by
Brittany Lyons

***

Every day we read news stories and probably have no idea how much work goes into them. Short bulletins are somewhat easier to write as they relate the facts about an earthquake or other disaster and just give the details. Yet, what about articles that relay information that is not so interesting or exciting in nature? What if the article is bigger than just a few sentences of quick facts and must depend upon the skills and experience of the writer to be both interesting and informative? You are about to see how there is more to an engaging news story than meets the eye.

As many advanced writers and PhDs will tell you, the foundation of a good news story relies upon answering the questions: who, what, where, when, why and how. Thus, in order ensure that all of these elements make it into an article, beginning writers may want to follow these tips from John Hopkins University.

However, a good story is also informative and concise. Consider the sentence: “Frank Burns walked seven miles on foot to the Police Station in Springfield yesterday after his car was stolen at gun point by two criminals.” This brief description provides you with all the facts of Frank Burns case without adding in any extraneous information. Reading your local newspaper will provide many examples of how to write in a similar manner, so you can convey basic information to readers.

Although it is important for a story to contain the facts, the piece must also be interesting if you want to attract readers. One technique for grabbing the interest of readers is by structuring an article using the “inverted pyramid” format. When using the inverted pyramid, a writer starts out with the most important aspects of the story, followed by less important details and ends with the least significant information. This structure keeps the “attention-getter” of the piece located near the beginning, where it can draw readers in, and places the less important facts that might cause readers to lose interest at the end of the article. The Virginia Commonwealth University points out that the one disadvantage of this style is that it discourages good writing. Since the least important information is at the end of the article, it will often end abruptly, which is often considered inelegant by good story writers.

In addition to the overall structure of the piece, good writers should also pay attention to some general rules involving content. For example, readers are often interested in people, so it is recommended that stories center around someone who is relatable. It is equally important for writers to have an “angle” when developing a piece. According to the Journalist’s Resource, having an angle will keep readers engaged and prevent the story from becoming too dry and fact-filled. Readers are generally not interested in basic numbers and cold, factual information. Thus, writers should make the article more interesting by using a “hook” to stimulate curiosity, which will in turn make people want to share it with others.

Another aspect of writing a good newspaper story involves keeping common mistakes to a minimum. If your writing style is too flowery, it can be distracting to the reader. Besides, using metaphors and colorful phrases is not appropriate when describing unfortunate events, such as car accidents. Likewise, factual inaccuracies such as a wrong “where” or “when” are not taken lightly. This is why newspapers publish corrections so they can apologize for mistakes and set the record straight.

Writers should also strive to avoid spelling and grammar errors. These are the worst type of mistakes a writer can make, as they not only make the article hard to read, but also cause readers to wonder about the level of care and professionalism that went into the publication. When a number of mistakes are found on a website or in a newspaper, readers lose trust in the publication and often turn to another source for information, resulting in a loss of sales. However if you keep your work free from these mistakes and heed the advice above, you might have a chance at the big leagues.

Writers that create informative and compelling news stories on a consistent basis don’t do so by accident. It takes knowledge, skill and experience to write a good news story and that doesn’t come over night. If you wish to work for a newspaper, you will be able to find many resources for information, but you must practice in order to refine your skills. If you a determined, you will be able to improve your work as the weeks and months go by, and ultimately may be able to offer your work to local papers and news sites. Examining the differences between a well written newspaper story and one that was just thrown together, makes the writer appreciate just how skilled they must be to be considered a great writer.

***

Bio: Brittany Lyons aspires to be a psychology professor, but decided to take some time off from grad school to help people learn to navigate the academic lifestyle. She currently lives in Spokane, Washington, where she spends her time reading science fiction and walking her dog.

Have you been considering a writing business of your own? Starting and growing this type of business can be a simple and straightforward process. However, many aspiring writers struggle. The most common reason for their struggle is they may have made one or more of the following mistakes. Read these before you start a writing business.

Here are eight writing business dos and don’ts.

