Make Your Writing Sing With StructureWritten by Robert Warren
At some point, every serious writer is forced to sit down and conclude that there is something seriously wrong with their work. It wanders. It is pretty in some spots and horribly ugly in others. It doesn't always make sense, and is uneven in places. Even though every sentence is grammatically correct, there is something fundamentally broken about piece.It lacks structure. Structure is what holds a good piece of writing together, material reflection of reader's mental need for order. It is quality that makes best writing appear seamless, conjured whole from heaven itself. Structure is logical mind's contribution to a creative process, and a primary difference between professional writing and amateur scribbling: a conscious decision and a learned skill. Being in many ways very essence of writing, structure isn't mastered overnight. But there are a few rules of thumb that can help you improve organizational readability of your work: Establish a logical order to your presentation. Ignore all popular advice to "write like you talk"; that's a misguided appeal to conversational tone usage and a shortsighted encouragement for people who are terrified to put pen to page. In order to master structure, you must learn to write deliberately and with forethought. Plan what you're going to write and how you're going to write it: don't make it up as you go along, particularly when you are writing nonfiction of any kind. In nonfiction writing (which means anything that isn't fiction), room for art is small. Don't set out to create art - build a sturdy framework, as a skilled attorney would build a legal argument; make your supporting points early and establish logical flow to consequences and conclusions. Don't loop back and make points at word 800 that you should have made at word five. Make your points quickly - write in 300 word chunks. That's magic number: 300. Books are typically printed with about 300 words to a page; magazine articles will usually be divided into roughly 300 word chunks; an effective press release, page of website copy or newsletter article won't run much above 300 words. Any longer and your reader will notice that something is off about your piece. Too much longer and your reader will get bored. For some reason, human mind seems to be most comfortable reading at 300-word length.
| | PERFECT PITCH - Query Letters that KillWritten by Sue Kendrick
If you are reading this then you are either looking for information on how to write a query letter or your curiosity has been exited by heading. Either way, article has grabbed your attention and hopefully what you will read here will live up to your expectations and that in a nutshell is what a good query letter is all about!Grabbing editor's attention, full-filling his expectations and making it easy for him to say "yes" is what we should be aiming for. I try and keep these points in mind when I write a query letter, try a few yourself and see if your success rate improves. 1. Be professional. Don't hand write letters. Set your letter out properly in a business like way. If you don't know formatting for this look at some of letters you receive from your bank, solicitor, accountant etc. Alternatively, a visit to your local library should help. 2. Keep it Brief! A busy editor doesn't want a War and Peace epic on why you think your article is perfect for his publication. This letter is of course your sales pitch, but last thing you want is to come across as a gabby salesman so one page is absolute maximum. Most of query letters I send out are much shorter! 3. Be Complimentary! Everyone is susceptible to a little flattery and editors are no exception. Saying how much you enjoyed their magazine will do you no harm at all and if you can get in a mention of a specific aspect then so much better. Link this up to subject of your article and you'll be steaming, but don't over do it! Too much flannel and you'll likely wash away any chance that you might have had! 4. Explain your subject. As briefly as possible, give a good over view of what your article is about. Remember that there is nothing new under sun and chances are that your subject has been covered many times before. You need to try and bring out unique points of your article. This could be content itself, (you've managed to unearth new facts), or you are taking a different view of an old subject. (A popular city tour accompanied by a wheelchair bound dependent perhaps). Whatever it is, you need to provide enough information to make editor actually read your article. 5. Say Why? It may be blindingly obvious to you, but you really do need to say why you think that readers would enjoy or appreciate your article. The main reason for this is that it shows you understand readership and have studied magazine. Editors don't like receiving submissions that are totally unsuitable for their publication, it is very unprofessional and not an image you want to cultivate. 6. Why You? This one is a bit tricky and not one that you can always include. If you can claim to be an expert in subject that you are writing about then you should certainly say so as it will add to your credibility. If not, then you had best keep quite and play up other points instead! 7. Make it Easy! If you have photographs, can supply copy on disc or have any other information that generally makes life easier for editor, then say so! Photographs and illustrations, especially, can often be deciding factor in whether an article gets accepted or not. 8. Naming names. Don't begin your letter, Dear Editor! If you don't know who editor is then ring publication. There's no need to speak to him or her, you can just ask switchboard operator. Actually, I always do this anyway. Even if I know name of editor, magazine and newspaper staff tend to move around a lot so it's wise to check that they are still there. Secondly, I hate sending out articles without knowing that editor is at least willing to look at them. Once I've got name of editor I ask to speak to him and very briefly tell him that I'm a freelance writer and that I have an idea for an article for his publication, would he be interested in taking a look? He might say no for a variety of reasons but should he say yes it will usually be made clear that it is without commitment. If he does say "yes", there is no guarantee that it will be accepted, but at least you'll know that there is some interest. 9. Manners maketh man! A brief thank you is a good way of ending letter, but don't grovel! This is supposed to be a business arrangement amongst equals! 10. To S.A.E. or not to S.A.E. There is much debate amongst writers about including stamped addressed envelopes for return of manuscripts. Some writers think that including them makes it easy for a busy editor to return a manuscript. Others feel that it is unfair to expect a publication to pay for return of material that it did not ask to receive. My own view on this tends to vary depending on what I'm sending out. For an article without photographs or illustrations I don't include an s.a.e. I always keep copies of my work and would never send a used copy out to an editor anyway so I don't need to have it returned. Usually I indicate this in letter. If I've enclosed photographs I would include an s.a.e. although I do keep copies, cost of developing a fresh set makes it worthwhile to ask for their return.
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