joe-conway-blog1

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You Don’t What?

Now that I’ve signed a book contract and have let friends, family, strangers and my dentist know about it, I’m getting requests. Others are asking me to look at their writing. I love it. Except, on occasion, when the subject of reading comes up and I’m left gaping. It goes something like this.

“Of course, I’d be happy to read your story. It’s great getting to know other writers.”

“Thank you. It would mean so much to get a real writer’s opinion.”

“Who are some of your favorite authors; who do you read?” I always ask. I like to know a little of what this eager new writer reads so I can critique with some understanding of what has influenced his or her style and voice.

“Well, I don’t read that much. I did have to slog through ‘The Glass Menagerie’ in high school, though. Boy, that Tennessee guy sure used a lot of words, didn’t he? Oh, and I did some reading in college. Mostly comic books.”

It throws me for a loop every time I get a response like this. I always hope my face doesn’t give me away while inside I’m screaming, “You don’t what! What are you thinking?” I’m tempted, and sometimes give in to telling them of the advise I got when I first began writing. Like so many, I chose writing for children thinking that would be the easier road. The advise I heard in many quarters was this read at least one thousand children’s books before you put pen to paper. I thought then and think now that it’s a staggering number and I didn’t go crazy maxing out my Visa at the bookstore buying up every Junie B. Jones and Winnie the Pooh book in stock. But merely hearing that advise made me realize how far I had yet to go.

Next you might expect me to reveal how awful the stories are from those non-readers. Nope. That’s not necessarily the case. Most people who really want to write already have a strong sense of story. Something inside is busting to get out. What a terrific starting point. The next step is to actually get it down on paper. It takes some doing to progress that far and I applaud the effort. But then comes the fly in the ointment. I call it ‘the idea.’

The idea of writing has universal appeal. In every place you can imagine the story teller is sought after and revered. Just look at the industries built around the idea. Movies, televison, video games, Broadway plays and musicals, and once upon a time, radio. We are stimulated day and night with the idea these venues present and they are taken in primarily with the senses. None of them requires much in the way of reading. But in some souls the stimulation goes beyond watching or listening. It goes to the powerful desire to do something similar.“I have this great story it begins.

Of course in these venues the idea has come to fruition through hard work, dissapointment, harsh criticism, more disappontment, perseverance, and then then triumph. Somebody wrote, re-wrote, re-wrote and eventually triumphed with their movie or television script, book, or play and each somebody was a reader. A monster reader, I’ll wager. And that’s what some new writers fail to understand. They’ve got a story, they’ve written it down but no one gets to home plate by skipping first base reading.

Reading gives us the basics. On some subliminal level it teaches about word flow, effective use of simile, pacing, story arc, character development, powerful inner dialog, word choice and syntax, and so much more. Then, by an oddly ordained process we barely understand it carries over into the writing we call our own. Who in the world would not do this?

When writers ask me to critique I know they’ve been infected by the idea. I know how that feels and it pulls me towards them. And even though I’m often told that they don’t read-much- I smile when asked to ‘take a look and tell me what you think’ and I read this trusting person’s work. I tell them to take my comments with a grain of salt; I’m just an ordinary person. Really. I tell them where I think they’ve done well and what needs a little work. I put edits in red, offer words of encouragment and tell them where they might find markets and an audience. But most of all I tell them to go and read.

You have a story to tell. Wonderful. You’ve come to the point of wanting someone to read it. Great. But if you’re serious about this writing thing please find works in your genre and read them lots of them. Go back and stand on first base for a while. It will benefit your own writing immeasurably.

So, what is your genre and how many books in that genre have you read? Go ahead count ‘em up, I’d love to know!

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Writing tips

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I FINISHED MY ARTICLE. NOW WHAT?

I’m in the process of moving from New Hampshire to North Carolina, and things will be crazy around here until we get settled in. I’ll be running some oldie-but-goodie posts on the blog until I’m back to work. Enjoy! In January, I wrote a post called I Just Got an Assignment. Holy Crap! Now What?, where I walk writers through what to do once you land an assignment, from negotiating deadlines to asking for the assignment specs from the editor. So you got the assignment, you followed all the tips in my previous blog post, you wrote the article and now you’re wondering what to do to wrap up the assignment. Here’s my advice: 

Compile the Source List Almost every editor will expect a source list so that the fact checker can contact your sources to check their quotes or at the very least, to send them copies of the magazine if it’s not on the newsstands. You’ll need to include for each of your sources: Name Mailing address E-mail address Phone number In addition, you’ll need to include sourcing information for every study you mention. For example, if you quoted from a study you found on PubMed.gov, you’ll need to include the URL. Some writers send the source list as a separate document attached to the e-mail, but I prefer to just paste mine in after the end of the article. I title the section “SOURCES,” and if the magazine is not on the newsstands, after this heading I write, “Can you please send them copies of the magazine when it’s out? Thanks!” Editors have usually been happy to do this. (If the magazine is on the newsstands, sources can buy their own copy.) 