Do – ALWAYS DELIVER  your writing projects on time or early. If you run into a complication, address it with the client right away. For example, your computer breaks and you lose everything on it. Let your client know immediately! Almost everyone can access email with their cell phone these days. Contact the client and ask for a brief extension and offer to refund their money if an extension is not possible. It pays to always make sure your work is done well ahead of time; that way if there is ever an issue, you have time available to make up for it.

Also consider backing up all of your files online so you can access them from any computer. One such place is Zen OK.

Do – STAY VISIBLE. One of the biggest mistakes a writer can make is to deliver a project, cash the check and never contact the client again. If you enjoyed working with them, stay in touch. It doesn’t have to be a big deal either. Send them a note from time to time. Use an autoresponder to send special promotion offers to past clients. Connect with them on social networking sites. Stay visible. If you forget about them, they’ll forget about you too.

Don’t – BE AFRAID  to ask questions. Clients are notorious for expecting writers to be mind-readers too. Even if you’re 99% sure you know the answer, ask the question anyway. In fact, one excellent way to establish trust with a client is to ask questions. It shows them that you’re invested in working with them and delivering quality work.

Do – GET REFERRALS. If your client expresses pleasure with your work, don’t hesitate to ask for a referral. In fact, consider launching a referral program. For example, each client that refers a client to you gets 10% off their next order.

Don’t – PANIC when you’re going through a slow spell. Things slow down from time to time; think positively and use the time to plan your business. Brush up on your skills, create marketing materials and focus on growth. Work on creating affiliate sites and multiple streams of income for yourself.

Slow spells pass.

Do – COMMIT to lifelong learning. You can always improve your skills, offer more value and learn more about your industry. Become, if you’re not already, the kind of person who is always striving to improve.

Do – USE SYSTEMS. Systems help you move through your business efficiently and effectively. Create payment and invoicing systems. Create autoresponder messages, client communication systems and even editing and delivery systems.

Don’t – LET GO of your passion for writing. Your writing passion is contagious. Your clients and customers will recognize it and appreciate it. If you become apathetic about your business, your clients will too.

Starting and growing a writing business can be a lot of work but it’s also tremendously rewarding. You’re creating a business made just for you. You’re offering value and helping people achieve their goals all while making a living. However, you will be your own boss so you need to hold yourself to some high standards. No one will be standing over you making you do the work. Make sure you can handle that aspect before you start a writing business.

Ah, it sometimes happens to the best of us. We’re writers. We’re supposed to be writing. Okay, some days we don’t.

I was looking through some older posts here at the site and instead of doing your “normal” link to old posts, I thought I’d write a little story and let you find those little gems yourself.

Some days, believe it or not, a writer gets bored and needs to be motivated.

Gasp!

What shall I do? My creative juices aren’t flowing. They’ve turned into hot fudge and I can’t get moving.

I need help writing my essay and I’m on a serious deadline! Help!

I’m making so many mistakes in my work, I need help with editing too. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to write a little faster.

Okay, that’s my update for today. Hope you enjoyed it!

~Patti

P.S. I added my Content eCourse sign up page to this site. I normally do this through my PLR site, but if you write freelance, ebooks,  infoproducts, or you’ve been thinking you need to market your stuff a little more,  you may be interested.

You can find it here.

I was cleaning out the back-end of my blog and discovered that this never posted when it was scheduled. It should have been posted six months ago. Oops! I thought I’d share it now. :)

Many people aspire to live the writer lifestyle. It’s easy to understand why. You can control your work hours, take on clients and projects that you want and take a vacation or a day off when you need to. There’s a lot of freedom when you’re an online writer. Once your business is established and you’ve planned ahead so your finances are in order, it’s a great way to make a living.

However, the same people who aspire to become online writers are unsure if they can. The honest truth is that if you have a desire and a commitment to make a living as an online writer, you can do it. Here’s why:

You don’t need formal writing education to be a successful online writer.

