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Mary Rosenblum
|
Good morning, all.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I hope you had a great holiday
weekend!
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Those of you down here in the
US that is!
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Mary Rosenblum
|
I have to say that I tend to
do more forums on fiction than nonfiction. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Probably because I write more
fiction than nonfiction. So just email me if you'd like me to cover a
particular nonfiction topic.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
I wanted to talk about hook
and lead particularly, since this is the big sell/no sale issue for most
novice writers. And it's critical in fiction, too, for that matter.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Even if the hook takes a
different form.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Essentially...for both fiction
and nonfiction....you want to snag the readers' attention.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Think of someone flipping
through the pages of a magazine in the dentist's office. They're
preoccupied, looking for something to distract them.
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Mary Rosenblum
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How do you get them to STOP
flipping?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
What does the hook do?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Same as in fiction, it snags
their attention, makes them read on.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Now in fiction, we do that by
starting with an interesting scene that tickles the readers' curiosity and
makes them read on, or an exciting scene the sucks them into action, or
taut dialogue that they won't
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Mary Rosenblum
|
put down until they find out
what's going on.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
So how do you do that with,
say, an article on dog manners?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Generally you're not dealing
with exciting scenes or enticing dialogue in an informative piece!
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laina
|
a good title?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
That can certainly help and
often, the title derives from the hook.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
But even with a good title, if
the reader looks at that article and thinks 'ho hum nothing for me' he or
she flips to the next article.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Editors know what makes
readers skip an article.
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crystalwizard
|
pictures
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Not usually. Interestingly
enough.
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h.p. lovesauce
|
Usefulness. "Stop those
puppy teething woes!"
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Yes, love. It's a matter of
snagging the readers' attention with 'what's in this for me?' AND
demonstrating that it will be fun getting that information.
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laina
|
something new a new slant?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Exactly.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Say your article IS on puppy
teething.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You could start out with:
Everybody experiences the woes of a teething puppy.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
What is your readers'
reaction?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Probably, 'yeah, you're
right'. Flip.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You haven't suggested that
you're offering anything of value to that reader who has a teething puppy,
will get a puppy, or has had one in the past and wishes he knew what to do
next time.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That opening on a scale of one
to ten, ten being great, is way down there. Two?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You want to a: let the readers
know that you're going to tell them how to fix it, b: make it interesting
to them.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Cara winces as Rosy, her
fluffy new Golden Retriever puppy latches on to her ankle yet again.
"I give up," she sobs. "I don't want to hurt her but I just
can't make her stop biting."
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Mary Rosenblum
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Three weeks later, Rosy is
wagging her tail and offering Mom her stuffed duck to throw. No more
biting.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
This is one way to do it. We
get a visual 'here and now' that readers with teething puppy troubles can
identify with and suggests 'I'll get to see things, this might be fun'.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Then you have the lead....the
problem is solved. All in two sentences.
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h.p. lovesauce
|
I was at the end of my chewed-up
rope with my puppy Lester, and my know-it-all vet insisted electrifying the
furniture was not an option.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
That's a good start. You begin
with a light tone. That suggests an entertaining read is ahead and
obviously you must have succeeded because you're laughing about the
problem.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Remember...entertainment plus
slant. Hook and lead.
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laina
|
So the first two sentences need
to be the hook?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Pretty much, laina. Remember
that your average magazine article, unless you've been assigned a feature,
is probably going to run from 500 words to 1000 words, maybe 1500.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This length will increase as
you move up the ladder, so to speak, with a particuliar editor and get
assigned more in-depth pieces.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But even then, filler pieces
are money. You're going to write a lot of short pieces and with 500 words to
work with you want to hook that reader RIGHT NOW
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crystalwizard
|
The sword may be the soul of the
warrior, but for much of history such a weapon was out of reach for the
common soldier
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Mary Rosenblum
|
That's fine. This would suit a
magazine whose readers were more interested in information than in
entertainment.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
An article for Fine Gardening
Magazine is going to have a more serious informative tone than a piece
about gardening with a toddler written for Green Prints.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
There, your hook sword is soul
of the warrior with a strongly romantic nuance, and the lead indicates what
you are offering...the history of the sword as weapon.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Your hook and lead always
match the tone of the magazine. If you want to sell to that magazine that
is!
