Hi guys, Greytopher here with another helpful blog. In this segment, I will try and help you develop an idea for the 'Mindeas' blog contest. If you're ever having trouble of an idea to come up with, what to say, or how to produce it, I will teach you how (from an experienced blogger and judge standpoint) of how to get your submission seen. Let's begin!

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Need an Idea?

The first day of the contest started yesterday. While reading the rules and how many days we have to submit, it's really a very long time till we have to decide who's the winner. The user has three weeks to submit an entry (till DECEMBER 24th). You have to listen to me: that is a LONG, LONG TIME. I take an hour or so to write a blog, but that doesn't mean you have to follow to what I have to do.

Getting an idea is something that I see is the biggest problems. I come onto chat, and people ask me "Grey, what should my idea be?" Let's look at the submissions that we have right now. Most of the submissions (that I see) are mostly adding blocks to the game, improving combat, adding items, adding potions, quests from villagers, and so forth. As a judge, I want to see an idea that is DIFFERENT. Something that is completely different then the regular norm.

"But Grey, how do I get an original, awesome idea?" That's easy! Think of something that ISN'T implemented in Minecraft. For instance, adding something that isn't a: item or block. This may be hard for you, but you've really got to let the creative juices flowing here. As a judge, I want to find something that pops out. Something that hasn't been thought up before. Maybe, you could make a logo machine, and put it on t-shirts. Or, add realistic gravity, movement, ect. Either way, a judge wants to look at an idea and think to themselves "Man, I would of never of thought of that... A+ to you!"

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How Do You Write it Out?

Once you've thought up an idea, it may be hard to describe what you're trying to get at. I find a lot of young writers go and talk forever, without a single comma or period. This can be annoying, and is also a key point to the judging criteria: punctuation and understanding is key. Being clear, thoughtful, and awesome is three good traits of becoming a finalist in the contest.

Many people don't know how to add a comma or period at the right time. Just think about it in your head: if you think you're talking for too long, look over your sentence, and just add a good place where it could stop. Revising your material and making sure it's all spelled correctly is also good. This shows a level of intelligence and understanding in writing that judges (such as myself) like to see. It makes it tons easier for us to understand what you're saying if it's spelled right.

Spacing out what you're saying can be good, but don't over use it. I see people submit blogs that are paragraphs every sentence. To me, it just looks like someone is trying to make the blog look longer when really it isn't. Instead of faking it, why not try writing a lot? A lot of good, well written information is a good thing. Be appropiate when you use your 'enter' button; your blog doesn't want to be one long chunk of text, but not a short one. A good way of spacing out paragraphs is: once you've written 5-6 lines of text, then you should space it out. I always do that, and when it comes out into blog form, it looks very nice and spaced out.

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How Do I Make it Look Good?

There are tons of ways to make your blog visually pleasing: but it's up to you to figure out how you want your blog to look. There are a lot of basics when it comes to making these things, but some starting bloggers don't know what this is. Use bold when making a strong point. Don't use bright colors that are hard to read. Try to keep the font of the text to atleast 2 or 3. These things are simple when making the text look pleasing, but how do you make the cover photo, or images look nice?

COVER PHOTO: There are tons upon tons of programs that you can use to make photos for your cover. GIMP is a free photo editing software that is very easy to use and used by some great photo editors. Photoshop is also another great program, but this costs money. Fokkusu's tutorial on how to make great cover photos can be found here. It explains (in great detail) of how to make visually pleasing graphics in a easy way to understand. I highly recommend reading it if you want to have a good cover photo.

TEXT: Now, there are tons of ways to make text look nice, but what? I find it most effective spacing out and organizing your text. By using the "Horizontal Rule" (the little line that spaces out each section) it gives it a cleaner look to the blog. Adding spoilers to the blog gives it a clean edge, and is also a little interactive for the reader. For those who don't know what spoilers are: They are the little tabs that you can click on to see text. I like those very much, and gives a sense of cleanliness.

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In Conclusion...

This blog should help you develop a better understanding of what the judges are looking for. You should have:

• A functional, interesting idea that stands out from another
  
• Great punctuation, and percise understanding of your idea
  
• A good lookin' cover photo and organized text
  

If you follow those three things in a blog, you have my diamond. Please note that not ALL judges think the same way; this is my opinion on how it should be formatted.

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Hey! I hope you enjoyed! If you like the blog, leave a diamond, favorite, and above all, subscribe for more!

Please do not repost this anywhere else on the web without my consent, thank you.

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