CHAPTER 1-2
25 principles of feature and magazine writing
These tips offer a general overview of the main principles and ideas contained throughout the chapters of this book.
1. Professional writing is a business. Your job is to provide information so useful and valuable that people will pay for it. “Publishing is a business—like all businesses, it is about making a profit—and editors are tasked with buying books [and articles] that will sell, and sell well,” says The Writer magazine. If you do not work hard to get original information, editors and readers will not pay to read what you write.
2. Begin with the reader in mind. Before you search for an idea, decide which audience and type of magazine you want to write for. Are your readers in their 20s or their 40s? Predominantly men or women? Affluent or middle-class? Interested in pro football or opera? Pick a few magazines you want to write for and then come up with a few article ideas that would interest their readers.
3. Give the reader something in exchange for their time and money. That means good entertainment or solid, new information—preferably both. Give the readers a laugh, new ideas or facts they can’t find on the Internet or anywhere else.
4. Read to get article ideas. The only way to consistently find original ideas is to consistently read. Without reading a wide variety of publications, you cannot recognize the difference between original and unoriginal ideas.
5. Create a strong angle on a topic and focus everything else around it. Try to weave the article around one main idea. Tell a story about something that is happening; don’t just write about an issue or organization because it exists.
6. Summarize the article’s angle in one sentence. If it takes two sentences, then write two articles. Before you begin, know your purpose and include only ideas and concepts that fulfill that purpose. A single purpose helps you collect and organize information economically.
7. A strong lead is critical. Great leads should grab the reader’s attention, tell the reader what the article is about, and pull the reader into the article. If you don’t hook the reader in the lead, then it’s all over. Editors need to be hooked because they’re your first readers.
8. Use anecdotes as examples and illustrations—the more the better.Show, don’t tell. Paint a picture with words and create an image in the reader’s mind. For example, if you write about texting while driving, tell a story about a specific driver who caused an accident because of texting while driving.
9. Write about people. Why does People magazine sell millions of copies? People like to read about people more than they like to read about ideas, concepts or events. If you write about intellectual ideas, then use names and quotes from people as often as possible.
10. Tell a story; don’t give a report. A report conveys information while a story conveys an emotional experience to the reader. Newspapers give their readers reports. Magazines give their readers experiences. Tell stories about people doing interesting things, fighting, making up, getting angry, laughing, failing, succeeding, crying and caring for one another. Stories that make the biggest impact on readers engage the emotions, not just the brain.
11. Rely on face-to-face and telephone interviews for your research. Don’t interview via e-mail or text and don’t try to write a magazine article by repackaging Internet content. Learn to find and interview experts and people who can offer you original stories and anecdotes.
12. Use direct quotes. One editor has said, “The most common mistake I see among nonfiction writers is that they don’t use quotes. If I don’t see frequent quotes in an article, I will reject it.” Articles written without any quotes can be boring. Direct quotes breathe life into your article and attract and sustain the reader.
13. Be concise. Most sentences should range in length between 15 and 25 words. Examine every word, sentence and paragraph and, if you find any that aren’t essential, delete them: Don’t say the same thing twice. However, a few33-word and three-word sentences will add rhythm to your writing and decrease the likelihood of boring the reader.
14. Use action verbs. Verbs do more work than any other part of speech in terms of maintaining pace and reader interest. Find verbs that convey action, such as “run,” “fight,” “drive.” Avoid when possible verbs such as “is,” “are,” “was” and “were” because they convey no action. Do not begin a sentence with “There is” or “There are.” Any sentence beginning with these “dead expressions” can always be revised.
15. Use the active voice, not the passive. Action verbs can be written in passive voice (e.g., “can be written” in this sentence).Do not use verb structures such as “were examined,” “was seen,” “will be fought.” The passive voice is clumsier, wordier and more difficult to understand than the active voice.
16. Demonstrate clarity by making sure readers hear what you intend to say. “Clarity” is the noun and “clear” is the adjective, but they mean the same: The message you send is the message received. Following the other 23 suggestions will help you achieve clarity.
17. Be coherent. Cluttered writing is the opposite of coherent writing. Bunch related ideas and sentences close together and create smooth transitions. Don’t spread them out. Don’t weave around. In a jigsaw puzzle, all pieces fit together perfectly. In a coherent article, all ideas fit together to form a unified whole.
18. Use concrete, detailed language—not vague generalities. Specific details make or break the success of an article in getting published and read. Whenever you can replace an abstract concept with a specific noun, do so. “Honda Civic” reads better than “car” and “Starbucks cappuccino” better than “cup of coffee.”
19. Verify and double-check every single fact. Postpone finishing an article for a few days, if you must, to allow time for some extra phone calls to make sure your information is absolutely correct. Don’t make a single typographical or spelling errorbecause it will make editors suspicious of the quality of the rest of your work. Proofread your article as many times as it takes.
20. Be simple, but not simplistic, in your style. Write for the ordinary person, not for the intellectual. If the ordinary person understands you, then the intellectual will also. You can convey great and profound ideas in simple, everyday language. However, “simplistic” means making something simpler than it is.
21. Avoid adjectives and adverbs whenever possible. If you need a modifier to adjust the meaning of the noun or verb, then maybe you haven’t chosen the right noun or verb to begin with. Focus on choosing the right words so that their meanings won’t need “adjusting” with an adjective or adverb.
22. Use the attribution verb “said” most of the time. Most editors prefer “said” to words such as “laughed” or “exclaimed” because of its unobtrusiveness. You should allow the person’s own words to express the emotion rather than trying to describe it with fancy attribution verbs or adverbs.
23. Listen to the tone and rhythm of your writing. Read it aloud. Learn how your writing sounds to the ear by reading it to someone else. Does it sound pleasant? Is it smooth and melodic or rough and choppy? Listening to your writing helps you to detect trouble spots and awkward constructions.
24. Write for the reader, not for yourself or those you write about. Don’t write because your therapist thinks it will help you feel better about yourself or because it will help to create a favorable impression of those you write about. Articles should begin and end with material that interests the readers.
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