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sailor
|
So if you're writing creative
nonfiction, such as a an essay, the entertainment factor is the hook?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
The entertainment is the most
important part there, but you still want to indicate to the readers where
you will take them.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
The middle of the Atlantic is
a bad place to spring a leak. I was eyeing the leaden sky with some anxiety
when Kathy stuck her head up from below decks. "We've got a
leak," she said. "Bad."
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Well, I would probably edit
out one of those 'leak' uses.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
But you get the idea.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You have started with a hook
and indicated the tone of the piece...dramatic rather than humor.
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laina
|
what's the difference between an
essay and an article?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You have a variety of types of
nonfiction, laina.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Generally, an essay is the
author's opinion or arguement about something, or an account of some event,
usually with some kind of underlying point.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
An article generally conveys
information.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Toenail Trimming Tuesdays
might be a piece about how to train your new puppy to accept nail trimming.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Mornings at the Dog Park might
be the author's lighthearted account of the people who gather at her local
dog park every day and might
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Mary Rosenblum
|
be much more about people than
about dogs.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
The first conveys information.
The second conveys entertainment.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You really need to know what
the 'tone' of the magazine is before you craft your hook and lead.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Not only do you need to use a
slant suitable to that magazine of course. But you also need to know what
the editorial style is.
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Mary Rosenblum
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A learned and serious article,
say our sword piece, certainly won't fit a magazine where the style is
action-driven, strongly narrated.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
A strongly narrated and
humorous piece won't suit a magazine with a serious tone.
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copper
|
Can you explain editorial style?
Is it the voice of the general magazine?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Yes, it is, copper. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
|
I had a student who had
traveled to some very marvelous and out of the way places.. He kept writing
travel articles about them
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Mary Rosenblum
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and offering them to the
'extreme hiking and extreme travel' mags, the ones that feature really out
of the way destinations.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And he should have sold ALL of
them. He sold NONE of them.
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Mary Rosenblum
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He had a slow, leisurely,
literary, and deliberate style of writing. No matter how many examples I
offered, now much I cajoled, coaxed, and ranted, I could NOT get him
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Mary Rosenblum
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to change it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And every one of the magazines
he submitted to used a very strongly narrated here and now hard charging
style.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Totally the opposite of what
he was doing.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
So no matter how great your
content is, if your style does not suit the magazine, the editor won't buy
it.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
It tells the editor this: A: you
never bothered to look at the mag, you're just throwing stuff at the wall
to see if it sticks.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
B: you can't write in any
style but this one.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
In the first case, the editor
figures you're a pretty unprofessional novice.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
In the second case, editor
figures you're hopeless.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
In neither case will you get a
response, most of the time.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
If your style suits but the
content does not, you'll often get a request for something different or a
bit of encouragement.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Not if your style is off!
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Mary Rosenblum
|
In my student's case, most of
the articles in the magazines he was submitting to began with some sort of
crisis....the narrator was in the middle of the Amazon and a storm was
about to break, they were at the top of a cliff
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Mary Rosenblum
|
contemplating a goat-trail
that they had to descend. That sort of thing.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
My student started with
glowing descriptions of peaceful landscapes. Sigh.
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h.p. lovesauce
|
It seems a tad foolhardy to
write nonfiction on spec. How can you produce a query that convinces the
editor you can match the magazine's style?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
There is ONLY one way, love.
You read the magazine and match the style.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Or you ARE throwing things at
the wall.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Writing NF is a job, like
working in an office, or doing graphics for an advertising firm.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
It's not about being a
virtuoso. WHO you are doesn't matter to the general public. WHAT you
produce does.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
So you in effect say to the
editor, I can write what you need.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
And editors ALWAYS need
writers who can do that. ALWAYS.
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laina
|
so style is king?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Well, content, too!
|
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Mary Rosenblum
|
But style trumps content. If
you have a great idea but the way you present it will not work for this
magazine, too bad.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
If your style suits the mag,
it's well written, but she has a piece like this or it's not quite what she
needs, you may get request to submit a specific piece or just the
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Mary Rosenblum
|
encouragement to resub
something else.
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copper
|
What if the library doesn't have
a full year or even carry a given magazine, and most of the articles are
not available online? Just research what you can and match the sysle as
closely as possible?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You can always write to the
editorial office and request a sample copy and the most current writers
guidelines.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
That's considered professional
and editors will tend to remember you if they see something from you
shortly afterward.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Often their in-house
guidelines are different than those out on the internet or in the lists,
they may contain issue themes and the like.
