Pat's Top Tips & Advice
For New Writers

By Pat McManus

2011 

 

Try to work in a bit of visual detail wherever you can. A good writer turns on a tiny movie in the reader’s mind. The reader sees what is happening. Just remember to drop in a visual detail from time to time, so that the visual element doesn’t disappear for the reader. This is my own theory, as far as I know. I learned it by watching how an audience responds to my plays. I once heard a woman say after one of the plays, “I can’t understand it. I was just seeing mountains and barns and creeks, and all of a sudden I realized there was only an actor up there on a bare stage.

 

Basically, I think the writer should always keep the reader from ever noticing the writing. If you have an awkward sentence, the reader instantly becomes aware of the writing. The same is true with a repetition of a word or a sentence structure. Worst of all is “fine” writing. One time, I wrote the phrase “splashing through shallow pools of sunlight on the trail.” I knew I should strike it out, but I liked it so much I left it in. Months later, I ran into an English professor I knew in a hallway at the university where I taught. He said, “Ah, McManus, I just read a story of yours in the barbershop, and there was a phrase in it I liked very much—splashing through…” He said, “I didn’t know you did fine writing.” That’s when I knew I should always cut out fine writing. My theory, which may be wrong, is that the writing should flow into the reader’s head without him or her being aware that it is writing.

 

Point of view is tricky but very important. For example, the four-inch-long bruises on your legs. You obviously can’t see them from your position of lying in the bed. Perhaps your mother says to the nurse, “My God, where did she get those bruises on her legs? They must be four-inches long!” The nurse says, “That’s where she was strapped to the operating table.” In other words, some invention must be required regarding the point of view. Even in a factual book, I don’t think that is wrong. It’s worse to have the reader think, “How did she know she had bruises on her legs if she’s lying flat in bed?”

 

Regarding flashbacks, introduce earlier scenes like, “I’m nine years old and sitting in my fifth-grade class. My friend Mary leans forward over her desk and whispers in my ear…” Keeping track of your age at each point of the book would be important for the reader.

 

Suppose your book is set in the present time, say, when you just met the love of your life. You start thinking back to various phases of your life. You go back to that scene and treat it in the present tense. “When you have completed that scene, your love walks into the room, and you are back to “now.”

 

There are many good books on writing at your local library, and you should read all of them or at least those on topics of particular interest to you. “Writers’ Market” used to be an essential book for all freelance writers, and I suspect it is still useful, but it is not the great resource it once was. It will tell you who is buying what, how much, how to prepare manuscripts and submit them, etc. The best book on magazine article writing and writing in general, in my opinion, is William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. The way to become a professional writer is to set aside a period of time each day for writing—two hours is about right. Then write seven days a week. In a month, you will have learned more than all the writing classes could ever have taught you.

 

Don’t be afraid of imitating writers that you particularly enjoy reading. Your own style will eventually develop through the process of your own writing. Imitation is the best way to learn. Of famous writers, I think Ernest Hemingway is the best one to learn from. The worst Hemingway is probably the best for learning, because it’s easier to see what he’s doing. That doesn’t mean you have to write like Hemingway. Sometimes he even gives advice. I like what he has to say about the “three cushion” pool shot: “I try to do the thing by the three custion shot rather than by words or direct statement. But maybe we must have the direct statement, too.” Let the reader put two or three things together to know something about a character; don’t tell them straight out. For example, don’t say my friend Jack is precise. Show them Jack filling his gas tank to even gallons or balancing his checkbook to the penny. 

 

Get your stuff published. Local newspapers and magazines of all kinds are a great place to start. Once you have published your first piece—anywhere—you are on your way. The first published piece will be a major psychological breakthrough for you. After that, you will know that you can do it. Once you have published a few pieces in a local publication, set your sights a little higher. Don’t try to start at the top of the ladder; you will only be discouraged, unless, of course, you happen to be a genius. And the editor you send the piece to is also a genius. You will often become discouraged by responses from editors, or no responses from editors, but if you let that stop you, you weren’t meant for this business. Rejection is a big part of becoming a writer. If you can’t stand rejection, writing is probably the wrong career for you.

 

A former college student of mine, who went on to a very successful career in writing, told me the other day at lunch that I had once informed a writing workshop not to be afraid of contacting celebrities, if that’s who you want to write about. So she sent Carol Burnett a letter, and ended up interviewing Ms. Burnett at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. She sold the piece to Working Women magazine.

 

Analyze the publication to which you want to aim your article or story. Study at least a dozen issues: what kinds of articles have they run in the past, what kinds of ads do they run, what are the special interests of the audience, etc. To sell to a publication, you need to understand it almost as well as the editor does, perhaps better. Almost any magazine-article writing book in the library will show you how to do this. The rest depends on your own talent and intelligence.

 

ON HUMOR

 

The humor piece is one of the most difficult to sell. Editors are afraid of humor. An editor may think your story is hilarious but he’s afraid to trust his own judgment when it comes to humor. An editor wrote to me once and asked me to write for the magazine. “But not humor,” he said. “Humor is too dangerous.” I don’t think it occurs to any kid that he will become a humor writer when he grows up. I certainly had no intention of doing so. I wrote mostly science and travel articles for my first ten years of freelancing. One evening I completed a science article and still had an hour left in my writing time. So I wrote a piece of nonsense. In those days, I had a rule, and that was that anything I wrote I would send out to market. The humor piece was rejected twice, but then bought by Field & Stream. I was paid $300 for it. I had just written a long factual piece for a major national magazine and was paid $750 for it. But I had worked two months on the factual piece and only one hour on the humor piece. Wait a darn minute, I thought. And that is how I suddenly became a humor writer.

 

I think the writing business is much tougher to break into now than it was when I started. But making a living as an independent freelance writer is one of the best jobs in the world. I was told by a very successful freelancer a decade or so ago, “Pat, the Internet is the future fof freelancing.” I have no experience with that, but he was probably right. I just don’t know anything about it.

 

Article Idea Salability Test

 

1. Is the subject unusual: the largest, smallest, cheapest, most expensive, worst, best, oldest, youngest, etc.?

2. Is it off-beat- is it a subject the publication ordinarily wouldn’t buy but which can be “slanted” to the editorial requirements?

3. Does the article have a point? Does it make some assertion that is supported by the text or article?

4. Does the article engage the self-interest of the reader in this particular audience?

5. Is the article about a person or people as opposed to a “thing”?

6. Are good original quotes available?

7. Are good research sources (authorities to interview) available?

8. Are there good anecdotes available?

9. Are there one or more appropriate markets available for the article?

10. Is it possible to get good illustrations?

11. Does the article have humor or drama?

12. Does the topic have national interest as opposed to regional or local interest?

13. Is it timely?

14. Does it have a “key phrase” or editorial concept?

15. Does it have a catchy title or hook for the lead?