Module 2 Part 2

(approx. 13 sheets)

Developing Your Imagination
Read Widely
Your Personal Qualities
Rejections
Keep on Writing
What Should You Write About?
Using Specialist Knowledge
The Door to Quick Success
Finding Ideas
Key Points to Remember

Developing Your Imagination

The keener your observation of the world, the more this will help your imagination. So why not try this simple exercise which will help you to develop your powers of observation and stimulate your imagination?

Imagine you are a journalist with a column to fill each weekday. Walk down the main street of your home town or village and observe the passing scene. Next go into a café, pub, park or somewhere similar and discreetly observe what is going on.

Look keenly at everything you see and make notes. These can be mental or written – depending on what suits you best. However, a word of warning: if you are making written notes about people, do it very discreetly. If you are observed, somebody may get the wrong impression of your intentions. You can imagine how, in certain circumstances, this could be quite embarrassing!

1. When you get home, write a paragraph of not more than 150 words about something you saw while walking down the street. Make your description as interesting as you can. This could be about some building of outstanding architectural merit or historical association, a new shop that's just opened – anything, in fact, that catches your eye.
   
   
2. Write a factual description of someone you saw. What was the colour of their hair and eyes? Were they fat, thin or of average build? How were they dressed? What was their background – and what was it about them that led to this opinion? If you saw them again, say in a police identity parade, would you recognise them?There can be something different about even the most ordinary-looking person.

It is the writer's task to spot it and to convert it into text that will be interesting to a reader.

Let's now take this observation exercise a stage further. Every day we meet and talk to people of all ages and from all walks of life. Think about this and on a suitable occasion choose one of these people and base a story on or around them. Alternatively, a conversation you have had might give you a clue on which to hang a story. Gossip can be useful – so start listening with more concentration to the conversation of friends, relatives and acquaintances and a story may become obvious. Names and some circumstances must, of course, be changed but the general theme can be retained.

If no obvious story emerges – create one. Take any simple set of circumstances you see: for example, two smiling young men going into the local pub for a lunch-time drink. Why are they so happy? What is the story behind their smiles – or what do they anticipate? Have they just seen someone slip on a banana skin, or have they just robbed a post office and are about to booze away their ill-gotten gains? Think who, what, why, how, where and when. Try to think of stories or reasons to explain the everyday things you see around you. Give your imagination full rein and you will probably surprise yourself at how inventive you can be. Even if you don't come up with some cracking good stories, you will still have a lot of fun thinking this way – whilst at the same time helping to develop your imagination.

At this stage you are not trying to produce something of publishable standard. The objective has been achieved if your capacity to observe and be analytical has improved. Later on, you may well be able to use the writing you have done in these exercises for some of your assignments. No writing is ever really wasted. It can nearly always be used somewhere, sometime!

Read Widely

We assume that your interest in writing also extends to an interest in literature in general. No-one can be a great writer if they don't read widely. When you are not writing yourself, you should be acquiring knowledge from books, individuals and from other sources. Newspapers, magazines, press releases and websites can all help you to become better informed. You can never know enough.

If you hope to write fiction it will help if you have some knowledge of the classics of the English and other major languages, but you should not confine yourself to Shakespeare, Dickens, Milton, Ibsen, Chekhov etc. You should try to have a knowledge of modern authors and also the work of newspaper and periodical journalists.

Obviously you should read the type of books you enjoy as this is probably what you will aim for yourself and you will need to steep yourself in the genre. However, if you would like to see how a variety of others write and try to work out why they have had their work published then spend time browsing in one of the larger bookshops. Shops have more up-to-date books than libraries can afford – books mentioned on TV, books that have been nominated for (or won) prizes. There are often free copies of magazines that review books. You need not buy many but it will give you ideas and you can then order books which have caught your interest from the library. Even if your local library does not have a copy it will obtain one for you if possible.

Also, look through national newspapers and read the book review pages which usually appear in the weekend supplements. Again, make a note of what interests you. This does not apply only to those who write fiction but can also be useful to writers of non-fiction.

