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how did all of you get started?

what made you zine mamas decide to do a zine? where do you get your ideas? my husband and i have been talking about doing one, but we are so spread out on our ideas.
he wants to do an "undercover" bit on the upper middle class SUV filled suburb we live in where an ice cream cone costs 6 bucks...
i don't even know where to start. i have so many things going on in my head that i think it may explode!

By sylvia_p at 08/17/2004 - 1:12am | Zine Scene | previous forum topic | next forum topic

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One

Start with one idea and go for it. The beauty of zines is that it can be on just about anything you want and look like anything. You can type it, write it, photocopy it, or whatever.

My zines I intially typed up on a computer and did the layout and everything on the computer. My current issues (#6) I included a lot of hand-written and hand-drawn stuff, just because I like it like that.

Mama Specific Productions
trula.org

By Trula at Wed, 08/18/2004 - 4:28pm |

ok but how do you publish? d

ok but how do you publish? do you handwrite? type it up, lay it out?

By sylvia_p at Wed, 08/18/2004 - 3:28am |

I personally typed my zines o

I personally typed my zines and printed a bunch of copies; with the latest issues (#6) I wrote some by hand and also drew some pics by hand and pasted stuff, then copied, and typed the rest. Most of my submissions come to me typed via email so it's a snap to copy and paste them as well.

But you can do it any way you want, type the whole thing, write the whole thing out by hand, whatever, lay it all out on computer, whatever.

Mama Specific Productions
trula.org

By Trula at Tue, 09/07/2004 - 4:59am |

I was muckin' around in the w

I was muckin' around in the wayback machine this evening doing some bibliography stuff for online zine resources & I came across an old thread that addresses this very thing!

For space & sanity (yours, mine, everyone else's), I'll summarize. It seems there are three schools -- entirely computer (Publisher/PageMaker folks) who do their stuff on the computer, entirely cut'n'paste graphic lay out folks & folks who are somewhere in the middle (print it in word for the columns & fonts then cut'n'paste it). At least on Mamaphonic, everyone is all over the place when it comes to the graphic design part of things. There was another thread about taking the zine to the printer/copy-place on disk & the advantages of not having them be able to mess it up too...

The one I'm working on (ever. so. slowly.) is entirely hand-written, but my constraint is that because I do *so* freakin' much on the computer that this is my "away from computer" project.

"In the beginning there was the book, and the book inspired and angered others to write books, and when the people could no longer cope with all the books they had created, they begat libraries, and the Lord said, "I don't know what else we can do." (Anon

By Susan at Wed, 08/18/2004 - 5:17am |

It encourages me to write.

I like to express things in my zine that I don't normally share with everyone. My dearest friends know the personal stuff but I think we all have that kind of "stuff" that we need to hear about in order to relate and feel that all this craziness is alright after all. I love the freedom of expression that making your own zine gives you. And you can change it whenever and however you want. So, you guys could do one together and then go seperate if you want. There are no rules. Some zines are not pretty and some are lovely...best wishes.
www.motherload.indiegroup.com

By Elizabeth at Tue, 08/17/2004 - 11:08pm |

i started doing my zine becau

i started doing my zine because i thought it would be fun and it is! fertile groudn started off as a name i was throwing around for a business i never started...i use a loose gardening theme for the sections (i.e. the real dirt, from the trenches, in the field, etc.) but content varies a lot from issue to issue.

i think your husband's idea sounds cool...you could do a different theme each issue if you don't want to commit to one idea.

By staleyg at Tue, 08/17/2004 - 3:19am |