Online writing is different than many other forms of writing and many of them are not taught in school. For example, blogging was never taught in school. It may be now, but you still don’t need a degree to blog. Additionally, your clients have a variety of purposes for their content. They may want to entertain. They may want to inform. They may want to attract search engines or sell products. A formal education may help you learn how to help your clients reach their goals. However, you can learn the same thing online or by reading a book from the library.

Everything you need to learn about being an online writer can be learned online. So if you have a desire to learn about becoming an online writer, you can do it.

Most of the content found online is conversational.

Conversational content is content that is written as if you’re talking to someone. You use words like “you” and “you’re” when you’re writing. Other common forms of online content include lists, tip sheets, fact sheets, reviews, comparisons and how to articles. If you can talk and format a list, then you can write online content.

Do you have a desire to own a successful business?

One of the most important aspects of being a successful online writer isn’t necessarily your writing skills. They do matter of course, but equally important is your professionalism. This includes your ability to meet a deadline, to provide the content your client is asking for and to be a clear and effective communicator. If you have the desire and passion to offer the best writing service possible, then you can be an online writer.

If you’d like to live the writer’s life and make a living as an online writer, you can do it. The dream is within your reach. Learn all you can about building a business. Consider choosing a specialty, brush up on your writing skills and get started.

I recently had the privilege, actually that’s an understatement, it was a true honor, to read Larry Brooks’ new Writer’s Digest publication of Story Engineering. My review at Amazon.com is still pending at the time of this blog post, but I wanted to share it here anyway.

My review: Story Engineering by Larry Brooks

This is not a how to book on the mechanics of writing. Larry doesn’t tell you when or where to use adverbs and adjectives or why you should or shouldn’t. This book covers what the title says..story engineering. He tells you exactly what elements you need for a publishable story, where it goes and why it goes where it does. If you want to learn about writing dialogue or how to choose the best descriptive words in your writing, this is not the book. This book goes much deeper into the structure of a great story. This book is the blueprint of building that great story. You can have great characters, great scenes, a great plot, and all the other components of a great story, but if you don’t have all of those elements where they belong–you have something that will need a ton of edits until those elements are in the right place. Save yourself and your editor a lot of time by studying this book and getting it down right the first time.
Many people believe their creativity is hampered by using structure. I can tell you it’s not. I started using Larry’s “timeline” of events awhile back. I lay out the big things that need to happen in my story, where they should happen and then write from point A to point B to point C. Everything in between those points is still creative freedom. You know where your character is and where he needs to go–you can be as free as you want in getting him there, but you have to get him there and get him in the right place at the right time.
I have books on writing dialogue, writing great plots, writing the setting of your story and all those things that go into a great story, Larry’s book pulls it all together and explains the when, and more importantly, the why of all these elements. He shows you how to put the puzzle pieces together.
I’ve had the priviledge of communicating with Larry privately over the past two years. He is warm and charming but when it comes to story structure he’s a no-fluff kind of guy. He doesn’t do the hand holding or candy coating thing.
Story Engineering contains a ton of stuff. If you want to dabble in writing, this is probably not the book for you. It’s a mouth full, very in-depth and Larry doesn’t hold back, he is not here to motivate you and tell you how easy it is to craft a great story. But if you take writing seriously, get this book and study it religiously. You won’t be disappointed.

Grab your copy today! By ordering through the link below you can get a free copy of Larry’s book, “101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters.”

Simply place your order, then send an email to Larry (storyfixer at gmail.com) and tell him, “Patti sent me.” He will send you a copy of his ebook. And yes, it is very good. I have a copy of it myself. :)
Order Story Engineering

You can also check out his website: Story Fix.

by guest blogger James Adams

When an individual decides to start a business from scratch without borrowing money from a bank or finding investors, that person is said to be a bootstrapper. Each one has an idea for a business that will make money and create at least one job in the economy. While miracles do happen, writing a business plan is probably a better strategy to ensure guided success through the challenging waters of life in business. Write out specific information concerning these ten areas to create a business plan that is a true roadmap.