The work of others should be read not just to gain knowledge. You should also study the writer's style. How were things said? What makes a passage interesting or exciting? How did the author introduce a new subject or finish with an old one? Why was the dialogue convincing and what made the characters realistic? You can improve your own writing a great deal by studying how others have done it.

You will also come across passages which you think are badly written. When this happens try to rewrite them. This is always an excellent exercise for improving your powers of expression.
But be careful – don't try to copy another's style. We deal with the question of developing your style later. For the time being, let your style develop naturally from your own ability, opinions and the way you express yourself.

You can acquire new knowledge not only from books, but also from individuals and from their experiences of life. You should try to become a sympathetic listener and also develop a reporter's skill at asking questions which will elicit the maximum information. If you do not understand something you have been told you should always ask for an explanation. Never be afraid to confess your ignorance. If you do not understand, how can you possibly make your readers understand?

As a writer your concern is with words. They should be like performing animals in a circus – they should dance to your tune. To acquire this skill you must enlarge your vocabulary as much as possible. When you encounter a new word, look it up in your dictionary, write down the definition on paper and take another look at it the following day. You will be surprised at the number of words you do not know and which, when added to your own vocabulary, widen your range and make your text much more interesting. So, actively try to increase your vocabulary; it will, in turn, increase your enjoyment of the written word.

Your Personal Qualities

In addition to the perseverance, determination and personal commitment that we have already mentioned, there are certain other qualities a writer requires.

Probably the most important of these is organisation. You need to organise your life so as to make the maximum use of your time. This may come naturally to some but the majority have to create a programme for themselves.

Decide each day on the work you intend to do – and don't be satisfied until you have completed it. In short, it comes down to exercising the self-discipline that we have already talked about.

Patience, too, is a very useful quality. It enables a writer to cope with the often long delays in editorial offices. Editors and publishers' readers are busy people who may have a pile of typescripts on their desks awaiting decisions.

Another quality you need is resilience. That is the ability to bounce back after a cherished piece of work has been rejected by an editor. There is no point in sulking, or flying into a rage. It will not make your writing better – nor will it make acceptance any more probable. The only permanent effect such reactions are likely to have is on your blood pressure!

Confidence is also valuable. No writer is an expert in all fields of writing. You have to find your own niche. But by the time you have finished this course you should know where your strengths and weaknesses lie. You can concentrate on your strengths and inclinations and, we hope, have plenty of work published. This, in turn, will boost your confidence.

Rejections

Every writer has, at some time, had failures. Such famous names as James Joyce, Thomas Hardy, Agatha Christie, George Orwell, Beatrix Potter, J K Rowling and many more had their share of rejections before finding fame and fortune.

When you receive a rejection (and everyone receives them at some time), do not let it depress you. Instead, use the experience to try to improve your writing. Put the rejected piece away for a few days, then return to it with a critical eye. Try to put yourself in the editor's shoes. Why was it rejected? Can it be improved – and how? By approaching your writing in this way – by being analytical and objective – you will produce better work next time.

It's a natural reaction to feel despondent about a rejection after all the effort of creating and submitting the work. But do not contact the editor to ask why it was returned. You are unlikely to receive a reply. He probably has many manuscripts to consider and yours may be only one of dozens. Occasionally in returning a manuscript an editor will add a note saying the subject is already in stock or a similar piece has been used recently. There are a few magazines that have printed rejection slips listing an assortment of reasons and they will tick the one applying to your manuscript – too long, too short, doesn't cover the subject adequately, in stock, used recently, a subject not of interest to the publication's readers and so on.

Do not waste time on feelings of dejection or let lethargy set in. The quickest way to recover from a rejection is to start on another piece of work. Not all your work will be rejected. As your experience increases and your writing improves, the number of rejections you receive should grow less.

Remember that the rejection of a piece of work does not mean it should be discarded. You have put time and effort into it. You can always send your rejected work to another publication. It could be successful the second time, in front of a different editor. Of course, before sending it a second time you should ensure it is in the style, and meets the text length and other requirements of the new magazine. If necessary, rewrite it, maybe giving it a new title and a different opening sentence, so that it has a better chance with the second market you have chosen.

