helps to communicate with other high school literary magazines. Exchange copies of your magazines. See what they are doing. Ask them how they are creating the effects and themes. It is OK to borrow ideas but not to copy them.

Organization

So today I thought, "I guess the best place to start is organization." Now my colleague and I have a little bit of a difference in organizational philosophies when dealing with files and papers and whatnot. However, that is not what I mean. The way you set up your staff can work for you or against you.
The most important thing in building your team is to have an editor-in-chief that will oversee the operations of the magazine. He/She has to understand, up front, that they make the decisions and are responsible for others completing their jobs. People doing their jobs leads to success.
So here's our line up:
-Editor-in-Chief
-Assistant to the Editor
-Production Supervisor (Money person)
-Layout Editor
-Literary Editor
-Art Editor

Others that join the magazine that don't have one of the jobs listed are put onto teams that support these positions. Those teams are:
-Production Team (Money/Sponsors)
-Lit Team (Collection/review of lit submissions)
-Art Team (Collection/review of art submissions)

So that is the organizational make up of our magazine. For as many magazines, there are as many variations on staff organization. The key to a good staff ends up being the editor-in-chief.

Welcome to our Mystery Co-Contributer

Well, I tried to keep him away from this blog, but he found it way to fast! :-)

The co-contributer and I will be filling this blog with a lot of information. Some of it is great, some not so great, but it will show you what goes into making the magazine.

Doesn't he have anything else to do?

Seriously though I enjoy these blogs and even literary magazines sometimes. The fact that Charisma for this year has been lost somewhere out in the midwest rather than being judged for the PSPA contest has not dampened my spirits. I think literary magazines are cool, and Mr. McVitty is cool too.

The Beginning

The point of this blog is to discuss, hopefully in an interactive way, what it takes to build a high school literary magazine from beginning to end. This blog will be updated weekly, but I will not promise a blogging schedule.
Feel free to add comments about our topics and posts, but be aware that I am moderating the comments.
I hope that this site will be just one resource for other publication advisers around the country.