1. Reason for starting the business – Some entrepreneurs set out to change the face of an entire industry and end up becoming a brand like Ford, Gates, or Perot. Others simply want to replace the family income and be free from the expectations of an employer. Whatever the reason for starting your company, take out a notebook and write down your reason for creating a business.

2. Long-term goal – Becoming a multi-million dollar enterprise is entirely possible with a strong work ethic and a great service or product that the market is seeking. Another admirable goal is to never be out of work again and make twice the money you ever did working for someone else. On a new piece of paper in your notebook, write out the long-term goal. If you are in your twenties trying to support a young family, how long do you see yourself running this company?

3. Starting point – Look around at the current situation. If you are working out an office in your home, write out every aspect of the starting position of the company. The status of the company vehicle is important because you need to claim the business expenses associated with using that automobile. Whatever assets you have committed to the business must be documented. Maybe you are working alone with some assistance from your spouse. Write down every detail of the beginning of the business.

4. Incremental goals – On another sheet of paper write down the basic goals for business income, number of employees, service offerings, and business facilities for 5, 10, and 15 years from now. Dream big and spend some time writing down your vision for the growth of the company. Some companies just exploded onto the scene in a given industry and made so much money that plans were made with a full bank account. Most business owners live in the real world and must make the money ahead of implementing the plan. Consider the life of your family when making these goals.

5. Annual goals – Again, turn to a new page within the notebook and write out where the business must be one year from today. Making money is the reason that every business is in existence. How much revenue must the business generate to support your family and sustain business operations? Just as a family must operate on a budget to restrain expenses, all profitable businesses operate on a written budget. Write down every expense and how the business will generate revenue twelve months from now.

6. Milestones – On a new page, start writing the months of the year that lies ahead. Write what must be accomplished in the next thirty, sixty, and ninety days. Getting the message about your company out into the public is important, but what means will yield the best results? How will you find the information you need to grow the business and work efficiently at the same time? Who must you contact to enlist as an advisor?

7. Review plan – Find a calendar that you will use to track your schedule and write down monthly reviews of the notes you have made in the notebook. Those notes have just become your business plan. Review the plan and assess the current situation against the milestones you wrote down on the sixth page.

8. Update strategy – Sometimes the plan must be changed to sustain business operations because of economic conditions and changes in the market. Plans must be assessed and changed without completely starting over whenever a bump in the road appears. Write down a few thoughts for the indicators that will require a complete reassessment of the business goals.

9. Course correction requirements – Have some professional connections for the times that you need someone to look at your business and make recommendations. Be willing to listen and make the changes to save the life of your business. Participate in networking organisations that share your goals and values so you have some help when necessary. Engage the help of a reputable accountant and financial advisor before either one is needed.

10. Never finish the plan – Losing track of the original plan might mean that your business must involve into something else and a new plan must be written. Most professionals warn that finishing the business plan means the end of business operations. Edit the plan and continue to add more thoughts to the pages that started as simple notes.

Elaborate business plans with leather covers are for the businesses that need to find financing and gain the approval of some entity. As your business grows and the business plan becomes an integral part of your plans, you can have it professionally typed, but make sure that you have a copy where you can write revisions. This document is for your benefit and is not sacred. You own the document and will use it as the rudder to guide your business through calm and rough waters. Have a new copy made at the beginning of each fiscal year and set a goal to write all over every page before the new copy is made next year.

James Adams works for Cartridge Save, rated by Hitwise as one of the UK’s biggest online suppliers of cheap ink cartridges.

Reprinted with permission from the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine.

The secret to writing novels that readers can’t put down is simple — in theory.

All you have to do is making the ending of each chapter so exciting that your reader can’t help but turn the page.

That’s a nice theory. How do you do it in practice?

The answer depends on the kind of novel you’re writing. The purpose of a novel is to give your reader a Powerful Emotional Experience.