And having once achieved success, don't sit back and relax. Follow up with more work to the same editor. The professional writer will already have more written work in the editor's hands and future work planned for submission even as their work is being published. Far too many beginners sell an article to a magazine, then wait until it is published before they send the editor more work. One success does not make a professional writer – but it's a start. Build on it with a regular output and there will be many to follow.

Keep on Writing

You cannot hope to make a living from writing unless you have a steady output. You cannot afford to be like the poet who, when asked what he had done that day, replied: Well, during the morning I put a comma in and during the afternoon I took it out again.

You should be writing or planning your writing continually – either on paper or in your head. The late Neil Bell, a brilliantly inventive novelist and short story writer, said: When you have completed a piece of work and sent it away to a publisher don't waste time in speculating what may happen to it. Sit down and begin writing something else. A writer can never write too much.

Most writers settle down to their own rhythm and a speed at which they can write comfortably. Setting a target too high and trying to reach it daily can lead to unsaleable work. Set yourself a target which you know you can comfortably reach. You will then feel happy with your writing output at the end of the day and what you have created will be of publishable standard.

This advice is particularly pertinent to part-time writers who have other work or family commitments. If you are over-ambitious and you can't reach your targets, it could damage your morale.

What Should You Write About?

The novelist, Eva Hanagan, says:

What you choose to write about and the manner in which you write are influenced by your own experience of life, your powers of observation, the cultural environment and even the landscape and climate in which you find yourself; the music to which you listen, the books and poetry you read and the pictures you look at. These are the stimuli which feed your imagination and not only influence your ideas but, in addition, they generate the ideas themselves.

Alfred Harmsworth (who later became Lord Northcliffe) gave this advice to his journalists: Never lose your sense of the superficial. It was Northcliffe who revolutionised the newspaper reading habits of the British public when, in 1896, he launched a halfpenny morning newspaper, the Daily Mail.

What Northcliffe termed superficial is better known today as human interest. It is a fact that there are far more readers for human interest material than there are for serious articles.

That fact should always be uppermost in the minds of would-be writers. Here the observation exercises we gave you earlier become important for the stimulation of ideas for articles and news items. If you write about what people are discussing in their daily lives you will have a larger audience for your work than if you write about something obscure or which is only of interest to a minority.

However, the beginner is usually best starting at the bottom of the ladder to gain experience before attempting to write about politics, international finance or other subjects that tend to be the prerogative of the specialists. But this is a generalisation and if there are topics on which you have in-depth knowledge, then don't let us put you off.

Using Specialist Knowledge

When you have gained some experience and had work published, you may well find it financially advantageous to specialise. This simply means concentrating on writing about a specific subject – perhaps a hobby, pastime or some special interest such as gardening, antiques etc. There are freelance writers who specialise in one or more subjects and it can be more profitable than writing general interest material.

If you specialise in writing about gardening, for example, there are currently lots of magazines which you can approach with your work. If you get known for producing well-targeted material by the editors of a few of these and your name starts appearing regularly in their columns, then you will soon be acknowledged as 'an expert'. You can then move on to horticultural trade magazines, the 'homes and gardens' sections of the weekend newspapers etc – and the more you get published, the more your reputation grows.

An editor who recognises that a freelance writer possesses specialist knowledge of a particular subject may approach them for a background article when that particular subject becomes news, or if they have a weekly column to fill. And remember, the rate of payment for commissioned work is also normally higher than for other work.

The Door to Quick Success

The quickest way into print is undoubtedly via short articles and readers' letters. Most magazines are keen to receive letters and pay for them or offer gifts in lieu of payment. We'll be looking at this topic in more detail shortly, but if you are eager to have something published, these are the areas on which to concentrate. However, it is worth mentioning here that most of the national dailies do not pay for letters.

