When it comes to writing for magazines and newspapers, the technique is quite different to that of writing fiction and non-fiction books, and even writing for the web. At the Boyup Brook Book Bonanza in May, I went along to a workshop on this particular subject. I picked up some useful tips which I thought I’d pass along to you.

The Opening Line

The opening line of the article must grab the reader’s attention straight away. This is no different to any other form of writing: a story must hook the reader in a very short space of time. The difference? In article writing, this hook must be the first sentence, not the second or the third.

Another crucial point here is the length of the opening sentence. The word count needs to be no more than twenty-two words for your grab line. This in itself is a challenge.

Sentence Style and Structure

Sentences need to be short in this style of writing. Similarly, paragraphs consist of only two or three sentences. There’s a lot of what they call white space in articles, a technique that’s used to break up the text, make it more appealing to read.

The Use of Quotes

An article is always more interesting to read if it includes quotes from someone with an expert opinion on the matter. But when doing this, the writer must make sure that he or she has relayed the quote accurately. It’s important to always check with the source to avoid the possibility of misquoting. This sounds like common sense, but it wouldn’t be hard to make assumptions or get a bit slack towards a deadline.

Language

In the examples read out at the workshop, and in further research I’ve done, it seems that the rules of fiction writing go out the window in article writing. Adverbs and adjectives are scattered throughout the text, as are metaphors and similes. Whereas in fiction writing, the emphasis is on erradicating adverbs and not overusing metaphors which can distract the reader, this is not the case in composing articles.

How To Query Editors

Sending off a query to a magazine or newspaper editor is different again to querying book publishers. In the latter case, the writer must follow the publisher’s submission guidelines to the letter. This could mean submitting a query letter and a synopsis, or a cover letter, synopsis and the first three chapters, or even the full manuscript. If the guidelines aren’t followed, the publisher won’t even consider the manuscript.

When a writer is contemplating having an article published in a magazine or newspaper, the instinctive response would be to send off the article as a way of demonstrating the high quality of work. Wrong. The advice in this workshop was not to waste time and energy producing articles that might never be picked up.

So what’s the answer? Easy. Send a query letter containing the following information:

• knowledge of the magazine’s themes and content and an idea that would suit the readership;
• a sample of writing
• a writer bio, outlining credentials and past publications, if any; and
• the writer’s qualifications for being able to write the proposed article.

The sample of writing referred to in the above list ideally should be the first two lines of the article; the opening sentence (the grab line) and the first sentence of the second paragraph. This demonstrates the ability to write and write well.

Some writers might feel terrified of submitting a query without having written the article. What if the idea is accepted? Can I deliver the goods on time? But the general consensus amongst the group was that sometimes writers need that little push to fire them up.

Expect Rejection

One thing that comes up time and time again in the writing world is to expect rejection. It’s normal in this industry. The important thing is to keep on going; keep writing those query letters, researching markets, coming up with new ideas. The more a writer’s name is seen by editors, the better the chance of finally getting something accepted.

One interesting school of thought amongst writers who submit to magazines in particular, is to go outside the magazine’s themes and styles. For example, some writers have struck gold when submitting a fiction piece to a non-fiction magazine, but still following their main theme. Obviously there is some leeway here with magazine editors. If something takes their eye and it brings another angle to the magazine, they’ll snap it up.

So what’s the bottom line? Keep on trying, think laterally, and enjoy the writing experience.

I’ve just returned from the Boyup Brook Book Bonanza armed with enthusiasm and a wealth of knowledge and new ideas.
For those of you who love to write, I thought I’d devote a few blogs to sharing what I’ve learned.

The first thing I want to talk about is probably the hardest skill to maintain. And that skill is writing freely without engaging the internal critic.

It’s something we all know, but also what we all forget as we learn about the importance of plotting, developing characters, researching and “showing, not telling” the reader what is happening in our stories.

Dr Alan Hancock, a teacher and freelance writer, was the guest speaker at the literary dinner during the Book Bonanza. It was Alan who threw out the idea to us that all these things – plotting, working on sentence structure, spending hours on drawing up our characters – didn’t need to happen. Of far more importance is the ability to run with an idea from beginning to end.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if some of us around the dinner table were thinking, “who is this guy?” because as writers, we know how important all these things are in creating good writing. But he clarified his message by asking us the following question: “If I asked you to tell me what you’re thinking right now, would you do it, and if not, why?” In effect, he was showing us how we restrain ourselves constantly, evaluate what we are thinking, edit it and reconstruct it before we dare to speak it. In doing this, we block our ideas and our creativity.

It’s the same with our writing. How many times have you had a great idea, then written the first sentence, stopped, re-read it, deleted it, then sat staring at the computer screen thinking, “maybe that wasn’t such a good idea”? It’s true, it happens all the time. The critic in our heads has risen from its slumber to run a red line through our work and deem it stupid or badly written or dull.

Alan wasn’t saying never to use all the skills and techniques we have in our writer’s kit to produce brilliant work. What he’s saying is to let the ideas and words flow freely in the first writing. Once the piece is written, then the editing begins. If we continually second-guess ourselves and squash an idea, we will lose that flow of ideas.

As I reflected on all this, I realised that this is the way I write. . I always run with ideas that spring into my mind, and most of them happen at night. Even if the idea sounds basic, or as though it is going nowhere, I work on it anyway. In fact, my first novel, “Seeing Dogs” came about in this way. I hadn’t done any plot lines or character studies. I’d just written the whole thing. Then I went back over it and saw with surprise that it had a good plot and the characters were distinctive. Needless to say, it required a good edit before I could send it off to a publisher, but at least the story was there.

So my goal from here on in is to continue that style of writing, to allow more ideas to take root in my brain. Let’s hope it works! As a writer, I need all the ideas I can muster.

In the post today, I received another nice surprise. It was a list of the results from the 3rd Kathleen Julia Bates Memorial Writing Competition for an unpublished short story. Because I was receiving the results, I thought I must have missed out.

But there, under the “Highly Commended” heading was my name! My story, ‘Splash Down’ wasn’t one of the three prize winners, but it was acknowledged as being up there amongst the best stories. One hundred and thirty three stories were submitted for this competition.

‘Splash Down’ is a story about a ten year old boy who has a fear of water slides. He is at a birthday party with all his friends when it comes time to riding the big slide. He has to confront his fear under the gaze of a bully and ends up performing a sensational stunt, whilst the bully makes a mess of his entry into the pool.

It’s so nice to know that my writing is on track, that more practise will only improve the quality of my stories. That matches with the feedback I’m getting in my novel writing course. The remark on last week’s submission was that my scenes are getting better and better. It just goes to show that practise does make perfect.