Sunday, March 04, 2007
Working on short articles
Generally, the articles I write range in length from 1,200 to 2,500 words. Some go as long as 3,000 words. My normal process for writing these articles is to prepare a detailed outline, use that outline as a skeleton for the article and fill in any blanks. I've used a variation of this process since I was in journalism school and it's worked well.
But sometimes I tackle shorter pieces -- from 750 to 1,000 words -- because they're often easy to write and don't pay too badly. Strangely enough, my process for writing these articles is very different than the one I use for longer pieces. I literally write an abbreviated version of the article out long hand (depending on where I am) in my Moleskine notebook, in a stiff-backed notebook, or on sheets of paper folded in half. For the environmentally conscious among you, I'm not killing trees but actually recycling. I have a 30 cm stack of paper that was printed on one side in my home office and use that.
What I write out isn't in point form, nor is it word for word what eventually becomes the article. It's more of a short-form, which is anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of a complete article. There will be holes in what I jot down; I fill those holes in with some quick research. Then, I fire up a word processor or JDarkRoom and start typing. What appears on the screen is pretty much the completed article, sans a quick read-through and a spelling check.
Total writing time: not more than an hour. It's a great and potentially profitable way to fill in time spent on the train or while waiting for the laundry to finish.
But sometimes I tackle shorter pieces -- from 750 to 1,000 words -- because they're often easy to write and don't pay too badly. Strangely enough, my process for writing these articles is very different than the one I use for longer pieces. I literally write an abbreviated version of the article out long hand (depending on where I am) in my Moleskine notebook, in a stiff-backed notebook, or on sheets of paper folded in half. For the environmentally conscious among you, I'm not killing trees but actually recycling. I have a 30 cm stack of paper that was printed on one side in my home office and use that.
What I write out isn't in point form, nor is it word for word what eventually becomes the article. It's more of a short-form, which is anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of a complete article. There will be holes in what I jot down; I fill those holes in with some quick research. Then, I fire up a word processor or JDarkRoom and start typing. What appears on the screen is pretty much the completed article, sans a quick read-through and a spelling check.
Total writing time: not more than an hour. It's a great and potentially profitable way to fill in time spent on the train or while waiting for the laundry to finish.