Finding Ideas

You can write about almost anything you choose – personal subjects such as work experiences, holidays, family events, even domestic problems, particularly if humorous or unusual. Then there are hobbies, pastimes and interests: everything from cars to computers. Town and country places visited, memorabilia, customs and festivals, anniversaries and historical events, new developments in trade and industry locally and nationally, maritime subjects, ships, yachts, wild life – just to name a few. Craft articles are popular, and don't forget material for the plethora of walking, climbing and cycling magazines that currently fill the shelves.

In addition to these suggestions, we make no apologies for returning to your observation exercises for good ideas. Just as writing becomes easier the more you do, so detecting suitable subjects to write about becomes easier the more you observe.

We imagine you already read the newspapers regularly. If not, then start! Also read a good weekend paper. Most now have colour supplements which not only contain good ideas but could also provide valuable markets for your work once you have studied the material that they accept. Keep changing the papers you read, too. This will enable you to sample as many potential markets as possible. Watch news reports on TV and take down details of anything that interests you. Do the same with radio programmes on current affairs. You should try to acquire a knowledge of what is happening in the world beyond your own front door.

For example, one writer saw a newspaper headline which read: Widow Leaves Fortune to Pet Cat. The nature of the bequest sounded familiar and a search through his cuttings on pets revealed that widows, widowers and others had been leaving vast sums to pet cats in Britain, Europe and America for years.

One exceptionally fortunate cat called Casey Jones, the much loved pet of an American railway engineer, inherited a substantial sum of money a house and the services of a housekeeper and a lawyer for the rest of his life. Could any cat wish for more? This question was posed in an article which sold on both sides of the Atlantic. Apparently Casey Jones did, because not long after inheriting the legacy, he responded to the call of the wild. He left all that money and gracious living, including legal advice on how to handle his affairs, and he never returned. As a result of this his late master's relatives, who had not been mentioned in the will, claimed the remainder of the estate.

It was a news story which had everything: affection, money, drama, pathos, mystery and an unexpected ending. Editors thought so, too. Casey Jones may soon be due for a revival in another article – when another lucky cat inherits the cream of its owner's estate.

Editors do not want essay-type articles such as What I Think About The Internal Combustion Engine, or Golf Is Good For You or Public Libraries Are A Boon. No-one is likely to care about the first, and the second two are known facts. But the editor of a motoring magazine might be interested in a topical angle pointing out that it is, say, the 150th anniversary of the invention of the first motor car engine. You could then show how the engine has developed through the ages and end by looking at the most modern engines powering today's supercars.

Or how about an article on the development of the game of golf as we now know it? A golf magazine might take a piece on this if you can show how early golf clubs and balls differ from modern ones; whether the rules have changed; who the early celebrities were, and so forth.

Finally, let's consider an anniversary linked to the opening of the first public library in Britain. There are a number of potential articles from this. What were libraries like before they were public – who endowed them, where were the most famous ones and who was allowed to use them? You could write an article about some of the great historical libraries of the world. Or, more closely tied to the anniversary, who founded the public library movement and why?

As we said earlier, another source of ideas is to talk to people and listen. Be a good listener and keep your ears tuned to anything that might provide the idea for an article which you can follow up with questions.

Elderly people are an excellent source of ideas. They provide links with the past – a way of life which has gone forever. Encourage them to reminisce. They may have had some unusual and marvellous job: worked in service for a notable person they can tell you about; been a pioneer overseas; remember life in one of the armed forces and so on. If you are interested in their story and hope to use some of it, you will have to get their permission. Check if they have any photos that you could reproduce and use – but always handle them with care.

It's worth mentioning here that editors of general interest publications are far more interested in historical articles if they refer to history within living memory. This means that many readers will be able to recall the incident or at least remember being told about it. It will have some relevance to their own lives and not be an abstraction. For example, a piece on how people celebrated VE Day is far more interesting (to most readers) than, say, the Battle of Hastings.

Earlier in this module keeping a cuttings file was explained and this, too, is a source of ideas. The cuttings have to be added to and it is advisable periodically to go through and discard those no longer applicable or which have become outdated. Don't look on this as a waste of time as while you're doing it, new ideas might come to you.