Create an Annotated File Your editor will let you know ahead of time if she expects an annotated article. I’ve had only one or two magazine clients that wanted this. If yours does, you’ll need to either use the footnoting feature in Microsoft Word or make up your own similar system to give backup for each fact you include in the article. I like to create my source list, including expert source contact information and URLs of studies I cite, and give each source or study a number. Then, I go through the article and tag each fact with the number that corresponds to the source or study I got it from. 

Spell Check It Don’t rely on the spell check feature in your word processing program, which doesn’t know that you accidentally typed “you’re” instead of “your.” Go over it with your own eyes. Print it out if you have to; some people tend to miss mistakes if they read their articles on-screen. 

Send It In Once you’re sure your article is perfect (well, as perfect as it can get we all make mistakes) and you have your source list done, you can send your article to the editor. I like to both attach the article to the e-mail and paste the text into the body of the e-mail message. That way if the attachment gets garbled or doesn’t make it, the editor can still see your article. When I send in the article, I’m always sure to thank the editor for the assignment, and I let him know that I look forward to his comments. 

Send Your Invoice I try to send in the invoice right after e-mailing the article; that way I’m sure not to forget. I don’t wait to get the revisions first as some writers do, and no editor has ever said that I sent in the invoice too soon. Keep Your Sources in the Loop When I find out that the article is out, I e-mail my sources to let them know. If it’s on the stands, I tell them they can buy it there; if it’s a trade or custom pub that’s not on the newsstands, I let them know that I asked the editor to send them copies.

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HOW TO WRITE AN ARTICLE

When you’re a new writer and you get your first assignment, you first want to do the happy dance and then you want to wet yourself in fear that you now need to actually produce a publishable article. A lot of mentoring clients ask me to describe my methods for writing an article. So here you go! 

1. Write in your head. I think about my assignments during down times, like when I’m taking a shower or driving in the car. It’s a habit it’s become automatic for me. Then, when I sit down to write the article, a lot of it is already written in my head. I may have an idea for a lede or a kicker (that’s the end of your article), or I may have thought about what information from my research and interviews for freelance writing jobs in usa I want to include and what I want to leave out. 

2. Draft an outline. Don’t freak I don’t mean that you have to write a detailed outline with all the letters and numbers like you did for high school essays. For me, outlining is as simple as jotting down the subheds I think I’d like in the article, in the order in which they’ll appear. Even writing a quickie outline will keep you from feeling overwhelmed by all the research you’ve done. You now have an idea of what you need and what you don’t. 

3. Divide it up. If you’ve written a quick outline, divide up your word count among the sections, making sure you save words for your lede and kicker. For example, if I’m writing a 2,000-word article with 4 sections, I know I have about 450 words per section, which gives me 200 words for the beginning and conclusion. This keeps me from overwriting, and it’s a lot easier to write to length when you’re looking at chunks of 500 words (or whatever) instead of an entire article. 

4. Read your notes. I like to quickly read over all my research and interview transcriptions before starting just to refresh my memory on the main points. Then, I start writing from my head, without looking at the notes. If there’s anything I forget, I mark that spot in the article with a TK (journalism parlance for “to come”) and fill it in later. 

5. Use the notes. I often use the technique I outlined in My Trick for Writing Difficult Articles. In short, I go through each of the interview transcriptions, pull out the best quotes, and plop them into the right sections in the article. Then, I use my mad skills to blend them into the rest of the article, or to paraphrase the quotes if I find the article is becoming too quote-heavy. 

6. Make raisin bread. Den has shared the “raisin bread” technique she learned from a journalist when she was starting out: Think of quotes as the raisins in raisin bread. No raisins, and your bread is dull and bland. Too many, and the bread falls apart. You want to sprinkle in just enough to make the bread tasty and interesting. 

7. Edit as you go. Some people like to blast out a draft and then edit the heck out of it, which is perfectly fine. As for me, I prefer to edit as I go. So I’ll write a paragraph and edit it. I may have a brainstorm and go back to an earlier section and add or delete words there. Then, when I finish the article, I only need to do a quick proofreading before sending it out. 

8. Put on the finishing touches. You’ll definitely need to include a source list, and your editor may also ask you for an annotated copy of the article for the fact checker. More info on those and other end-of-the-article details here.