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crystalwizard
|
most mags have websites these
days.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
They do, and most will offer
representative articles for prospective subscribers.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
I personally prefer the entire
mag.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
I take a look at the ads.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
That tells me who the
readership is.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Helps me fine tune the slant.
Sometimes it's hard to pin it down precisely from a single issue.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
I have to say that I have
never sent off a query where I didn't get a request to send more, even if I
got turned down.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You'll get that if your
submission suits the mag, even if the editor doesn't want that piece.
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janecj333
|
I remember reading in Stephen
King's, 'On Writing', about an editor that marked up his work...and what a
revelation it was. That anecdote makes me all the more certain that many
students don't learn from examples and advice, but must see their work
rewritten to compare it.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
It's no different that what
you'll get from a good writing instructor.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Or at a good writing workshop.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Sometimes you really do need
to see how changes to your own words work.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
That's the principal behind
writing courses like Long Ridge.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Each lesson is something YOU
write and you see specifically how you can make it better.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Your own words always make the
best examples. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
|
One thing to keep in mind
about nonfiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
It's all about product. The NF
writers are pretty much invisible to the average reader.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
If the editor can count on you
to produce a good, well written article promptly, you are IN.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Yes, Jerry. Nearly all NF
markets want a query for informative pieces.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Mostly, essays/personal
narratives go in as complete mss.
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jerryll
|
to send more queries?
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Oops, sorry, didn't post
Jerry's question.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
So getting back to hook and
lead...
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Your hook needs to snag that
anxious dental patient
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Mary Rosenblum
|
even if you're simply
explaining how to get nematodes out of your raised beds.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Your lead lets the readers
know what you're offering.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
And generally, you'll use your
hook and lead in your query letter to the editor.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
What works on the readers
works on the editors.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Kronos was on 'death row' at
the Oakdale Shelter when dog trainer Candy Primus saw him, a pitbull
rescued from a dogfight kennel. One year later,
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Candy uses him as a therapy
dog at the local children's hospital.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
We have an article about a dog
trainer and the case of the pitbull hooks reader interest.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Clearly this dog will provide
the anecdotes that illustrate her methods.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So we have interest (the dog)
and content (trainer and her methods)
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frightwrite07
|
...and it pays the bills so you
can keep on writing!
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Nonfiction? No kidding! It's a
very nice day job if you're a writer. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Just keep in mind that those
first couple of sentences are critical.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
NF editors are swamped with
work.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
They do not have the time to
sit down and go over your query in case there's a grain of potential in
that idea, or to ask for the article when
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Mary Rosenblum
|
your query does not guarantee
that you know what you're doing. They're not into teaching writing. They're
publishing 12 excellent issues of a magazine every year.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
They pay YOU to give them
something they can drop onto the page with minimal editing.
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janecj333
|
When dog trainer Candy Primus
first met Kronos, a pitbull rescued from a dogfight kennel, he was on
'death row' at the Oakdale Shelter. One year later..." :)
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Mary Rosenblum
|
I wouldn't use that version,
jane.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You get the impact of Kronos,
death row, right away.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
That's your hook.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
Cathy Primus does not excite
anyone who doesn't already know her.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You may lose readers after
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
When dog trainer Candy Primus
first met Kronos...
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Mary Rosenblum
|
You really do need to snag
readers ASAP
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frightwrite07
|
Should you start your query with
the hook and lead?
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Yes.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Editors expect it and they
want to see what your hook and lead look like.
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|
louxwriter
|
so would you suggest finding
something that interests you, researching that particular topic, find a mag
market for that topic, and then write the article? Half the time I have no
idea what to write,let alone ceating a good lead...
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I would look over your life
and friends and local celebrities, institutions, and the like and decide
what you could potentially write about.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Then look for magazines where
you could sell such articles, then look at a specific mag and pitch a
query.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
For example, I am involved in
the dog show, dog training world. I have access to local events and
trainers and could pitch a query to a dog magazine about
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Mary Rosenblum
|
a particular trainer for
Guidedogs For the Blind, for example.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Or I could pitch a query about
dock diving in the Northwest.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Or any one of fifty other dog
topics where I figured I could get original source material...an interview
with someone.
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janecj333
|
The article's about Candy, tho.
And, as you said, that first sentence is the crucial one. jmho
|
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Mary Rosenblum
|
yes, the article is about
Candy, but readers won't care about someone named Candy unless you give
them reason to, Jane.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
A dog rescued from death row
is interesting, it's going to hook readers who could care less about Candy.