We also mentioned browsing around your local library or the Internet. It's obviously best to have something in mind when you start but it is surprising what other ideas the books and labels on the shelves or links to other sites can trigger. You might find that you set out to do some research and come away with a host of new ideas.

Yet another source is to take the subject of an already published article and find some aspect of it which is not covered fully in the original. For example, a general interest article on porcelain can be split to write a series on the various factories in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries producing their own special type of porcelain ware. You could even look separately at the different regions producing various types of porcelain and pottery and produce articles for a number of local interest magazines. You can do this with your own articles or with those already published by someone else but, of course, you must never use any of their text. Rewrite it in your own words, updating it where necessary, and adding your own particular slant.

The same thing applies to short stories. Their plots can be reworked to make a completely new story. We are not, for one minute, suggesting you plagiarise another's work, but as you must realise there are only a limited number of basic situations for use in story writing. As all plots – for both short stories and full length books – are constructed within these basic dramatic situations, they must of necessity be reworked over and over again. What is important is that you bring an original viewpoint, new characters and a satisfactory resolution to them each time.

As you can see, there is an abundance of subjects to write about – especially in the non-fiction field. When it comes to fiction the only limitation is your own imagination!

And in Conclusion

There is much more to being a writer than simply being able to string together a series of words which make sense. We hope you are beginning to see this now. In fact, the other qualities we have stressed are every bit as important. If you get the basics right – organise yourself well, and ensure that your attitude is correct – then we are sure that with our help you will succeed.

After saying this, being able to put well-chosen words together to express your ideas clearly is important. You must have a good basic knowledge of correct grammar, spelling and punctuation if you are to succeed as a writer. Look upon these things as the foundations of your writing; so they need to be firm and solid if you are to build on them.

Spelling and punctuation are covered in one of the Handbooks, if you feel you need some tips. But in the next module we shall look at how correct grammar is essential for developing a good style.

Key Points To Remember

• • To be a successful writer, you need self-discipline and perseverance. Don't sit around waiting for inspiration, try to write every day. Regular writing helps to keep the mind active and creative.
  
  
• • It doesn't matter when you write, but try to work when you are most alert.
  
  
• • Find a place to write where you are comfortable and you are not likely to be distracted.
  
  
• • The only way to start writing is to sit down and get on with it. You can always discard your 'warm-up' piece afterwards.
  
  
• • You can become mentally tired and stale if you overdo your writing. This can lead to writer's block. Always take regular breaks – anything that will give you a mental rest and help you to relax.
  
  
• • Make sure you have all the necessary basic equipment.
  
  
• • Editors only accept typed work; so it is better if you can organise access to a typewriter or computer right from the start.
  
  
• • Always have a notebook or tape recorder handy and make notes when you see or hear anything that you could use.
  
  
• • Keep a cuttings file. Look through newspapers and magazines for items that tie-up with subjects which interest you.
  
  
• • Be organised – keep accurate business records for both your own information and for tax purposes.
  
  
• • Read widely – you can never really know enough. Analyse the work of others and study their style.
  
  
• • Try to enlarge your vocabulary as much as possible.
  
  
• • In addition to perseverance, determination and personal commitment you also need to organise your life properly. Patience, resilience and confidence are also valuable personal qualities for any writer.
  
  
• • Don't let a rejection depress or anger you. Try to spot the flaws which made your work fail and learn from them. If work is rejected try it with another market but ensure you have altered it, if necessary, to make it suitable. Once you have had a success, follow it up as soon as possible.
  
  
• • The quickest way to recover from a rejection is to start on another piece of work.
  
  
• • Make sure you have a steady output, but set yourself realistic targets which you know you can reach.
  
  
• • Write about what men and women are discussing in their daily lives – what we call human interest topics. Don't set your sights too high as a beginner.
  
  
• • When you are more experienced, specialising in a particular area may prove lucrative.
  
  
• • Short articles, fillers and readers' letters can be a good way of breaking into print relatively early in your writing career.
  
  
• • Keep your eyes open, talk to people and listen if you want to find more ideas for your writing. Always look for an original angle that will help to sell your work.