Choosing Your Writer

After having been lucky enough to assist an editor in his newspaper or magazine  trade, I have lucky to see through some of the writing styles determining what the editor likes the most and in the trade of selecting a good writer, one has to be able to select a winning writing style. There is always an increasing number of potential writers each with his own slant, creativity and ingenuity. One of the main problems he faces is a disregard for the style of the paper or the writer has not read the type of articles that the magazine covers.

If it is news that the person wants to cover, then he has to address the department that is involved in the selection of articles at times. If the department wants the person to cover a certain area of news, he cannot afford to go off on a tangent and discuss something else. This show for a lack of consistency. If the magazine has an informal style like USA today, it means that writer has to respect that and not write in a stiff manner. This magazine permits the use of the first person which other magazines won’t.

An editor wants organization for the story and this may mean that the detail has to have certain subheadings or that there should be  a subtext under the main title which would describe in brief what the story is about. As in any essay type writing the average story ought to have some sort of introduction but with trendy magazines out there the story might start somewhere in the middle or end and then the writer cuts to what is happening presently. This could create a loop similar to what is found in films which will start with a final scene and then work backwards until that point is reached.

What about deadlines? That comes a crowning statement for editors looking to fill a space at the last minute and the writer has not come forth with his due report. Deadlines also occur for magazine entries as does the notion that it takes an understanding of what the magazine schedule is for receiving documentation. So if one is writing for a seasonal magazine and the articles are going to be on winter sports, do not wait for the winter to arrive to propose your ideas. One has to have a planner and schedule your writing according to the needs of the industry you are approaching.