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Mary Rosenblum
|
By the end of the article they
care.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Now if Candy is a national
celebrity, has been on Oprah training her dogs multiple times and the
readers of this magazine
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
have probably heard of her,
then you could start with Candy.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's HOOK first, content
second.
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|
h.p. lovesauce
|
Are reviews--books, movies,
games, consumer products--a good entree into the nonfiction world?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Anything that you can cite as
a clip is a good idea, love.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Most people start at the
bottom -- small circulation, low pay, no pay -- and move up.
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|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You get better!
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I have a friend who makes his
living as a freelance writer. He asks me for stuff from time to time and I
send him stuff that I think is so lean and mean and perfect to the slant
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
and he always manages to tweak
at least three words out of it. :-) You never stop learning.
|
|
gail
|
I've been stalled in N-Fic due
to the word "expertise." Recently I read an amusing article about
this. The writer said [paraphrased], interviews can provide all the
expertise that's required. Passion for the subject, however, must come from
the writer. This put N-Fic into a whole new light for me. Just thought I'd
share that.... : )
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's a VERY nice way of
putting it gail.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You are not required to be an
expert, simply to provide expertise. You ARE required to be a good writer
who can interst readers.
|
|
laina
|
can you show your example again
of kronos
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I'll post the transcript when
this is done, laina. You can go see it there. :-)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I just wrote it off the cuff,
so I don't have something I can copy and paste here.
|
|
gail
|
If a particular article (from
their magazine) was the spark for an article I wish to submit, should I
mention this to the editor in my query?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I would. It won't hurt and it
will certainly let the editor know that you actually read the mag.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I have had several students
now who wanted a career in NF and have gotten there. Every one of them read
a full year's worth of mags when they were targeting a particuilar market.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's an investment but they
were looking at it as a bill paying business, not a hobby.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And that's what they have.
|
|
janecj333
|
Mary, this perfectly illustrates
how hard it is to be on the same page with the many editors (their wildly-
varied opinions) who read NF article submissions, esp. if the first
sentence makes or breaks their attention span. I've been on both sides, so
I'm not trying to be flip, here.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Well, it is and it always will
be. That's why you need to read the magazine.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's what I mean by 'style'.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The only way you know what an
editor wants is from analyzing what is on the page.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Does the travel piece start
with here and now action? Or does it begin wtih a panoramic description and
zoom in for a close up of the place written about?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You have NO clue unless you
look at what that editor has published.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I cannot stress this enough.
|
|
copper
|
You once recommended to start
with three mags. How many times should you query that mag., and for how
long until moving on to the next one?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
If you are not getting a reply
to your queries, that means you are not hitting the target and the editor
is saying to you 'don't bother me'.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Move on.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
If you get a reply, keep
querying. Eventually, the editor will probably give you a small assignment.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Editors do NOT reply to
queries that are not 'in the ball park'.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
One student had queried four
or five times. She got a 'no thanks' on the final piece she sent in, but
the editor assigned her a particular topic and did buy that one.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Several students have had that
experience, actually.
|
|
gail
|
Will a magazine's style change
significantly when a new editor takes over?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
it'll change to some degree.
No two editors are identical. The overall style -- slant for example --
probably won't.
|
|
copper
|
Just thought I'd mention
profnet.com and prnewswire.com are good places to get in touch with
experts. They can even hook writers up with regional experts in almost any
area.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Thanks, copper.
|
|
copper
|
How long should a writer wait
for a response?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Generally the reponse to a
query is relatively fast...within a month for snail mail, faster for email.
But that can vary a lot.
|
|
louxwriter
|
do mag usually have the same
style all the time? Could I by a mag once, get familiar w/the style and
then query without buying a whole years subscription, especially if I want
to write for/query several different mags?
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Mary Rosenblum
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It should stay consistent
unless the editor changes or the magazine itself changes.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Science News has just changed
editorial style. The entire magazine is different with a different slant
and overall style now.
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Mary Rosenblum
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BIG change.
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laina
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shoud you begin with less
popular magazines?
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Mary Rosenblum
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It will be easier to break in
and get clips.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Well, this has been an
interesting discussion.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'm glad there's so much
interest.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's all about what THIS
editor wants and needs.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The hook snags attention, the
lead tells the readers waht they're going to get.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's a good idea to begin your
query letter with that hook and lead.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'll post the transcript in
the usual place -- Writing Craft: Forum Transcripts.
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