Each category of fiction creates its own mix of emotional experiences. Each category makes a promise to deliver a certain kind of emotion at the end of the novel. A romance promises to deliver love. A suspense novel promises to deliver safety. A mystery promises to deliver justice.

As your story progresses, your reader tracks how close you are to delivering the final emotional payoff for your story. If the payoff looks like it’s getting closer, your reader’s tension eases. If it looks like the payoff is getting further away, your reader’s tension tightens.

When something happens at the very end of a chapter to make the payoff suddenly look dramatically less likely, that’s a cliffhanger.

Lee Child is a master of writing cliffhangers. Child is the author of a series of thrillers starring Jack

Reacher, a drifter who left the Army after 13 years as a military cop. Now Reacher hitchhikes around the country, running into one set of bad guys after another and reluctantly puttings right.

Reacher is a skilled street fighter who knows every dirty fighting trick in the book and uses them to get out of trouble. That’s a great skill to have when you get in fights with thugs three at a time, or you’re threatened by guys with guns.

In one scene in KILLING FLOOR, the first novel in the series, Reacher and a businessman named Hubble are put in prison on a trumped up charge late one night. There’s been a murder in town, and both Reacher and Hubble are incidentally connected, even though they’re not suspects. They’re supposed to be put on the holding floor for nonviolent prisoners. By mistake, they’ve been put on the floor with the hard guys — lifers.

By the time Reacher realizes the mistake next morning, the guards aren’t around and he’s got a pack of toughs in his cell, and they’ve got rape on their minds. Hubble is cowering in the corner and is clearly not going to be any help. Reacher is on his own.

A lot of authors would end the chapter right there. It would be a nice cliffhanger.

Lee Child doesn’t do that, because that’s not good enough. Instead, he continues the scene. Reacher takes on the first guy, smashes his face with one good head-butt, and then shoos the other thugs out of his cell.

A lot of authors would bring on more hard guys to make some sort of threat against Reacher and end the chapter there. That would make an even nicer cliffhanger, because it would increase the number of Reacher’s enemies — and now they’re forewarned that he’s a good fighter.

Lee Child doesn’t do that either, because it’s still not good enough.

Instead, Reacher talks to his cellmate Hubble about the reason they’ve been arrested. He learns that Hubble’s been involved in something crooked that he can’t talk about and he’s been threatened by somebody he won’t even name. If he tells who, Hubble says, they’ll nail his limbs to the wall. They’ll cut off certain parts of his body and feed them to his wife. They’ll cut his throat. They’ll cut his wife’s throat. They’ll make his children watch. Then they’ll do unspeakable things to the kiddies.

That’s where the chapter ends. That’s a cliffhanger with some bite to it.

The reason this works better than ending the scene with a physical threat to Reacher is because Jack Reacher can take care of himself, and the reader knows it. A threat against Reacher is just an invitation for a great fight scene.

A threat against Hubble, though, creates conflict. Reacher is a drifter who just walked into town, and he barely knows Hubble. Reacher would just as soon walk right on out of town. But now he has to make a choice — will he get involved or will he leave Hubble in trouble?

The reader doesn’t know the answer to that. The reader wants Reacher to get involved, but Reacher hasn’t really got a reason yet. He knows he can’t be responsible for fixing all the problems of the world, of which there an unlimited number. So he’d just as soon walk away. Will he or won’t he?

In the next chapter, Reacher and Hubble go down to the bathroom. They’re trapped inside by five huge guys — Aryan Brotherhood types. Two of them hustle Hubble out of the way, and the other three single out Reacher. It’s clear these guys have come to kill.

Again, Lee Child doesn’t choose this as the cliffhanger ending to his chapter. Instead, he lets the fight run its course. There’s a guy choking Reacher from behind and a guy in front about to punch his lights into next year. Reacher kicks the guy in front of him where it counts the most, breaks the little fingers of the guy choking him, and gouges out the eye of the third wannabe killer. All in a day’s work for Jack Reacher.

Next thing you know, the guards rush in, break up the fight, and take Reacher and Hubble up to the holding floor where they should have been to begin with.

Reacher does a little thinking and it’s clear to him what’s going on. The whole thing was a setup. The guards must have put the Aryan boys up to killing Reacher. Not just any guards. The head guy. Somebody important wants Jack Reacher dead. Somebody who controls the people who run the prison. Somebody big and nameless.

That’s where the chapter ends. Again, it’s a good solid cliffhanger. Jack Reacher is in danger from somebody he can’t see, can’t name, and therefore can’t fight. The reader doesn’t know if Reacher is up to this kind of danger. Neither does Reacher.

But this puts tremendous pressure on Reacher to get out of town as soon as he gets bailed out of jail. If he doesn’t, he’ll be in over his head against somebody he’s unqualified to fight. Leaving Hubble still in massive danger.

The next two chapters have Reacher getting bailed out of jail with Hubble and talking with the cops. He’s planning to leave town, but some of the cops are good guys, and they’re trying to get any information they can from him before he goes.

Then the fingerprint information comes in on the murder victim. The cops have a positive ID on the corpse. They show it to Reacher, and suddenly he’s got all kinds of reasons for staying in town and getting to the bottom of this mystery.

Because, by some awful coincidence, the dead man is Reacher’s brother.

That’s a cliffhanger.

Reacher doesn’t owe Hubble anything, and he could leave him to his faceless foes. But not when Hubble’s enemies are the ones who killed Reacher’s brother. Now it’s personal. Now Reacher is committed to battling Big Faceless Evil, whether he wants to or not. He’s in the crucible now. How in the world is he going to get out?

And the story is launched — with a cliffhanger.

What makes these cliffhangers work? We can extract several principles from the scenes we’ve seen:

* A good cliffhanger attacks the weak character, not the strong one. It was better to end a chapter with a threat to Hubble than a threat to Reacher.

* A good cliffhanger attacks a strong character at his weakest point. It was better to threaten Reacher with a politically powerful and invisible enemy than to threaten him with a thug.

* Moral obligations are strongest when they involve people close to your character. Reacher might not stay in town to rescue the stranger Hubble, but he has to stay to find justice for his brother.

You’re probably in the middle of reading a novel this week. Keep an eye out for any chapter endings that qualify as cliffhangers. Ask yourself these questions:

* Why did the author end the chapter where he did?

* Would the cliffhanger have been stronger if it came earlier or later?

* What emotional forces is the author using to make you turn the page?

* How can you use what you learned about this cliffhanger in your own novel?

If it’s 3 AM and your reader hasn’t finished your book yet, she really has no business going to bed yet. If you can keep her up all night, she’ll hate you in the morning.

But she’ll buy your next book for sure.

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, “the Snowflake Guy,” publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with more than 23,000 readers, every month. If you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction, AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND have FUN doing it, visit http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

Download your free Special Report on Tiger Marketing and get a free 5-Day Course in How To Publish a Novel.

• Figure out your character.
  You’ll decide on the few points about him or her that really matter—but enough to give you a place to start your story, and not so much that you get bogged down in background and never get to your writing.
• Decide on your central idea.
  You’ll figure out what actually counts in your story, so you avoid getting bogged down writing details that don’t.
• Write your opener.
  You’ll learn how to give yourself and your readers a GREAT first look at your character doing something fascinating.
• Create your ending.
  You’ll discover one method of planning out a great conclusion.
• And rough in your middle…
  You know…all those pages that used to bog you down when you couldn’t figure out what happened next?

I realize everyone is busy with their NaNo novel this month but you owe it to yourself to check out Holly’s materials. I love the way she explains things.

If you’d like to sign up and hone your writing skills, you won’t be disappointed.

Holly Lisle’s Plot Outline Clinic.

Happy Writing!
Patti

P.S. As an affiliate of Holly’s materials I will receive a commission for any purchases you make past the free clinic.  I have purchased quite a few of her courses and they are top notch—or else I wouldn’t recommend them. :)